- Joined
- Jul 31, 2003
- Location
- Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Lake Tahoe
Hello OC techies, Ive been coming to this site since it first came up waaaay back when so I finally decided to register after reading the Tips part on Lapping. It was a nicely composed article, maybe a bit to in depth for noobs, but hey at once we were all noobs...so no knocking them. Anyways, I wanted to add to that article because lapping, which is simliar to lathing is COMMON practice for me on all my Intel CPUs. I will explain why..
1. Lapping or sanding the CPU can greatly decrease heat when overclocking.
2. Lapping is relatively safe and if you have the correct sandpaper..its free..
3. I said its free and it reduces heat from the CPU. do I need to say more?
ok so heres the deal, this is what youll need and from here on, know that I am referring to INTEL cpus not AMDs...
1. A intel CPU socket 478 or 370 if your taking it old school style, preferably the socket 478
2. 220 grit & 600 grit, and if you can find some 1200 grit sandpaper, they cost about 1.69 US dollars for 6 sheets each pack, and you can get them at your local hardware store.
3. a neoprene foam piece large enough to cover the surface area of the gold pins on the back of the CPU, or a piece of foam that came with the CPU.
4. preferably a piece of glass at least 12 inches by 12 inches wide or a really flat surface, I mean really flat, not concrete flat lol.
5. any good tape, scotch, duct, you get the points
ok thats it, not much materials needed. Heres what to do.
1.Take the Neoprene foam or CPU protective foam, and gently place it on the back side of the CPU's gold pins, make sure that it covers the pins decently.
2. tape a full piece of the 220 grit sandpaper, and tape the edges of the sandpaper to the piece of glass.
3. place the glass on a flat surface, I use my granite kitchen countertop.
4. now take the CPU and gently move it in a circular motion on the sandpaper.
"NOw wait a sec, how do I know how much I should lapp this sucker before I ruin my CPU?"
thats easy, on the 370 chipset, you should NOT use the 220 grit sandpaper unless your hardcore, and is you do decide to use 220 gritt on the 370 chipset I wouldnt do it for more than a few rotations cause you have to remember you still have to hit it with the 600 grit in order to smooth out the visible scratches.
on the 478, use the 220 grit sand paper until the entire surface is copper, then stop and get ready to switch sandpaper.
If your hardcore like me, I go for quite a while, when I use this method, otherwise I will take the CPU and go get it lathed but thats a whole nother' story...
5. Once you reach the copper on the CPU take off the 220 grit sandpaper and switch it to the 600 grit, tape it down, and start going in circles again.
If you continously look at the surface of the CPU you will notice that the deeper looking scratches go away rather quickly and after a few minutes it will start to look smooooth..oh yah thats what we want.
6. Now if you went the extra method, getting the 1200 grit sandpaper, (this isnt neccessary at all ...just a perfectionist thing), then you will follow up with this last switch out of the sandpaper to the 1200 and move the CPU in circles again until you have a semi mirror finish.
now clean up your mess, make a double check to make sure that there is not metalllic dust on the gold pins from the sanding. ( I use a compressor or compressed air ( Dust off ) ).
7. clean the CPU with cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol nicely.
8. apply thermal compound and overclock that sucker.
only bad thing to this is...if your like me, which a lot of you are, I have more than 9 rigs, and I am constantly swapping out CPUS for newer ones or whatever...I sometimes forget which CPU is which because now there is no way to find out but to boot the CPU at default to figure out its real clock speed lol.
My latest experience, I took my new 3.0 800FSB CPU and did this to it, using artic silver III and a prometeia mach II unit I have overclocked it to 4.1 , idle temp is - 46 with load it is -38 -35, on a Abit IC7-G MAX II mobo vcore at 1.8, mem will not OC at all at this speed, neither will PCI or AGP slots, but man it is FAST... I can post pics if you guys want..more than glad too...
