# Sanded down the IHS of a Q6600 to the silicone.



## Ruslan (Sep 4, 2008)

I wanted to do this for a while and finally got the patience to do it. It took 6+ hours of sanding by hand and here is the result:

















As you can see the chip somehow survived. I took a screen shot in the morning and I was in a rush. My temperature before this procedure was 75-80 with both the cooler and the IHS lapped. After it will not go above 56 at 3.2 Ghz and that is with an additional +.1 to the vcore on top of the minimal needed to run 3.2 stable. this is with 1.375 at full load and I need 1.275 for that speed to be stable. I want a Solid 3.6 GHZ out of this. The Q6600 I have has a vid of 1.2875 are reported by coretemp and the cooler I'm using is the Tuniq. By the way a lot of people seem to think that the core and the IHS are soldered and this is simply not true. They use some hind of very strong silver adhesive that is no fully solid. No matter how good of a cooling system someone has, if the IHS does not have good contact between the die and the bottom of the IHS the temps will not be the best they can be. I did this ot get the most out of my gear. I will post some tips later on this.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 4, 2008)

omg this is awsome


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## mrw1986 (Sep 4, 2008)

Wow....I'll sell you my Q6600....3.6ghz STABLE at 1.328v not lapped or anything on air. If you did that to my chip you could easily push it MUCH further. My chip is capable of 4ghz at 1.45v....You're chip doesn't seem very capable even with that amazing lapping job...no offense


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## Ruslan (Sep 4, 2008)

mrw1986 said:


> Wow....I'll sell you my Q6600....3.6ghz STABLE at 1.328v not lapped or anything on air. If you did that to my chip you could easily push it MUCH further. My chip is capable of 4ghz at 1.45v....You're chip doesn't seem very capable even with that amazing lapping job...no offense


I know this is not the best chip but hey it's what i got. My memory is pretty basic so I'm not even going to bother going above 3.6ghz. I booted this chip at 3.6 it was stable for 6 hours of prime at 1.4 and change but outside the case. when I placed it in the case it was getting very toasty.




P.S. it is very difficult to offend me bro


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## Ruslan (Sep 4, 2008)

I'm shocked, look at the temps!


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## mrw1986 (Sep 4, 2008)

Ruslan, do you mean the temps are too high? That's what I take it as lol. And personally, I do believe they are...mine at 3.6ghz on air does max load 54C


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## Ruslan (Sep 4, 2008)

mrw1986 said:


> Ruslan, do you mean the temps are too high? That's what I take it as lol. And personally, I do believe they are...mine at 3.6ghz on air does max load 54C


Nice bro 

But I'm comparing the last screen shot to the one before it, not my Cpu to your Cpu.

Note: I'm aware that this Cpu is below average.


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## mrw1986 (Sep 4, 2008)

Ohhh, didn't notice they had different temps. Just looked, very nice temps man! Get a good water cooler on that sucker!

Note: I'm aware I have a golden Q6600


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## JC316 (Sep 4, 2008)

That is an excellent lap job, and good results to boot.


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

A Run Trough of how to do it, if you have questions ask away.
I used 100 grit wet-dry and I was lapping without water because water killed the sand paper way to early. You have to completely shave off the top part of the IHS and this will take 6+ hours. If you rub too fast it will get very hot so when it starts to heat up pause and continue. after you the the whole top of proceed with caution. When i was doing it one part of the IHS was taller than the other so i almost panicked and gave up. you can pretty much see it in the first picture that it was not leveled. Keep going with a 400 grit until all the silver paste is gone and the cpu looks roughly like the second picture. then finish it off with 800 and stop. This is not a beauty pageant so there will be scratches on the silicone. they look deep but they are nothing to worry about. The goal is to have the dies leveled with the outer part of the partly decapitated IHS so whatever will be rolling your monster will not crush them into tiny bits. You have to carefully remove the cpu clamp from the motherboard. You cannot use a pushpin cooler. In my case since 2MM disappeared from the CPU my cooler was not holding it very tight so I used washers beetween the spring and the mounting plate to give it some extra hold. I picked it up by the cooler and it was fine, I also rotated the motherboard in the air by the cooler and it did not budge. I even picked it up by the cooler while the power is on to make sure there is good contact. There will very little clearance between the the cpu socket and the bottom of the cooler after this so make sure you do not shave off more than absolutely necessary. Make sure your cooler is completely flat at the base. Proceed with caution. I will follow this up with some pics later.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Sep 5, 2008)

Amazing job!  I wish I had the patience for something like that!  The temp change of 20c is amazing as well.  Gratz!


