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Horrible Thermal Paste in Brand New MBP

I need help from someone who's done this. How do I remove the connectors in the picture? Do I pull them back or do they pop up?
connector.jpg

Also, what did you have to remove the Superdrive?
 
Just pry the connector straight up. To re-connect, push the connector straight down. The connectors don't slide in and out.

For the optical drive, there are a few screws. First, remove the orange data cable. Then remove the Torx screw nearby, there might be two. Towards the front of the drive, there are two small phillips screws on both sides of the drive that need to be removed, from what I remember. Then the silver-colored metal bar still grabs onto the optical drive, but just gently pull the drive straight up. The design is slightly different from the CD and C2D MBP.

BTW, I also opened up my SR MBP (as I did too with my CD and C2D MBPs when I got them) to re-apply the thermal paste with Arctic Silver 5. The paste on my C2D and SR MBPs weren't as superfluously applied by the factory as pics in this post and others posted on the web, but there was too much used and it was clear that the excess paste didn't "squeeze" out completely, leaving areas on the chip where contact wasn't optimal as the layer of paste was too thick. However, drops in temperature, however, were not night vs. day difference, only very sight decreases by <2-4 degrees C, if any.

Based on my experience, I've concluded that while re-applying the paste may lower temps a few degrees (if at all), it's not worth doing unless you really know what you're doing. The fact that the fans don't rev up until the CPU hits 90 degrees C still happens on my SR MBP after re-applying the paste points to a firmware issue that may address the issue. With my C2D MBP, on the other hand, the fans rev up at a much lower CPU temp. Nevertheless, I am unconvinced that the SR MBP has a heat issue. To the touch, it runs cool as the C2D MBP, and I don't have and haven't read of any shutdown problems due to heat.
 
taphil said:
However, drops in temperature, however, were not night vs. day difference, only very sight decreases by <2-4 degrees C, if any.
Click to expand...

What were your CPU temps under load before and after you put on the AS5? It sounds like maybe you had a 'good apple' as opposed to a 'bad apple' that some others (such as the OP) may have received. Anyway, nice tips on the cables. Thanks for contributing!
 
thats a disgusting amount of TIM.

you could quite easily of provided enough TIM for about 3 MBP's there! all you need is a very thin sheen, i usually apply mine so thin that its almost translucent and you can still see the CPU markings. then i put a small small blob in the center and tie the HSF down hard. works great every single time.

and makes a syringe of AS5 go along way!

mine doesnt seem to be too bad.

on 2000rpm....on my lap, it might get up to 50 degrees while im working away with word or something.

but when its on my desk, and usually plugged in, i have the fans on 3000rpm and the idle stays around or below 40. which isnt too bad when the ambient temp is somewhere between 20 -25 degrees C.

lowest i have ever got a CPU with air cooling, was 28 dgrees idle. about 10 above ambient and the HSF was nearly 1kg of pure copper.
 
HFU said:
@nikhsub1, nice work. I agreed with reapplying the thermal paste. I did it on my previous CD MBP, it drops about 18C (on idle) 15C (on load) immediately after using AS5 thermal paste.

Just curious if you had chance to note down the NB marking? Was it 965PM (8W) or 965GM (13.5W) ? If it is latter, the TDP is much higher than 965PM which consequently produced much higher heat even after reapplying the thermal paste. You may also read the chipset info from Intel Chipset Tool or CPU-Z (under motherboard tab).
Click to expand...

why would it be the GM? its already got a graphics chip.... G84/86 (which ever one the 8600 is)
 
eb3604 said:
A. The point of thermal paste is to help conduct heat between the chip and the heatpipe/heatsink/etc. The chips are not lapped, and contain many grooves and microscopic holes. AS5 specifically contains different size particles that fit in the grooves/holes and help conduct heat. That is the reason you don't want to much is that the main purpose isn't to act as a layer between the two surfaces, more like create a lapped-like environment.

B. My question is, whoever has replaced the thermal paste, when replacing the heatpipe or whatever goes over the chips, when re-lifting it up, does the thermal paste make contact with it? Maybe apple uses so much because there is a gap between the chip and heatpipe. In that case, you should buy some copper plating 1.5mm thick or w/e seems applicable. clean the plate with some soldering paste or something acidic. put some as5 on each side of the plate, then put in place, and re-assemble. Copper is one of the best conductors of heat.

