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just got my new MBP 2011... anything to look out for?

H

head honcho 123

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 18, 2008
457
15
hey guys,

finally pulled the trigger and got myself a mbp 2011 cto (15 inch, 2.3ghz i7, 4gb, 500gb, AG)... upgrading from early '08 mbp (2.5 ghz pen).

is there anything i should be look out for? I already checked if my optical bay is 6G link and it is luckily.

finished checking for any dead pixels... none found so far. looks great!

no cosmetic issues (except for some minor stains which i had to remove).

also opened it up and replaced the 500GB with my intel G2 80 GB SSD. insides look clean.

finished applying the Bestskinsever on the body (the bottom was such a pain and i effed up LOL)

ran 64 bit geekbench got 11100+.

planning on upgrading RAM to 8GB (with the popular forum brand - kingston hyper x from amazon.com)

am I missing anything???

would appreciate it!!! thanks!

edit: also for anyone that's curious... updated the mbp to 10.6.8. the intel ssd G2 does not have TRIM enabled :(
 
Nuckinfuts said:
Where did that stain come from? lol :eek:

I wouldn't worry about it unless you see a problem. When I got mine last year I got lock ups and I ran every scan known to man, but then a SL update fixed it lol
Click to expand...

LOL

i think it came from the factory! it was like a tiny pen mark on the top case... got it removed after rubbing it for like 15 mins with a q-tip! i was upset LOL! but it went away and it's all groovy.
 
head honcho 123 said:
LOL

i think it came from the factory! it was like a tiny pen mark on the top case... got it removed after rubbing it for like 15 mins with a q-tip! i was upset LOL! but it went away and it's all groovy.
Click to expand...

I actually had a couple of small stains on mine too, glue or w/e it was, I used a bit of alcohol to remove them - weird...

If you're savvy enough, I'd suggest changing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU, makes up for about 10-15 degree diferrence. :D
 
escogido said:
I actually had a couple of small stains on mine too, glue or w/e it was, I used a bit of alcohol to remove them - weird...

If you're savvy enough, I'd suggest changing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU, makes up for about 10-15 degree diferrence. :D
Click to expand...

this was going to be my next step because the comp was running like 50C on idle.

did u change the TP on urs? if so which brand TP did you use? link?
 
escogido said:
I actually had a couple of small stains on mine too, glue or w/e it was, I used a bit of alcohol to remove them - weird...

If you're savvy enough, I'd suggest changing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU, makes up for about 10-15 degree diferrence. :D
Click to expand...

10-15 degrees sounds a bit much, I'd say that fan speeds will decrease during average use around 1000-2000 RPM. If you're hammering the CPU, it'll still run at 90C @ 6000RPM because of Turbo Boost.
 
head honcho 123 said:
this was going to be my next step because the comp was running like 50C on idle.

did u change the TP on urs? if so which brand TP did you use? link?
Click to expand...

Arctic Silver is usually best for the price. Personally I wouldn't bother with replacing the thermal paste since the CPUs are designed for close to 100C I believe, or so I've heard.

In games, mine will hit 180F, and it doesn't care as far as I can tell.
 
dagamer34 said:
10-15 degrees sounds a bit much, I'd say that fan speeds will decrease during average use around 1000-2000 RPM. If you're hammering the CPU, it'll still run at 90C @ 6000RPM because of Turbo Boost.
Click to expand...

did u change the TP on urs? if so which brand TP did you use? link?
 
Nuckinfuts said:
Arctic Silver is usually best for the price. Personally I wouldn't bother with replacing the thermal paste since the CPUs are designed for close to 100C I believe, or so I've heard.

In games, mine will hit 180F, and it doesn't care as far as I can tell.
Click to expand...

i was gonna go for:

1) http://www.coollaboratory.com/en/products/liquid-ultra/

or

2) http://www.arcticsilver.com/cmq2.html


the TP change forum seems like it's telling people to stay away from conductive TPs.
 
head honcho 123 said:
this was going to be my next step because the comp was running like 50C on idle.

did u change the TP on urs? if so which brand TP did you use? link?
Click to expand...

I changed it with the IC Diamond, the squish method, not the spread method. I had idle temps of about 45-50, now it's around 32-35. :D
 
head honcho 123 said:
i was gonna go for:

1) http://www.coollaboratory.com/en/products/liquid-ultra/

or

2) http://www.arcticsilver.com/cmq2.html


the TP change forum seems like it's telling people to stay away from conductive TPs.
Click to expand...

