What makes the difference in price between low end cooler and the high end ones?
The material used
The number of fins and airducs
The quality and the noise level the fan
The quality of the surface of the base of the radiator
We will primarily focus on the last point, as not only it directly affects the price of the cooler, but also its the overall performance.
The base is often rough on low-cost solutions as getting proper polishing involve some manufacturing cost, and it is obtained in two ways:
By hand
With machinery and specialized tools.
In both cases, the cost is significant.
If the surface is well polished then the contact with the CPU will be better, the use of thermal paste optimized and performance improved.
We can also polish the CPU (manually) but there are some risks, because the warranty shall be void and if the operation is too "deep", there is a risk of damaging the processor(permanently).
Each one has its own method! Personally, I make use a flexible abrasive of a well-known brand.
Use one having a Grit of 400 minimum to start (the higher the number, the higher the grain is fine, finish the job using a 800 or 1000).
With the flexible abrasive, make circular movements (reverse the direction from time to time), then horizontally.
Please note that the surface must be polished, but also remain flat!
