Does a thermal paste renewal make a real difference after 6 years? (MBP Early 2015 13")

[GoztepeEge]

Hi everyone. I have a MBP Retina 13" Early 2015, which is in the service at the apple, they are replacing the top case incl. a new battery.

After this process is done, I am planning to proceed with more improvements on my computer: SSD and thermal paste.

There are lots of people on youtube, replacing the old thermal paste with newer ones, but actually I could not gather solid information.

Does it really make a difference? and is it something that we need to do periodically (like 1 times per 5 years etc.)

I would like to do the same thing if it improves the thermal reliability, so as well as, the battery itself.

What is your comment and opinion in this topic? If you have any previous experience in this case, please let us know.

 

[barbu]

I would never consider doing this. The risk vs reward is very much not in your favour. I don’t understand what is to be gained by changing thermal paste.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I would never consider doing this. The risk vs reward is very much not in your favour. I don’t understand what is to be gained by changing thermal paste.

Better cooling, as thermal paste gets hard over time, which will lower its ability to transfer heat.

 

[barbu]

Better cooling, as thermal paste gets hard over time, which will lower its ability to transfer heat.

Yeah i get it in theory, but it’s not that old. And what percentage gains are you really expecting? Now weigh that against the possibility of damaging your machine during the procedure.
It seems like risky, unnecessary surgery. (This is coming from someone who has repaired many apple laptops, fwiw)

 

[Esopus]

I reapplied the thermal paste (for the first time in the life of the machine) when I swapped out the fans on my old 15" MBP (Retina, Mid-2012) a few weeks ago. One of the fans had developed a bit of a rattle and had become quite noisy, so I figured if I was going to be disassembling the computer I might as well take 2-3 more steps to reapply the thermal paste as well.

End result? Negligible difference in temps when placed under load. At best it was a 5°C improvement (with max temps being ~80-85°C) but much of that was probably attributable to the new fans and the general clean out of dust. Still, the computer runs much quieter on account of the fan swap.

In terms of risk v reward, there was never really much consideration of risk for me. I'm pretty comfortable with thermal paste removal and application both from various desktop PC builds over the years as well as with older MBPs. And the 15" MBP is only used as a secondary, spare Mac for other family members nowadays. YMMV!

 

[GoztepeEge]

I reapplied the thermal paste (for the first time in the life of the machine) when I swapped out the fans on my old 15" MBP (Retina, Mid-2012) a few weeks ago. One of the fans had developed a bit of a rattle and had become quite noisy, so I figured if I was going to be disassembling the computer I might as well take 2-3 more steps to reapply the thermal paste as well.

End result? Negligible difference in temps when placed under load. At best it was a 5°C improvement (with max temps being ~80-85°C) but much of that was probably attributable to the new fans and the general clean out of dust. Still, the computer runs much quieter on account of the fan swap.

In terms of risk v reward, there was never really much consideration of risk for me. I'm pretty comfortable with thermal paste removal and application both from various desktop PC builds over the years as well as with older MBPs. And the 15" MBP is only used as a secondary, spare Mac for other family members nowadays. YMMV!

If you say there is no big difference, then there is no need for me to proceed with this thing.
I mean my device is already working pretty nice, sometimes it gets hotter like 70 degree, and sometimes it also hits 88 degree as well. However usually it is always around 45-55 degree. So I guess this can be considered as normal?

And I also agree with the previous comments for the risk, I find this procedure a bit risky as well. I might be using a low quality paste, which results in a damage, or I might be applying the paste so wrong, so this might be an issue after all. We do not know actually. And of course I would like to avoid this procedure if it does not make a huge difference in terms of general working environment of the computer.

 

[Fishrrman]

Agree with barbu above.
Leave the paste alone.

Try replacing the SSD if you wish.
But be aware --- things can go wrong while doing that, as well.

 

[GoztepeEge]

You are surely right. Every hardware action is risky as well.
But I am pretty sure I can handle with the SSD replacement, and also there are dozens of informative videos on YouTube, I can utilize them.

By the way thanks for the comments and ideas, I will leave the thermal paste as it is. The only improvement I will do is the SSD upgrade to 1TB.

 

[Miltz]

Hi everyone. I have a MBP Retina 13" Early 2015, which is in the service at the apple, they are replacing the top case incl. a new battery.

After this process is done, I am planning to proceed with more improvements on my computer: SSD and thermal paste.

There are lots of people on youtube, replacing the old thermal paste with newer ones, but actually I could not gather solid information.

Does it really make a difference? and is it something that we need to do periodically (like 1 times per 5 years etc.)

I would like to do the same thing if it improves the thermal reliability, so as well as, the battery itself.

What is your comment and opinion in this topic? If you have any previous experience in this case, please let us know.

I did this on my fully spec'd put 2016 MBP 15". I worked great and was worth the effort. Basically my machine was about 10C lower under load. Performance didn't really increase (even though now it didn't throttle), but the machine was so super quiet and the fans didn't need to work as hard even under full load exports in Final Cut Pro.

 

[GoztepeEge]

I did this on my fully spec'd put 2016 MBP 15". I worked great and was worth the effort. Basically my machine was about 10C lower under load. Performance didn't really increase (even though now it didn't throttle), but the machine was so super quiet and the fans didn't need to work as hard even under full load exports in Final Cut Pro.

Which thermal paste did you use, which brand/model?

 

[Miltz]

Which thermal paste did you use, which brand/model?

Grizzly Kryonaut.
I will say that the original thermal paste if you can even call it that was awful. It was a dry uneven mess.

 

[Miltz]

If I recall I was hitting 99C before and I was at 89C after.
The idle temps had a much bigger difference, around 15C.
The limiting factor here was the small cooling system. It’s amazing how well it worked given its size.

 

[Vermifuge]

Hi everyone. I have a MBP Retina 13" Early 2015, which is in the service at the apple, they are replacing the top case incl. a new battery.

After this process is done, I am planning to proceed with more improvements on my computer: SSD and thermal paste.

There are lots of people on youtube, replacing the old thermal paste with newer ones, but actually I could not gather solid information.

Does it really make a difference? and is it something that we need to do periodically (like 1 times per 5 years etc.)

I would like to do the same thing if it improves the thermal reliability, so as well as, the battery itself.

What is your comment and opinion in this topic? If you have any previous experience in this case, please let us know.

It helped get another year out of my late 2015 MBP.

 

[Madhatter32]

I changed the paste on my 2014 MBP without issue. I watched a few YouTube videos to prepare and found it to be really simple to do. I also cleared out dust from the board and fans with compressed air -- which probably helped at least as much as changing the paste. My machine ran noticeable cooler as a result.