Walk Through : Lapping Your HSF

_jM · Nov 24, 2008

Hey Dave, Great post bro. Should be a sticky. I was just talking about lapping and wanting someone to make a post just like this one. Its perfect, just like theJesus said.. im bookmarking this!

Hayder_Master · Nov 24, 2008

nice work , and where you got this block

Skywalker12345 · Dec 11, 2008

could i do t5his to my CPU cooler? or is it pointless?

silkstone · Dec 11, 2008

Nice post. I would also recommend only wet sanding for 2 reasons. 1) you avoid getting metal dust blowing everywhere 2) It stops particles from the sandpaper becoming embedded in the hs/ihs which is detrimental to thermal conductivity.
I would also say it's pretty safe to start with a higher grit sandpaper (I used 400) and you should "lap" for 2wice the amount of time for each grit change to full remove the previous scratches.
Anyway, this is my advice even if i didn't follow it. i dry sanded the first run with 400, then i used beer as a lubricant for the final 400grit lap and the prior 'laps' up to 1000grit.
You might also want to check it's flat with a razors edge before you finish.

silkstone · Dec 11, 2008

lucasweir said:
could i do t5his to my CPU cooler? or is it pointless?

Check if your hsf is flat or not first, if it's pretty flat then it's pointless, if it's convex it's pointless (as the ihs on your chip will be concave) if it's convex then you should lap it

Skywalker12345 · Dec 11, 2008

so which picture would i want to do it to?

theJesus · Dec 11, 2008

~~Bottom, I believe.~~ Actually, I think bottom would be preferable to top. (that's what she said).

-Cooler: --___--
----IHS: __----__

^ That way, there is contact in the middle for sure.

-Cooler: __----__
----IHS: __----__

^ That way, you can't be sure how much contact there is, because one surface will probably be a little more convex or concave than the other. That would probably introduce air pockets.

Conclusion: I would leave it alone if it's like my first example, unless the surface is scratched a lot. My second example, you would probably want to lap. Of course, there's a chance the cooler was designed to "fit" the curve of an IHS, although I would think that not all IHS are exactly the same.

silkstone · Dec 11, 2008

lucasweir said:
so which picture would i want to do it to?

If it looked like either you would want to do it :laugh:

But the picture on top is concave - Would need lapping.
The one below is convex, you wouldn;t need to lapp a convex hsf unless you also lapped your CPU.

silkstone · Dec 11, 2008

theJesus said:
Bottom, I believe.

No the bottom is convex, some hsf manufacturers make the HS's slightly convex for a better fit with the CPU which is always slightly concave.

(Man, too many con's in here)

theJesus · Dec 11, 2008

Yeah, I just edited my post, I was thinking backwards.

d44ve · Jan 24, 2009

wow... this post is still going!!

intel igent · Jan 24, 2009

d44ve said:
wow... this post is still going!!

WOW! you're still hiding! :laugh:

Thermopylae_480 · Jan 24, 2009

Stickied.

crtecha · Feb 6, 2009

Great Job dude. I think I may try it on a old cooler first to get some practice. Awesome sticky

d44ve · Feb 10, 2009

Thanks for the sticky.....

If you guys want this done for ya and can afford a few days down time... I will be more than happy to do it for you.

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Feb 10, 2009

d44ve said:
Thanks for the sticky.....

If you guys want this done for ya and can afford a few days down time... I will be more than happy to do it for you.

OMG...your alive! :eek:

Where the hell have you been man? I remember your return then you just disappeared again.

d44ve · Feb 11, 2009

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:
OMG...your alive!

Where the hell have you been man? I remember your return then you just disappeared again.

Been around... still watching the boards, just stop being a post whore! LOL

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Feb 11, 2009

So your the reason that smell went away. :laugh:

Just kidding man. :toast:

silkstone · Feb 14, 2009

d44ve said:
Thanks for the sticky.....

If you guys want this done for ya and can afford a few days down time... I will be more than happy to do it for you.

Nice of you to offer to do it for other members, but i would advise you to let them do it themselves. Too many things to worry about e.g. getting lost or damaged in post and other stuff you wouldn;t want to be responsible for.

If anyone is thinking of doing this but nervous about doing so i would advise them to practise either on an old cpu first or try it with their heatsink. once they are comfortable give the cpu a go.

