Lapping modded Zalman & CPU - extra 5 degree drop.

[leojharris]

i finally got the nerve to lap my cpu and the recently discussed, modified zalman 9500.

read on for the results ...

i dug the initial zalman9500 fan mod ...

that mod alone took 9 degrees off my load temps and let me easily hit 3.5ghz with my E6400 ... but i wanted to see an average of mid fifties at load instead of the 60 to 61 i was getting before.

here's a shot of the recently modd'd zalman ... on the chance you didn't see the earlier thread:

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here's a shot of it powered up and running:

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so, after visiting with a friend at a body shop (scored sand paper for free! as well as some 3000micron compound) ... i set up shop at home and did the deed.

it was a bit nerve wracking, but after a few hours i had a good mirror finish on both the cpu and the heatsink.

next, i reassembled and began some tests...

the following results were obtained while testing at a continuous 24 degrees celcius ambient temperature.

idle temp obtained after 20 minutes total inactivity.
load temp obtained from one hour dualprime95 torture test (in-place FFT's).

Core2 E6400 2.13ghz @ 3.5ghz
here's the numbers:

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** BEFORE LAPPING **
---------------------------------------------

CPU idle: 42
CPU load: 60
MB idle: 31
MB load: 35


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** AFTER LAPPING **
---------------------------------------------

CPU idle: 40
CPU load: 55

pretty cheap 5 degree drop.

i'm not going to post a bunch of pics ... but i will post one or two.

first ... the one thing i'd suggest you do is take your time and have some of these handy:

yay.

second ...

my camera sucks and so all of the heat sink and CPU really-shiney-mirror-like-surface images turned out slightly blurred; i did manage to get one that looked almost okay:

the cpu actually had a little better shine/reflection than the heatsink but the images all sucked cause my camera was too close.

the cpu was tricky ... although, much easier to slide across the sand paper; the heatsink was a pain ... tended to want to stutter around and hang on the paper.

when if first started sanding the chip, i could see it was quite concave ... took some time before the grit started hitting the middle areas of the CPU surface ... after about 30 minutes ... i had all the concave removed.

all in all ... was terribly fun.

 

[enz660]

yeah, that sounds about right. I got a larger cooling performance increase because my cpu was VERY concave, and the stock freezer 7 pro heatsink base was like sandpaper.....

 

[leojharris]

yeah, that sounds about right. I got a larger cooling performance increase because my cpu was VERY concave, and the stock freezer 7 pro heatsink base was like sandpaper.....

testing the same rig now at 3.6 and temps are still around 59 at load (24 ambient); nice...

my cpu was *totally* concave! i had sanded into the copper color on all edges way before sanding off the "pentium...blah blah" labeling on the center ...

i could have flattened it a lot more but didn't know how much space i had on the edges ...

 

[FatnSlo]

Interesting read. I have the exact same Zalman and M/B as you but with the E6600. I knew lapping always helps so am gonna try that along with seeing if I can find a 120mm fan that will work tomorrow. Regarding your question about sanding the CPU down to the copper, here is a link regarding that but for a older different CPU http://www.overclockers.com/tips31/

 

[jws2346]

That's pretty impressive leojharris. I did kind of the same thing to a "mini space heater" PD 805. I lapped the Tt Big Typhoon HSF on it, I lapped the cpu heatspreader and even lapped the northbridge heat sink on the mobo the 805 is in. I got about a 4c drop reading (cpu temp) Everest Home, SiSoft Sandra, PC Wizard, SpeedFan, MBM and the mobo BIOS. (the mobo BIOS was 2c or 3c higher than all the rest) What is important to me is I can fold 24/7 (both cores) and the temperature never goes above 40c to 41c. (my ambient temp is about 20c, indoor/outdoor thermometer) After all this work the cpu is only stable, stock vcore, to 3.32 GHz, I can boot to WinXP @ 3.40, but ORTHOS stops after about 40 mins. (I have a Asrock 775DUAL-VSTA board, no vcore adjustment, I've heard about the volt mod, just haven't tried it yet)

 

[leojharris]

