This article only matters to people using the Mendocino Celeron Coppermine-128's as these are based on a different design. But to those who do, be warned! This is pretty much a one way mod (which can go wrong)

I recently discovered a link to an article while sifting through various forums and I found a spin-off from my K6 cracking. Someone had actually taken the copper plate off a celeron! Seeing the good results I had acheived from taking the plate off my k6-166, I decided through my dedication for my site I would crack open one of my treasured Celeron 400@550.

I took a knife and started hacking away at the metal at the side of the copper. Believe me it's tough work but I found the best method is this; cut down with the blade at the edge of the copper (like cutting a sandwich) and make a grove as big as possible. Then put the blade flat against the chip and cut it down, this basically slowly cuts a grove. When you start to see the dividing split between the chip and the copper, be careful how hard you push (too hard and you will slip through and damage the core).

When I finally got the metal plate off, I could see the bare core. Unlike the K6, it was raised by a about 0.5mm - this is not much at all and makes sticking a heatsink on very difficult.

So, how did it clock? One word - BAD. Either the heatsink just wouldn't touch very well or I don't know. Let's just say 500 wasn't even within my reach. I decided it was a bad idea and tried to put the plate back on by putting a few blobs of solder at the side. The problem with this is that the pressure needed to transfer the heat was just not there. At 400mhz at ran at 58c instead of 30c. Thats HOT!!

By now I was pretty pissed off so I took drastic measures - I broke the law and defaced a 2 penny piece. I lapped the copper coin to a flat finish and using heatsink paste, I put it in between the heatsink and the CPU. I was happy to say, this crude method actually bought me back to my original temperatures.

Conclusion

So, whats the problem with taking off the plate?? Well the copper spreads the heat away from the core and by taking it off reduces cooling effeciency. Now I have 1 CPU with the plate and one without :( One thing I didn't want to try (I don't want to buy another H/S), is to file down the surrounding edges so there is a small square to touch the core - you have to be accurate. If someone tries this, tell me how you got on - I'm sure it will do well.

Spode