I't really quite safe, just don't drop it (like i did, lol) and to wipe it down after to get rid of any metallic dust or water and greese (from fingers or wet-sanding)

If anyone is feeling more confident then alternately you could remove the IHS altogether, just not on an i7 as they are soldered on! However this is a lot more risky for obvious reasons.

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Feb 14, 2009

silkstone said:
Nice of you to offer to do it for other members, but i would advise you to let them do it themselves. Too many things to worry about e.g. getting lost or damaged in post and other stuff you wouldn;t want to be responsible for.

It has the same dangers as buying from another member really. Not any different.

spearman914 · Feb 15, 2009

Good job, keep up the good work!!

d44ve · Feb 18, 2009

silkstone said:
Nice of you to offer to do it for other members, but i would advise you to let them do it themselves. Too many things to worry about e.g. getting lost or damaged in post and other stuff you wouldn;t want to be responsible for.

If anyone is thinking of doing this but nervous about doing so i would advise them to practise either on an old cpu first or try it with their heatsink. once they are comfortable give the cpu a go.

I't really quite safe, just don't drop it (like i did, lol) and to wipe it down after to get rid of any metallic dust or water and greese (from fingers or wet-sanding)

If anyone is feeling more confident then alternately you could remove the IHS altogether, just not on an i7 as they are soldered on! However this is a lot more risky for obvious reasons.

I am only offering a service.... people dont want to take the risk or are scared they might drop it ect ect. I have done a ton of these and just letting people know that I am willing to do it for them if they dont want to do it

Haytch · Feb 21, 2009

Patience is the key.

silkstone · Feb 21, 2009

d44ve said:
I am only offering a service.... people dont want to take the risk or are scared they might drop it ect ect. I have done a ton of these and just letting people know that I am willing to do it for them if they dont want to do it

I'm not warning anyone off it. thought you were offereing it free, so is a risk to you, is all. I was trying to say it's overly nice of you to offer to do it for other forum members seeing as you have nothing to gain

PVTCaboose1337 · Feb 21, 2009

Very nice guide. I follow a very similar process.

System Name	The money pit v.2 (v.1 is the wife!)
Processor	Core2Quad-Q9550@3.9ghz/1860mhzFSB @1.344v
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus II Formula = best damn P45 OCer out there!
Cooling	CoolerMster V8-- Custom WC system on the way! =]
Memory	8GB DOMINATORS @1100mhz 5-5-5-18
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 280
Storage	150GB WesternDigital Velociraptor OS Drive/1 WD 500AAKS for Storage
Display(s)	SAMSUNG 2243SWX 22" LCD
Case	Cooler Master Cosmos S w/custom lighting and cable management
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Titanium (Fatality edition) - paired with RAZER Barracuda's
Power Supply	CORSAIR HX1000W modular PSU
Software	Windows 7 RC 7100--eats vista for breakfast lunch and dinner!
Benchmark Scores	Coming to a theater near you!

System Name	MASTER
Processor	Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	2X EVGA GTX680
Storage	2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s)	Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case	CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s)	Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply	Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software	Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	3d mark 2011: testing

Processor	Intel® Core™ i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz
Motherboard	EVGA 121-KS-E375
Cooling	Stock (Temp.)
Memory	GEIL 8192 MB X2 (DDR4-2137) - XMP 2.0 - P/N: CL16-16-16 D4-2400
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (TU104-410)
Storage	Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB & Samsung SSD 950 PRO 256GB
Display(s)	LG 32" Widescreen
Case	Corsair Carbide Series 400
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX850 Platinum
Mouse	Razer Viper Ultimate
Keyboard	DAS
Software	Windows 10 20H2 64 Bit

System Name	Gaming System / HTPC-Server
Processor	i7 8700K (@4.8 Ghz All-Core) / R7 5900X
Motherboard	Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming / MSI B450 Mortar Max
Cooling	CM ML360 / CM ML240L
Memory	16Gb Hynix @3200 MHz / 16Gb Hynix @3000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Zotac 3080 / Colorful 1060
Storage	750G MX300 + 2x500G NVMe / 40Tb Reds + 1Tb WD Blue NVMe
Display(s)	LG 27GN800-B 27'' 2K 144Hz / Sony TV
Case	Xigmatek Aquarius Plus / Corsair Air 240
Audio Device(s)	On Board Realtek
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W / Andyson TX-700 Platinum
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero / K400+
Keyboard	Wooting Two / K400+
Software	Windows 10 x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R15 = 1542 3D Mark Timespy = 9758