C. I'm guessing the gobs of thermal paste is to cut costs. I'm not sure if robots or a person assembles macbooks, but either way to apply the precise amount of thermal paste in a razor thin layer would take more time than just put a glob on it. More time=higher costs.
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probably done by a human, assembler or something like that...they dont have much time to take a couple of minutes extra to apply it in the correct amounts

i find it hard to believe that there is no robot that can do this quickly and precisely. heck ive seen machines that can do jobs many times more complex quickly and nearly 100% correct every single time.

if the HSF makes good contact and provides good pressure, then really all thats needed in a rice grain sized drop on the center of each die and the pressure of mounting the heat pipes will be enough to spread the paste out thinly across the surface. it really isnt beyond current tech to do that.

they either dont have such a system in place, or its that the tolerances on the heatpipes and fans arent that great and some provide excellent contact pressure whilst others dont
 
Animalk said:
I would fire the apple engineer who designed a gap between the heatpipe and the chips. As a matter of fact, I don't think he should be an engineer period.

In my opinion, form looking at several different cases on the internet, the application of such a huge amount of thermal paste has no gain other then guaranteeing that the entire contact surface between the chip and the heatpipe has some paste no matter how bad the assembly was.
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im pretty sure when the engineers design it, it didnt have a gap.

tolerances my man, tolerances.....the tighter they are the more your product is going to cost because it will take more time, and more skilled labour to produce.

its even worse when you have multiple objects that fit together each with their own tolerances....you can end up with some pretty big deviation
 
otispunkmeyer said:
why would it be the GM? its already got a graphics chip.... G84/86 (which ever one the 8600 is)
Click to expand...
It's been confirmed SR MBP used GM965 instead of PM965. It's strange Apple would do that since PM is meant for professional laptop that uses discrete GPU like the one you mentioned. GM (w/integrated GPU) chipset is meant for MB with limited size logic board form factor. Perhaps Apple is trying to save cost by ordering large quantity of GM chipset which can be used both in MB and MBP. The draw back on MBP is the excessive heat generated due to higher TDP of the chipset when pairing with additional GPU.
 
I called Applecare about my overheating notebook/laptop. They are apparently going to replace the fan system - kinda odd.

Does the logic board need to be removed to access the fans? Or can the fans be replaced independently?

Considering they are attached to the heat sink I would imagine the logic board needs to be removed, but I am not sure.
 
chem said:
Hmm, I can't spot the GM marking there. I suck. Where is it? Could you circle it in photoshop?
Click to expand...

Me too. And I am also curious is it PM or GM. Considering the intent of the mbp and the excellent nvidia graphics I tend to believe it should use the PM version, but you never know what is in :apple: 's business.
 
filman408 said:
I called Applecare about my overheating notebook/laptop. They are apparently going to replace the fan system - kinda odd.

Does the logic board need to be removed to access the fans? Or can the fans be replaced independently?

Considering they are attached to the heat sink I would imagine the logic board needs to be removed, but I am not sure.
Click to expand...

Are you referring to the latest 17" Macbook Pro?
 
hello all
after reading most of my post, I'm very concerned of my soon-arrived SR MBP. Should I gather all the pictures you guys linked/attached, and print it out, send it to the apple's repairshop after I received my system, and ask if they should reapply the thermal paste correctly?

Opening and checking out the motherboard/logic board of the MBP seems....scary and hard.

Thanks!
 
Dreamer2go said:
hello all
after reading most of my post, I'm very concerned of my soon-arrived SR MBP. Should I gather all the pictures you guys linked/attached, and print it out, send it to the apple's repairshop after I received my system, and ask if they should reapply the thermal paste correctly?

Opening and checking out the motherboard/logic board of the MBP seems....scary and hard.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I think you guys are getting the wrong idea here---. These new MBPs are *NOT* defective, and excess thermal paste is no reason not to buy one. I am being a picky SOB who wants a perfect macbook that will operate normally at 100% CPU load. For the average user, the MBP is just fine when it comes to heat---mine doesn't get much past 70c under any kind of normal load. My issue is when it's completely loaded up and it hits 90-95c. That scares me for the long term, which is why I'm having it repaired.
 
Even though it may be an overaction, I'm glad threads like these are around. It keeps apple on their toes and the product quality high.
 
First of all thank you nikhsub1 for this heroic action! Maybe I missed it, but could you please tell me the old temps of cores / gpu and the new temps?
 
chem said:
Hmm, I can't spot the GM marking there. I suck. Where is it? Could you circle it in photoshop?
Click to expand...
Sorry not a PS expert here. However, by extracting the chipset image from UltraNEO*, you can see:

xx82965GM
SLA5T

The line "SLA5T" is the stepping code for 965GM chipset.
 

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