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

How to clean it: I used the arctic clean solution. Fill a small glass to a point where the cpu is submerged and dip the cpu and then use a toothbrush to make sure all that copper dust/paste is off of everything u can let the cpu soak in it but do not leave it there for more than 5 minutes. do not use a plastic or Styrofoam cup because the arctic clean will dissolve it and it will not be cool. After step 1 use the step 2 bottle and dunk it in, wait and wipe off. Use a hairdryer to completely dry and enjoy


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

PVTCaboose1337 said:


> Amazing job!  I wish I had the patience for something like that!  The temp change of 20c is amazing as well.  Gratz!


Its not the patience you should worry about, it's how your hand looks and feels after you are done. very big and painful blisters. And if I can sit all Saturday on the net, then I can do this right?


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## Apocolypse007 (Sep 5, 2008)

Very nice results. Any trouble seating a heat sink after shaving away the IHS?


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

Apocolypse007 said:


> Very nice results. Any trouble seating a heat sink after shaving away the IHS?



The only problem was that i had to add washers to make up for the 2mm loss of height.

BTW running prime at 3.7 GHZ 1.440V load 1.53875 in the bios.

no outstanding changes in the temps. scared too push too hard


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## ShadowFold (Sep 5, 2008)

I didn't know it had two cores on it.. I knew it was just two dual cores but I thought they were like fused or something! Nice, love it!


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

Washer:
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Tight Fit:


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## Solaris17 (Sep 5, 2008)

hmm your HS is touching the cpu latch are you sure their touching th cores well? i mean i bet youll get better temps if you reseat it again or get a smaller HS with a smaller HS base.


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## Fastmix (Sep 5, 2008)

Nice work. congrats.


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## hat (Sep 5, 2008)

Holy flying shooting-lasers-from-his-eyes superjesus. Great work! I've never seen anyone sand down to the core before. *thinks about belt-sander in metal shop...*

Although I always thought that if someone did this with LGA775 it wouldn't work due to contact problems.


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

hat said:


> Holy flying shooting-lasers-from-his-eyes superjesus. Great work! I've never seen anyone sand down to the core before. *thinks about belt-sander in metal shop...*
> 
> Although I always thought that if someone did this with LGA775 it wouldn't work due to contact problems.



When the cooler is being attached, It is clear that there is no contact because the cooler slides around on the cores and what is left of the ihs. When the coolers screws on, that's space gets tighter from the pressure. If there was an even slight contact problem the temperature would not be this low.






I will run this test for 24hours to make sure nothing is wrong with the temps.
Looks like there is an option for all those less than perfect cpus.


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## wolf2009 (Sep 5, 2008)

WOW, havent seen anything like this !


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 5, 2008)

Wow dude... that is AWESOME!


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## sneekypeet (Sep 5, 2008)

I hate to say this after 6 hours of sanding it down, but you could have just used a razor to cut the goop aroung the IHS and pop it off....half hour of your time tops!

Nice job on stopping at the right time tho. I personally would have been too worried to scratch the cores!


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## SK-1 (Sep 5, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> I hate to say this after 6 hours of sanding it down, but you could have just used a razor to cut the goop aroung the IHS and pop it off....half hour of your time tops!
> 
> Nice job on stopping at the right time tho. I personally would have been too worried to scratch the cores!



Maximum PC tried that with a few of the latest CPUs from Intel and ended up ruining them all.
They did it the right way, and still the processors were destroyed.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 5, 2008)

SK-1 said:


> Maximum PC tried that with a few of the latest CPUs from Intel and ended up ruining them all.
> They did it the right way, and still the processors were destroyed.



Yeah, but according to Maximum PC an "extreme case mod" is installing an internal 3.5" Media Reader.


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## largon (Sep 5, 2008)

6 hours of lapping... Must've been painful. 


SK-1 said:


> Maximum PC tried that with a few of the latest CPUs from Intel and ended up ruining them all.
> They did it the right way, and still the processors were destroyed.


How did Maximum PC deal with the solder that bonds the IHS to the die?


