Maximum PC

I happened across another thread, which of course I can't find now ("lap cooler" in the search resulted in no hits), which reminded me of the practice of lapping a cooler to ensure good contact.

Is this a common practice anymore? I'm getting an H50 in a few days and thinking about smoothing it out a bit, if I can tell it's "out of round", so to speak.

Just wondering.

-m

It's definitely still done.
Here's a pretty good guide:
http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/lapping/

Ahhh, thanky!

Too bad we don't have a rep system here.

We prefer good information, rather than social acceptance.

You know what happens when you start adding stuff like that?



This: http://digg.com/news

Naw, I think a nice +rep system works well. I don't like a -rep system in forums. Only starts arguments.

Regardless, the sentiment is there. Thank you for your help!

I'm wondering how difficult it will be to lap with the SS screws in place. Depending on how much material I remove they may get in the way. I need to be careful.

I'm assuming removing those screws on the copper plate would pretty much ruin it.

It's fairly likely. As long as you're okay with not being able to remove them, you ought to be fine. Lapping shouldn't ever remove more than a millimeter or so of material from the plate.

Do they make something like that, like the H50, for a GPU? It would be nifty to have a similar unit for my 5870.

Are the screws flush with the base? Recessed? If they are recessed, you're fine. If they are flush, you may be causing yourself more problems than lapping is worth.

I've never seen an all-in-one integrated solution for a GPU. This is probably because the mounts differ so widely between cards. Your H50 came with a handful of parts that allow it to be mounted to almost every modern CPU socket. Doing that with a GPU is nigh-impossible. Add to this the fact that you'd have to find a mounting place for the rad / fan and you see why an integrated solution for a GPU is unlikely.

If you want to watercool your GPU, you'll have to build a full loop. Fun! Expensive.

I'll find out this week and post back (about the screws).

Thanks for the reply. A full loop, maybe someday...

They are recessed and I have lapped mine as well as my cpu kind of made a difference maybe a few c.