15" MacBook Pro (SB) Thermal application/guide

[awer25]

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!

I used MX4 and have good temps (40*C idle, 85-90*C on full load after 15 min)

 

[imperialnavy]

Me too MX-4 worked some wonders for me I almost never even hit the 90°C. Just yesterday night i was playing Crysis 2 (DX11 ultra settings btw -- thanks to some overclocking) and i wasnt even hitting 85°C...room temperature almost 30°C

 

[awer25]

Me too MX-4 worked some wonders for me I almost never even hit the 90°C. Just yesterday night i was playing Crysis 2 (DX11 ultra settings btw -- thanks to some overclocking) and i wasnt even hitting 85°C...room temperature almost 30°C

I think it's time to splurge on that A/C unit

 

[IcyTexx]

It's 33C in the room. The MBP is at remarkable 46C after MX2.
Gotta buy an air con. Next week!
Not for the MBP, the air con is for me.

 

[50thVert]

Everything went better than expected! Overall difficulty is about a 3/10 if you’ve got the proper fine-tipped screwdrivers and picks and go slow with a steady hand. Also installed an OWC DataDoubler while I was in there.

I decided to use Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste instead of Arctic Cooling MX-4 due to my familiarity with it and it's equal performance.

The MacBook Pro is reassembled with all components working and no extra or missing screws. When maxing the CPU using HandBrake, temps have dropped from 95C to 84C and my idle temps dropped from 63C to 39C. The fans rarely spin up anymore and the bottom of the laptop and the upper keyboard area are now cool to the touch; much nicer to have on my lap. 1.25TB of internal storage is pretty nice too!

Pictures are here: http://splaingard.smugmug.com/Computers/Mac/Early-2011-15-MacBook-Pro/18715344_NJ7fLG#1447846004_XFsjr7Q

Other random thoughts: Not hearing the Superdrive make noise when you turn on your MBP is nice! Not being able to run the SSD in the optical bay is poop. My HDD is no longer protected by the sudden motion sensor but I don’t plan on dropping the thing. The plastic case OWC sells to put your Superdrive in isn’t great quality but it’ll work for the three times a year I’ll need to burn a DVD. These things absolutely could have a removable battery if Jobs wasn’t so anal about the bottom not having a seam in it.

 

[ExcelonGT]

For people that think their MBPs are fine, and thermal paste reapplication is not necessary, you are wrong!

my 2010 MBP i7,ssd used to idle 68-70 C. I waited 1 year until my warranty was over and went to town with some old AS5 I had laying around.

My Idle temp dropped down to the low to mid 40s!! thats almost a 30 degree difference!

Its quite a shame that Apple has not addressed this with Foxconn. I shouldn't have to correct this manufacturing oversight on a $3000 machine.

Perhaps I should send an email to Tim Cook to raise my concerns.

 

[an0nymity]

Nice! I was wondering, do you guys spread the paste or just leave it as a rice size in the middle and let the heatsink do the spreading? I've seen videos of both ways and not sure what is the correct way. I'm not sure if I should go with AS5 or Ceramique. Thanks!

 

[Titanium81]

Anyone using this?

http://innovationcooling.com/index.html


Thoughts?

 

[Titanium81]

Anyone use IC Diamond 7?

http://innovationcooling.com/overview.htm

 

[awer25]

Anyone use IC Diamond 7?

http://innovationcooling.com/overview.htm

The differences in cooling efficiency between the top pastes are so minimal, it's not worth the extra money or effort (ICD7 is VERY hard to spread). I found Arctic MX-4 (or MX-2, which is easier to find) to be the best choice, as it's cheap, very easy to spread, and has basically no cure time. Arctic Silver 5 is very popular, but performs the same as MX-4 and requires 200 hours to cure.

 

[Titanium81]

The differences in cooling efficiency between the top pastes are so minimal, it's not worth the extra money or effort (ICD7 is VERY hard to spread). I found Arctic MX-4 (or MX-2, which is easier to find) to be the best choice, as it's cheap, very easy to spread, and has basically no cure time. Arctic Silver 5 is very popular, but performs the same as MX-4 and requires 200 hours to cure.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Does anyone have an idea why apple uses so much paste? They've had so long to "fix" it now and it's kind of puzzling they don't tell foxconn to just ease back a bit on the paste

 

[fat jez]

Does anyone have an idea why apple uses so much paste? They've had so long to "fix" it now and it's kind of puzzling they don't tell foxconn to just ease back a bit on the paste

Too much is better than not enough, since the pressure will cause a lot of it to squeeze out the sides. You might get slightly higher temps than if you put just enough on, but you don't need to worry about cooking the CPU/GPU by not applying enough.

Not that I agree with that approach

 

[altecXP]

What do you use to spread it? TP seems rather sticky.

 

[kaiko327]

So I've been following this site for a while now and never registered, but I've had this same issue ever since I bought my mbp in march. I went to the genius bar and the guy asked me, why do you think its running hot? I was like, well I explained what people have found and I can see that when im skyping my computer is 91C...he told me the computer was perfectly fine running like that and I began to argue, he said he would do it but it would take 3 days. I walked out.

