Thanks, I saw you post about this before, too. I may explore it more as I used to use SMC but decided to try Fan Control on this MBP.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Fixing the 2011 MBP Heat Issues
- Thread starter 1BadMac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Thanks, I saw you post about this before, too. I may explore it more as I used to use SMC but decided to try Fan Control on this MBP.
If you have to ask, I wouldn't open your >$2000 laptop to try it out for the first time. I might attempt it but I've done it a few dozen times on desktop towers.
ive custom built PC's, i'm just not that familiar with actually fully opening the mbp, ive upgraded the ram and hdd before though.
Yep, if you've done some PC builds, follow the iFixit tear down guides and take your time. Biggest thing is making sure you keep all the cables organized and don't pull "force" anything.
Ceramique is highly recommended. I've always used Arctic Silver 5. Either will do.
Canned air, isopropyl alcohol, and some cotton balls / swabs. And an hour of your time.
It's pretty much the same thing, open up the bottom, unscrew the board out, etc.
The only thing is, id imagine theres a different way of how the heatsinks are placed on the actual CPU and GPU. I wouldn't know though since I've never had a reason to take my motherboard out but yeah.
EDIT: Yeah iFixit's teardown is a nice guide
EDIT 2: also, @jjk454ss, I pretty sure Hardware Monitor shows core temps.
would it not be very super simpler to take it back, and if you get multi crap units you can get something extra out of it. Instead of voiding your warranty, with my experience from apple if you go through a lot of bs you will get compensated. I got a iMac i7 quad, a pair of BX5A speakers and free applecare for my bitching
I saw this yesterday on iFixit's site. Was wondering if it was widespread. Seems so, that is a real shame. Not pleased with this shoddy quality control. Especially on a notebook where temperatures are critical.
Props to you folks who have dealt with the problem yourselves, I hope Apple never finds out and your warranty remains intact.
Let's also hope that Apple sees this and sort out the issue rapidly.
Props to you folks who have dealt with the problem yourselves, I hope Apple never finds out and your warranty remains intact.
Let's also hope that Apple sees this and sort out the issue rapidly.
Well yeah, if you want to do it the easy way.
In all seriousness though, it's safe to say that there is likely not the "correct" amount of paste on any MBP. Some are overkill (like what I posted) - but I bet even the cooler running MBP's still have more than I'd ever put on there.
Average user should just return though, agreed.
If I would have damaged it myself, then yes, I would have been out a laptop. However, Apple would be hard pressed to tell I was even in there. There are no broken seals, etc..
Unless of course, they open it and say "Hey....this looks too clean to be one of our installations...we know you've tampered!!!"
If I would have damaged it myself, then yes, I would have been out a laptop. However, Apple would be hard pressed to tell I was even in there. There are no broken seals, etc..
Unless of course, they open it and say "Hey....this looks too clean to be one of our installations...we know you've tampered!!!"
hahah "Where did our multiple layers of Thermal Paste go?!"
Just as another data point, I'm running a Handbrake encode as I type this and my CPU temp per iStat is at 87-88C which sounds comparable to what many others have reported. My idle temps are... Oh yeah, this is a new 15" MBP with the 2.3GHz i7. I ordered some AS5 and an ArctiClean kit, but I doubt I'll wind up tearing my new computer apart if the temps I'm seeing are fairly typical (which they appear to be).
What's awesome is that this thing encodes faster than my late '09 2.8GHz i7 iMac! And it got a Geekbench score of 10300!!
What's awesome is that this thing encodes faster than my late '09 2.8GHz i7 iMac! And it got a Geekbench score of 10300!!
I found the easiest and simplest way to take apart a MBP is to have a good set of precision screwdrivers, as the last thing you want to do is strip the T5/6 torx and philips screws. A spudger/wedge tool is also helpful in removing ribbon cables and connectors.
If this is your first time taking one apart, follow the iFixit guide and place all screws in a properly marked egg carton. You do not want to be searching for a screw if you drop it.
If this is your first time taking one apart, follow the iFixit guide and place all screws in a properly marked egg carton. You do not want to be searching for a screw if you drop it.
+1
It's definitely a good idea to stock up on good tools if you're the kind of person who likes to modify or perform surgery on your devices. It's real fun but you have to be careful.
And losing a screw is not fun, I dropped one and turned my room upside down for half an hour. It happened to be under my yoga mat which was one the OTHER side of where it fell. I don't know how it got there but my reasoning tells me these screws can run away.
Another data point from me, and this is a little weird. I installed smcFanControl and decided I didn't like it so I uninstalled it. However, I uninstalled it before I set the fans back to their normal settings, so even after the uninstall and a computer restart, my fans were spinning at the faster setting I'd set using smcFanControl. To remedy this, I simply did an SMC reset and an NVRAM/PRAM reset for good measure. Before the resets, I also installed/uninstalled the Fan Control preference pane.
Okay, so why do I mention all of this? Because for some reason, when doing the exact same Handbrake encode I did earlier when I was hitting temps in the 87-88C range, my temps now don't exceed 78C. I'm almost positive my fans are spinning faster than they were when I got the 88C readings (right now they're at 5800 RPM), but the only thing that I did that could've possibly affected the fan speed would be the SMC reset because I uninstalled all of the fan control software that I'd tried.
Weird indeed, but I feel much better with high fan speeds and low temps than vice versa.
Okay, so why do I mention all of this? Because for some reason, when doing the exact same Handbrake encode I did earlier when I was hitting temps in the 87-88C range, my temps now don't exceed 78C. I'm almost positive my fans are spinning faster than they were when I got the 88C readings (right now they're at 5800 RPM), but the only thing that I did that could've possibly affected the fan speed would be the SMC reset because I uninstalled all of the fan control software that I'd tried.
Weird indeed, but I feel much better with high fan speeds and low temps than vice versa.
I did this awhile back with my 2010 13" MBP. I got similar results. It appears as if the thermal paste in the new MBP's is metallic as opposed to the silicon-based paste in the earlier models. Here's a link to my thread with pics. It also appears as if they changed the logic board design, because the CPU and IGP are on the same chip in the new 13" MBPs.
Haha, after I saw ifixit's teardown last night I went to amazon and ordered some AS5 myself. The amount of thermal paste in there is ridiculous.
The same issues were reported with my original 2008 unibody so, no, I wouldn't expect this to change over time. You can rest assured though that the vast majority of MBP buyers don't have any issues due to the excessive application. You probably will get lower temps if you apply it properly but you're only reading about the problems here and it makes it seem more an issue than it is.
Do I wish they applied it properly? Most definitely. But I'm idling now at 40 and maxed out at 85 so I'm not going to stress about it.