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Horrible Thermal Paste in Brand New MBP

i have to say that i just read thru about 25 pages including another thread of this nature that was from 2006. i am running my friends first gen mbp and here is wat i got. all this is with ifreemem, smcfancontrol and activity monitor running in the background. also this mbp is on top of a aluminum cooler pad but without the fans running.

awake from sleep mode 25C originally but after 5 mins of idling its about 45C-52C

with adium running and browsing in firefox with a few tabs opened 55C-57C

with a full load (running about 15mins) using terminal i got sporadic jumping between 83C-94C while this is running i decided to run 2 tv shows and got the GPU up to 68C

while all this is happening, neither of the 3 programs (istat, smcfancontrol, fan control) im using is showing any fan activity. all i get is 000rpm. i put my ear to the keyboard to try to hear the fan but i can't really tell. i definately dont hear it when im just sitting here typing away. i dont think my ears are that bad. do yall think i have a bad fan or just the sensor isnt working. is there a way to check about this fan issue? im also wondering if i need to reapply the thermal paste. i dont seem to have heat issues when browsing and minor stuff but it seems to be way too hot when on full load. i have tried touching the hotspots and it would definately burn my fingers if i left it there for more than a few seconds. im asking this because i know i will be using this thing at full load a decent part of the time since i need to run parallels and do autocad or solidworks and rendering images from the 3d work. i would love it if doing full load and just have warm spots instead of scorching hotspots.
 
sdsviet said:
i have to say that i just read thru about 25 pages including another thread of this nature that was from 2006. i am running my friends first gen mbp and here is wat i got. all this is with ifreemem, smcfancontrol and activity monitor running in the background. also this mbp is on top of a aluminum cooler pad but without the fans running.

awake from sleep mode 25C originally but after 5 mins of idling its about 45C-52C

with adium running and browsing in firefox with a few tabs opened 55C-57C

with a full load (running about 15mins) using terminal i got sporadic jumping between 83C-94C while this is running i decided to run 2 tv shows and got the GPU up to 68C

while all this is happening, neither of the 3 programs (istat, smcfancontrol, fan control) im using is showing any fan activity. all i get is 000rpm. i put my ear to the keyboard to try to hear the fan but i can't really tell. i definately dont hear it when im just sitting here typing away. i dont think my ears are that bad. do yall think i have a bad fan or just the sensor isnt working. is there a way to check about this fan issue? im also wondering if i need to reapply the thermal paste. i dont seem to have heat issues when browsing and minor stuff but it seems to be way too hot when on full load. i have tried touching the hotspots and it would definately burn my fingers if i left it there for more than a few seconds. im asking this because i know i will be using this thing at full load a decent part of the time since i need to run parallels and do autocad or solidworks and rendering images from the 3d work. i would love it if doing full load and just have warm spots instead of scorching hotspots.
Click to expand...


Some older Mac's didn't have temp sensors, if your on a PowerBook G4, this is most likely the reason.... I can't remember which, but i'm sure someone will help.
 
the ambient temperature and flow of air can make a drastic difference. At work we have a/c going on almost all the time and its really windy (as in papers on the counter will fly if not weighted down). With this environment I can idle at low 40 on AC power. Without adapter power, it will idle at around 36 C, which is pretty good IMO.

different story in my apt. Its generally warm all the time inside, and idle temps rose to 45-50C.

back to topic, thermal paste application is still pretty bad on newer SR MBPs. My friend with his SR put Arctic silver on his and reported a substantial difference in load temperature.
 
istats does not claim to be accurate in temperature department.

edit: against a windows one running in bootcamp that has been proven to be accurate with digital thermometer directly on the cpu with no heatsink. istats reads about 10c higher, the chips in mbp's don't start throttling down till 105c
 
so right now im just on adium with firefox 3 beta 4 and i have a hd podcast of diggnation running and the temp is freaking jumping between 81C-84C. this is a little ridiculous for just hd watching and a few programs running. there is no way i can just have this on my lap.
 
Again, what is the ideal/realistic temp everyone is expecting their MBPs to be running at?
? at idle and ? at different kinds of performance?
 
sdsviet said:
so right now im just on adium with firefox 3 beta 4 and i have a hd podcast of diggnation running and the temp is freaking jumping between 81C-84C. this is a little ridiculous for just hd watching and a few programs running. there is no way i can just have this on my lap.
Click to expand...

HD is really strenuous on the CPU, so that may account for the high temps.
 
Pukey said:
Again, what is the ideal/realistic temp everyone is expecting their MBPs to be running at?
? at idle and ? at different kinds of performance?
Click to expand...

