winninganthem
macrumors 6502a
That's pretty awesome. I love looking at pics of your disassembled computers 
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New MBP 17" Arrived... Wooot!! (^_^) Oh but... YUK!!! UPDATED with more photos!
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UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
That's pretty awesome. I love looking at pics of your disassembled computers
Thanks, it's really comforting to know I have fans and everything ain't done in vain.
Did you get a chance to record temperatures before the thermal paste cleanup?
Atomicfission92
macrumors regular
Can you post some before and after temperatures? Would love to see what the difference is after reapply the thermal paste the right way.
Thanks,
-Atomic
Thanks,
-Atomic
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
Actually, I didn't intend to open the machine to redo the paste, cause the temps before weren't really that high to begin with, even when running Illustrator CS4 & Photoshop CS4 (simultaneously) with a 4Gb file open in each! (many many layers), temps didn't exceed 85°C (acceptable, considering those Penryn can operate up to 125°C). Put it this way, it's not like my MBP15, that was like a electric grill at the best!! Hitting 100°C without too much workload. lol
Because this was a refurbished machine, I opened it to inspect the condition of the system, check for loose connections, extensive amounts of dust, dirt and grim (tell tale signs it's a really old machine) cause those thing could be well used ex-demo systems, DOA returns, customer returns or just old stock... This one turned out to be a CTO that was returned (according to Apple) While i was at it, I did some upgrading, swapped out the drives and decided to peak under the logic board... that's when i thought "Oh crap!"
Could you please post temps of the machine under a load, such as using handbrake with h264 settings? I've done the thermal paste deal with my out-of-warranty macbook, but i'm debating on doing it to my pro. Mine gets to about 80-85C with the fans on full blast during encoding.
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
Sorry don't use handbrake. What is it? How about Adobe Premiere?
The objective isn't to make the machine run hotter, cause that would shorten it's working life.
SFStateStudent
macrumors 604
HandBrake rips your DVDs and allows you to transfer them to iTunes for iPhone or iPod viewing. Adobe Premier is an older 2003 video editing software, that's been replaced by CS4/CS3.
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
Oh... I don't have any uses for it, no iPod... Though I do have Premier CS4 Suite
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Neo,
try to push it and see how hot it would go.....I do the thermal paste thing on a daily basis and discovered that...(I repair macs...)
if I do the thermal paste evenly on both surface (heatsink and logic board), they DO NOT touch each other...whether is 15 or 17, coreduo, c2duo, SR, or penryn, the heatsink does not touch the mating surfaces...
I will try to dig up some pictures to show you....
I tried the zalman brush, artic silver, toothpaste, everthing you can think of for thermal paste....it is the apple stuff and the apple method works the best in my experience
try to push it and see how hot it would go.....I do the thermal paste thing on a daily basis and discovered that...(I repair macs...)
if I do the thermal paste evenly on both surface (heatsink and logic board), they DO NOT touch each other...whether is 15 or 17, coreduo, c2duo, SR, or penryn, the heatsink does not touch the mating surfaces...
I will try to dig up some pictures to show you....
I tried the zalman brush, artic silver, toothpaste, everthing you can think of for thermal paste....it is the apple stuff and the apple method works the best in my experience
I was thinking that too... he should pull it off to see the coverage area with the new paste. Of course it would mean that Neo would have to clean and re-apply.
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
I think when you're a certified technician working for Apple, you have to use the components as specified right? Out of the box/packaging without user modification, cause those are rules your bound to work with.
You might be a certified technician but I used to build OEM servers for a living, up until about ten years ago. I spent alot of time tweaking hardware for improved thermodynamics too, thus better reliability. When I started using Macs for professional work in sub-tropical environments where the room temperature is already approaching 40°C, many of them crashed all due to over heating, slow fan response rates and bad thermal conductivity. It took me a while to perfect the applications of paste on MacBooks But I'm fairly confident with what I do, when i do it.
Anyway, I as a end user, don't need to comply to Apple's rules, it's ok for me to remove the heat-pipe, flex it a little, make sure everything is conductive prior to greasing the components, then reassemble the system. So far, I've modified about fifteen of Apple's machines and near all of them have had a great life without been over-cooked.
