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Reapply thermal paste....?

Should I reapply the thermal paste?

  • Yes-It will void your warranty, but do it anyway.

    Votes: 10 12.8%

  • Yes-It will not void your warranty.

    Votes: 7 9.0%

  • No-It will void your warranty.

    Votes: 32 41.0%

  • Yes-it voids your warranty, but if you don't break anything Apple won't be able to see what you did.

    Votes: 29 37.2%
  • Total voters
    78
AlphaDogg

AlphaDogg

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 20, 2010
3,417
7
Ypsilanti, MI
I have a ~2 month old 13" MacBook Pro (specs in sig). Several hours ago, I reapplied thermal paste to my old (pre-unibody) white MacBook and I am THRILLED with the results. I have a thread about it here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/932922/ . My white MB runs so cool, that I prefer using it, rather than my MBP. I would replace the stock thermal paste with Arctic Silver Ceramique, but I am concerned about my warranty possibly being voided. Another reason that I wouldn't do this to my MBP is that my controlling mom will not let me do this to my new computer. If I can get any evidence from any of you that this will not adversely affect my computer or my warranty, I may be able to convince her to allow me to reapply the thermal paste. Thank you in advance for your input.
 
are there any apple authorized service providers that will do this for me, so i do not void my warranty? if there are, are there any that know how to do it correctly?
 
I'm from the if it ain't broke, don't fix it camp.

I wouldn't want to run the risk of voiding my warranty especially if I ever have to get my 'pro worked on.

I wouldn't think about considering it until my 1 year (or 3 year if I every buy the Apple Care) warranty is up. Plus, if the factory paste isn't causing any problems I wouldn't bother unless I was really bored and had nothing to do on the weekend.
 
justn said:
I'm from the if it ain't broke, don't fix it camp.

I wouldn't want to run the risk of voiding my warranty especially if I ever have to get my 'pro worked on.

I wouldn't think about considering it until my 1 year (or 3 year if I every buy the Apple Care) warranty is up. Plus, if the factory paste isn't causing any problems I wouldn't bother unless I was really bored and had nothing to do on the weekend.
Click to expand...

I think that excessive heat would be classified as a problem.
 
Opstech said:
Nah, you can do it when she goes to bed too!
Click to expand...

I don't know... She goes to sleep around 10:00pm and my brain stops functioning normally around 9:30pm.... And after seeing guides on how to remove the heatsink, it doesn't seem like it would be as easy as it was on my MB. My MB is a pre-unibody model, so the only things that need to be removed is the topcase and the heatsink. On the newer unibody MBP, the bottom panel has to be removed, the microphone has to be unglued, the logic board has to be removed, many cables have to be disconnected, and then finally the heatsink is exposed. A couple of the cables that need to be disconnected are sensitive to damage. In my current impulsive state, I keep going back and forth between thinking that I can do it easily and doubting my ability.
 
I've done it, and I wouldn't recommend it. If you do decide to go through with it, make sure to take your time, be patient, and make sure you have the correct tools. For a few of the cables, the method of detachment wasn't immediately apparent (to me) :)
 
I've done it with other laptops, not my MBP. That said, from the pics I have seen peole post, some of the A5 paste jobs were not that good, IMO. Been "correctly" applying thermal compound to custom PC's for years and you would be surprised how very very little you need. I'm talking like razor blade thin amount with no excess to squeeze loose.

My point- take your time and use less paste than you think you need - you will always get in there and think you need more. More = bad (or in this case, more will net you the same result as the assembly line job you have now).
 
^ I agree. Looking at some of the re-pasting pics, while they do look cleaner than the factory paste jobs, I still think people are using a little too much...
 
Do'nt do it, it's not worth it. On the pre-unibody models they ran hot and needed the thermal paste fix (I did it myself with great results). But the new ones already run much cooler. It is not worth the time, risk and effort to do this on your new MBP.

Download SMC fan control and jack up your fans to 3500rpm and you should see a ~10C decrease in internal temps. This is about the same results you would expect from the thermal paste fix that voids your warranty.

Not worth it kid. Don't do it.:)
 
If it breaks, who is going to pay to fix it? If it's going to be you, go ahead, although I personally think you're foolish for doing so.

If your mom would be paying for it, don't do it. That also holds true if she bought it for you.
 
