My 1st Lapping attempt

Most of you will have seen this originally posted in the {SAS} forum about a year ago, but thought it may be of interest ..........

I whipped the Thermalright 120 Extreme out and cleaned the base and as you can see the base doesnt have a bad finish as standard:


http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/751/dsc00009wo6.jpg

However by putting a new craft knife blade across the the base in both directions it was plain to see that it was nowhere near "flat".

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5710/dsc00019ak0.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3870/dsc00023qy2.jpg

So chip and Cooler cleaned and ready to go .........

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3677/dsc00028tc7.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2130/dsc00027yk7.jpg

To protect the chip, i cut a piece of the foam packing from the Cooler to the size of the base and masking taped it on.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2164/dsc00030nr8.jpg

So armed with 400, 600, 1200 and 1500 grit off i went

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/3875/dsc00031fp1.jpg

I decided to start with the cooler incase i cocked it up :P

After only a few strokes the plating started to come away

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6545/dsc00033ix4.jpg

Initially from the edge and then it started to form a section in the middle, proving my "Non flat" theory

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3665/dsc00034et4.jpg

So after getting the plating off the cooler I decided to start on teh CPU :S

Mr Grit, Meet Mr CPU

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4999/dsc00035eb4.jpg

Again after a few minutes, the edges came away showing that the case wasnt flat.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6801/dsc00036yn9.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5605/dsc00037rz4.jpg

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/5715/dsc00039og3.jpg

So after the 400 grit, they were looking like this

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/5415/dsc00040ih7.jpg

Next into the 600, and things were getting a bit easier

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7219/dsc00041jn1.jpg

Still along way from the desired finish

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2697/dsc00042ie3.jpg

The 1200 felt a bit more like polishing than sanding and started to look a bit more like ....

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2442/dsc00045em4.jpg

The 1500 took a while, and after a quick final polish with some Brasso and then cleaned off with Nail Varnish remover the "Mirror" like finish was worth it

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/8885/dsc00048ih1.jpg

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8383/dsc00049kz4.jpg

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/6938/dsc00050ok4.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3796/dsc00052de0.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3822/dsc00053fw9.jpg

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/2060/dsc00054nx3.jpg

It took a good three hours, about 10 sheets of grit 1/2 roll of masking tape and several cups of coffee

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9018/dsc00055lv1.jpg

And finally back it its rightfull place

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1311/dsc00057fq9.jpg

So after all that it appears to have worked the idle temps are down around 4 to 6 degrees per core and the four cores are now within about 3 degrees of each other where they were 6 to 8 or so apart before

Nice lapp mate!
I've lapped my E6850, it came out very nice. Though i only went to 1000 grit, as i heard that anything over 800 grit is a waste. I'm gonna try and prove that wrong soon. I will post my findings soon.

I think i will try lapping my next cpu.

Im just in awe everytime i see this thread....i havent got the patience.