Athlon XP lapping

[FatMan42]

Has anybody here tried lapping their XP chip? I'm toying with the idea - not sure if I want to try or not. I've read a few 'how-to' pieces on the web and they make it look pretty easy. Granted they were articles about Cu-mine lapping - is the cap on the core any different between the two? (Isn't the Pally core covered by nickel??)

Anyway - my point is to try and reduce core temps. They're not excessive (peak 50C core from MBM5, 1800+ @1606MHz, 133*12, idle: 44C on EPoX 8KHA+), but I'd like them lower so I can run as a 2000+. Cooler is a Noise Control Silverado. The base looks very flat to start with. Very mirror-like, so I probably won't do anything to that.

Any tips/advice?

 

[mDistrukt]

Get a better heatsink or lower your case temps. I think lapping the core on an XP would royally screw it up.

 

[Shack70]

Try 2 things...
get some Artic Silver3 and re-seat your cooler or get a new one. I use an alpha 8045 and my 1600+(1.47ghz) OCed to 1750mhz runs at 38 degrees celcuis

 

[FatMan42]

I've got AS2 on it right now. It's not a re-seating issue - removed it a few times over the months already. Makes little difference. I spent good money on that cooler - 'cos it's so quiet (OK, it's not the most powerful cooler). Sorry, I'd rather run at 50C than have a 7000rpm screamer in the case. I value my hearing! I'm going to add a shim next week. Hopefully that will knock a few degrees off the temp.

 

[panhead49]

alot of people have gone to these extremes.... (common).......if your temps warrent it.....lap away....be carefull.....

 

[FatMan42]

...so that sounds generally like a vote for "don't do it!". Has anybody here actually tried CPU lapping, and specifically - with XP's?

 

[Carrot44]

That little square you see is the Core of the cpu. Sure you probably can shave a few microns of silicon off of it and it will still work. But it may not too. Its a Flip-Chip so the ckts are on the other side facing the organic substrate. But one little oopsie and you chip or crack it and your out $$

 

[tomrizzo]

I wouldn't do it, the cores are already fragile enough.

 

[Sharpstick]

Athlon XP's are not like the old P3 that you could lap on and get result's, I alway's lap and polish my HS base bfore I install one , I have only purchased one HS I didn't polish and it was a $60 Blizzard solid copper HS i purchased last year, awesome HS weigh's 500 grams !!! idle to full load temp's only vary by about 5 degree's, I purchased a Vantec CCK-6035 Copper for $20 at Coolerguys, kinda high on the shipping at $7


I vote No Lappy on the XP

 

[WarCon]

I was feeling extremely dumb one day and lapped my Athlon 1gig. I was surprised how uneven the top was, but lapping it did absolutely nothing for performance. Also shims don't do anything for cooling. They just protect your core during mounting and unmounting of heatsinks. They keep your from tilting it one way or the other which is one of the main causes of chipping.