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## SK-1 (Sep 5, 2008)

OzzmanFloyd120 said:


> Yeah, but according to Maximum PC an "extreme case mod" is installing an internal 3.5" Media Reader.



We talking about the same mag here?? 
http://www.maximumpc.com/best-of-the-best

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/dream_machine_08


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 5, 2008)

Yeah, a few months back they did an article on extreme HW mods, and they were all crap.
The ones I remember off hand were the media reader, cable managment, run multiple displays, and how to make a custom charging station.
I think in the same article they did a mid-range GPU comparrison and put a 3850 vs an 8800GTS (no awards for guessing which card won) And keep in mind this was after the GTX and RV700 stuff had come out, so I was expecting a 4850/GTX260 comparrison.
I was so let down :shadedshu


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

largon said:


> 6 hours of lapping... Must've been painful.
> How did Maximum PC deal with the solder that bonds the IHS to the die?


There is no solder in between the cores and the ihs. There is some annoying and extremely thick thermal adhesive. Anyone have a link to the maximum pc story?


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## ty_ger (Sep 5, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> I hate to say this after 6 hours of sanding it down, but you could have just used a razor to cut the goop aroung the IHS and pop it off....half hour of your time tops!
> 
> Nice job on stopping at the right time tho. I personally would have been too worried to scratch the cores!



x2

Here is my E8400:


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

ty_ger said:


> x2
> 
> Here is my E8400



Nice, how did you remove it without killing it?


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

If you guys like it, please digg it 

http://digg.com/hardware/Sanded_down_the_IHS_of_a_Q6600_to_the_silicone

I could not submit it to point here directly for some reason.


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## ty_ger (Sep 5, 2008)

Ruslan said:


> Nice, how did you remove it without killing it?



Actually, funny thing; I did kill it.  But it is entirely possible to remove it without killing it.

You will see that I used improper technique in cutting the silicon around the perimeter of the IHS and on the left side of the CPU PCB halfway up in the picture you can see where I nicked a portion of the circuit (brown/copper colored dot).

If I had not cut that circuit it would have worked fine.  All you do is cut the silicon carefully with a razor blade to seperate the IHS from the PCB.  Then the only thing holding the IHS to the chip will be that really soft brazing material in the middle.  Just slowly twist the IHS and pull it away from the chip or slide the razor blade inwards and cut the brazing material.

There was an issue I noticed with removing the IHS though.  Even if I had not damaged the CPU, in my instance I would have still not been home free.  In my instance the CPU actually does not protrude above the CPU socket clip with the IHS removed.  This means that the heatsink would not contact the chip unless I had moddified my waterblock to fit down inside the CPU socket clip.


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## kenkickr (Sep 5, 2008)

Nice work Ruslan!!    Maybe I should do this to my Phenom!


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

kenkickr said:


> Nice work Ruslan!!    Maybe I should do this to my Phenom!



that would be hard. Phenoms are probably better decapitated the old way IMHO because there is no glue.


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## kenkickr (Sep 5, 2008)

I thought they soldered the IHS to the cores now since the X2 AM2 Windsors(not the brisbanes)!?


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

kenkickr said:


> I thought they soldered the IHS to the cores now since the X2 AM2 Windsors(not the brisbanes)!?



I'm not sure, also sanding upside down for 6+ hours with all those pins....well you know that's kinda crazy.


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## sneekypeet (Sep 5, 2008)

Here is a really comprehensive link to what I was on about.... http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/305443-ihs-removals-how-do-should-i.html


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## kenkickr (Sep 5, 2008)

I lapped my bitch and really the only problem I had was one I basically threw(pressed a little hard against the sandpaper) the cpu across the table during the lapping process when I was watching the Cubs vs Phils series recently.  Bent several pins.  :shadedshu


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## OnBoard (Sep 5, 2008)

Man that looks sexy with IHS remains circling the cores and it still works


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## Dr. Spankenstein (Sep 5, 2008)

Ball Of Steel! 

You sir, are an inspiration! Great work!


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## ZenZimZaliben (Sep 5, 2008)

Awesome Job! I lapped mine down to the copper and that was as far as I felt I could go. Way to push it!


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## technicks (Sep 5, 2008)

Wow man. That is an awesome job you did there.
Makes me wonder how far i can get my Q6600 G0 when doing it this way.
I also lapped it down to the copper. Don't want it to get above 55/60 full load.
I got it 3.6  stable after pencil modding my mobo and it does not get above 57 degrees.
Also i think that my Thermalright 90 is not up to the job. Tomorrow i will go shopping for a new one and maybe try this.

