MacBook Pro Operating Temps/ Thermal Before After guide

[ryfly]

Ok First post, Today, i finally got my hands on 2006 2.33 Macbook Pro, A 2005 1.83 Macbook Pro, a 3.06 2009 Macbook Pro to all strip down, and reapply the thermal paste.

All of them our experiencing emergency shutdowns and with iStat installed, its easy to see why.

Now i've searched through the forums but so many have temperatures jumbled around with no baseline average. Hopefully this thread can create this.

My mission, get some hard core Operating temperatures to create a average to help guide users of when and if there Pro is running to hot due to the indulgence of Thermal Paste.



Lets Start off whats now...

Santa Rosa 2.33ghz Core2Duo

Before

CPU Idle- ( No Programs running 95% Idle CPU) Between (130~140F)(54~60C)

->Fans 5000rpm (hmmmmm)

Load- dev/null> yes then running 1080P Video Loop

(190 to 212F) (90 to 100C)


And Emergency shutdown after both GPU and CPU reach 212

ArcticSilver 5 Applied

--------------------------------------------------------------
After

Idle (Same conditions) - (115 to 122F) (46 to 51C) 3000RPM

Load (Same Load) -(165 to 174F) (73 to 79C) Full RPM 6000



Nice Improvement!

--------------------------------------------
Next up 2005 Macbook Pro 1.86ghz

Before

CPU Idle- ( No Programs running 95% Idle CPU)

Between (124~130F)(51~54C)

Fans 6000rpm

Load- dev/null> yes then running 1080P Video Loop

(180 to 200F) (82 to 100C) And No Emergency shutdown



ArcticSilver 5 Applied


After

Idle (Same conditions) - (122 to 125F) (49 to 51C) 5000RPM

Load (Same Load) -(170 to 172F) (76 to 77C) Full RPM 6000


Not much, but not burning the lap off anymore. [/B]

------------------------------------------------------------
Next Up

3.06ghz Macbook Pro C2D

This computer acted very funny to tests. I even had to run more extensive runs and determines IT LIKES TO THROTTLE ALOT!!!

Before

CPU Idle- ( No Programs running 95% Idle CPU) Between


(110~130F)(43~54C) Fans 2000rpm



Load- dev/null> yes then running 1080P Video Loop

(150 to 205F) (65 to 100C)


->And No Emergency shutdown but ALOT of freezing and throttling. Fans Vary between 3500 to 6000

After

Idle (Same conditions) -

(115 to 126F) (46 to 52C)

->1500RPM

The Load Test once again was weird and had to run it longer to get better results but still a wide range

Load (Same Load)

(165 to 190F) (73 to 87C)

->Fans Full vary between 4500 ~ 6000

Now under max load i could make and putting the fans on full the temps stabilized at 175F no ranging reall +/- 2

---------------------------

Pics Coming Real Soooooooon!

Hopefully i can get my hands on a Core i7 soon.


My conclusion

General Operating temps with Stock thermal Paste

Load- 170 to 180 with extremes being ~200

Idle Seems Consitent on all models to be around 115 to 125 with 130 being not good

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Thermal Re-apply

Stable between 165 to 175 with extremes being 185, Hard to hit anywhere near 200 after new paste

Idle- Comes down to 110 to 120. Extremes being 90 (Rare) to 125 (When Spotlight indexes)


More to Come!!! Hope this helps put a general temp guide in on Mutiple Macbook Pro's. Please post your temps doing whatever, more data the better and i'll keep updating the averages on here.

 

[kman79]

Just wondering if you're still thinking about putting up the pics and the guide?

I have a 2.4 Santa Rosa and I was thinking about doing this, but need some guidance. I was able to replace my HDD to SSD, so I'm thinking it'll just be a little bit more work to get to the heatsink and removal.

 

[maflynn]

Why'd you use AS5 when there are much better compounds out there, like MX3, or NT-H1?

The last time I re-applied thermal compound to my laptop, the temperature variance was not that great, i.e., I only saved myself 5c. I'm rather shocked to see such a large difference now. Yikes.

 

[No1nfoProvided]

Just wondering if you're still thinking about putting up the pics and the guide?

I have a 2.4 Santa Rosa and I was thinking about doing this, but need some guidance. I was able to replace my HDD to SSD, so I'm thinking it'll just be a little bit more work to get to the heatsink and removal.

+1. I wanna do this to mine since my MBP runs hot all the time.

 

[plasticphyte]

Why'd you use AS5 when there are much better compounds out there, like MX3, or NT-H1?

The last time I re-applied thermal compound to my laptop, the temperature variance was not that great, i.e., I only saved myself 5c. I'm rather shocked to see such a large difference now. Yikes.

It's a case of 'Your Mileage May Vary'. If you've already applied thermal compound and re-apply it further down the track, then you'd be quite unlikely to see a difference - if you did it could be called statistical variance.

Some MBP's come with a rather large mass of the stuff plastered over the CPU, others not so much.

What's really bizarre is that in this modern era of robotic manufacturing processes, someone hasn't developed a machine to apply an accurate measured dosage to the CPU and then accurately spread it, and even failing that, there is no one being trained in what is presumably a manufacturing process still done by hand, to apply the paste properly after a little robot has squired the right amount of goop onto the CPU.

 

[ryfly]

It's a case of 'Your Mileage May Vary'. If you've already applied thermal compound and re-apply it further down the track, then you'd be quite unlikely to see a difference - if you did it could be called statistical variance.

Some MBP's come with a rather large mass of the stuff plastered over the CPU, others not so much.

What's really bizarre is that in this modern era of robotic manufacturing processes, someone hasn't developed a machine to apply an accurate measured dosage to the CPU and then accurately spread it, and even failing that, there is no one being trained in what is presumably a manufacturing process still done by hand, to apply the paste properly after a little robot has squired the right amount of goop onto the CPU.

Thats the best point i've heard sense.


Also Video guide will be up soon.


I also use AS5 since it's a more common, easier to obtain thermal paste. I find it to do the job nicely and efficient. I've used more expensive, special thermal paste before only to get a small decrease.

To me, AS5 is for the average user while high performance thermal paste is for the intense gamer or video production.

 

[xxnoelziexx]

Thats the best point i've heard sense.


Also Video guide will be up soon.


I also use AS5 since it's a more common, easier to obtain thermal paste. I find it to do the job nicely and efficient. I've used more expensive, special thermal paste before only to get a small decrease.

To me, AS5 is for the average user while high performance thermal paste is for the intense gamer or video production.

Please do put a guide up when you have a chance I have a spare tube of AS5going to waste wouldn't mind trying it out.