TimmuJapan
macrumors 6502
Ummm….. amazing if you wanna burn a hole through your pants when you put the computer in your lap….
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2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread
- Thread starter ilikewhey
- Start date
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I hope someone could help me out quickly as my mba is currently open. I planned to use PTM 7950 pads on the cpu as I have successfully done on my old MacBook, however now I’m unsure of the mounting pressure. The pad is supposedly 0.2mm thin. It’s a phase change pad. Is this too thin with the bad mounting pressure of the heatsink ? I also have syy paste.
I decided to do a cpu and heatsink mod on my MacBook Air 2020 i5 laptop.
I decided against the shim mod and instead used an Artic TP-3 0.5mm thermal pad. On top of the heatsink I placed an Aairhut 1.5mm thermal pad and removed the heat shield form the bottom of the case. I have a cooling stand that I put my MacBook on.
I had fcracer’s guide open as reference, appreciate the effort he put in to it, thank you.
I opened the case, disconnected the battery and removed the heatsink - those screws are so small I couldn’t focus on them!
After completing the mod I ran Geekbench 5:
Before mod: Single: 1056. Multi: 2663.
After mod: Single: 1133 (+7%). Multi: 3657 (+37%)
Now the performance increase of the mod is good but this laptop is not purchased for its performance prowess.
The temperature improvement has been outstanding.
The laptop now idles at 34c it was previously 47c. I ran Cinebench R23 before and after but have misplaced the score for before, the temperature would hit 90c-98c for the majority of the test (which lasts over 10mins). Post mod it didn't go over 79c. The score post mod for Cinebanch R23 was Multi: 2690.
More Post mod benchmarks only:
Geekbench 6 : Single: 1375. Multi: 4331. GPU: 6185.
Geekbench 5 : GPU: 8658.
When watching YouTube the temp remains cool and the fans silent. The same goes for Netflix, Prime, AppleTV and all other streaming services tested.
I play the odd retro game - some games pushed the laptop hard whilst emulating. One example is Grandia on the Saturn, it would cause temps to sit in the 90’s, post mod this remains below 70c.
Overall I am very happy with the results. I know this is a very old thread but I wanted to show that using a good thermal pad instead of the shim mod is a viable option.
Thanks to everyone who has spent time contributing to this and the many other threads around, it made it a much easier decision for me to give it a try. My 3 year warranty ran out this year so I felt some attention to the laptop would help keep it going strong.
I decided against the shim mod and instead used an Artic TP-3 0.5mm thermal pad. On top of the heatsink I placed an Aairhut 1.5mm thermal pad and removed the heat shield form the bottom of the case. I have a cooling stand that I put my MacBook on.
I had fcracer’s guide open as reference, appreciate the effort he put in to it, thank you.
I opened the case, disconnected the battery and removed the heatsink - those screws are so small I couldn’t focus on them!
After completing the mod I ran Geekbench 5:
Before mod: Single: 1056. Multi: 2663.
After mod: Single: 1133 (+7%). Multi: 3657 (+37%)
Now the performance increase of the mod is good but this laptop is not purchased for its performance prowess.
The temperature improvement has been outstanding.
The laptop now idles at 34c it was previously 47c. I ran Cinebench R23 before and after but have misplaced the score for before, the temperature would hit 90c-98c for the majority of the test (which lasts over 10mins). Post mod it didn't go over 79c. The score post mod for Cinebanch R23 was Multi: 2690.
More Post mod benchmarks only:
Geekbench 6 : Single: 1375. Multi: 4331. GPU: 6185.
Geekbench 5 : GPU: 8658.
When watching YouTube the temp remains cool and the fans silent. The same goes for Netflix, Prime, AppleTV and all other streaming services tested.
I play the odd retro game - some games pushed the laptop hard whilst emulating. One example is Grandia on the Saturn, it would cause temps to sit in the 90’s, post mod this remains below 70c.
Overall I am very happy with the results. I know this is a very old thread but I wanted to show that using a good thermal pad instead of the shim mod is a viable option.
Thanks to everyone who has spent time contributing to this and the many other threads around, it made it a much easier decision for me to give it a try. My 3 year warranty ran out this year so I felt some attention to the laptop would help keep it going strong.
Hi folks, my Wife has just received her new MBA M3 so the old MBA 2018 (code a1932, Intel I5 dual core) is now in my hands for home tasks (browsing, mails, some video on YouTube, Spotify, simple Word and Excel). Now I am considering to do the heatsink mod (only the part on cpu: to add a 0.5 mm thick Copper shim and to apply new arctic mx-4 thermal paste). Do you suggest to apply the mod or does not it make any sense?
Thank you
Thank you
There are two sections to the mod:
-Copper shim on heat-sink
-Copper shim + thermal pads
I'll list pros & cons for you to decide
--Copper shim only
Pros: Better heat dissipation, maintains apple's thermal design, doesn't heat up bottom case (may affect battery health)
Cons: Not as effective as adding thermal pads
--Copper shim and thermal pads
Pros: Improves thermal performance drastically
Cons: Makes bottom panel also heat up (uncomfortable for lap use, can deteriorate battery health faster)
My opinion? I think for your use, no modding is probably just fine, if you feel that the laptop seems to throttle during use, you can do just the heat-sink mod (only the part on the cpu, as you mentioned). Enjoy modding (or not)!
