Thermalright Ultra-120.... Should I lathe one?

[Judaeus Apella]

I think I'm going to get this cooler... but I have one question. Can I lathe it to get to the copper? :D I'd really like to do this if I get one, but I'm not going to bother if the nickel is too thick to lathe off.

One thing I've noticed about this cooler, is its clearance above the caps and memory sticks! Thermalright did a GREAT job this time. That XP-120, though one hell of a performer, once you flip the fan over on suck and lathe it, had too many compatibility problems from running into caps and mem sticks. This fact and its performance over the ninja made my choice obvious. It looks like the Ultra 120 is the king right now.

[STEvil]

I dont know what it looks like off hand, but there are one of two options possible.

1: The base is entirely nickel, in which case its not worth its weight in aluminum.
2: Its nickel plated (like a lot of copper heatsinks and especially IHS's) which means you just have to lap it.

Option 2 sticks out to be the favorite seeing as i've not seen a heatsink with an entirely nickel base in a long, long time.

[Judaeus Apella]

Well, if I do decide to do this I'll post it up in the forum. :) But, I'm not ready to overclock yet.

BTW, did someone screw with your sig?

[Judaeus Apella]

I just realised I mixed up the word lathe with lap. No one knows what Im talking about when they read the title. ROFL

[NickS]

I dont know what it looks like off hand, but there are one of two options possible.

1: The base is entirely nickel, in which case its not worth its weight in aluminum.
2: Its nickel plated (like a lot of copper heatsinks and especially IHS's) which means you just have to lap it.

Option 2 sticks out to be the favorite seeing as i've not seen a heatsink with an entirely nickel base in a long, long time.

It's a nickel plated copper one :).

[Judaeus Apella]

Yeah... well I kinda figured that, since thats how Thermalright makes the XP-120 and 90, and because all the descriptions say that its nickel plated copper. :D But my question is, does anyone know the thickness of the nickel? If its really thick, and lapping all that off is going to throw off the way the cooler fits on the mount, then I won't bother.

[NickS]

It's not very thick, but I've heard it's a real PITA to sand all the way through it.

[Mako88]

Just use 200 grit, you'll get there in no time. ;)

[Sparky]

rofl, talk about deep grooves then :D Then a real lapping job would be needed.

Actually someone over at Anandtech forums lapped his Thermalright, got all the nickel off the bottom and said that there really wasn't any temp difference since apparently the coating of nickel isn't thick enough to affect it much if at all. Just a thought I'd throw out there, of course YMMV

[AzraelDarkangel]

From what I've heard lapping only helps by a degree or two anyway unless the base is awful rough to begin with.

[Judaeus Apella]

I don't think Im gonna do it, so nevermind. I was thinking about overclocking my +4000 but decided not to, but just for now. I'll do it another time, but I'm still getting the cooler.

Again, I have to mention that I'm really happy to find such a nice cooler, that has that kind of clearance over the motheroboard so it doesn't run into anything. What a great design! I'm always running into the problem of high performance coolers not being functional, because they conflict with a lot of boards... usually mine, even if its the only one it conflicts with. :p: