[SOLVED] lapping a nickel-plated cooler - worthwhile?

[yakjedi]

I just purchased a CM Hyper 212 BE, though it hasn't arrived yet. But in the images, it looks like the heat pipes and (more importantly) the base plate are nickel plated. While the plating is by nature quite thin, I'm considering lapping the base plate to remove the nickel plating since nickel has a TC of about 1/4 that of copper. Does anyone know if there would be an appreciable difference in thermals to make the effort worthwhile?
I'm not going to lap the cpu, btw.

 

[Karadjgne]

Don't. That's pretty much the same thing as saying you want to burn off the treads on a tire because slicks get better grip on dry pavement.

Lapping the cooler means changing its thermal makeup and the liquid inside the heatpipes is precisely measured and mixed for correct conductance at specific temps.

You also have no idea exactly if that nickle plate does anything to help weld the heatpipes to the base material and you go messing around with that and seperate that weld, the heat pipe becomes next to useless.