So, I realized the other day my i7 is WAYYYY too hot. Like idles at 50 hot. So, being the intrepid soul I am, I decided to check its flatness. Warning:pics can be scary. Do not allow children under 18 to view.
You can see here the processor is actually proud in the center...
And that it extends all the way across in one direction. Machine skipped?
So, I've applied TIM to get a footprint test-it's not the normal way to check, but it gives better results than anything else I know. Sorry, Lumiere...
And here's the lapping glass in place. Not only is it perfectly flat, but it weighs as much as the average aftermarket heatsink, as well. Note the thick bond, air is squeezed out but there's too much TIM in the center-it's sitting around that crown.
Still, the TIM joint is far too thick-the glass rests on the high spot.
In this shot, the fractal pattern around the center indicates the area of greatest contact-in the center only. It's interesting to note the amount of area that never made contact...
So what's a guy to do? Lap, of course. We'll get rid of that high spot in no time flat. (Pun intended.)
Our tools assembled, we set to work. We have...
A CPU. If you're going to lap a CPU you kinda need one.
A sheet of glass. Mine is actually lapping glass, it's as flat as engineers can make it, but almost all glass is float glass today, which will be pretty much perfect.
Tape. I use 3M's top line stuff, but anything that pulls off clean will work.
And sandpaper. Once again, 3M, but be sure it's wet/dry sandpaper. You'll need to wet the processor to make sure the copper dust floats off instead of loads the paper.
Tape your paper to the glass. This will stop it from sliding around as much.
At this point, put a few drops of water down and start sanding. Also, you may wanna start a movie.
A few words on sandpapers and lapping-starting with 600 will remove metal fast, but you'll end up going through 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 to get them out. As all I had was 1000 and 2000, it goes slow, but makes very flat CPUs anyway.
As you can see, the first area to lose metal is the center.
So reflective, it focused on the background...
Ready to move on...
And done. Took a few hours, a lot of elbow grease, and patience. But, as you can see, it looks much better.
Remember your processor is a sealed unit, and don't be afraid to put some water down or wash it clean. Both are important steps.
Questions, comments, flames, you know where to leave them. I have more testing to do.