I took a look at the liquid-ultra - if that's the only way to apply that stuff, then I would avoid it. When you spread it like that, especially with a brush, once you attach the heatsink and press down on it, there will be ari caught in between all the inconsistencies, air bubbles are the enemy of any thermal paste, air is the worst heat conductor.
 
head honcho 123 said:
is this the one: http://www.innovationcooling.com/overview.htm

what made u go for the IC Diamond and not the other brands? thanks!
Click to expand...

Well it was more of a test. I've discovered it, and what sold me is their claim that dimonds are better heat conductors (who knew?!) than silver. Dimonds 2000-2500 W/mK vs Silver 406-429 W/mK, so about 4-5 times better heat transfer. It was more of an experiment. I had applied AS5 before, cured it for 200 hours and was still getting idle temps of about 38-40 degrees, with IC diamond it comes down all the way to 32-33!
 
escogido said:
Well it was more of a test. I've discovered it, and what sold me is their claim that dimonds are better heat conductors (who knew?!) than silver. Dimonds 2000-2500 W/mK vs Silver 406-429 W/mK, so about 4-5 times better heat transfer. It was more of an experiment. I had applied AS5 before, cured it for 200 hours and was still getting idle temps of about 38-40 degrees, with IC diamond it comes down all the way to 32-33!
Click to expand...

DOOD,

THANK YOU SO MUCH for showing me abt IC Diamond.

i was planning on doing the drop dot method for the TP, but i didn't know that's not the recommended spreading for the AS and liquid-ultra (AS recommends spread with card and LU recommends spread with brush).

i do think the drop dot method is best (least chance of air bubbles).

any tips for me for doing the TP replacement? lastly can I ask where you bought it?

thanks AGAIN!
 
found a good tip abt using IC Diamond on amazon.com reviews:

"Just put this baby 5 minutes in a cup of HOT water

Then, apply a good chunk (around 30% to the center of the CPU)"
 
head honcho 123 said:
found a good tip abt using IC Diamond on amazon.com reviews:

"Just put this baby 5 minutes in a cup of HOT water

Then, apply a good chunk (around 30% to the center of the CPU)"
Click to expand...

Yeah I got it from amazon. AND used that tip too, I used some hot water to soften it, otherwise it's really thick.

Btw there's a great vid on youtube, some guy used different types of TP and spread it under a piece of glass to show how each one spreads, shows a good example of 'spread' vs 'drop' method
 
escogido said:
Yeah I got it from amazon. AND used that tip too, I used some hot water to soften it, otherwise it's really thick.

Btw there's a great vid on youtube, some guy used different types of TP and spread it under a piece of glass to show how each one spreads, shows a good example of 'spread' vs 'drop' method
Click to expand...

this is great info! thanks again :D

anything that was super hard about doing the TP exchange? cable snags? anything? LOL. gotta PREPARE.
 
head honcho 123 said:
this is great info! thanks again :D

anything that was super hard about doing the TP exchange? cable snags? anything? LOL. gotta PREPARE.
Click to expand...

Pulling it apart is a lot easier than putting it back together. I felt like a needed 2 extra hands to keep all cables above the motherboard when sticking it back in - you get one cablef from under it on one side, and then another cable on the other side gets back under it. I wore gloves and used an antistatic mat with a wrist thingy. Make sure to disconnect the battery first! Do a test of the IC dimond, spread it, screw it in, and then take it off and see if the amount you applied was too much or too little. Make sure that you don't overapply it, excess should be very minimal.
 
Cool Idea

This seems like a good idea for hard gamers. The new MBP 15 and 17 " Notebooks are perfect machines for experienced gamers.

I have a MBP 13" which is perfect size and performance for what i use it for...

I have been playing a lot of free online games...

Team Fortress II and Battlestar Gallactica Online anyone? haha

Username: DeadSoulive
 
escogido said:
Pulling it apart is a lot easier than putting it back together. I felt like a needed 2 extra hands to keep all cables above the motherboard when sticking it back in - you get one cablef from under it on one side, and then another cable on the other side gets back under it. I wore gloves and used an antistatic mat with a wrist thingy. Make sure to disconnect the battery first! Do a test of the IC dimond, spread it, screw it in, and then take it off and see if the amount you applied was too much or too little. Make sure that you don't overapply it, excess should be very minimal.
Click to expand...

thank u escogido! will do!
 
Your upgrade path is exactly the same as mine except I'm down 100mhz with both the old and new :D

Are your reapplying the thermal paste because your temps are poor?

I usually get a max of 88 C but my ambients are > 30 C so I can't complain I guess.
 
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