I can't understand why it should take more than 30 mins tbh. 5 minutes on each grade is all that required. I applied a fair bit of pressure on the initial stages to rid the plating and then simply switched paper when I thought that that grade could do no better. I did not use water btw and just blocked the little outlet with some masking tape. This is the 6th Conroe/Kentsfield I have done tho so I am a little bit more comfortable with it and so have had some practice. I find I get better (shiny) results lapping it dry rather than wet.

I fully intend on making a comparison before and after and will post up the results as soon as I get my rig built up (dual loop watercooled mountain mods btw). Although its gonna be difficult to compare coz the ambients will be a little off so that will have to be taken into consideration.

It also helps having decent quality paper - I now get my kits from ChilledPC (UK)