With Air cooling, on a volcano 7+ HSF , I lapped my 2.2A , I overclocked it to a nice 2.8 with vcore at 1.675, temps are 28C idle, and 34-36C loaded. using one vantec stealth intake and one vantec stealth exhuast....
ANyone have questions lemme know
1. Lapping or sanding the CPU can greatly decrease heat when overclocking.
2. Lapping is relatively safe and if you have the correct sandpaper..its free..
3. I said its free and it reduces heat from the CPU. do I need to say more?
ok so heres the deal, this is what youll need and from here on, know that I am referring to INTEL cpus not AMDs...
1. A intel CPU socket 478 or 370 if your taking it old school style, preferably the socket 478
2. 220 grit & 600 grit, and if you can find some 1200 grit sandpaper, they cost about 1.69 US dollars for 6 sheets each pack, and you can get them at your local hardware store.
3. a neoprene foam piece large enough to cover the surface area of the gold pins on the back of the CPU, or a piece of foam that came with the CPU.
4. preferably a piece of glass at least 12 inches by 12 inches wide or a really flat surface, I mean really flat, not concrete flat lol.
5. any good tape, scotch, duct, you get the points
ok thats it, not much materials needed. Heres what to do.
1.Take the Neoprene foam or CPU protective foam, and gently place it on the back side of the CPU's gold pins, make sure that it covers the pins decently.
2. tape a full piece of the 220 grit sandpaper, and tape the edges of the sandpaper to the piece of glass.
3. place the glass on a flat surface, I use my granite kitchen countertop.
4. now take the CPU and gently move it in a circular motion on the sandpaper.
"NOw wait a sec, how do I know how much I should lapp this sucker before I ruin my CPU?"
thats easy, on the 370 chipset, you should NOT use the 220 grit sandpaper unless your hardcore, and is you do decide to use 220 gritt on the 370 chipset I wouldnt do it for more than a few rotations cause you have to remember you still have to hit it with the 600 grit in order to smooth out the visible scratches.
on the 478, use the 220 grit sand paper until the entire surface is copper, then stop and get ready to switch sandpaper.
If your hardcore like me, I go for quite a while, when I use this method, otherwise I will take the CPU and go get it lathed but thats a whole nother' story...
5. Once you reach the copper on the CPU take off the 220 grit sandpaper and switch it to the 600 grit, tape it down, and start going in circles again.
If you continously look at the surface of the CPU you will notice that the deeper looking scratches go away rather quickly and after a few minutes it will start to look smooooth..oh yah thats what we want.
6. Now if you went the extra method, getting the 1200 grit sandpaper, (this isnt neccessary at all ...just a perfectionist thing), then you will follow up with this last switch out of the sandpaper to the 1200 and move the CPU in circles again until you have a semi mirror finish.
now clean up your mess, make a double check to make sure that there is not metalllic dust on the gold pins from the sanding. ( I use a compressor or compressed air ( Dust off ) ).
7. clean the CPU with cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol nicely.
8. apply thermal compound and overclock that sucker.
only bad thing to this is...if your like me, which a lot of you are, I have more than 9 rigs, and I am constantly swapping out CPUS for newer ones or whatever...I sometimes forget which CPU is which because now there is no way to find out but to boot the CPU at default to figure out its real clock speed lol.
My latest experience, I took my new 3.0 800FSB CPU and did this to it, using artic silver III and a prometeia mach II unit I have overclocked it to 4.1 , idle temp is - 46 with load it is -38 -35, on a Abit IC7-G MAX II mobo vcore at 1.8, mem will not OC at all at this speed, neither will PCI or AGP slots, but man it is FAST... I can post pics if you guys want..more than glad too...
With Air cooling, on a volcano 7+ HSF , I lapped my 2.2A , I overclocked it to a nice 2.8 with vcore at 1.675, temps are 28C idle, and 34-36C loaded. using one vantec stealth intake and one vantec stealth exhuast....
ANyone have questions lemme know