System Name	Gaming System / HTPC-Server
Processor	i7 8700K (@4.8 Ghz All-Core) / R7 5900X
Motherboard	Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming / MSI B450 Mortar Max
Cooling	CM ML360 / CM ML240L
Memory	16Gb Hynix @3200 MHz / 16Gb Hynix @3000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Zotac 3080 / Colorful 1060
Storage	750G MX300 + 2x500G NVMe / 40Tb Reds + 1Tb WD Blue NVMe
Display(s)	LG 27GN800-B 27'' 2K 144Hz / Sony TV
Case	Xigmatek Aquarius Plus / Corsair Air 240
Audio Device(s)	On Board Realtek
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W / Andyson TX-700 Platinum
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero / K400+
Keyboard	Wooting Two / K400+
Software	Windows 10 x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R15 = 1542 3D Mark Timespy = 9758

Walk Through : Lapping Your HSF

_jM

New Member

Hayder_Master

Skywalker12345

silkstone

silkstone

Skywalker12345

theJesus

silkstone

silkstone

theJesus

d44ve

New Member

intel igent

New Member

Thermopylae_480

crtecha

New Member

d44ve

New Member

CrAsHnBuRnXp

d44ve

New Member

CrAsHnBuRnXp

silkstone

CrAsHnBuRnXp

spearman914

New Member

d44ve

New Member

Haytch

silkstone

PVTCaboose1337

Graphical Hacker

System Name	Desktop\|\| Virtual Host 0
Processor	Intel Core i5 2500-K @ 4.3ghz \|\| 2x Xeon L5630 (total 8 cores, 16 threads)
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z68-V \|\| Dell PowerEdge R710 (Intel 5520 chipset)
Cooling	Corsair Hydro H100 \|\| Stock hotplug fans and passive heatsinks
Memory	4x4gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 \|\| 12x4gb Hynix DDR3 1066 FB-DIMMs
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 760 Gaming Twin Frozr 4GB OC \|\| Don't know, don't care
Storage	Hitachi 7K3000 2TB \|\| 6x300gb 15k rpm SAS internal hotswap, 12x3tb Seagate NAS drives in enclosure
Display(s)	ViewSonic VA2349S \|\| remote iDRAC KVM console
Case	Antec P280 \|\| Dell PowerEdge R710
Audio Device(s)	HRT MusicStreamer II+ and Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 \|\| Don't know, don't care
Power Supply	SeaSonic X650 Gold \|\| 2x870w hot-swappable
Mouse	Logitech G500 \|\| remote iDRAC KVM console
Keyboard	Logitech G510 \|\| remote iDRAC KVM console
Software	Win7 Ultimate x64 \|\| VMware vSphere 6.0 with vCenter Server 6.0
Benchmark Scores	Over 9000 on the scouter

Processor	Intel E6600 @ 4.2GHZ Wo0t!
Motherboard	ASUS Striker Extreme & eVGA 680i A1
Cooling	Phase Change !!
Memory	OCZ SLI 1066MHZ (2GB)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 8800 GTX
Storage	Western Digital 320 GB
Case	Antec 900
Power Supply	Lian-Li V2000
Software	Vista Ultimate

System Name	old school / new school
Processor	3.0e C0 @ 3.6 / e5200
Motherboard	p4p800e-dlx / p5q-DLX
Cooling	custom water see sig / air
Memory	2x1g oczPC4000EbPl / 2x2g ocz2rpr1066
Video Card(s)	3850AGP / 4890vaporX
Storage	36g raptor+120g wd / wd 1001fals 1tb
Display(s)	BenQ / sharpAQUOS LC-37D64U
Case	modded antec plusview / generic
Audio Device(s)	audigy 2zs / ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3
Power Supply	fan/cable modded powerstream 520 / OCZ 700mxsp
Software	Xp pro SP2 / VISTA ultimate OEM