Interesting read. I have the exact same Zalman and M/B as you but with the E6600. I knew lapping always helps so am gonna try that along with seeing if I can find a 120mm fan that will work tomorrow. Regarding your question about sanding the CPU down to the copper, here is a link regarding that but for a older different CPU http://www.overclockers.com/tips31/

the biggest cooling performance was from the fan ... that literally knocked a consistent 7 to 9 degrees off my temps depending on idle or load states; the lapping ... another 4 to 5; if you plan on keeping your zalman heatsink then i'd mod it for sure with a high output 120mm; i didn't care about noise so went with a 100+CFM 2500rpm fan; may even attempt something faster later on. i really don't think the zalman is that good stock if you want to hit decent overclock speeds (the heatpipe and fin design has potential though with the right fan.

main thing when mounting a fan is getting the bends on the mounting arms right and making sure you've got enough room so that the fan blades don't hit your ram (!). anyway ... i'm going to tear my machine up again this weekend and i can post some shots of the mounting arm bends if you like.

your 6600 should have fine temps up to 3.5 or better with a good 120mm fan and with both your cpu and heatsink lapped.

 

[leojharris]

After all this work the cpu is only stable, stock vcore, to 3.32 GHz, I can boot to WinXP @ 3.40, but ORTHOS stops after about 40 mins. (I have a Asrock 775DUAL-VSTA board, no vcore adjustment, I've heard about the volt mod, just haven't tried it yet)

i had similar problems with my P820D ...

i hit a clock ceiling at 3.5 ... anything else cause all sorts of memory access violations ... don't know if it was the ram or the 820 ViiV chip i was using.

all things considered, 280 bucks for a new chip that when overclocked can most likely run neck and neck with some of the 1000 dollar out-of-box extreme chips is not a bad deal.

 

[jpinard]

I want to lap both my Zalman and my AMD FX-57 processor... but am scared and don't know where to start.

Is there a guide to getting them completely flat?

 

[leojharris]

I want to lap both my Zalman and my AMD FX-57 processor... but am scared and don't know where to start.

Is there a guide to getting them completely flat?

the heatsink is really a no brainer ... just make sure your using a flat surface like a piece of glass or a mirror.

the cpu ... although i was just as freaked as you ... was also quite easy ... much easier in fact to move across the sand paper because it didn't have all that weight making it want to tip over.

i used this guys method because he did it with dry sand paper ... i didn't want to wet sand with me cpu:

http://www.overclock.net/intel-air-...e6400-lapping-minor-case-mod.html#post1284960

for your cpu ... make sure you use a 'cap' for the pin side ... usually the cpu will ship with this cap which snaps on and protects the contacts on the pin side and if you don't have it ... you should be able to purchase one for a dollar or less at a good computer store.

 

[jws2346]

i had similar problems with my P820D ...

i hit a clock ceiling at 3.5 ... anything else cause all sorts of memory access violations ... don't know if it was the ram or the 820 ViiV chip i was using.

all things considered, 280 bucks for a new chip that when overclocked can most likely run neck and neck with some of the 1000 dollar out-of-box extreme chips is not a bad deal.

I know this is kind of off topic.

Yeah, what's weird is, it'll Prime95 for a couple of hours, no sweat, but when I do the ORTHOS program it stops after 40mins or so. WTF ?

My place is kind of out of being "lap city". I didn't make it to the sandpaper store tonight. (my P4 is safe)

I'm holding off on the Core Duo until the E4300 comes out in Jan next year. What do you think ? Without a doubt the E6400 is one fine cpu.

 

[AC3421]

What is the E4300?? One of the Quad cores?? if so, why do they have a lower number for there names than the current ones??

 

[jws2346]

What is the E4300?? One of the Quad cores?? if so, why do they have a lower number for there names than the current ones??

From my understanding the E4300 is an "allendale" core with only a 800 fsb. It's suppose to be a dual core. Intel is also suppose to come out with a "L" core duo type build, a single core. Maybe a "Conroe or "Allendale" core with one core disabled.

I got this info from "surfing" around the Internet. I think the "quad" cores are "Kentfields" or something like that.

 

[leojharris]

I know this is kind of off topic.

