MacBook needs more cooling!

[Chase817]

Hey guys. I am stuck here waiting for a 2 min. HD YouTube video to encode, easy task right? Wrong. My MacBook insists that it needs to get it's one little fan spinning up over 6,200 RPM (making an annoying sound) to cool down it's 2.0 GHz cpu. This is seriously bugging me, and I want a way to keep my MacBook cool, but without all that annoying whirring. What I'm looking for is a case or something that will get more airflow going through the mac, keeping it cool enough to watch a movie on without it getting it's singlr fan up over 3,600 RPM. Do you know of anything to buy, or any DIY ways to give my setup more robust cooling? (This is my only comp, so it's basically a laptop/desktop for me.) Thanks.

 

[Stachelsk]

Hey guys. I am stuck here waiting for a 2 min. HD YouTube video to encode, easy task right? Wrong. My MacBook insists that it needs to get it's one little fan spinning up over 6,200 RPM (making an annoying sound) to cool down it's 2.0 GHz cpu. This is seriously bugging me, and I want a way to keep my MacBook cool, but without all that annoying whirring. What I'm looking for is a case or something that will get more airflow going through the mac, keeping it cool enough to watch a movie on without it getting it's singlr fan up over 3,600 RPM. Do you know of anything to buy, or any DIY ways to give my setup more robust cooling? (This is my only comp, so it's basically a laptop/desktop for me.) Thanks.

What I'm about to tell you will void your warranty, if you chose to do it. If you end up damaging hardware doing it, I am in no way responsible.

I opened up the laptop, cleaned off the thermal paste that Apple applied (they use far too much, and some horrible, thick gunk) and replaced it with a nice thin, even layer of a silver based paste. After that, I bought (for like $5?) and installed CoolBook, which allowed me to lower my voltage from 1.1375v to 0.925v, even at my processor's max speed (2.4GHz) without any stability problems.

All in all, it cost me less than $10, and the only times my fans will hit max is if I'm doing encoding or something that pegs both cores at their max processing power. I also got a lot more out of the battery because of the decreased processor voltage, and didn't increase the weight of the laptop by adding extra fans/hardware/etc... so IMO, it's worth a try.

 

[snessiram]

I wouldn't change the thermal paste if you still have warranty (but that's just me). I do agree with Stachelsk that CoolBook helps a lot.

Besides that, you could also try:
1) Elevate the laptop
2) Use a laptop cooling solution (something like this). I don't have personal experience with these type of coolers.
3) Buy a couple of thick aluminium (or similar) plates. Place one under the laptop (to better conduct heat). If the plate starts to get hot, replace it with another plate so it can cool off again. I once read about someone who did this for his macbook pro ("classic" model).
4) If you use your macbook in clamshell mode, open the screen after switching to external screen (the internal screen won't turn on)

 

[crackbookpro]

What I'm about to tell you will void your warranty, if you chose to do it. If you end up damaging hardware doing it, I am in no way responsible.

I opened up the laptop, cleaned off the thermal paste that Apple applied (they use far too much, and some horrible, thick gunk) and replaced it with a nice thin, even layer of a silver based paste. After that, I bought (for like $5?) and installed CoolBook, which allowed me to lower my voltage from 1.1375v to 0.925v, even at my processor's max speed (2.4GHz) without any stability problems.

All in all, it cost me less than $10, and the only times my fans will hit max is if I'm doing encoding or something that pegs both cores at their max processing power. I also got a lot more out of the battery because of the decreased processor voltage, and didn't increase the weight of the laptop by adding extra fans/hardware/etc... so IMO, it's worth a try.

never knew that was 100% true...that is awesome. I remember someone else doing what you mentioned, because they said Apple, generally did a lousy job putting on the thermal paste.

CrackBookPro

 

[RDM3]

Hey guys. I am stuck here waiting for a 2 min. HD YouTube video to encode, easy task right? Wrong. My MacBook insists that it needs to get it's one little fan spinning up over 6,200 RPM (making an annoying sound) to cool down it's 2.0 GHz cpu. This is seriously bugging me, and I want a way to keep my MacBook cool, but without all that annoying whirring. What I'm looking for is a case or something that will get more airflow going through the mac, keeping it cool enough to watch a movie on without it getting it's singlr fan up over 3,600 RPM. Do you know of anything to buy, or any DIY ways to give my setup more robust cooling? (This is my only comp, so it's basically a laptop/desktop for me.) Thanks.

I bought a Targus Chill Mat today at Target and to be honest ir does not seem to be doing anything to cool it down, the fans blow towards the CPU and not away, if I lift the chill mat with Macbook on it then it does cool it down, I have a glass desk that it sits on. Right now as I type the CPU is at 130 F with the fan at 1803rpm which is about where it was before the chill mat

 

[Stachelsk]

I bought a Targus Chill Mat today at Target and to be honest ir does not seem to be doing anything to cool it down, the fans blow towards the CPU and not away, if I lift the chill mat with Macbook on it then it does cool it down, I have a glass desk that it sits on. Right now as I type the CPU is at 130 F with the fan at 1803rpm which is about where it was before the chill mat

CoolBook is worth it if you're a little timid about idle temps... you can lower your core voltage by quite a bit, and have the OS automatically scale the core frequency down to further reduce heat. I have my "idle speed" set to 600MHz at a nominal voltage... idles at 40c, maybe just a bit over depending on the ambient temperature.