Hey Everyone,
I picked up a used M1 MBA and interested in doing this mod. Can I use the following thermal pads:
Thanks in advance to everyone for your time and help. It is greatly appreciated!
I picked up a used M1 MBA and interested in doing this mod. Can I use the following thermal pads:
ARCTIC TP-3: Premium Performance Thermal Pad, 100 x 100 x 1.5 mm (Stackable to 2.0 mm Without Performance Loss), 1 Piece - High Performance, Particularly Soft, Ideal Gap Filler, Bridging Gaps
ARCTIC, a leading manufacturer of low-noise PC coolers and components, initiated and continues to shape the trend towards quiet cooling systems. In addition to an extensive range of CPU/GPU coolers and fans, ARCTIC produces high-quality monitor arms and wall brackets as well as practical tech equ...
www.amazon.com
Thanks in advance to everyone for your time and help. It is greatly appreciated!
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
i got an MacBook Air (2020 one with i3) for quite cheap this summer, as it had some problems with the battery. after fixing the laptop, it's been working like a charm!
however, it has come to my attention that it runs quite hot while doing simple tasks (60ºC on idle and 90ºC+ on load), even though i've replaced Apple's original paste with PTM7950SP.
what'll be the best option for me if i'd wanted to do this mod (adding some shims under the heatsink or adding shims under and on top of the heatsink)? i don't want to damage this laptop, as the replacement parts cost too much for a high school student like me.
however, it has come to my attention that it runs quite hot while doing simple tasks (60ºC on idle and 90ºC+ on load), even though i've replaced Apple's original paste with PTM7950SP.
what'll be the best option for me if i'd wanted to do this mod (adding some shims under the heatsink or adding shims under and on top of the heatsink)? i don't want to damage this laptop, as the replacement parts cost too much for a high school student like me.
Tenkaykev
macrumors 6502
I did the mod and the laptop still runs fine. It's now semi retired and sits in the corner happily running Home Assistant 24 hours a day. My recommendation would be to not bother with the shims, just go for the thermal pads as it's a lot easier to do and there's little risk of doing damage.
just got the shims today. after applying one copper shim under the CPU, the temps got worse. is it because im using the same thermal paste as before (PTM7950SP)? if so, should i ditch it in favor to MX-4?
Back in 2020 I had the choice of buying my wife an i7 *or* the M1. I chose the i7 (better the devil you know right?). She's used it as her primary machine for years, but had started to complain about it being slow and wanting a new one. i7/16gb/1TB. It should not be slow. Initially I thought it was likely the mountain of software and legacy stuff. I spent some time with powermetrics --samplers smc to see it was idling in the high 90's and any load would instantly punch it up to 100C. I figured it was probably throttling, so some searching led me here. I re-pasted my i5 MacbookPro 11,1 back in 2020 and it made a significant difference.
I have a selection of thermal pastes at home, but a lot of reading indicated long term it may suffer see pump-out between the die and shim. I opted for a 0.3mm copper shim. NT-H2 between the shim and heatsink, and 0.2mm PTM7950 between the shim and dies. I also used a "whatever I could get my hands on" 1.5mm thermal pad between the heatsink and case. She either uses it in a stand at home, or on the desk at work so no lap to burn.
What a revelation. Now it idles between 40-60 (she has a *lot* of cruft) and maxes out in the mid 90's. Fan is off most of the time and I've never seen it hit 5000rpm under full load. It used to run flat out just browsing facebook if there was a video preview playing. More importantly, this morning I got "It's much better, I can work with this". So I get to postpone the purchase of a new device a bit longer.
Many thanks to all who pioneered and contributed to this thread, aside from waiting for parts to arrive it made the whole process a 15 minutes exercise. Took longer to make sure the time machine backups were up to date than it did to do the job.
I have a selection of thermal pastes at home, but a lot of reading indicated long term it may suffer see pump-out between the die and shim. I opted for a 0.3mm copper shim. NT-H2 between the shim and heatsink, and 0.2mm PTM7950 between the shim and dies. I also used a "whatever I could get my hands on" 1.5mm thermal pad between the heatsink and case. She either uses it in a stand at home, or on the desk at work so no lap to burn.
What a revelation. Now it idles between 40-60 (she has a *lot* of cruft) and maxes out in the mid 90's. Fan is off most of the time and I've never seen it hit 5000rpm under full load. It used to run flat out just browsing facebook if there was a video preview playing. More importantly, this morning I got "It's much better, I can work with this". So I get to postpone the purchase of a new device a bit longer.
Many thanks to all who pioneered and contributed to this thread, aside from waiting for parts to arrive it made the whole process a 15 minutes exercise. Took longer to make sure the time machine backups were up to date than it did to do the job.
Tenkaykev
macrumors 6502
That's great to hear👍 I have recently repurposed a 2012 Air that was sitting on a shelf unused. I reformatted and installed " HAOS " ( home assistant os ). It's now running all my house automations and monitoring my Solar PV, home battery and Heat Pump. It's completely silent, the only sign that it's on is the glowing Apple logo and the occasional startup chime when I remotely restart after a program update. Power usage is a bit of an eye opener, 10-15 watts 😎
Just shows how capable and versatile these machines are.