Yeah, what's weird is, it'll Prime95 for a couple of hours, no sweat, but when I do the ORTHOS program it stops after 40mins or so. WTF ?

i've found that insofar as errors and time before errors and what not ... that as long as i chose in place fft's ... while using either dual prime95 or orthos ... i get basically the same results.

reading about orthos seems to indicate that the makers of orthos wanted to replicate the dualprime95 environment while not having to launch two seperate instances of a program; ie > when i test dual prime95, i have two seperate shortcuts that when run, utilize both cores independantly. yet, when i use orthos with the same settings (in place fft's), it automatically runs an instance on each core ... just a bit easier.

whether your using dual prime95 instances, or orthos, however ... choosing the "in place fft's" setting will get you the hottest temps ...

personally, if i can get my machine stable for a dual prime95 test or an orthos test using in-place fft's ... then i'm usually for *sure* okay for normal work operation.

an example: although running my 2.13ghz machine at 3.6ghz yields an orthos, 3 hour average of 60 degrees celsius load temps ... i know that 3 hours, at the same overclock and playing half life 2, will only get the cpu up to around 46 degrees or so at the very most.

 

[leojharris]

Without a doubt the E6400 is one fine cpu.

i guess so ...

it certainly has overclocked way better than my former P820D chip ...

with the 820 dual core chip, i was only able to acheive about a 700mhz overclock over stock ...

but with this e6400, i'm almost 1.5 ghz over stock right now and totally dual prime95 stable ... and that's with a so-so zalman 9500 air cooled heatsink! (<-- although it is modd'd a bit).

 

[jws2346]

i guess so ...

it certainly has overclocked way better than my former P820D chip ...

with the 820 dual core chip, i was only able to acheive about a 700mhz overclock over stock ...

but with this e6400, i'm almost 1.5 ghz over stock right now and totally dual prime95 stable ... and that's with a so-so zalman 9500 air cooled heatsink! (<-- although it is modd'd a bit).

FanFreakin'tastic

 

[leojharris]

FanFreakin'tastic

yes.

it's true.

for the time being, anyway ... i'm a lame-*** fan-boy.

and a *proud* one, too ...



and, to the stock intel extreme chip owners:

"nyaaah nyaaaah ... i saved 900 dollars ... nyaaaah! nyaaaaah!"

 

[FatnSlo]

main thing when mounting a fan is getting the bends on the mounting arms right and making sure you've got enough room so that the fan blades don't hit your ram (!). anyway ... i'm going to tear my machine up again this weekend and i can post some shots of the mounting arm bends if you like.

your 6600 should have fine temps up to 3.5 or better with a good 120mm fan and with both your cpu and heatsink lapped.

I just got my Silverstone FM121 today from Newegg so gonna start tonight. I think I will try to leave the fan shroud on the fan so there is less CFM lost from the fan tips. Looks there will be just enough room to fit it that way. Little leery about drilling the holes for the mount as the plastic looks pretty brittle on the fan. Might try epoxy instead or both. I also bought the Thermaltake Tide Water Vid cooler (Water guys! don't flame me!) from Newegg so going lap the GPU block as well along with the some Swiftech BGA ram sinks for the vid card. Not going to use the thermal tape that are on them BGA sinks. Am using Artic Silver adhesive instead. So I will have the Zalman, CPU, GPU Water Block and 8 little ramsinks to lap. Should take me some time to do I suppose. Depending on the fan mount, I might make one from aluminum instead of using the stock one.

 

[leojharris]

I just got my Silverstone FM121 today from Newegg so gonna start tonight. I think I will try to leave the fan shroud on the fan so there is less CFM lost from the fan tips. Looks there will be just enough room to fit it that way.

if it works with the shroud ... leave it. and i would definitely drill ... the plastic drills fine. i just started with the smallest bit i had and then found the bit that would allow me to only *start* the bolts ... in other words ... the hole in the hub was much smaller than the bolt but did allow me to begin tightening; results in a nice tight fit. expoxy ... dunno about that ... seems like it would be a pain; the plastic is fine for drilling.

good luck .. post some pics and a story afterward.

feel free to email or PM if you have a question ...

 

[leojharris]

I just got my Silverstone FM121 today from Newegg so gonna start tonight. I think I will try to leave the fan shroud on the fan so there is less CFM lost from the fan tips. Looks there will be just enough room to fit it that way. Little leery about drilling the holes for the mount as the plastic looks pretty brittle on the fan.

oh yeah ... here's a link to the original silentpc zalman mod; i found it somewhat useful even though i was doing something a bit different.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article284-page1.html

 

[jpinard]

Is there a reason you used a Silverstone fan instead of a different brand?