What exactly is "lapping"?

[ThreeDollarBill]

Well, the title says it all...
Please give me a definition or explanation of what "lapping your cpu" means.

Thanks

 

[groovy]

Lapping is the polishing of the mating surfaces of your heatsink & cpu to eliminate highspots. Even though you can't see them with your naked eye, they exist. By using successively higher sandpaper grits you can get both surfaces almost as smooth as glass. The smoother the surface, the greater the heat transfer. A very light application of thermal grease will complete the procedure by filling in any low spots

 

[Rastus]

Does anyone lap TBirds and Durons?

 

[groovy]

Here's a link to Sysopt on the subjest. I hope it helps
here

 

[flyfish]

I lapped a duron600. Not all the way to the metal. I only sanded enough to make make the palstic coating very thin. It did not help the temps at all, as far as I could tell.

 

[Netopia]

ThreeDollarBill,

Sorry I've not had time to get back to you on the other thread. When you lap your Celeron, you should start to notice the top getting somewhat shinier, and then you will start to see copper peeking through. Using successively higher grits of sandpaper you will eventually get a near mirror polish. Be sure to sand against something VERY flat like a sheet of glass... although to be honest, a nice desktop will do in a pinch. You may also notice witht the Celerons that the black plastic starts being removed at the corners of the chip... not to worry... it's normal.

If you do decide on an Alpha Heatsink, they are already VERY well machined and I doubt that further lapping would help you. On the other hand, I've had generic heatsinks that I just decided to give up on because the more I lapped the more I realized how HORRIBLY UNflat they were.

Joe