i spread the paste myself and then right before i put the heatsink back on, i gave it a little squish and wiggled it a bit so that the paste would have full coverage.
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15" MacBook Pro (SB) Thermal application/guide
- Thread starter fr4c
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i spread the paste myself and then right before i put the heatsink back on, i gave it a little squish and wiggled it a bit so that the paste would have full coverage.
joecool99
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joecool99
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Voids whether you mess something up or not. Now if you don't mess up more likely than not they won't even know you did this and therefore will not deny you a warranty repair. However if you do mess up it is more easy for them to find to and deny you warranty.
The way you put it, it sounds like if they find out that you have messed with the internals other than the HDD or memory modules, the warranty is voided. That's not the case at all.
I specifically asked a Genius whether my warranty would be voided if I re-applied thermal paste myself. His response was crystal clear: no but whatever I break in the process will not be covered.
They don't care if I have torn the whole thing apart, as long as once put back together it's like new, no matter whether they know that I did it or not.
Exactly and if you bring in your laptop for a repair and say the cpu or logic board is failing and see that you messed with the thermal paste all the have to do is say whatever is wrong is because of what you tried to do with thermal paste application. And since those parts are NOT user replaceable under their agreement your SOL.
And for your reference if you go read Apples Terms and Agreement it explicitly states any work you do other than HDD and Ram will void your warranty. It may surprise you but a lot of the people who work at Geniuses Bars are mis informed or sometimes just dumb. Maybe for that 1 genius he wouldn't deny you but Apples stance is you do that and your warranty is gone.
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/service/#warranty4
4. What kind of activities will void my warranty?
Apple’s One-Year Limited Warranty for MacBook Pro excludes coverage for damage resulting from a number of events, including accident, liquid spill or submersion, unauthorized service and unauthorized modifications.
Im pretty sure applying thermal paste falls under unauthorized service or unauthorized modifications.
And for your reference if you go read Apples Terms and Agreement it explicitly states any work you do other than HDD and Ram will void your warranty. It may surprise you but a lot of the people who work at Geniuses Bars are mis informed or sometimes just dumb. Maybe for that 1 genius he wouldn't deny you but Apples stance is you do that and your warranty is gone.
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/service/#warranty4
4. What kind of activities will void my warranty?
Apple’s One-Year Limited Warranty for MacBook Pro excludes coverage for damage resulting from a number of events, including accident, liquid spill or submersion, unauthorized service and unauthorized modifications.
Im pretty sure applying thermal paste falls under unauthorized service or unauthorized modifications.
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They could say that indeed, even though that wouldn't be a valid reason. But from the few times I have had to deal with those Geniuses, I would think they're not the kind of people to stoop that low.
I haven't read their legalese but I believe you. Still, I don't think in reality they would pull the paragraph in question to not cover a repair that's obviously not caused by re-applied thermal paste.
Geniuses wil allow repairs that aren't technically covered under warranty like battery that dies from heavy usage or accidental damage but that is on a case by case basis, if you look at the majority of people bringing in their laptops for those issues most of the time they will be denied. If you aren't good at working with hardware better to be safe than hope that the genius you get falls into one of the more lenient group.
I am almost all set for reapplying TP on my MBP as well, i just got a question about those thermal pads. The ones used here were from an EK Waterblock, now i checked their site, but they wont ship single pads, so instead i might go for these :
http://www.amazon.de/Phobya-Wärmele...=sr_1_4?s=ce-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1313314572&sr=1-4
Are these any good ? I would have to cut them to the proper size...question just is, if its enough to cover the southbridge and thunderbolt controller ?
http://www.amazon.de/Phobya-Wärmele...=sr_1_4?s=ce-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1313314572&sr=1-4
Are these any good ? I would have to cut them to the proper size...question just is, if its enough to cover the southbridge and thunderbolt controller ?