Here's a screen grab. On top of Firefox, iChat, iTunes I've opened a few more applications:-
MacTheRipper is tryng to rip a some what scratched DVD,
Adobe Photoshop CS4 doing something with effect filters on a sizable image,
LightRoom 2.2 sitting idle in the background
and Adobe Premiere CS4 is processing video for 1080i HD output.
All in all, forcing the machine to work harder!!
Oh, I know the heat-pipe is making good contact, I've pasted-it up and bolted it to the logicboard prior to mounting.
Took a while cause so many wiry things still sticking up, getting in the way! lol
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UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
Not too much, just enough to create a better contact. You don't wanna flex it so it bulges and cracks, it'll start leaking fluids.
smartalic34
macrumors 6502a
your temp running handbrake with cpu at 83%, aka 60 degrees or so, is what my core duo MBP is at with 9% cpu running only safari... I have an original core duo MBP Scorcher
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
your temp running handbrake with cpu at 83%, aka 60 degrees or so, is what my core duo MBP is at with 9% cpu running only safari... I have an original core duo MBP Scorcher
Just for you...
All system temps have fallen as soon as the fans kicked it...
ambient temp is 13°C
Attachments
I have no doubt on your knowledge when I see your work...just my 2cents input because I do them on a daily basis...when I perform work on clients' computer, then I will comply to the apple standard with the apple stuff...
but for my own pros, air, macbook...etc.. well, I tried many different materials and methods...like how you did it...
including benting heatpipes, different torque to torque up the screws and spacers on the mounting screws, materials including zalmans, AS5...etc..I still found the stock method and stock paste perform the best...in term of thermal dissipation and longevity..
your pro temperature is not bad, make sure there was no cpu throttling...I seen scenario that the temp was low but the CPU spikes up and down to reduce heat itself...
but for my own pros, air, macbook...etc.. well, I tried many different materials and methods...like how you did it...
including benting heatpipes, different torque to torque up the screws and spacers on the mounting screws, materials including zalmans, AS5...etc..I still found the stock method and stock paste perform the best...in term of thermal dissipation and longevity..
your pro temperature is not bad, make sure there was no cpu throttling...I seen scenario that the temp was low but the CPU spikes up and down to reduce heat itself...
I just had ONE question, where is this panal you posted? Is this a downloaded program or a stock/oem program that comes with the macbook?
I had to download a program to be able to read the temps on my macbook pro, is this program only on macbook pro 17"?
smartalic34
macrumors 6502a
this is the wonderful widget by iSlayer called iStat Pro available here: http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
Why get so annoyed that Engadget used your photo? If anything, it is free advertising - it has your website on it and your name. I can understand ranting if they had cut out your name and slapped Engadget on it, but they didn't. They didn't break any rules.
Don't really agree with your rant - bit harsh!
Aside from that though, nice work on the thermal paste. Lot cleaner.
I'd love to look inside my Unibody MBP - see if it has the correct amount. Don't have any heat issues and it runs a hell of a lot cooler than my old Santa Rosa MBP.
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
Hiya Kilamite,
It's nice of you to be curious... Well, it's not about "free advertising". Obviously, if you need to ask about this, them you don't really understand about commerce, copyright and IP.
Engadget is a commercial news site, owned by a company or a group of enthusisast, it's business and sole purpose is to report news on new releases and flaws in technology, while earning money via products endorsment, it's not individual fan-blog host on blogger, wordpress or otherwise!
Either way, if users wish to 'hotlink' images, then those image should remain on the host's site (and i like to be asked first, it's polite).
Engadget stole the image from the hosted server without permission and procedded to host it on their servers. They gave little to no credit to the photographer other than a link to it's source (flickr), all credit was given to the person whom discovered the story!!
Only when promted they provided links to MR and Apple Discussions.Now, if they had seeked permission prior, I might of come to some arrangement. It doesn't take long and all images I post link right back to my flickr and giving them a easy path to seek permisson (though they could of signed up to macrumors and PM'ed me).
To me, "free advertising" would mean a commercial site using my images, for an article that's based on the artist, photographer and/or creator. Engadget did non of that.
Just because I post images to macrumors, it doesn't give third parties the right to redistribute them and use them for free without permission!! If that was the case, my photos wouldn't be watermarked and they would be in an licensed, free image library.
UltraNEO*
macrumors 601
Thanks, i'll keep and eye on it.