System Name	Monolith
Processor	Intel Xeon E3110 Wolfdale@3.5GHz
Motherboard	MSI P35-Neo
Cooling	Active Air
Memory	4GB DDR2 800
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD 3850 512MB PCI-E
Storage	1 x 80GB Internal, 1 x 250GB Internal, 1 x 40GB External
Display(s)	Acer X203w
Case	Generic black case with locking front bezel
Audio Device(s)	Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS
Power Supply	500 Watt Seasonic M12
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64

System Name	Coolin Runnings
Processor	AMD X4 Phenom 9950 B.E. @ 3.3ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-MA790x-DS4 BIOS Ver. F6
Cooling	CM Vortex 752
Memory	apacer PC6400 800mhz x 2
Video Card(s)	Two ATI Radeon 4850's in xfire
Storage	Seagate 7200.9 320gig+250gigx2
Display(s)	Acer P191w 19' wide
Case	Antec 900
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Antec Power trio 550watts
Software	Windows 7 x64 Build 7100

Processor	Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard	Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling	6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RBG 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s)	Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case	Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply	Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse	Logitech G604s
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software	Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670

System Name	Mine \| Dad + Mom
Processor	E8500 E0 Wolfdale @ 4.6GHz 1.5V \| E2180 M0 Allendale @ 3.0GHz 1.3V
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Formula (X48) w/ Rampage BIOS \| Asus P5Q Pro (P45)
Cooling	Xigmatek Rifle HDT-S1283 w/ SFF21F Fan \| Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Memory	G.Skill Pi Black 2x2GB 1.02GHz CL5 \| OCZ Reaper 2x2GB 1.05GHz CL5
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 4870X2 2GB 820/1020MHz \| Sapphire 4850 1GB 700/1100MHz
Storage	WD VR 150GB 10K RPM + WD 500GB 7.2K RPM \| WD 200GB 7.2K RPM
Display(s)	Acer P243WAID 24" 1920x1200 LCD \| Acer V193W 19" 1440x900 LCD
Case	Cooler Master HAF 932 Full-Tower \| Antec Twelve Hundred Mid-Tower
Audio Device(s)	Fatal1ty Xtreme Gamer w/ Z-5500 5.1 \| On-Board Audio w/ S-220 2.1
Power Supply	PC Power and Cooling 750W Non-Modular \| Corsair HX-520W Modular
Software	Windows Vista Home Premium X64 \| Windows Vista Home Premium X64
Benchmark Scores	Not Wasting Time!

System Name	_Speedforce_ (Successor to Strike-X, 4LI3NBR33D-H, Core-iH7 & Nemesis-H)
Processor	Intel Core i9 7980XE (Lapped) @ 5.2Ghz With XSPC Raystorm (Lapped)
Motherboard	Asus Rampage VI Extreme (XSPC Watercooled) - Custom Heatsinks (Lapped)
Cooling	XSPC Custom Water Cooling + Custom Air Cooling (From Delta 220's TFB1212GHE to Spal 30101504&5)
Memory	8x 8Gb G.Skill Trident Z RGB 4266MHz @ 4667Mhz (2x F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s)	3x Asus GTX1080 Ti (Lapped) With Customised EK Waterblock (Lapped) + Custom heatsinks (Lapped)
Storage	1x Samsung 970 EVO 2TB - 2280 (Hyper M.2 x16 Card), 7x Samsung 860 Pro 4Tb
Display(s)	6x Asus ROG Swift PG348Q
Case	Aerocool Strike X (Modified)
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 & Aurvana XFi Headphones
Power Supply	2x Corsair AX1500i With Custom Sheilding, Custom Switching Unit. Braided Cables.
Mouse	Razer Copperhead + R.A.T 9
Keyboard	Ideazon Zboard + Optimus Maximus. Logitech G13.
Software	w10 Pro x64.
Benchmark Scores	pppft, gotta see it to believe it. . .

System Name	Whim
Processor	Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V LX
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Memory	2 x 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws @ 1600mhz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GTX 670 2gb
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256gb, WD 2TB Black
Display(s)	Shimian QH270 (1440p), Asus VE228 (1080p)
Case	Cooler Master 430 Elite
Audio Device(s)	Onboard > PA2V2 Amp > Senn 595's
Power Supply	Corsair 750w
Software	Windows 8.1 (Tweaked)