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This thermal pad looks fine:
- 5W/MK is excellent conductivity (for thermal pads)
- IIRC, 1mm is the right thickness for both the southbridge and the Thunderbolt controller. Even if it's not thick enough, add a second layer.
- 120 x 20 mm is way more than enough: look (step 12) at how tiny the surfaces to cover are 😉
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Am i the only one who's not seeing any improvement in the temps?
I did the repaste with AS5 on two MBPs 15". The temps are around 55ish when browsing and hits high 60s when playing video/youtube and it goes up to 70c when the fans start to kick in. No improvements in the temps BUT the laptop does seem to be quieter.
I did the repaste with AS5 on two MBPs 15". The temps are around 55ish when browsing and hits high 60s when playing video/youtube and it goes up to 70c when the fans start to kick in. No improvements in the temps BUT the laptop does seem to be quieter.
I wouldn't be too worried about it. Thats around what I have. You are well within the operating temps. At first you may not notice a difference or may even have higher temps because the thermal paste may need to settle/cure. Thats what happened to me at first and then i noticed big temp drops the 2nd and 3rd day. I have similar temps with you tube videos and overall load temps are lower than what I had when I got it stock. People looking into doing this and who do it right will notice some temp drops or little change in temps (similar to stock), but will notice more that the fans will be a lot quieter and load temps should be lower.
I just reapplied my thermal compound as well 🙂 First of, thank you very much for the wonderful guide, it was extremely helpful 😀
Second, does the Arctic Cooling MX-4 need a certain amount of curing time as well ? Because right now i am getting temperatures of around 50-58°C (Safari with 5 tabs opened, 2 of them being 2 paused Youtube videos, vlc player video paused, iTunes playing and mail app opened)
I suppose i also don't need to worry too much ?
When i first ran it in idle mode however (nothing opened) it dropped as low as 31°C 🙂
Next up is a rather extreme Crysis 2 Test..if temps don't go above 90°C, i will know that it worked 😛
Update : Crysis 2 running stable at around 79-80°C CPU temp and 84-86°C GPU -- That is an improvement. Used to be around 99 for cpu and 93 for gpu.
Update : Scratch that, temps are actually higher than before, just depends on where i am in Crysis....
BTW: Checking with cpu z, my core is clocked to around 2ghz during gameplay...is that usual ? Shouldnt it be at least 2.2 ? i know its probably throttling itself...but looking at those nice temps, i am sure there would be room for more.
Second, does the Arctic Cooling MX-4 need a certain amount of curing time as well ? Because right now i am getting temperatures of around 50-58°C (Safari with 5 tabs opened, 2 of them being 2 paused Youtube videos, vlc player video paused, iTunes playing and mail app opened)
I suppose i also don't need to worry too much ?
When i first ran it in idle mode however (nothing opened) it dropped as low as 31°C 🙂
Next up is a rather extreme Crysis 2 Test..if temps don't go above 90°C, i will know that it worked 😛
Update : Crysis 2 running stable at around 79-80°C CPU temp and 84-86°C GPU -- That is an improvement. Used to be around 99 for cpu and 93 for gpu.
Update : Scratch that, temps are actually higher than before, just depends on where i am in Crysis....
BTW: Checking with cpu z, my core is clocked to around 2ghz during gameplay...is that usual ? Shouldnt it be at least 2.2 ? i know its probably throttling itself...but looking at those nice temps, i am sure there would be room for more.
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Nice thread.. I have about a 4 year old MBP. I replaced the HD about a year ago. Mine runs super hot and turns off when just on the battery. I was going to open it up anyway. Can I do this on my version of laptop? Will this help it from shutting off when not connected to the power cord? I am super frustrated with my MBP right now. Looking to get about another year out of it.
The way I see it, you can do this on any kind of computer 😉 After applying thermal paste on my Macbook i put some paste on my grandma´s old desktop 😉 Worked like a charm 😀
Actually, i am not too happy with my temps after all.
Using furmark in bootcamp my gpu got as hot as 102°C...
