Compaddict

Originally I built this system with a 3700 Sandy processor which gave me room to upgrade and it ran very nicely at 2.7 Ghz, 39-40c loaded. Now the prices dropped and I got an X2 3800 and changed it out. My first temps running everything stock were 52c loaded. Geezzz, lets try that again! Off with the HS, clean and reapply AS5. Wow, it dropped 2 whole degrees! 46c was the lowest it got and I wasn't very happy about it, not having room to OC temp wise. Ok fine! Determined to make this work, I broke the piggy bank and got a Zalman 9500. (Man it looks cool through the side window!). All that and only 45c, now I'm really pissed!

I had noticed when I took off my stock HS that there seemed to be an indent along one side, a ridge from the processor. I read some posts about lapping but wasn't sure if I wanted to void the warrenty since it was brand new. At this point I was ready to put my Sandy back in anyway so I'm taking the Zalman back off. Stubborn sucker cut loose with the chip still attached and caught the edge of the bracket bending all the pins on one side. Oh Crap!!! So much for the warrenty, now anything goes.

I read up on fixing bent pins and got them back in place. I ran out and got a sheet of 600 grit, I just wanted flat surfaces, nothing fancy this time not knowing if the chip was damaged or if the temps would even drop much. (Now let me tell you, the guys with the pics of the beautiful mirror lapped finishes deserve respect! Until you've done this, you have no idea how much work this really takes! It's a shame that it gets covered with dark grey putty then gets sandwiched so nobody ever sees it).

Anyway, there was a ridge on the processor alright. Took me over an hour just to get the darn thing flat! I didn't even take it all down to all copper but it was flat front to back. Anxious to see if the thing even still worked, I cleaned it up and did the HS surface. That part went pretty quick. Now clean everything again, use a very thin coat of AS5, and put it all back together. Holding my breath as I flipped the switch hoping the processor wasn't going to smoke! It came up fine, Whew!

42c under load this time and dropping! While reading, I wondered what the big deal was about getting a few more degrees, well now I know. I'm running it a moderate 25% OC and 500mhz is a very noticable difference. 16 hours later it's 40c under load. A 12c drop is a huge difference and it was all worth it.

I would like to thank the site Owner, Admin, Directors, and all the members that contribute to this high tech site. It really is training a trade here with all your help and I really appriciate it.

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The Duke

Let it run 24/7 and in about 3 days the temps will drop further, AS5 takes time to cure and perform it's best.
Nice work on the lapping

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0rion

Nice job! I did this with a cooler for a graphics card whose surface was the equivalent of sand paper. Did you happen to take any pictures of what it looked like before/after lapping it?

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Q6600 @ 4.0ghz validation

Best post EVAR

jrabb1920

As5 cures with hot and cold cycles, so run it a couple of hours then shut it down for about 15minutes then on again, do that for about two days to insue proper curing, and were glad we were able to help.

tubnotub1

Awesome, glad you managed to fix the problem! And shame on AMD for putting out a chip with a lopsided IHS! Anyways, gratz on solving the problem!

PS. did you use a #2 mechanical pencil to straigten out the pins?

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Compaddict

Thanks!

I'm turning it off twice a day for about an hour and right back to folding on both cores. Even if it doesn't get any lower, I'm very happy with 40c loaded compared to 52c.

I didn't take any pics because shinny wasn't my goal this time. Maybe I will finish it one day now that I know how to do it.

I read the pencil trick but used an xacto knife I had handy. Since they were on the first 2 rows, it worked fine. I was so glad none broke off, a few were smashed flat!

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jrabb1920

Thats a good load temp, what are you overclocked to??

"tubnotub1" almost all heat spreaders are concaved with a ridge, some more than others.

Compaddict

Running at:

2.5Ghz (250x10)
HTT 4x (1000mhz FSB)
133 ram divider with DDR400 (166 locks up)

I can run at 2.4Ghz with 1:1 timing and HTT 5x to keep the 1000mhz FSB. I don't know which is better really, haven't spent time with benchies yet. Which do you think would run better?

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Kramy

HTT is not important. Set it to 4x or 3x. Between 800-1000mhz is considered best, but performance wise 600mhz vs 1200mhz should be identical; higher mhz just lowers stability.

I would run 240x10, 4x HTT, 166 divider.

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-Kramy

Athlon X2 ----- 3Dmark05 11569 ---- 3Dmark06 7138* ---- eVGA 7900GS ---- 738/1972mhz stable ---- [vmod]
Athlon XP ----- 3Dmark05 6845 ------ 3Dmark06 3519 ----- BFG 7800GS ------ 460/1450mhz stable
*1152x864


Check it out! - Videocard Power Consumption Graphs

phantomgrave

I get about 43C load overclocked to 2.4Ghz. But my ram is crap, so I cant get any higher stable Im gonna replace the fan on my AC Freezer 64 with a Silverstone FM92 and see what temps are like. Then if neccessary, I might lap my Freezer, that should help some also.