Lapping is hard work...
Posted: 08 Jul 2011, 10:57
So, I finally built my new home storage server:
All this (and more) went in to one case. The blue modded case I did a few months ago could not accommodate all the drives, so I had to change it (but the case has a new loving home).
With no real plans to overclock the X4-955, I did bother to buy a new Cooler Master TX3 heatsink, just to keep it cooler than stock. Unfortunately due to stupidity on my side (no surprise) I couldn't fit it. The first build of the machine went with the stock AMD cooler. Prime95 load was 51'C (at night), while idle temps were 33'C..probably going to be a lot hotter in summer.
When I eventually got around to looking at the TX3, the reviews weren't wrong. The base was shockingly uneven..
Considering it was R150, I thought I would try lapping it.
First, wife agreed I can use the only glass surface in the house (the coffee table). The kid wants to help:
We're set to start with some 600grit paper:
Even with my crappy Blackberry Curve camera, you can see how terrible the base is..
And the hard work starts...this took a while:
I do have captures of the before and after temperatures, just not with me right now, but I'll post them soon. I only went up to 1200grit, and it seems to have made a difference. Lapped cooler, 29'C idle, 47'C on Prime95 load..
...but I can honestly say, lapping is hard work
That's 7Tb of space in there, with another 1Tb external connecting to it..movies anyone?
All this (and more) went in to one case. The blue modded case I did a few months ago could not accommodate all the drives, so I had to change it (but the case has a new loving home).
With no real plans to overclock the X4-955, I did bother to buy a new Cooler Master TX3 heatsink, just to keep it cooler than stock. Unfortunately due to stupidity on my side (no surprise) I couldn't fit it. The first build of the machine went with the stock AMD cooler. Prime95 load was 51'C (at night), while idle temps were 33'C..probably going to be a lot hotter in summer.
When I eventually got around to looking at the TX3, the reviews weren't wrong. The base was shockingly uneven..
Considering it was R150, I thought I would try lapping it.First, wife agreed I can use the only glass surface in the house (the coffee table). The kid wants to help:
We're set to start with some 600grit paper:
Even with my crappy Blackberry Curve camera, you can see how terrible the base is..
And the hard work starts...this took a while:
I do have captures of the before and after temperatures, just not with me right now, but I'll post them soon. I only went up to 1200grit, and it seems to have made a difference. Lapped cooler, 29'C idle, 47'C on Prime95 load..
...but I can honestly say, lapping is hard work
That's 7Tb of space in there, with another 1Tb external connecting to it..movies anyone?
.......I think I will rather go for something else now. Btw how can a heatsink with such an uneven surface even pass the QC checks, or does cooler-master not even have QC checks.