I will reapply it again and use a razorblade to make it as thin as somehow possible.
I also take it, that none of the paste should come onto the surrounding silicon chip ?
Update : I reapplied my TP. Temps while using furmark did reach 101°C on the gpu again, but cpu stays stable at 80°C, while using Crysis 2, max temp was 93°C (CPU) and 91°C (GPU) Mostly around 85°C for both though.
What am i looking at here ? Is it usual ? What do you get when you use furmark ? I know its prone to overheating, but am i looking at normal numbers here ? This time i made only a very thin cover with the TP, it was almost translucent 😉
Temps while using Safari in Bootcamp : 55°C
Is that ok ???
Using furmark in bootcamp my gpu got as hot as 102°C...
I will reapply it again and use a razorblade to make it as thin as somehow possible.
I also take it, that none of the paste should come onto the surrounding silicon chip ?
Update : I reapplied my TP. Temps while using furmark did reach 101°C on the gpu again, but cpu stays stable at 80°C, while using Crysis 2, max temp was 93°C (CPU) and 91°C (GPU) Mostly around 85°C for both though.
What am i looking at here ? Is it usual ? What do you get when you use furmark ? I know its prone to overheating, but am i looking at normal numbers here ? This time i made only a very thin cover with the TP, it was almost translucent 😉
Temps while using Safari in Bootcamp : 55°C
Is that ok ???
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I'd like to replace the stock TB and SB pads with some higher quality thermal pads while I'm in there and want to make sure I get the right thickness! Is 0.5mm thick enough or do I need a full 1mm? Found some 7W/mK pads today.
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I personally used 1mm pads, maybe 2 mm or 1.5mm would work too, but i wouldn't go thinner than 1mm. I used 5w/mk, where did you find the 7w/mk ?
I am curious how much a pad would have to have in order to be used on top of the cpu/gpu 😀
Update for my own project : it seems as if my temps finally dropped severely 🙂 I put TP on the chips (rice grain size on gpu, slim line on cpu) and i used the heatsink to spread it. At first i didn't notice any improvement, but now, after nearly 24 hours, its much better. Although i did use Arctic MX-4, there seems to be some minimal curing time...or maybe the TP just needed gravity to do its work and let it spread properly 😉
As for temps reaching 100°C for a short period of time while using furmark in bootcamp, it seems as if this is unavoidable, no matter what. At least temps like this won't show up in games 😉
I am curious how much a pad would have to have in order to be used on top of the cpu/gpu 😀
Update for my own project : it seems as if my temps finally dropped severely 🙂 I put TP on the chips (rice grain size on gpu, slim line on cpu) and i used the heatsink to spread it. At first i didn't notice any improvement, but now, after nearly 24 hours, its much better. Although i did use Arctic MX-4, there seems to be some minimal curing time...or maybe the TP just needed gravity to do its work and let it spread properly 😉
As for temps reaching 100°C for a short period of time while using furmark in bootcamp, it seems as if this is unavoidable, no matter what. At least temps like this won't show up in games 😉
If there is a problem, Why cant Apple correct it? If there is a problem, Im sure Apple is on it. Like Marsellus Wallace.
As far as warranty is concerned... how will they know?
If you get a thermal paste that is the same (or similar colour), there is no way to check!
Unless... "wait a minute -- says one apple tech to another -- this looks WAY to good to be factory job; the user must've done it! let's void his warranty"
If you get a thermal paste that is the same (or similar colour), there is no way to check!
Unless... "wait a minute -- says one apple tech to another -- this looks WAY to good to be factory job; the user must've done it! let's void his warranty"
JronMasteR
macrumors 6502
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...ance_MIPs_Innovatek_19101.html?tl=g8c487s1289
I'd stick with thermal paste on the CPU/GPU. You only want thermal pads when there's a larger gap between die and heatsink.
I'll be using MX4 as well so I'll report my findings. New 15" 2.2 MBP will hopefully be delivered tomorrow! 😀