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Just replaced the thermal paste in my MBP

OrangeSVTguy

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
69
Northeastern Ohio
Well my MBP seems to have been running a tad bit warm. Took it apart and this is why. I've read all over the internet that Apple always seems to do a crappy job with applying way too much thermal paste to their processors/GPUs.

Pictures below confirms this and now my MBP is running 10-15*F cooler. Fans stays at a constant 1000RPMs. I haven't used SMC Fan Control yet to increase them as now I don't have to but maybe I will increase 500RPMs or so but I like how quiet it is now :).

Cleaned them off with q-tips and 90% alcohol and applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.

Yuck what a crappy and sloppy job. I removed chunks of the old stuff.
4acbc5ca.jpg


All clean now. Look how shiny them chips are :)
23175e71.jpg
 
Yup, been there and done that. Now, thinking about it, improving the the thermal conduction between the heatsink and the chip means a warmer exterior. Oh dear…:eek:
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Original 2.0ghz CD. I bought this to replace my 12" Powerbook G4. Miss the 12" size but the 15" is also pretty good so it will have to do.
Click to expand...

i have had great results re-applying some new artic silver, my friends have done it also and tell me there is no difference (i think its an applicator issue :D ) but i like the results, 2-3c cooler idle and 5-8 under load.

what results do you have ?
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Well my MBP seems to have been running a tad bit warm. Took it apart and this is why. I've read all over the internet that Apple always seems to do a crappy job with applying way too much thermal paste to their processors/GPUs.

Pictures below confirms this and now my MBP is running 10-15*F cooler. Fans stays at a constant 1000RPMs. I haven't used SMC Fan Control yet to increase them as now I don't have to but maybe I will increase 500RPMs or so but I like how quiet it is now :).

Cleaned them off with q-tips and 90% alcohol and applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.

Yuck what a crappy and sloppy job. I removed chunks of the old stuff.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k298/OrangeSVTguy/Mobile Uploads/4acbc5ca.jpg

All clean now. Look how shiny them chips are :)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k298/OrangeSVTguy/Mobile Uploads/23175e71.jpg
Click to expand...

MacModMachine said:
i have had great results re-applying some new artic silver, my friends have done it also and tell me there is no difference (i think its an applicator issue :D ) but i like the results, 2-3c cooler idle and 5-8 under load.

what results do you have ?
Click to expand...
I know there was a lot to read but it was in there :p:D
 
silver thermal paste

Hi orangesvtguy... you mention arctic silver 5 thermal paste. Would you recommend that for my macbook 2coreduo?

I have bad overheating issues and I think I need to clean my fan and reapply some thermal paste.

Seen some cheap stuff on ebay but when I saw the silver stuff I thought I'd seek some advice.

Also this my first post on the site...so hi from the isle of man :)
 
I'd avoid AS5. I've had two drying incidents that led to disastrous results on my builds. I've been using Ceramique for now which works great.
 
Dr Q said:
Hi orangesvtguy... you mention arctic silver 5 thermal paste. Would you recommend that for my macbook 2coreduo?

I have bad overheating issues and I think I need to clean my fan and reapply some thermal paste.

Seen some cheap stuff on ebay but when I saw the silver stuff I thought I'd seek some advice.

Also this my first post on the site...so hi from the isle of man :)
Click to expand...

Hello from another island :)
I would avoid cheap stuff from ebay, no idea what goes into it. This is going to help dissapate heat from your processor! Stick with AS5, or ceramique as another posted suggested.
 
When does the thermal paste become an issue for a MBP?

You know me, I keep talking and talking about buying a MBP, though there is always something holding me back.

When do I need to start worrying?
 
IC Diamond 7 is better than as5 trust me!!! Or ceramique for that case.. but it will do the the job also.
 
I used AS Ceramique on my old White MacBook, as a weekend project. It ended phenomenally! Check all the details in my thread about it. Link to my thread here.
 
Ice Dragon said:
When does the thermal paste become an issue for a MBP?

You know me, I keep talking and talking about buying a MBP, though there is always something holding me back.

When do I need to start worrying?
Click to expand...
This is an issue with all mass-produced laptops. You might as well stick to custom systems if you're really worried about thermal paste.

Don't let little things hold you back from a purchase such as this. In the end, thermal paste can always be fixed very easily.
 
Tmacfan4321 said:
This is an issue with all mass-produced laptops. You might as well stick to custom systems if you're really worried about thermal paste.

Don't let little things hold you back from a purchase such as this. In the end, thermal paste can always be fixed very easily.
Click to expand...

Ah thanks. That puts me at ease. Yeah I'm not that good with custom systems just yet. I'd need some time there.
 
AlphaDogg said:
I used AS Ceramique on my old White MacBook, as a weekend project. It ended phenomenally! Check all the details in my thread about it. Link to my thread here.
Click to expand...
I have to try that stuff then. I only got the AS5 because that's all Radio Shack had. That and I've always heard good stuff about it. I've never heard of the ceraminque until I heard it mentioned in this thread.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I mainly just started this thread to show the crappy job that was done. There was enough thermal paste to do at least 3-5 more MBPs.
 
What happened to your 15" MBP? I see in your signature that you now have a 13" MBP. Did you replace the thermal compound in that? I replaced the thermal compound in my 2.4GHz 13" MBP. See my thread about it here.
 
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