im looking on tips to help me smooth out the base of my xp120 heat pipe. it has a few scratches from installation, and i would like to take them out before re installing it. i read this thread, but there is something im concerend about: the base of the zp120 is nickel plated copper. if i go sanding on this thing, will it strip away the nickle plating and make the heat pipe less effective? what should i do here? leave it? find another way? do it and not worry about the nickel plating? any advice here will help to ease my concerns. thanks.
I heard (read) the same question in another site, and my answer was i think they made this base nickle plated for a reason, if you have like 1 big scratch, i dont think it'll make any diffrence. If you apply thermal paste, it'll fill the gap and do it's job, that's what thermal paste is for, usually to fill tiny ones but as i said i dont think it'll make any diffrence, in fact i think it'll make it worst if you lap it than if you leave it. I have a SI-97 and i wouldn't lap it, just make sure to fill the crack with thermal paste My two bits
ill see if i can get a picture posted. i wouldnt say the scratches are "severe" but there isnt just one either. they look to be on the outter edges of where the k8's cover is. id like to get rid of them if i can, but if i cant...oh well, i guess.
I,ve heard also in other sites peoples with XP's that have lapped theirs and they say they dont see a diffrence,i guess it's your move, but the Q still stands, why does it come this way
The nickel plating is just anti-corrosion and to make it match with the aluminum in color...did you think it's for heat transfer or something? Nickel is a terrible thermal conductor.
its like that cause it has been installed and removed before. i was trying to figure out if i could get the scratch out, not really polish it or anything. just wanna make sure i dont fry my 64.
i doubt you'll fry your 64....but anyway. if i were you, i wouldnt lap it if the scratches arent bugging you too much. with some google-research ive found that nickel does actually radiate its heat a bit, so the scratches should fill with thermal compound and not harm performance. plus, i would be afraid that the nickel isnt very thick, and you find that you lap yourself down so far that you ruin your heatsink, and that would be no fun .
nickle doesnt transfer heat as well as copper so i would think that if youy lapped it down to the copper it might actually increase performance. but then again i have never lapped a hs myselfso i could be way off.....mabey i should call up my friend who is in college for metallurgy (sp?)
It could only help unless you get really overzealous and end up lapping a hole in the heatpipes. However helpful and necessity are two different things, and I doubt you need to as long as you're liberal enough with thermal paste.
I lapped my XP-120, and during the process I found that the base was not flat, and dropped a good 7 degrees in temp. Took me forever though, holy crap.
yeah, that is one complaint. the other is that im kinda OCD, so if there was one mistake i backed all the way off and completely restarted. took me like 4 1/2 hours to do, but dropped my cpu temp by like 9 degrees. glad it worked out for you
well, i cant really get a picture. the only camera i have access to now is imbedded in my phone, and you cant se jack from the picture. maybe filling the scrtches with thermal grease will be fine, im not sure just yet.
