Reply 22160 of 27559, by BitWrangler
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386SX wrote on 2022-07-10, 16:32:BitWrangler wrote on 2022-07-10, 16:16:386SX wrote on 2022-07-09, 10:45:Next time I'll try to polish the core side of the heatsink metal to make it almost reflective and using a better thermal paste, maybe I'll save a couple less degrees on its temperature.
Back in the day we were always having to tell the n00bs, "You don't want it shiny, you want it flat, shiny is sometimes a result of extremely flat, but you're not aiming for shiny!" ..... so yeah, don't go telling a new bunch of n00bs that shiny is the thing plzkthx 🤣
Yes I suppose it's better to say that it should be "so flat that the heatsink becomes reflective" or something like it cause cheap heatsink are really bad on the surface work done by factory and I suppose the thermal paste doesn't need those metal imperfections to cover the missing points of contact. 😉
Anyway I suppose it's all about few degrees of differences anyway.. it's the quite wide core area of the APU compared to the compact usual environment that make it difficult to keep temps low.
My personal preference, was to stop at 1200 grit with a satiny finish, which I did with the paper taped down to a glass door off an old entertainment unit (a smallish, thickish one, that looked optically flat.) Then at that point I'd get a cotton rag and rub zinc oxide paste into it, which typically had the effect of shining it, but then all remaining defects would be packed with zinc oxide and metal particles, and then dry wipe it, to leave whatever "stuff" was filling them filling them (A metal polish would leave waxes in there which "gloss over" things rather than helping them out for heat transfer.) So yeah, mine turned out shiny, but, some people were taking them straight out the box and attacking them with a buffing wheel and brasso, to merely shine them up, which don't do crap for them.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.