So at the end of last year I changed the thermal paste for my 2018 mbp 13, I chose the Kryonaut from thermal grizzly because I heard the amazing performance and longevity(hmm). After changing out the already dried stock paste, I ran some test on it, and the temperature was amazing! It was almost 20 degrees cooler in cinebench r20 with max fans. The Hottest it got is 79°C. As well as daily usage, watching YouTube on chrome was so much cooler and the fans was usually sitting quiet. So it was all good until recently, I noticed it got a little hotter, temperatures hitting high 60s while watching YouTube. I ran the tests again, and... It got almost 90°C in cinebench r20 with max fans. So I did some research on the kryonaut, there're people saying it will start to breakdown if the temperatures got over 80°C. Not sure if it's true, My MacBook Pro did go above 80°C quite often because apple's very conservative fan rule(fans won't ramp up until cpu hit 100°C). it's only been three months since I applied the paste tho. So are there any good thermal pastes with longevity in constant high temps? Is it worth trying out Liquid Metal?
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Kryonaut drying out?
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That's just not right - I've had thermal paste last years and years. Heck, my 2012 MBP is still on its stock thermal paste and temps are still reasonable. That's almost 8 years, compared to your 3 months.
As for liquid metal, I'd not recommend that in a laptop situation, as the jostling/moving and vibrations that laptops incur could mean disaster as that's conductive and you risk shorting out components.
It's actually the second time I changed the thermal paste, I used a cheap one at first. I'm not saying the thermal now is bad - it's still more than 10°C cooler than the stock paste and temperatures are reasonable as a MacBook Pro that thin, I just want my fingers and laps to burn less. I just ordered a MX-4 on amazon I heard it's far more reliable in high temperatures (don't really know, we'll see). And the stock paste: I don't know about pre-touchbar MacBook pros, but I see a lot of people including me having completely dried out thermal pastes even on a brand new machine (they are long lasting because they're already dried to begin with), but it seems like apple already addressed the issue after the famous 2018 15 inch MacBook pros, they now includes much nicer thermal pastes on the new 16inch machines.
you may be putting in too much thermal paste
i once put in too much paste and it ran just as hot as with no fans
you may want to use a pad https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-C...=1&keywords=thermal+pad&qid=1584775286&sr=8-4
i once put in too much paste and it ran just as hot as with no fans
you may want to use a pad https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-C...=1&keywords=thermal+pad&qid=1584775286&sr=8-4
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
From their own product webpage:
Read it as you want, but some lawyer put it there. They also had a bad batch a year or so ago, not grinded enough, scratched the bejesus of my CPU die and didn't perform as I expected. They're unable to tell exactly how much and who got it, no serial numbers/tracking etc.
Actually that's been largely discounted as an issue, its far worse to put on too little then too much. There's been a handful of youtube that did some testing, putting on too much, too little, using an x pattern, a dot, using the edge of the credit card, etc and in nearly every instance the temps were exactly the same, except for too little
I just replaced the stock TIM on my 2018 i7 Mac mini with Kryonaut today, and performance has been night and day better (it was performing 10-15% below baseline before, some serious thermal throttling issues).
I've been thinking about MX4 as well but am not entirely sure if that's the best route for a laptop due to pumping issues.
Keep us posted how this works out for you; I'll keep a close eye on my mini over the next few weeks.
I've been thinking about MX4 as well but am not entirely sure if that's the best route for a laptop due to pumping issues.
Keep us posted how this works out for you; I'll keep a close eye on my mini over the next few weeks.
Same, I never bother to change the TIM unless there's an obvious issue; 2011 15" runs cooler than new, likely thx to FW/SW optimisation, 2012 15" runs ok, hot but that's how most Mac's are, 13" MBP is fine as are the rest. Although stock thermal paste and application is often criticised, it's designed for longevity over absolute performance, too much application isn't an issue as long as there's adequate clamping pressure.
LM is fine if you know what your doing if not, best to avoid or study up quick.
Out of curiosity installed Cinebench R20 on the 2012 15" MBP, runs hot in comparison to my newer PC's, equally max CPU is 3.1GHz and that's what it can still deliver after close to 8 years, which is not too shabby...
Q-6
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Kryonaut is actually famous for this. I have to change Thermal paste in my laptop every year, because it loses its performance. There is tremendous difference between Laptop performance after the Thermal paste swap and 3 months later. I have been swapping thermal paste for past 5 years in my laptop. And it is exactly the same pattern. First three months are great with Kryonaut, then it loses its thermal performance.
I suggest using Noctua NT-H2, which has exactly the same thermal capabilities as Kryonaut but appears to be better from longevity perspective in every, single scenario.
I suggest using Noctua NT-H2, which has exactly the same thermal capabilities as Kryonaut but appears to be better from longevity perspective in every, single scenario.
Man that sucks, the MX-4 I ordered should be arriving today, I hope its got more reliability than Kryonaut. And Changing thermal pastes on those new machines are not easy, I managed to scratch out a small hole on my speakers while trying to pull out the lid, I later sealed the hole up with some glue, but that could happen again and could be much worse
So the MX-4 arrived and I opened the machine up again
The paste seemed fine. It is, however, a bit more thicker and not as smooth.
And here's the result of MX-4
Not too much better than the 3-month-old Kryonaut. Maybe next time I'll try the Noctua NT-H2
The paste seemed fine. It is, however, a bit more thicker and not as smooth.
And here's the result of MX-4
Not too much better than the 3-month-old Kryonaut. Maybe next time I'll try the Noctua NT-H2
The issue looks like it is from a "pump out" effect
There is very little thermal paste left on the actual die and it also looked like it dried out.
I've heard Hydronaut does not have this issue.
Thicker paste like TF8 and TFX also doesn't seem to have this issue
There is very little thermal paste left on the actual die and it also looked like it dried out.
I've heard Hydronaut does not have this issue.
Thicker paste like TF8 and TFX also doesn't seem to have this issue