HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer: Lapping the CPU Heat Sink

By: John Stutsman

Figure 1 – Lapped CPU Heat Sink set to reflect the Intel Zeon E3-1265LV2 and other parts on the System Board of HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer

At the completion of HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer: Xeon E3-1265LV2 Upgrade I had completed the upgrade and successfully powered on my Gen8 MicroServer.

Figure 2 — System information showing CPU upgrade to Xeon E3-1265LV2

Afterwards I did some testing of core temperatures using iLO and Open Hardware Monitor. When heavily loaded with Prime95 I found it alarming that the core temperatures would rise steadily to about 85 degrees C in Open Hardware Monitor. The system fan speeds (the fan had been set to Optimal Cooling in BIOS) would also rise steadily from 6% to 21% where the temperature rise was arrested with iLO CPU temps of 60C.

Figure 3 — Open Hardware Monitor showing individual Core Temperatures of CPU Cores as well as other useful data.

I became concerned about the pattern of the thermal paste on the CPU (Celeron G1610T) and the CPU heat-sink when I first disassembled the MicroServer in HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer: Xeon E3-1265LV2 CPU Upgrade and posted my concerns in Anyone Who Has Changed the Heat Sink on a Gen8 MicroServer.

I decided to again pull the System Board Assembly and check the thermal paste and CPU heat sink. In particular I wanted to check to see if the face of the CPU Heat Sink was flat.

I used all of the procedures and steps outlined in HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer: Xeon E3-1265LV2 CPU Upgrade plus the additional preparations listed below to check the Heat Sink for flatness and for lapping the Heat Sink.

Preparation

Have handy and review Removal and Replacement Procedures beginning on page 21 of the HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Maintenance and Service Guide and especially review the sections:

System Board Assembly on pages 28-30,
Heat Sink on pages 49-51, and (if you plan to replace the CPU)
Processor on pages 51-53

Go to HP Customer Self Repair Services Media Library – Media Selection Page. Under 1. Product Category SELECT Servers. Under 2. Product Family SELECT HP ProLiant MicroServer. Under 3 Product Series SELECT HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8. Hit RETURN to go to the Remove/Replace Videos selection menu. Watch HP’s

System Board Assembly Remove/Replace Video
Heat Sink Remove/Replace Video, and (if you plan to replace the CPU)
Processor Remove/Replace Video

Review blog post HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer: Xeon E3-1265LV2 CPU Upgrade at http://homeservershow.com/
For Cleaning the Heat Sink & CPU:

Arctic Silver Arcticlean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier CAN-60ML
Arctic Silver 5 (needed later when replacing the Heat Sink)
Q-Tips
Coffee Filters
Old Credit Card or similar plastic Card
- To scrape off excess thermal material during removal
- To spread thermal material around with during “tinting” of CPU Heat Sink
Arctic Silver Thermal Compound Application Method – Vertical Line (White Paper from Arctic Silver – download the PDF and keep as a permanent reference)

For Checking the Heat Sink Face for Flatness

Metal Straight Edge (Clean the straight edge before touching the Heat Sink with it – use both sides of the straight edge to be sure the straight edge is “straight”)
Light Source

For Lapping the Heat Sink Face

See/Review: How To Lap a Heat Sink at http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/lapping/
See/Review “Klips” posts in thread: E5200 Lapping? Anyone Tried It? At http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7531
12” x 10” piece of glass (available at Menards) and painters tape to attach sandpaper to glass
Liquid soap (borrowed from kitchen)
Sandpaper, wet/dry type, starting at 400 grit, 800, 1000, 1500, & 2000. If you want you could add 600, 1200, & 2500 to that mix. Start with 400 and when Face is Flat THEN work your way up to achieve a mirror finish.

