Crappy thermal grease?

[gamerman4]

After looking at how far jancz3rt overclocked his Venice 3000+ and getting load temps of only 45C, I decided that my CPU shouldn't be getting load temps of 53C because mine is clocked less than his and my voltage is .1V less than his. Is it possible that the thermal grease that came with my SI-120 just sucks? I even went just now and cleaned my CPU and HSF and re-applied the stuff and my temp only went down about 1/2-1C. jacz3rt said it might be because of the weight of the heatsink causing contact problems but the SI-120 is all-aluminum and weighs just barely over the stock HSFs weight. airflow isn't a problem because when I took the door off and blew a high-velocity fan in it, there was barely a temp difference. Should I go buy some AS5? One last thing, after wiping the TIM of my SI-120, the under-surface was very obvioulsy machined and looked very scratched looking, do you think lapping would help? I think this might be the problem because I compared my stock HSF to the SI-120 and the stock one had an almost mirror-look under it and the SI-120 was in terribly machined. Could this be the major problem?

 

[ReturnToEmpire]

probably, wut r u using now.

 

[Geoff]

Im pretty sure hes using the stock grease, either way i would recommend getting AS5 or maybe even something better.

 

[gamerman4]

what is better than AS5? I think the heatsink might need to be lapped though...

 

[Ku-sama]

i should lap mine.... can someone link to the site with the instructions? i cant remember the grit

 

[Xycron]

What do you guys mean my lap? By grit i assume you mean sand paper grit...So does that mean you guys are trying to 1.take sratched out, or 2.put them in? putting sratching in doesn't make much sence to me...and how you would get the scrached on ther in the first place does'tt either.

 

[Geoff]

What do you guys mean my lap? By grit i assume you mean sand paper grit...So does that mean you guys are trying to 1.take sratched out, or 2.put them in? putting sratching in doesn't make much sence to me...and how you would get the scrached on ther in the first place does'tt either.

it buffs it down so the surface of the CPU is very shinny, in other words it gets it pretty much perfectly flat.

 

[Xycron]

Since when arn't heatsinks perfect flat? All of mine came that way.

 

[gamerman4]

Not "perfectly flat" as in they were lopsided to begin with, We make it perfectly smooth so the heatsink contacts the CPU better. Here is a link to a guide I found to show you what I mean. http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/heatsinklappingguide.php
scroll down and look at the pics before and after lapping it

 

[Praetor]

and the stock one had an almost mirror-look under it and the SI-120 was in terribly machined

If you say stock is almost mirror look than im afraid to imagine the SI120

what is better than AS5?

Depending on where u buy it, the OCz stuff might be cheaper, thermal specs are the same

putting sratching in doesn't make much sence to me...

Well you use sandpaper to smooth out wood.... that introduces scratches into the wood...

Since when arn't heatsinks perfect flat? All of mine came that way.

Since forever.

as in they were lopsided to begin with

Lopsided is associated with being "level". "perfectly flat" is a statement that is level/angle-indepdent

 

[gamerman4]

If you say stock is almost mirror look than im afraid to imagine the SI120.

Yes, the SI120 looks absolutley terrible underneath, its like they forgot to buff/smooth the bottom at all. You can just look at it to tell that it needs to be lapped, no examination needed. The stock AMD 3200 heatsink actually looked decent, you had to look closly at it to see any grooves. When I get some new TIM and sandpaper, I will take pics of before and after shots.