Do new heatsinks need to be lapped?

[PizzatheHut06]

I was thinking about purchasing this heatsink and fan:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=370652

and also purchasing some Arctic Silver 5 to lower temps as well. Would I need to lap the heatsink if I got it, or would it be ready to go?

 

[Spartan 1394]

I would say it's ready to go, but if you're an extremist and want every last degree out of it then you might want to lap it.

 

[derfist]

what is lapping?

 

[ag3]

Lapping is when you sand down the bottom of a heatsink in attempt to smoothen it out as much as possible. This is done to obtain maximum contact with the CPU.

 

[ag3]

Even though it may not always be visible to the human eye, heatsinks have microscopic grooves among the surface.

 

[PizzatheHut06]

Right now I have a stock heatsink and fan and am running about 52 C idle. How much would a new heatsink and fan with Arctic Silver 5 help lower my temps by? Any rough estimates?

 

[Demalii]

depending on which hsf you get, you can drop a good 2-4c along with lapping can give you another 4c drop... but again, it all depends on ambient temps and what's inside your rig that'll define how much of a temp drop you'll get from all this...

 

[jolancer]

at what degree are most HSF's already sanded down to? so if u were to lap it yourself, u should use no lower then ___ grit size?? and should u sand it by hand, or is it better or worst if u use a electric sander on it??

 

[derfist]

sounds a lil extreme, but if u wanna risk it...........

 

[Nubius]

nah it's not extreme derfist, you just need patience..
go to www.easypckits.com for some good low priced heatsink lapping kits. You lap it on a mirror for a flat surface and basically use the weight of the heatsink itself as pressure. The cheap kit goes up to 2000grit but the premium grit goes from 400,600,800,1000,45 micron, 25 micron, 20 micron, 15 micron and finally 10 micron, and includes 10,000 grit polish for the 'ultimate mirror finish' I don't know about 4 degrees just cause of lapping but that I suppose COULD happen but don't expect it. I lapped my heatsink, but I didn't have this particular heatsink installed beforehand so I don't know the previous temps. =/

It takes a good solid hours work if not longer than that.....wet sanding is best...you can never use too much water, but the guy at that site I linked has good instructions