A few questions on ultra 120 and lapping....

[djvibes2007]

hi, ive just received my thermalright ultra 120 extreme which will soon be replacing my 2 week old blue orb ii. Im in the middle of buying parts towards a new rig to overclock my q6600 to 3.6ghz and upwards. Anyway i have a few questions you techies might be able to help with:

1) My ultra 120 heatsink came with a 120mm scythe ninja fan, when i get round to attaching it which way should it face? And is it possible to add more fans to the heatsink, if its possible i would like to add a similiar scythe fan to the other side, and i have a neon led fan that i would like to clip on somewhere? The neon fan although does provide a tiny amount of cold air, is more for show, infact how many fans could i attach to the heatsink? i know it sounds like im going crazy, but could you have 2x120mm fans and 2x80mm fans on it?

2) Ive never actually opened the core thing where the cpu is, ive only applied mx-2 paste to the core when i did the blue orb ii, im going to have to remove my q6600 cpu when i get my new motherboard. Is there a safe correct way to handle the cpu?

3) Am i right to believe that lapping will reduce my temps somewhat, and if so would it be safe for me to do it myself? And what part is getting lapped, the core bit where the paste goes, and what could i use sandpaper or something?

4) Once i have it all in, because i will be doing some overclocking mostly on the cpu, i was thinking of doing a bit on the ram, maybe from 800mhz to 950mhz or 1066mhz, would i need some kind of memory cooler, and if so what could i get that would cover and cool all 4x1gb ddr2?

Long thread i know, hoped i could get some solid answers from the one thread.

Thanks in advance

 

[djvibes2007]

just been reading http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=105586 - is it possible to overdo it say if you rub too hard or something it might get to thin?

 

[jeanluclariviere]

First of all, always take anti-static measures if you will be handeling your proc. (rubber gloves, or a grounding bracelet hooked up to the PSU) and always, always handle the CPU on the edges. As for lapping, I've never done it, and this is the first time i've looked into it a bit for the sake of this post, but NO! do not lap the CPU - in your second post it clearly shows you should be lapping the heat-sink. You do infact remove a thin layer of metal, but nothing significant. Oh, and i've never had any use for RAM Coolers, but thats just me. Personally i'd just buy sticks rated for 1066 and try to get the closest rated speed as possible...

 

[rubix_1011]

You can lap the CPU, and in fact, if you are going to make the cooler plate completely flat, it negates the design on an untouched CPU IHS. In either case, if you are going to lap one, you probably should lap the other, unless you have a tremendously flat IHS on your CPU (which most aren't).

As for OC'ing the Q6600, you have to clock the chip and your FSB (RAM included) when you bump this chip up. It doesn't have an unlocked multiplier so the FSB (obviously, since you are bumping the FSB frequency) is directly impacted when you adjust the speeds or the multiplier. Only when you get the Extreme versions of Intel chips do you get the unlocked multiplier.

Please do some additional reading about the lapping at the top of the Coolers and Heatsinks forum...the 'stickies' as well as in the Overclocking section as well on 'How to overclock C2D chips'.

 

[evongugg]

Cooler Lapping Tutorial

http://www.danielandrade.net/2006/07/08/lapping-tutorial/

 

[joe_967]

+1 to Rubix.

I have just finshed lapping my cpu and thermalright 120 extreme. The goal of lapping is to achieve the most contact possible between the heatsink and cpu, so really only doing 1 might achieve nothing if the cpu is a concave shape, which they usually are. Read up on the forums on how other people have performed this. I recommend taking your time, and being patient. It is a very simple process as long as you take your time.

 

[djvibes2007]

i have a anti-static wrist strap which should be ok, when the cpu gets swapped over to my new mobo (havnt got it yet) will the cpu fit in the same way, will check the manual as well however.

Buying new 1066mhz ram is a no really, i only just bought anohter 2 sticks of my xms ram, i could always it unlink it i suppose and dont overclock it.

It also seems like the ultra 120 can only hold 2 fans? could someone reccomend another high cfm low db noise 120mm fan?

And what is the best way to apply the paste? i normally cover the core in a light evenly spread with a small blob where the heatsink will seat. is there a better way? i heard about a rice grain size, but i was scared it might not be enough.

Cheers

 

[evongugg]

I was scared too in the beginning.
The core is smaller than you think.
If you are using Arctic Silver 5 the grain of rice size is enough.
Check your temperatures with too much and very little. With too much the temperatures are higher.

 

[djvibes2007]

i will be applying arctic cooling mx-2

 

[evongugg]

Sorry, with Arctic Silver and a Quad Core it is a line of thermal paste.
See the instructions on their web site if you are interested.

 

[olddman]

I just finished building my first computer and I lapped both my Cpu and 120 extreme heatsink. I was kinda scared to do it at first , mostly becuase I had never done it before. It wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. I started with 800 grid sandpaper and finished with 1000 grid. You can start with 600 but I figured since I had never done it, going slow was my best bet. It's time comsumeing but worth it IMO. Once you see the concave parts become flat you just know you've done the right thing.

When I installed the heat sink , I put it in where the fins were left to right. Installed a fan on top and bottom of it. I have a 240mm fan on the top of my case so I had the cooler fans drawing in on the bottom and blowing out on the top so the the top case fan would grab the air and expell it.

When i was lapping my CPU I wore a pair of surgical gloves and always held it on the edges. Was fairly easy useing my thumb and middle 2 fingers.

As far as adding more fans, the edges of my fans had holes in them at all four corners, so if you have the room in your case - I would think it would be easy to bolts 2 fans together, just make sure they both doing the same thing- drawing or exhausteing.

I can't say how much it lowered my temps because I did it in the build and have nothing to compare the outcome to, but I can say I overclocked my Q6600 to 3.2GHs (9*356) @ 1.32 volts and ran Prime95 for 42 hrs and the max on my temps were 61-60-57-58.

 

[djvibes2007]

thanks for the tips olddman, ive just ordered a raidmax sagitta case 😀 , so i currently looking for a new motherboard. as soon as i shop around and get one, im sure you can help me with any problems i have installing the heatsink. i managed on my own with the blue orb ii but this looks a little trickier.

thanks again