Surely the question is:- will it make a difference?
At idle my 13" C2D has only about 5 C temperature difference between the CPU and the heatsink. So even with new paste I would struggle to win back more than 1 or 2 C. Peanuts. At full load it probably won't make any difference, I believe the fan control algorithm is set to keep the CPU at a defined temperature (eg 95 C). My fans would simply run slower. And they only hit about 3500 rpm at the moment. So what's the point? Of course YMMV

(edit: I just checked out my 2006 MB. Same story. At idle about 6 C temp difference between CPU and heatsinks. So again not much to gain with new paste. BUT my MB did have a logic board replacement for Random Shutdown Syndrome back in the day. I wonder what the paste re-application at the repair centre was like.... Anyway I would look at the temps on your MBP. I expect you will find a similar story to mine - not much to be gained by paste re-application)

As other posters on here have said
- new MBPs run way cooler than previous models
- if you want a cooler Mac, I expect a fan control hack will give you much better results than some new paste.
 
cyclical said:
I've done it, and I wouldn't recommend it. If you do decide to go through with it, make sure to take your time, be patient, and make sure you have the correct tools. For a few of the cables, the method of detachment wasn't immediately apparent (to me) :)
Click to expand...

How were your results? Did you do it on your i7 that is in your sig?
 
AlphaDogg said:
How were your results? Did you do it on your i7 that is in your sig?
Click to expand...

You've clearly already decided that you are going to do this since you are only listening to people who are telling you to do it and not the ones who are actually being logical.

I'm curious how you got it in your head that you HAVE to reapply the thermal paste in your Macbook. Have you even considered the fact that without reapplying thermal paste, Apple computers tend to outlast PC's of pretty much any other brand?

And as I've previously mentioned, the new unibody Macbook pro's don't even have heat issues like the older models did. If you want to adjust the internal temps without the unnecessary risk of ruining your computer or voiding your warranty then just install SMC FanControl and run your fans at a higher RPM to cool the internals down. My fans are set at 3500RPM and i consistently run at 35C-40C which is very cool.

But you clearly are not going to listen to reason. So I hope you don't break the $1100 computer your parents bought you because I wouldn't want you to be grounded without a computer... for no real reason at all.:eek:
 
sn0warmy said:
You've clearly already decided that you are going to do this since you are only listening to people who are telling you to do it and not the ones who are actually being logical.

I'm curious how you got it in your head that you HAVE to reapply the thermal paste in your Macbook. Have you even considered the fact that without reapplying thermal paste, Apple computers tend to outlast PC's of pretty much any other brand?

And as I've previously mentioned, the new unibody Macbook pro's don't even have heat issues like the older models did. If you want to adjust the internal temps without the unnecessary risk of ruining your computer or voiding your warranty then just install SMC FanControl and run your fans at a higher RPM to cool the internals down. My fans are set at 3500RPM and i consistently run at 35C-40C which is very cool.

But you clearly are not going to listen to reason. So I hope you don't break the $1100 computer your parents bought you because I wouldn't want you to be grounded without a computer... for no real reason at all.:eek:
Click to expand...

Nobody said that I HAVE to reapply the thermal paste to my computer. I started this thread on here, to get opinions from logical people and to possibly get results from people who have accomplished this. I am not worried about the computer's longevity, but how comfortable it is to have on my lap. I also care about battery life, so turning up the fan RPM's is not exactly an option.

Why do you assume that I will not listen to reason? I came here to get reason, and obviously I have gotten that reason that I was in search of. Why must you assume that my parents bought it for me? Yes, they contributed to it, but I had to get a job to pay the rest. I paid $900 for this computer, and my parents came up with the rest of the money for it. I wanted to know if it was worth it to potentially void my warranty for a drop of ~10ºC. Obviously, the consensus here is that I should not take the risk for such a seemingly petty thing. Thank you for your input, and it has made the decision for me. I am not going to reapply the thermal paste on my precious MBP while my warranty is still valid.
 
No way I will reapply it, the benefits are minimal and loosing the warranty is a bigger casualty than heat. BTW my 15" i5 runs really cool, so why jeopardize it?
 
AlphaDogg said:
Nobody said that I HAVE to reapply the thermal paste to my computer. I started this thread on here, to get opinions from logical people and to possibly get results from people who have accomplished this. I am not worried about the computer's longevity, but how comfortable it is to have on my lap. I also care about battery life, so turning up the fan RPM's is not exactly an option.

Why do you assume that I will not listen to reason? I came here to get reason, and obviously I have gotten that reason that I was in search of. Why must you assume that my parents bought it for me? Yes, they contributed to it, but I had to get a job to pay the rest. I paid $900 for this computer, and my parents came up with the rest of the money for it. I wanted to know if it was worth it to potentially void my warranty for a drop of ~10ºC. Obviously, the consensus here is that I should not take the risk for such a seemingly petty thing. Thank you for your input, and it has made the decision for me. I am not going to reapply the thermal paste on my precious MBP while my warranty is still valid.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry if my last post was harsh. I'm glad you made the right decision. I think the reason why I was so adamant about stopping you from doing it is that it is definitely something I would have done if I was younger and learned my lesson after suffering the consequences.:)

But I still recommend giving SMC fancontrol a try. See how long your battery lasts under standard conditions without upping the fan speed then do the same with increased fan speed. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the decreased temps and see that it doesn't decrease battery life to a noticeable extent.
 
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