Couldn't take it any longer - lapped my E6400

[Lesterp]

Got this retail chip last week and put my own paste on it and mounted the stock cooler. I was shocked to find that it only made contact at the edges of the IHS. I tried an old zalman 7000Cu that I know is flat and it was better but still not great. Turns out both the IHS and the stock HS were concave. Pretty f..ing shoddy QC if you ask me.

Under water at 3.5ghz/1.41v right now w/ both cores priming, core temp was hitting 72c so I decided f. it and pulled the chip to lap it. Turns out the IHS was REALLY BAAAD - using 150 grit paper at first, the entire edge of the IHS showed copper, but there was barely a scratch on the other 80% of the IHS in the slightly CRITICAL center portion. Anyhow, got it mostly flat and now temps, under the exact same conditions and even a slightly higher ambient room temp as the warm southern cali sun heats the land, are maxed at 63c. EDIT - Temp has stabilized at 59c for a drop of 13c.

Definitely worth voiding the warranty in my book.

ps. sorry to plant seeds in your minds.

[turtletrax]

My chip was exactly like yours by the way it sounds. Amazing that intel would let that kind of qulaity by the wayside.

I had 8 K8 chips and they were all perfect.

[Lesterp]

Now I am starting to believe the high temperature readings that I thought were weird conroe bs before.

[freecableguy]

If the chip runs advertised speeds at default voltage within thermal tolerances and is stable with the stock heatsink - how exactly is Intel "letting quality by the wayside?"

[Stigma]

Its strange...

Most of the C2D's are perfectly flat, and then some of them are just horrendously un-flat (concave in these cases, being the worst kind of non-flatness even).

Maybye there was a single bad batch or something that they let slide?

-Stigma

[Lesterp]

If I was at Intel, I would like to know that the product going in the box was well made - including the Heatsink and the IHS. Granted mass production inherently means individual flaws get by.

Ok I take the shoddy QC comment back. I should be nicer since this chip may be the best I have ever owned. Thanks Intel you are the best.

[kimandsally]

I suppose they don't worry because using the Intel heatsink with it's applied paste it would work perfect @ stock speeds, after all the overclocking percentage is less than 1% of sales.
My 6600 is the best CPU I've ever owned well pleased with it.

[AndrewZorn]

If the chip runs advertised speeds at default voltage within thermal tolerances and is stable with the stock heatsink - how exactly is Intel "letting quality by the wayside?"

quality is more than function.

when some people will spend upwards of $1000 for a X6800, one would think intel can spend the extra $.05 it takes to have a perfectly flat IHS.

[turtletrax]

If the chip runs advertised speeds at default voltage within thermal tolerances and is stable with the stock heatsink - how exactly is Intel "letting quality by the wayside?"

I really wish I had a pic for you. I know they are in it for the money but it looked like Ralph Wiggum ran the production facility. It was awfull.

Chip was thermal trottle on stock volts... with the OC of course...

[mesyn191]

If the chip runs advertised speeds at default voltage within thermal tolerances and is stable with the stock heatsink - how exactly is Intel "letting quality by the wayside?"

Yea, you have to remember guys, you're OC'ing so you're running things out of spec. You kinda have to expect to run into issues like this as Intel/AMD/etc. don't much about you so they don't target thier products for your application.

Now if you were having these issues at stock clocks/volts with the Intel spec HSF then yea, you'd have something to complain about.

[momomo6789]

yea mine was all messed up a lapped it today and it droped temps like from 65-45 @ load @ 1.7 volts

[nooh]

Checked to see how the contact was and was very pleased with the results.

[LowRun]

Even if i was to run a chip at stock, i'd wan't it to come with a flat IHS
Overclocking has nothing to do with it. Some people build HTPC and wan't stock chip that runs cool, not having to deal with a 15°C overheat due to the manufacturer not being able to get a simple thing like a flat IHS done

[mesyn191]

Even if i was to run a chip at stock, i'd wan't it to come with a flat IHS

What you want doesn't matter, what matters is that it runs in spec @ stock clocks/volts, which it does so quit making mountains out of molehills.

Overclocking has nothing to do with it. Some people build HTPC and wan't stock chip that runs cool, not having to deal with a 15°C overheat due to the manufacturer not being able to get a simple thing like a flat IHS done

OP is overclocking and overvolting which is the only reason he is having temp issues at all, I bet even with that concave IHS his chip would run just fine in a quiet HTPC environment @ stock settings, so this argument is null and void.

