Lapping i7 860 for speed increase

[rkaye]

I've been away from Tom's forums for a couple months, but when I left last I was considering lapping (sanding) my new i7 core 860 lynnfield. At the time the general feeling was that it would be a poor overclocker. I wanted to update y'all to know that I (nervously--i'm a first time lapper) spent hours and hours sanding my 860 and Noctua NH-U12P SE2 cpu cooler all the way to a mirror finish with 2000grit. I was really surprised as I sanded the cpu how uneven it was even though it really didn't appear (to my untrained eye) to be.

I don't know if I just got lucky with a very overclockable cpu, or if I happened to choose the right combination of parts, or if this is a typical overclock, but the CPU has been completely stable at 4GHz (3960MHz) with a 2.160GHz memory clock. [I was completely stable at 4200.74MHz CPU/2000.35Mhz memory, as well.]

I hope my positive experience encourages some of you to try lapping -- I'm sold on it and will be lapping all future cpu/coolers.

Intel Core i7 860 Lynnfield
Gigabyte UD4P LGA1156 mainboard
8gb G.Skill DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000)
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooler
IC Diamond Thermal Compound

 

[Rustyy117]

4.2ghz is all well and good, but what voltage and temps are you getting

For example i could reach 4.2 ghz with my core i7 920 but my temps would be in the high 80's and my voltage would be around 1.35000V.

Interesting to read that your CPU was "uneven" makes me what to check mine, but i cant be asked to take apart my rig to find out :L

Also do you have HyperThreading on, as it makes a huge differance to temps.

 

[DeeTee_uk]

Cool. Out of interest, what are the temps/voltages like? I would try lapping, but it gives me the fear. I'm a clumsy oaf, and liable to go straight through. I don't want to have to replace a £200 chip because I sanded through to silicon :/