For Cleaning & Installing the Heat Sink & CPU:

Arctic Silver Arcticlean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier CAN-60ML
Arctic Silver 5
Q-Tips
Coffee Filters
Old Credit Card or similar plastic Card
- To scrape off excess thermal material during removal
- To spread thermal material around with during “tinting” of CPU Heat Sink
Arctic Silver Thermal Compound Application Method – Vertical Line (White Paper from Arctic Silver – download the PDF and keep as a permanent reference)

Figure 4 — Cables disconnected from System Board Assembly before removal

In this Video (Video 1: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer System Board Assembly Removal) I remove the System Board Assembly:

Figure 5 — Preparing to Remove the Heat Sink from the CPU (Xeon E3-1265LV2)

In this Video (Video 2: CPU Heat Sink Removal: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer) I removed the CPU Heat Sink:

Figure 6 — Preparing to Clean the Heat Sink & CPU then test the Face of the Heat Sink for Flatness

In this Video (Video 3: Clean Heat Sink & CPU: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer) I clean thermal material off of the Heat Sink & CPU, then I confirmed that the face of the CPU Heat Sink was not flat:

Figure 7 — By lifting the Heat Sink up and looking along the face of the Heat Sink with the metal Straight Edge across the Heat Sink and the overhead lights behind the Straight Edge and Heat Sink I confirmed that the Heat Sink face was NOT flat. See Figure 8 & Video 3.

Figure 8 — By lifting the Heat Sink up and looking along the face of the Heat Sink with the metal Straight Edge across the Heat Sink and the overhead lights behind the Straight Edge and Heat Sink I confirmed that the Heat Sink face was NOT flat. See Figure 7 & Video 3.

Figure 9 — Preparing to Lap the Heat Sink using wet/dry sandpaper

Figure 10 — 12″ X 10″ piece of glass to be used as base for the Sandpaper during lapping

Figure 11 — Mirror finish on Heat Sink after Lapping

In this Video (Video 4: Lapping the Heat Sink: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer) I will begin Lapping the CPU Heat Sink:

Figure 12 — Preparing to install the Lapped Heat Sink

Figure 13 — Arctic Silver 5 applied to Xeon E3-1265LV2 and Heat Sink face reflecting System Board components

Figure 14 — Another view of System Board and CPU with Thermal material applied

In this Video (Video 5: Install Heat Sink: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer) I INTSALL my Lapped CPU Heat Sink:

Figure 15 — Preparing to install the System Board Assembly & Power-Up

In this Video (Video 6: Install System Board Assembly: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer) I Install my System Board Assembly & Power-Up my Gen8 MicroServer:

Figure 16 — 7 Day (168 hours) break-in run with Fans set in BIOS to “Increased Cooling” resulting in fan speeds from 36% to 41% during that period.

Additional testing of temperatures under heavy load will be discussed in a subsequent report.

Conclusion

I removed and tested the CPU Heat Sink from my Gen8 MicroServer and found that it was not flat. I then lapped the Heat Sink until it was flat and reassembled my Gen8 MicroServer. I’ve allowed it run at different power levels during the 200 hour break-in period for Arctic Silver 5, after which, I will do some additional temperature testing and response to heavy loads.

My system configuration As-Built:

HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer Xeon E3-1265LV2
16GB RAM – Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G (this RAM had previously been in my N40L MicroServer)
OS Drive: HP Dynamic Smart Array B120i RAID Controller – Logical RAID0 Drive made with two (2) physical drives VelociRaptor WD1500HLHX (the physical drives were attached to SATAIII [6Gbps] Ports 0 & 1 and are SGDM mounted)
OS: Windows Server 2012 Standard
iLO 4 Advanced

Figure 17 — As-Built: HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer Xeon E3-1265LV2

Questions?

If you want to learn more about the Gen8 MicroServer a good place to start is ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Links and the MicroServer Forum and MicroServer Gen8 Sub-Forum of the HSS Forums where you are welcomed to join us with any questions and/or comments on the above and other threads. Be sure to check out the References at the end of this post.

References

Xeon E3-1265LV2 Upgrade in HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer

MicroServer Gen8 Sub-Forum

Anyone Who Has Changed the Heat Sink on a Gen8 MicroServer

ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Links

The Schoondoggy Gen8 Drive Mount for the HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer First Look

Useful MicroServer Links & References

MicroServer Hardware Links

MicroServer Forum

MicroServer Blog Postings

References I referred to about thermal compound use

Arctic Silver Thermal Compound Application Method – Vertical Line