[775911]

Isnt that too much paste really, should be see through thin?

[mesyn191]

Isnt that too much paste really, should be see through thin?

Normally yes, but if you've got a concave IHS you've got to spread it on thick to fill it in, otherwise you'll get air pockets.

[775911]

I thought he had lapped the IHS in the pic, its showing as copper..

Its slightly out of focus so maybe its just right

[mesyn191]

Can't tell for sure in that pic. While the edges show copper the center may still be fairly concave. It may also be that he hadn't finished spreading it around yet as it appears he just pressed the chip down on the HSF instead of mounting the chip/HSF on the mobo first.

[JamesAvery22]

If the chip runs advertised speeds at default voltage within thermal tolerances and is stable with the stock heatsink - how exactly is Intel "letting quality by the wayside?"

I see exactly what you are saying. But its not just about thermal tolerances. If Intel paid whatever company to manufacture the IHS's to a certain precision and a hand-full aren't meeting those requirements then I'd be a little upset if I was Intel. If the concave IHS are within the specifications that Intel had then sure, who cares. If it's just a hand-full though then I doubt its what Intel wanted. Getting a set yield on silicon is one thing but making sure a plate of copper is manufactured precisely should be a cake walk.

[LowRun]

What you want doesn't matter, what matters is that it runs in spec @ stock clocks/volts, which it does so quit making mountains out of molehills.


OP is overclocking and overvolting which is the only reason he is having temp issues at all, I bet even with that concave IHS his chip would run just fine in a quiet HTPC environment @ stock settings, so this argument is null and void.

What you think (and speculate) doesn't matter more than what i wan't and it absolutely doesn't make my argument null and void. Fact is Intel is selling some chips with uber crappy IHS and i saw a bunch of XS fellas that got pissed when they got theirs.
Does your argument about running in spec at stock make the crappy IHS any better? No, so i'd say this one is null and void

[remorema]

what if everybody start to rma cpu with concave IHS, i'd bet they start taking more care to that.

this is like buying a car and having a crancked chassis.

well the car still runs but i bet stability on the road wont be the same.

edit: i'm really thinking of lapping mine but there goes the warranty out the window.

[adamant415]

Does anyone in here have an idea of how much can be gained from lapping the heatsink if it is already relatively flat? I've remounted my heatsink a few times and from looking at the thermal paste it is getting spread out to the edges of the ihs so it must be pretty flat already.

Most of yall are probably thinking do it and find out. I probably will end up doing it because I'm not too worried about a warranty on a 200 dollar processor just trying to figure out if it is worth my time and energy. I also don't want to get into doing it expecting too much.

[Lesterp]

Has anyone ever sent a CPU in for warranty service with Intel or AMD? I know I haven't and I have been overlocking chips since my Pentium 60 arrived 12 years ago. So I am not really concerned about that, the only downside is that if I want to sell this thing next week, it will be worth less than an un-lapped chip.

It's funny how this has attracted comments like;

What you want doesn't matter, what matters is that it runs in spec @ stock clocks/volts, which it does so quit making mountains out of molehills.

Meanwhile this thread is at XtremeSystems where 99% of us give a about an issue like this.

[JayG30]

Didn't even bother to see if someone said this but to the statement that intel shouldn't care because "it runs at stock speed with the stock cooler fine". Well mine sure didn't. I mean yes it did run but you could tell it was running sluggish. I think that qualifies as a QC issue. After lapping it a bit the problems are gone. Also heat is not a good thing for your computer and eventually will have a negative effect on performance and life span. So yes I do think it is important that they get something as simple as a flat IHS correct even for the people who aren't overclocking. And don't give me the "it's not a big enough difference for them to care" because when I buy something I want to get what was advertised. I don't want a defective piece of hardware. If anything it's mroe important for those none OC'ers who won't lap there CPU.

[linflas]

Does anyone in here have an idea of how much can be gained from lapping the heatsink if it is already relatively flat? I've remounted my heatsink a few times and from looking at the thermal paste it is getting spread out to the edges of the ihs so it must be pretty flat already.

As you though, probably not to much, mine was concave, took quite a bit of sanding before I even touched the center of mine.

I have an odd issue now though, the core temp readings are lower than the CPU temps by about 5C, used to be the CPU temp was much lower than the temps Core temp give.

Not sure what that is all about