Thanks for making me aware that this is possible.


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

technicks said:


> Wow man. That is an awesome job you did there.
> Makes me wonder how far i can get my Q6600 G0 when doing it this way.
> I also lapped it down to the copper. Don't want it to get above 55/60 full load.
> I got it 3.6  stable after pencil modding my mobo and it does not get above 57 degrees.
> ...



No problem, be very patient with it. Get some thin rubber gloves like they have in medical offices and listen to some music in the process.


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## Ruslan (Sep 5, 2008)

Thanks for all the props and the warm welcome 
Here is an update:
I left it to prime for 16 hours and it passed.






I turned off the AC and close all the windows before going to work. I came back and took this screen shot. The ambient temp was 27C at the time of the screen shot.


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## Ruslan (Sep 6, 2008)

This is how much you need to take off. I have a celeron that i might make a ginnypig and take it to a power tool carefully...

This is the same pic shopped, just to give you an idea of exactly what you are facing when if you decide to attempt this.


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## AddSub (Sep 6, 2008)

Nice work Ruslan. Looks very neat and clean.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 6, 2008)

I still want to know how you did this without damaging the cores.


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## The Haunted (Sep 6, 2008)

Ruslan said:


> This is how much you need to take off. I have a celeron that i might make a ginnypig and take it to a power tool carefully...



This image is a photoshop right? There is some weird shadows issues


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Sep 6, 2008)

I am looking into this "photoshop" thing.  I have looked at the picture of the CPU with the half circle reflections and found that both sides are not the same.  This means the picture is legit.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 6, 2008)

What about the bright pixels in the shape of where the IHS used to be in the lapped shot?
At first this seemed amazing, but now I'm starting to think it might be a hoax.


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## The Haunted (Sep 6, 2008)

Do you know if anyone else have tried this sanding method, id like to know if the chip have a good chance of survival.
I must get rid off this useless ihs as soon as possible


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## Scrizz (Sep 6, 2008)

Ruslan said:


> This is how much you need to take off. I have a celeron that i might make a ginnypig and take it to a power tool carefully...



he never said that was an actual pic.
he just said that's how much needs to be taken off.


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## Ruslan (Sep 6, 2008)

This is the same pic shopped, just to give you an idea of exactly what you are facing when if you decide to attempt this. I guess i should have mentioned it at the time of the posting to avoid the confusion.


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## thebeephaha (Sep 6, 2008)

Niiiiiiiiceee... I need to do this to my quad... Maybe then I would be able to hit 4GHz. As it is I'm doing 70-75c on air at 3.6GHz 1.5v with a Tuniq tower. If your mod cut down 10c... dang.


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## niko084 (Sep 6, 2008)

I'm honestly trying to figure out why you were so hot before the super lap...

My x3210 2.13 @ 3.2 doesn't get to 50c under load without being lapped....
But nice job for sure, I'm not considering buying a new cely just to try this out.


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## P4-630 (Sep 6, 2008)

This makes it easier:






http://about.pricegrabber.com/searc...093360/search=belt sander/st=product/sv=title


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## JC316 (Sep 6, 2008)

niko084 said:


> I'm honestly trying to figure out why you were so hot before the super lap...
> 
> My x3210 2.13 @ 3.2 doesn't get to 50c under load without being lapped....
> But nice job for sure, I'm not considering buying a new cely just to try this out.



Some are just like that. I remember the second X2 3600 that I got didn't run for shit, temps were off the scale, so I popped the IHS and found no thermal paste at all between the IHS and the core. Once I did that, my temps were good.


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## Ruslan (Sep 6, 2008)

The Haunted said:


> This image is a photoshop right? There is some weird shadows issues



That is just to show how much you need to take off nothing more LoL.
I didn't take a side view from all the excitement.

More pics:
1
2
3
4

high res warning.

I want to do this to a E7200 I got...hmmmm


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## thebeephaha (Sep 6, 2008)

If you get good at this you should consider doing this for a fee for others too afraid.


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## Ruslan (Sep 6, 2008)

niko084 said:


> I'm honestly trying to figure out why you were so hot before the super lap...
> 
> My x3210 2.13 @ 3.2 doesn't get to 50c under load without being lapped....
> But nice job for sure, I'm not considering buying a new clearly just to try this out.



