Lapping the Heatsinks on a NP8170

I was recently switching out the IC Diamond I had on by CPU/GPU for Shin-Etsu X23, and came across information on lapping . Most of the examples given involved lapping the heatsinks for desktop machines, so has anyone here ever tried it on the notebook heatsinks?

 

I just buff it up with Brasso or other equivalent metal polish to get a mirror finish.

From my experience Clevo heatsinks are generally finished to a very high standard anyway, eg pretty much mirror finish, or at the very least no obvious machining marks.

So if you're not going to be doing some serious clocking and you're not right at the edge of your machine's thermal envelope I would say it's a fairly pointless exercise.

If you're bored though then by all means go ahead and do a before and after for us and prove me wrong

 

Sounds like a much better idea than sandpaper, but do you think the Brasso would mess with the thermal paste in any way?

 

As long as you clean it properly after. Use silvo, same stuff as brasso, just less abrasive.

 

I have 91% isopropyl alcohol and half a bottle of Indigo Xtreme Clean. Will those be enough to clean with after polishing, or is there something else I should use?

 

Should be ok. You really don't need much, although you should make double sure all the polish is gone as it is corrosive.

 

OK then. I noticed that my CPU heatsink has some tape around it cut to fit the die, is that necessary for anything? If it's thermal tape, I don't get why it'd be there since my GPU easily has a higher temperature and its heatsink doesn't have it.

 

Could be insulating tape to prevent the heatsink contacting other components on the card. Couldn't really say. I'd leave it. The heatsink should only be in contact with the component it's meant to cool.