- Nov 21, 2006
- 296
- 0
- 18,780
I recently had OC'd my aging AMD Athlon 3700+ San Diego from 2.2gHz to 2.9gHz...all of this on stock cooling. I was so thrilled! Until that is, I started playing a semi-recent game. See, I'm addicted to America's Army. I don't know for a fact, but the game is so old I bet someone with an IGP could play it. Needless to say, it does not tax my CPU or GPU in anyway.
So one evening, I decided to download the 7-day trial of Lord of the Rings Online. After playing for about 15 minutes, I could hear through my headphones what sounded like an airplane in my office. Sure enough it was my HSF running at close to 5000 RPM's and the CPU was hovering at 58C. At first I thought “okay…well, I can deal with this.” But on the second evening, I couldn’t anymore. So I sent off to Newegg to send me a shiny new Xigmatek S1283 Rifle CPU Cooler, rated #1 by FrostyTech. After 3 days, my shiny new CPU cooler arrived. When I removed all the popcorn from the shipping box and pulled out the CPU cooler box, I saw the biggest fan I have ever seen (outside of your normal house fan). My immediate reaction was…”NO WAY! There is no way thing thing is fitting in my case!”
I tried eyeballing it best I could before I started taking apart the stock setup, but I just couldn’t be sure. So I figured…what the hell…I’m going to just go for it and see what happens. Worst case scenario, I get to apply AS5 to the stock setup rather than the icky thermal pad that it had been using.
It was about this time that I started debating lapping my CPU. Not sure if I was ready for this big of an adventure I did some reading about the process and also checked on the cost of a replacement CPU in the event I destroyed this one. Newegg had an AMD Athlon 4000+ for $40.00, so I didn’t feel there was much risk in giving this a go.
I ran down to my local OSH Hardware store, grabbed 3 sheets of 220 grit Wet or Dry Sandpaper, 2 sheets of 400 grit and 1 sheet of 600 grit. The total cost was around $.98 per sheet, so 6 bucks out the door, roughly. I brought all of this home and began preparing.
I had purchased the Arctic Silver thermal grease remover kit from Newegg when I bought my cooler for $5.00. Most say that you can do it with alcohol or some other product found in your home, but I just wasn’t comfortable with that…so I forked over the $5.00 for something that is probably just a repackaged product found in my home at a higher cost, but it eased my mind.
Removing the thermal material was very easy with this. I just put a few drops on the CPU, used some q-tips to wipe it around and then wiped it clean with a paper towel. Next, I did as many of the guides stated…I taped the 220 grit to a piece of glass and taped that down onto my table. Then I grabbed my CPU and began sanding away. After about 25 minutes, I wasn’t really seeing any results. Just a small portion of the nickel had started to scrape away, but not enough in my mind for the amount of work I was doing. Either way I kept at it.
After about an hour, and 1 ½ sheets of the 220 grit sandpaper, I started to really see the results. What I found out was that the sandpaper wears down really easily, so I had to change fairly often to ensure that it was actually working. Good thing I bought 3 sheets!
Finally…after about 1 hour and 45 minutes, I had removed all of the nickel plating on the CPU and had a nice semi-shiny copper surface. So I moved up to the 400 grit paper. I had drawn an X on the CPU to see if the surface was even or not. As I would have imagined it was not. The CPU was sorely concave (yes, concave…not convex). The 400 grit sheets really seemed to event her out. Lastly I moved to the 600 grit and ended up with a fairly flat surface that was relatively shiny.
Other people on website opted to buy higher grits (1200, 1500 and so forth) to make a super clean shiny surface, but I’m of the mindset that I wasn’t going to see that surface anymore once the HSF is on it, so who cares how shiny it is. Next came the scary part for me…actually putting on the new HSF.
This was my first time working with an aftermarket cooler…let alone a cooler of this gargantuan size! I used about a pea sized drop of AS5 and spread it on the CPU with a business card which provided me with a very thin, but good covering (thanks PC Gamer for the tip!!!). Since my motherboard is a socket 939, the installation of the heatsink was very, very easy. Just hook up the retaining clips and lock it. No screws, no push pins…it was a piece of cake. It was so easy; I don’t understand why some people say that it’s easier to remove the motherboard. I didn’t, but maybe it’s just easier for socket 939.
Next I had to install the fan. This is a little difficult because you have to get these rubber supports through these little holes on the fan itself which is used to support the fan on the heatsink. After a little bit of finger muscle work, I had done it. Actually getting the fan onto the heatsink was a breeze.
Finally, the moment of truth. The Power-Up!
She booted right up. I immediately went to check the fan speed and the temps. What was amazing is that my BIOS was set to alarm me when my CPU fan speed drops below 1200. Well this fan runs around that, but was keeping my temps at 32C.
Here are how my temps matched up:
Stock HSF @ 2.9gHz Overclock
Idle – 46C
Load – 58C
Xigmatek HSF @ 2.9gHz Overclock (lapped)
Idle – 32C
Load – 44C
What I find most amazing is that at full load the fan only runs at 1400 RPM’s and is dead silent. I don’t doubt that a seasoned professional could have probably lapped the CPU better or hooked up the new HSF better than me, but being a first-timer, I am really proud of the fact that I did it and how it turned out. The drop in temps absolutely astounds me!
I’m part of an America’s Army clan and after I was done last night I hopped on TeamSpeak with a bunch of them. I think my results have prompted a few of them to want to jump in as well and try to do the same thing with their CPU’s, but they have newer setups (Core 2’s), so we will see. Chickens!
This experience has taught me a terrific lesson. It took about 3-3 ½ hours to complete the whole process, but it was worth it in every way. I am now content to lap every CPU I ever get (after the warranty is up, of course) and I will always use an aftermarket HSF. To me, the results don’t lie. The numbers speak for themselves.