The IHS does not get mounted perfectly so there could have been a gap between the core and IHS. If you look at the firs pic you will clearly see the Intel TIP getting scratched so it is not a thin layer under there. some chips have less space there than others I guess just like some tops of the Ihs's are perfect and some are just plain bad.

High res version of the first pic.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 6, 2008)

It looks like there's some light scratches on the cores, I'm shocked it still works.


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## JC316 (Sep 6, 2008)

OzzmanFloyd120 said:


> It looks like there's some light scratches on the cores, I'm shocked it still works.



They are a bit tougher than you might think. That same X2, I cracked the edge of the core with my HS and it still ran for a while.


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## Wile E (Sep 6, 2008)

OzzmanFloyd120 said:


> I still want to know how you did this without damaging the cores.



You can actually sand the cores themselves anyway. There is a lot of material on top before you get to the actual silicon itself.

One member of this forum (curt, iirc) actually did sand the core of his opteron, because he wasn't happy with the temperature difference between cores.

I'll edit back if I find it.

EDIT: Found it http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=40276 I think he gets into around page 2.


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## The Haunted (Sep 6, 2008)

What about the height of the circuitry near the core, they look easy to damage while sanding.
And is there another way of removing the copper powder from those aside from arctic clean?
I will try it on my brand new e8600 when i have the time, i once removed a ihs on a 4400+  but this is really hardcore congrats.


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## Ruslan (Sep 6, 2008)

The Haunted said:


> What about the height of the circuitry near the core, they look easy to damage while sanding.
> And is there another way of removing the copper powder from those aside from arctic clean?
> I will try it on my brand new e8600 when i have the time, i once removed a ihs on a 4400+  but this is really hardcore congrats.



I'm sure there is something else to clean all the powder. It clumps together and becomes paste when exposed to moisture. Things get very messy after a while. I should have take more pics but I my hands were so dirty I didn't want to touch anything. I just had AC on hand so I used that. Use a tooth brush with whatever liquid to gently brush anything off. You could probably just take it to the sink with a tooth brush and just brush it iver flowing water, I did that a few times in the middle of the process.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Sep 6, 2008)

Wile E said:


> You can actually sand the cores themselves anyway. There is a lot of material on top before you get to the actual silicon itself.
> 
> One member of this forum (curt, iirc) actually did sand the core of his opteron, because he wasn't happy with the temperature difference between cores.
> 
> ...



Thanks for that link, Wille. I'm shocked so many people were flaming him for taking a risk with is CPU, but I definitely understand how much tougher the top of the silicon is now.


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## Ruslan (Sep 6, 2008)

LoL, I knew that the top of the dies is very tough otherwise I would not risk it. I thought people knew that, I guess I didn't think about it. And I'm thinking why do so many people think this is prohibitively insane. The craziest thing about this is not the risk it is the amount of time you spend on it. There is very little risk if done right.


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## ascstinger (Sep 6, 2008)

just thinking a bit, you could probably use power tools without risk to sand the ihs until it is near the point where you break through, then finish it by hand

I *might* try it on an e6300 laying around if I have the time


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## niko084 (Sep 6, 2008)

Ruslan said:


> The IHS does not get mounted perfectly so there could have been a gap between the core and IHS. If you look at the firs pic you will clearly see the Intel TIP getting scratched so it is not a thin layer under there. some chips have less space there than others I guess just like some tops of the Ihs's are perfect and some are just plain bad.
> 
> High res version of the first pic.



Ya I follow that and honestly with the new Core2's and Quads people are seeing really good results from lapping, I can't believe I have been too lazy to do it, the average surface is not very smooth or in shape at all...


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## Bundy (Sep 8, 2008)

ascstinger said:


> just thinking a bit, you could probably use power tools without risk to sand the ihs until it is near the point where you break through, then finish it by hand
> 
> I *might* try it on an e6300 laying around if I have the time



I would worry about using power tools for this because of excessive heat build up


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## Ruslan (Sep 10, 2008)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/showpost.php?p=3278089&postcount=44

Here is a link to a post on XS with a guy that did the same thing. His CPU is also alive. Someone at occlub touch I killed my cpu, well here is someone else that copied what I did to a 45nm cpu and it's not dead.


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