Can Lapping Reduce Cooler Contact?

[Aaralli]

If I were to lap my cpu IHS and the surface of the cooler I have, when putting everything back together, wouldn't the tightness of the cooler against the processor be lessened because the surfaces have been worn down? Or would turning the screws tighter fix that?

[porina]

The amount of material you take off shouldn't be significant and be covered other variations in manufacturing tolerances. 

[Bananasplit_00]

if you are taking off enough material that mourning pressure is a problem you are lapping waaaaaay to deep

[Aaralli]

1 minute ago, porina said:

The amount of material you take off shouldn't be significant and be covered other variations in manufacturing tolerances. 

 

1 minute ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

if you are taking off enough material that mourning pressure is a problem you are lapping waaaaaay to deep

I was pretty sure everything would be fine, I'm just way too paranoid about breaking things. I want to buy one of the new Ryzen 7 CPUs, and want to try some experiments on the CPU I'm giving up, a Ryzen 5 2600X. The cooler I have is a Corsair H150i Pro RGB.

[Devryd]

Before you start lapping, you should check if the IHS is actually not flat.
If it is flat, you have no reason to lap it

[Aaralli]

1 minute ago, Devryd said:

Before you start lapping, you should check if the IHS is actually not flat.
If it is flat, you have no reason to lap it

What is the best way to check that?

[Devryd]

you can put it on a straight surface, e.g. a glass pane with the IHS facing down.
Now try to spin it. If it spins easily, the IHS is warped outwards(?) in the middle.
If it doesnt spin, use a razor blade and hold the edge on the IHS. If there is a gap anywhere, it is not flat.

Sorry for the bad explanation, I am writing from Germany and I am not really sure, how to propably write what i mean.

[Aaralli]

16 minutes ago, Devryd said:

you can put it on a straight surface, e.g. a glass pane with the IHS facing down.
Now try to spin it. If it spins easily, the IHS is warped outwards(?) in the middle.
If it doesnt spin, use a razor blade and hold the edge on the IHS. If there is a gap anywhere, it is not flat.

Sorry for the bad explanation, I am writing from Germany and I am not really sure, how to propably write what i mean.

The explanation was actually pretty good, thanks for the effort. I will definitely try these things before ever considering lapping. Thanks again.

[Devryd]

do you know how the lapping itself works?

[Aaralli]

1 minute ago, Devryd said:

do you know how the lapping itself works?

Yes. I need to have an incredibly flat surface, such as a small pane of glass, and several sheets of sandpaper. Starting with a lower grit like 500 or so, I remove the top, nickel-plated layer of my CPU heat spreader. Then I move to a finer and finer grit until I reach 3000-5000 depending on how polished I want it to be. Wet sanding can also be done, which apparently helps in achieving a slightly smoother surface. Did I get everything right?

[Devryd]

i would start with something like 120 and only go up to about 1000
Maybe check out the vidoe DerBauer made. He is a german overclocker and Youtuber. His videos are in english and german and he did some testing on it.