Dealt with it for a few more months, decided to do it myself finally (originally didnt do it because it voids warranty but i got fed up) this is what I found.

http://i43.tinypic.com/hv3olk.jpg

I used Zalman ZM-STG1 that I had from when I built my computer last christmas.

http://i44.tinypic.com/1z6xth3.jpg

Running skype (video chat btw) im at 56C, right now im at 58C tho with just a few stuff open but fans are at 2000rpm, they used to be 3800rpm constant.

EDIT: Images were MASSIVE, just put links. Also, just got the iphone 4s and thats what i took pictures with, pretty nice quality for a phone :-D (although im still mainly a pc person and miss my droid, so yall can hate me )

 

[shardey]

I would like to see the difference in temps with the way you guys spread the paste. I have always thought the pea method was the best choice, until I saw a video proving me otherwise. The video I saw here makes me wonder about everyone who is spreading it with an object prior to installing, how much their temperature would be affected if it was applied with either the line method, or the cross.

Also, has anyone had any luck having an Apple store do this? I have to send my 17" early 11 i7 2.3 in due to hardware issues, where I run into the problem of my screen staying off after display sleep and then waking it from sleep sometimes takes 30-60 seconds. I would like to request them to reapply thermal paste to help my temperatures.

 

[Roman2K~]

@kaiko327
Thanks for sharing your experience along with pictures. One of the worst stock application of TP I've ever seen in a MacBook! Amazing results in the end.

@shardey
At my local genius bar they accepted to re-apply the thermal paste but they did a poor job at it. In the end I did it myself, much better results.

 

[vitzr]

lol spending thousands on a laptop, and then having to modify it yourself so it doesn't melt. Apple quality.

It's a sad state of affairs that's for sure.

I really like MacBook Pro's otherwise I would not have paid $3,200 for my new "MBP Do It Yourself Kit" LOL

The laughs on me for paying an obscene price, only to have to fix it myself.

 

[shardey]

@kaiko327
Thanks for sharing your experience along with pictures. One of the worst stock application of TP I've ever seen in a MacBook! Amazing results in the end.

@shardey
At my local genius bar they accepted to re-apply the thermal paste but they did a poor job at it. In the end I did it myself, much better results.

I would rather have them do it, so when I re apply it I can blame anything on them!

 

[thermodynamic]

For people that think their MBPs are fine, and thermal paste reapplication is not necessary, you are wrong!

my 2010 MBP i7,ssd used to idle 68-70 C. I waited 1 year until my warranty was over and went to town with some old AS5 I had laying around.

My Idle temp dropped down to the low to mid 40s!! thats almost a 30 degree difference!

Its quite a shame that Apple has not addressed this with Foxconn. I shouldn't have to correct this manufacturing oversight on a $3000 machine.

Perhaps I should send an email to Tim Cook to raise my concerns.

Did you? The number of people on even Apple's own forums is staggering.

My own 2011 unit is definitely warmer at idle (same ambient room temp), so while Foxconn slops on tons of paste, it is not good quality paste. I've AppleCare so I might go into the genius bar and see if they can replace the poor quality paste with Arctic Silver (which I'll happily buy.)

Apple is typically great with warranty support, especially if asked about going the extra mile (people online report that, when asking for the extra request of using Arctic Silver, did get it done - and they all had AppleCare...) Most people having to get replaced boards don't know or inquire about manual replacement of the thermal paste with Arctic Silver, so it's not surprising that some of them endure the same problem again. If better cooling is all that's needed, and it's the only quibble in what is otherwise a darn good machine (but for $2500, technically inclined or not, a lot of people do seem to be frustrated, but there are many issues to consider...)

 

[Doward]

Actually, Foxconn IS using a pretty good paste.

The problem is twofold - subpar machining on the heatsink, and completely improper paste application.

 

[matthewadams]

Hey everyone,

sorry to bring this up again.
I have a question:
Has anyone done this recently?
I'm asking because in the dawn of the upcoming MBP 2011 GPU failure reports I'm thinking of renewing the thermal paste on mine as well.

I've basically been running it on the dGPU all the time (having an external monitor connected). Temperatures reside between 55-60°C in idle ... (with the GPU being 50-55).

I'm afraid that removing the heatsink and re-applying thermal paste may trigger the event (broken BGA Solder points) by itself seeing the laptop has been in use for a constand 2 years now.

I guess it's a tradeoff between cooler temperatures and a very fragile "never change a running system"..

 

[undesign]

Has anyone had their 2011 MBP GPU fail? Mine died last week after daily use with an external monitor and the laptop closed.

I've got my MBP in repairs now but does anyone have any suggestions as to how to avoid this debacle going forward? I feel like the AMD GPUs are all destined to fail.

 

[macbookpromusic]

Thermal Paste

Hi,

I recently operated on my pro (17 inch, early 2011) and replaced the thermal paste. The op was a success and temps had dropped a few degrees, but in an attempt to increase performance I am doing it one last time.

Anyhow - quick question - this is a piccie of what it looked like a week later with the heatsink off, but I'm confused that there is a spot in the middle which seems to have less paste. Which is odd as I used the 'pea' method and applied it in the centre.

Any tips for when I re-do it?

Thanks a lot if anyone can help.

 

[fat jez]

How big a blob did you use? I always go for about the size of half a grain of rice.

Arctic Silver have a guide: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v1.1.pdf