Cooling Swiftech MCX6400-V base finish quality...

Got one of these today for use in my new bank balance emptying system (see : http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=58350 for details.)

If you look on http://www.swiftnets.com/ they state, and I quote :

"Exceptional quality and attention to details: the heatsink base is lapped to 0.0003" (3/10 of 1/1000"), and polished to near-mirror finish to promote optimum thermal conductivity. Users are advised that while flatness is strictly respected for providing the most significant benefit to thermal interface, surface polish is a cosmetic component and may vary slightly from one heatsink to another. Re-lapping or polishing the heatsink base is never recommended."

Except that the base on mine is nowhere even near mirror finish, it has very definite ridges that I can feel with my fingernail...

Anyone out there have any experience on this matter?

I know it says that the surface polish is a cosmetic thing, but the mating surface doesn't feel smooth, whether I run what i have left of my fingernails along or across the satin effect finish the base seems to have.

Ah well, I've emailed swiftech with my concerns and I'll see what happens, thanks for reading this waffle

 

If swiftech don't do anything about it you can either RMA it or Lap it. Lapping kits are available from many mod shops including kustompcs.co.uk

For guides on lapping just google 'lapping guide' (you might get a few strange results though )

Good luck

 

woopsmsorry

 

Got a response back from Swiftech, really quick, considering I sent it about 22:00ish UK time last night. (not too sure about the time zone differences, not bothered enough to look it up)

This is the reply I got, edited to hide the guilty...

-----

Yes you are being paranoid go ahead install it. Flatness is the key, not shine.

Best Regards,

Gabe

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 2:29 PM
To: swiftech
Subject: MCX6400-V base finish concern


Your website states :

"Exceptional quality and attention to details: the heatsink base is
lapped to 0.0003" (3/10 of 1/1000"), and polished to near-mirror finish
to promote optimum thermal conductivity. Users are advised that while
flatness is strictly respected for providing the most significant
benefit to thermal interface, surface polish is a cosmetic component and
may vary slightly from one heatsink to another. Re-lapping or polishing
the heatsink base is never recommended."

as regards the base finish on the MCX6400-V.

I have one of said heatsinks. It's not even remotely mirror finished,
and the mating surface feels rough under my fingernail (I'm keeping my
fingerprints *well* clear of it. It's almost a satin finish, except
that it doesn't even feel a smooth as that, as the roughness can be felt
going both across and with the 'brush' pattern on the base.

I was just wondering if you'd changed to finish to your MCX6400-V
heatsinks, as the other example of that model of Heatsink, that my
brother got on the same order has the same style of finish.

I was writing in the hope that you could shed some light on this
conflict between what your website says,a nd what the item in front of
me actually is.

If I'm being paranoid, please feel free to point this ou to me <grin>

Thank you.

-----

I've lapped bases before, but it's a pain in the arse, and not something I really want to do with a system I've spent this much on (Excuse me, which site am I typing this on? <Slap!> )

I think I'm going to give it a shot as is, and see what happens. AFAIR, the FX-53 has therma protection built in, so I'm unlikely to completely fry it, I hope.

 

For anyone who may be interested, the heatsink seems to be working fine.

Average temps around the 38-42C region, peaking at about 45-46ish (but I haven't had the system under sustained load yet)

This is with a 34.1CFM 26dB 80mm Papst N/2M fan on the spiky hedgehog like heatsink.

So the CPU's cooler than my old one was in the Koolance...

I also think I'm getting a better picture of the temps, as it used to be from the socket thermistor and now it's (I think) reading from the on chip sensor, and so the temperature seems to fluctuate a lot more rapidly than it used to, but that's all good

(Oh, BTW, this post is coming from the new box, which feels a hell of a lot faster than my old one did, but that may be partially due to having a relatively empty XP install in place right now )

 

As gabe correctly pointed out, having a flat base with a few polishing marks is MUCH more important than having a shiny base which isn't flat.

The purpose of TIM products is to fill the minute polishing scratches, not fill fill big voids resulting from an uneven base.

People pu FAR too much emphasis on having a shiny base and very rarely consider that their polishing may have ruined what was a perfectly flat base trying to get a mirror finish.

8-ball

 

yeah, peice of glass works really well for a surface to lap on.