I'm reckon at idle the temp should be between 45-50°C,
this would be a well behaved MB/MBP.

Underload.. If it's below 90-95°C it should be ok,
and those fans should be howling back at ya! If not... there's a problem.

Safe operating temps for Intels processors are upto 125°C
though you don't wanna push your CPU anywhere near there..
and it's not advisable to use it on your Lap.
 
UltraNEO* said:
Underload.. If it's below 90-95°C it should be ok,
and those fans should be howling back at ya! If not... there's a problem.
.
Click to expand...

i am definately not getting that. also with teh hd playback. i have a 256mb vcard. will that make it hotter or cooler?
 
opening a macbook pro isnt too difficult. Just make sure you keep track of which screw goes where.

If heat gives me a problem i'm going to use Arctic Silver.
 
UltraNEO* said:
I'm reckon at idle the temp should be between 45-50°C,
this would be a well behaved MB/MBP.

Underload.. If it's below 90-95°C it should be ok,
and those fans should be howling back at ya! If not... there's a problem.

Safe operating temps for Intels processors are upto 125°C
though you don't wanna push your CPU anywhere near there..
and it's not advisable to use it on your Lap.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks UltraNEO. I'll keep this in mind when my MBP gets here (hopefully this week). I hope I won't have any thermal paste issues as I have no tech skill and would be very afraid to open the notebook up and take it apart.
 
This is a screenshot of mine. Been running this for the last couple days straight. Currently it idling; pretty good temperatures.

Picture1-1.png
 
Is efficiency of the thermal paste/grease decreases with time. I bought a Macbook pro 2 years ago and seems that it's more hot than than the beginning.
 
UltraNEO* said:
I'm reckon at idle the temp should be between 45-50°C,
this would be a well behaved MB/MBP.

Underload.. If it's below 90-95°C it should be ok,
and those fans should be howling back at ya! If not... there's a problem.
Click to expand...


45-50!? really? how the hell are you guys getting the low idle temps. i'm getting at 75-79 in an air conditioned office on a passive cooling pad 10% load (15" uMBP).
 
I've been pleasantly surprised at how cool my unibody runs. I get 45-49C when running on the 9400m and this when running on the 9600m. The case also doesn't transmit as much heat as my MBP Classic used to...preserving my 'man bits' in the process.
 

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paulkim09 said:
HAHAHAHAH after putting my MBP in the refridgerator for 30 minutes my computer is ARTIC COLD!!!!!
Click to expand...

I don't put de MBP into the refrigerator, but I get from there the frozen boards e put underneath of my MBP, and I can get the 25º-30º during ~1,5hour and 30-40 ~1 hour. Then I have to exchange de frozen board. I have two and I'm thinking to buy more two ;-)
 
This problem is not just isolated to Apple. i had a Sony Vaio that from new kept crashing. the error looked like a vga/cpu heat issue. i also pulled it apart and there was a stupid amount of paste on the chips. i think if you open up any laptop/desktop you will see the same issue.
 
Long thread with mixed views here....you guys need to experiment with your hardware more and you would see the shortfalls manufacturers make.

let me give you an expample.

NVidia 8800GTX, you broke warranty by removing the heatsink on this video cards BUT you could drop the GPU temps 30C...yes you saw it right 30C on load on some cards by applying good thermal paste and the correct quantity.

I have a HP DV9000 lappy here..its old i know, within days of me buying it i replaced the thermal pads to thermal paste on the chipset CPU and GPU and dropped around 10C load on the CPU...battery seems to last longer also.

OCZ sell good thermal paste, called freeze, no cure time...just apply and go.Shin Etsu pads are also pretty cool to use although a little expensive.

Those of you with SSD issues, i bet if you followed the OP lead here many of you would have a non-issue once you rebuilt the machine.

being honest I am shocked at the build quality here in these machines, if i found this in my laptops they would all be going back.
 
I think the 2007 Santa Rosa models had by far the worst applied thermal paste that I have ever seen. I have seen some nasty photos of the entire MBP line since 2006, and it's pretty bad. A couple months back I took my MBP to an AASP to replace my faulty HDD. I also asked if he could check out the thermal paste. He said that is was pretty bad, like the photos that the OP provided. He reapplied the thermal paste and the computer does run cooler. Good thing I got it for free too, knowing the tech helps!

All in all, if your mac is running hot, chances are the thermal paste is over applied.
 
This is an awful post for one very big reason: It makes me want to rip apart my MBP and check out my thermal paste!!!!

I absolutely love doing stuff like this, however, if I damaged my machine I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. If I were successful, maybe I would recieve gifts...?

It's not even a question of warranty, just funds.
 
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