Hey, I have a 2.8GHz unibody MacBook Pro (the one with the 9600M GT) and am looking to reapply the factory thermal paste on the CPU and GPU with arctic silver 5. I've heard that this can significantly reduce temps since apple sometimes sloppily applies the thermal paste. I've found guides for reapplying thermal paste on the new sandy bridge MBP but can't seem to find anything for the older core 2 duo unibody version. Does anybody know if it's pretty much the same thing or are there differences between the two versions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Thermal Paste Application On Macbook Pro
- Thread starter jumpman25
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It'll reduce fan speeds more than it will reduce temps. And I wouldn't go into it thinking you're going to get 10C cooler, that's wishful thinking.
Only if you're knowledgeable and willing to risk loosing your warranty should attempt to reapply your thermal paste.
Only if you're knowledgeable and willing to risk loosing your warranty should attempt to reapply your thermal paste.
Don't speak for everybody here. Before I replaced my thermal paste, I was idling at 45-50 C. I've replaced the TP with IC Diamond, my idle temps are 33-37 C now = 10 degree difference!!
The reason I'm thinking about doing this is because the processor is getting up over 100 degrees celcius when its under full load. I checked the specs and its rated for up to 105 degrees celcius, but it worries me that it gets that close to the threshold temp. Just wondering if the teardown is similar to the sandy bridge version.
It's all the same, ribbons, cables, screws... lol configuration might be a bit different, just make sure to disconnect the battery first.
Alright cool. Thanks for all the quick replies. My warranty has run out so I don't really have anything to lose with that. Hopefully this cools down my computer a bit.
I didn't say it wouldn't happen, but I really meant you shouldn't expect it to happen. You may only get 5C or 1C or have no difference at all. Re-applying thermal paste is not automatically a magical bullet that gets you better temps.
http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/MacBook_Pro
There'll be a guide for the heat sink removal on there, if anywhere. I done mine yesterday and the peace of mind and temp drops where worth it, my personal opinion anyway.
Yeah, I realize that. Figure it's worth a shot though. I've seen a few pics of some pretty poorly applied thermal paste.
Yep, same happened to mine. Depending on the thermal paste, it'll take some time to reach optimal efficiency.
I just finished testing out the computer after applying the arctic silver 5 and figured I would post my results in case anybody was interested. The stock thermal compound looked like it was slopped on pretty hastily and there was definitely way too much compound used. Using iStat Pro to measure the temps, my computer would idle between 40 and 45 degrees celcius using the stock thermal compound. Now it's idling in the low 30's. The computer still gets up around 100 degrees celcius when under full load but I'm thinking this has to do with the way OSX handles the fans. They don't ramp up from 2000rpm until the processor is up close to 100 degrees. It does however take longer to reach these temps after applying the arctic silver 5 and the computer seems to cool down quicker when the fans rev up. I'm thinking I'll just get a fan controller and set my own profiles so the fans rev up sooner. Regardless, I think it was definitely worth the hassle to apply my own thermal compound as I'm seeing a very noticeable difference in cooling capability. Thanks again to everybody who helped me out.
So why are you recommending the procedure if the behavior is exactly the same as before? The computer is still getting close to 100 degrees in your case, which was the reason you did the hack. Afterwards, it's still doing the same thing - so what's the benefit?
The temp isn't sitting at 100C for a long time, it's easier to control. With stock paste you'll get 100C with the fans sitting at 6k untill you stop what you're doing, if you reapply and do the same thing, fans won't go to 6k and if you want them to you can easily bring it down to like 85C because the temp is more managable. If you question this, you probably shouldn't do it because you don't understand what's going on.