I had a blast! I took a ton of pictures of the process, but I haven’t yet had an opportunity to pull them off of my camera. And now I do not have a jet engine in my office driving me nuts!
So one evening, I decided to download the 7-day trial of Lord of the Rings Online. After playing for about 15 minutes, I could hear through my headphones what sounded like an airplane in my office. Sure enough it was my HSF running at close to 5000 RPM's and the CPU was hovering at 58C. At first I thought “okay…well, I can deal with this.” But on the second evening, I couldn’t anymore. So I sent off to Newegg to send me a shiny new Xigmatek S1283 Rifle CPU Cooler, rated #1 by FrostyTech. After 3 days, my shiny new CPU cooler arrived. When I removed all the popcorn from the shipping box and pulled out the CPU cooler box, I saw the biggest fan I have ever seen (outside of your normal house fan). My immediate reaction was…”NO WAY! There is no way thing thing is fitting in my case!”
I tried eyeballing it best I could before I started taking apart the stock setup, but I just couldn’t be sure. So I figured…what the hell…I’m going to just go for it and see what happens. Worst case scenario, I get to apply AS5 to the stock setup rather than the icky thermal pad that it had been using.
It was about this time that I started debating lapping my CPU. Not sure if I was ready for this big of an adventure I did some reading about the process and also checked on the cost of a replacement CPU in the event I destroyed this one. Newegg had an AMD Athlon 4000+ for $40.00, so I didn’t feel there was much risk in giving this a go.
I ran down to my local OSH Hardware store, grabbed 3 sheets of 220 grit Wet or Dry Sandpaper, 2 sheets of 400 grit and 1 sheet of 600 grit. The total cost was around $.98 per sheet, so 6 bucks out the door, roughly. I brought all of this home and began preparing.
I had purchased the Arctic Silver thermal grease remover kit from Newegg when I bought my cooler for $5.00. Most say that you can do it with alcohol or some other product found in your home, but I just wasn’t comfortable with that…so I forked over the $5.00 for something that is probably just a repackaged product found in my home at a higher cost, but it eased my mind.
Removing the thermal material was very easy with this. I just put a few drops on the CPU, used some q-tips to wipe it around and then wiped it clean with a paper towel. Next, I did as many of the guides stated…I taped the 220 grit to a piece of glass and taped that down onto my table. Then I grabbed my CPU and began sanding away. After about 25 minutes, I wasn’t really seeing any results. Just a small portion of the nickel had started to scrape away, but not enough in my mind for the amount of work I was doing. Either way I kept at it.
After about an hour, and 1 ½ sheets of the 220 grit sandpaper, I started to really see the results. What I found out was that the sandpaper wears down really easily, so I had to change fairly often to ensure that it was actually working. Good thing I bought 3 sheets!
Finally…after about 1 hour and 45 minutes, I had removed all of the nickel plating on the CPU and had a nice semi-shiny copper surface. So I moved up to the 400 grit paper. I had drawn an X on the CPU to see if the surface was even or not. As I would have imagined it was not. The CPU was sorely concave (yes, concave…not convex). The 400 grit sheets really seemed to event her out. Lastly I moved to the 600 grit and ended up with a fairly flat surface that was relatively shiny.
Other people on website opted to buy higher grits (1200, 1500 and so forth) to make a super clean shiny surface, but I’m of the mindset that I wasn’t going to see that surface anymore once the HSF is on it, so who cares how shiny it is. Next came the scary part for me…actually putting on the new HSF.
This was my first time working with an aftermarket cooler…let alone a cooler of this gargantuan size! I used about a pea sized drop of AS5 and spread it on the CPU with a business card which provided me with a very thin, but good covering (thanks PC Gamer for the tip!!!). Since my motherboard is a socket 939, the installation of the heatsink was very, very easy. Just hook up the retaining clips and lock it. No screws, no push pins…it was a piece of cake. It was so easy; I don’t understand why some people say that it’s easier to remove the motherboard. I didn’t, but maybe it’s just easier for socket 939.
Next I had to install the fan. This is a little difficult because you have to get these rubber supports through these little holes on the fan itself which is used to support the fan on the heatsink. After a little bit of finger muscle work, I had done it. Actually getting the fan onto the heatsink was a breeze.
Finally, the moment of truth. The Power-Up!
She booted right up. I immediately went to check the fan speed and the temps. What was amazing is that my BIOS was set to alarm me when my CPU fan speed drops below 1200. Well this fan runs around that, but was keeping my temps at 32C.
Here are how my temps matched up:
Stock HSF @ 2.9gHz Overclock
Idle – 46C
Load – 58C
Xigmatek HSF @ 2.9gHz Overclock (lapped)
Idle – 32C
Load – 44C
What I find most amazing is that at full load the fan only runs at 1400 RPM’s and is dead silent. I don’t doubt that a seasoned professional could have probably lapped the CPU better or hooked up the new HSF better than me, but being a first-timer, I am really proud of the fact that I did it and how it turned out. The drop in temps absolutely astounds me!
I’m part of an America’s Army clan and after I was done last night I hopped on TeamSpeak with a bunch of them. I think my results have prompted a few of them to want to jump in as well and try to do the same thing with their CPU’s, but they have newer setups (Core 2’s), so we will see. Chickens!
This experience has taught me a terrific lesson. It took about 3-3 ½ hours to complete the whole process, but it was worth it in every way. I am now content to lap every CPU I ever get (after the warranty is up, of course) and I will always use an aftermarket HSF. To me, the results don’t lie. The numbers speak for themselves.
I had a blast! I took a ton of pictures of the process, but I haven’t yet had an opportunity to pull them off of my camera. And now I do not have a jet engine in my office driving me nuts!
. 
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