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Re-applied the thermal paste on my MacBook Pro... AMAZING results!
- Thread starter spercharged69
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This is a great video to show you how the thermal paste spreads. Most people cover the entire chip with thermal paste and that is not the best way. The "pea" method is typically the best way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffK7L0Qj13Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffK7L0Qj13Q
Fixed it!
My macbook pro A1150 core duo started declining 6 months ago. It started becoming choppy during youtube video playback and itunes music playing. More specifically when I moved the laptop it would start lagging more. Eventually it would shut off and became more and more frequent. I used coolbook to undervolt / underclock the processor, put the fans on high with smcFanControl and that helped for a little bit. Eventually the machine would turn off sooner and sooner, right after startup at the end.
I finally decided to replace the thermal paste to the heat sink using a rice grain size method and pressing the motherboard down. No more freezes or lags!!!
I think it was a combination of the paste's old age and me lugging my computer around a lot in my backpack causing the thermal paste to move around and create air pockets.
I have tried to stress the computer, running a prime95 stress test, playing words with friends on facebook, watching a video on youtube, and watching a movie on VLC all at the same time. The fans never went over 3000 rpm and he temp stayed around 90C. Woohoo!
My macbook pro A1150 core duo started declining 6 months ago. It started becoming choppy during youtube video playback and itunes music playing. More specifically when I moved the laptop it would start lagging more. Eventually it would shut off and became more and more frequent. I used coolbook to undervolt / underclock the processor, put the fans on high with smcFanControl and that helped for a little bit. Eventually the machine would turn off sooner and sooner, right after startup at the end.
I finally decided to replace the thermal paste to the heat sink using a rice grain size method and pressing the motherboard down. No more freezes or lags!!!
I think it was a combination of the paste's old age and me lugging my computer around a lot in my backpack causing the thermal paste to move around and create air pockets.
I have tried to stress the computer, running a prime95 stress test, playing words with friends on facebook, watching a video on youtube, and watching a movie on VLC all at the same time. The fans never went over 3000 rpm and he temp stayed around 90C. Woohoo!
amazing!
Guys, I opened my macbook black, I cleaned it, and applied the
Coolaboratory Liquid Ultra.
And, The difference is amazing!
If you have similar problems and have doubts, this thermal paste is very good,
go for it.
And I followed these videos tutorials:
http://youtu.be/DZQ96V3nOiE
http://youtu.be/prxDWFLW9Dw
I advise you to organize the screws as you remove then,
I did it with a egg box.
best regards,
diogo
Guys, I opened my macbook black, I cleaned it, and applied the
Coolaboratory Liquid Ultra.
And, The difference is amazing!
If you have similar problems and have doubts, this thermal paste is very good,
go for it.
And I followed these videos tutorials:
http://youtu.be/DZQ96V3nOiE
http://youtu.be/prxDWFLW9Dw
I advise you to organize the screws as you remove then,
I did it with a egg box.
best regards,
diogo
Last edited:
An you think American manufacturing would be better? Beyond the staggering price increase for your electronics, I'm not sure that the US has either the capacity or knowledge to bring back that level of production.
You all have me tempted to dig into my new 17" MBP. It gets into the 90's whenever doing much in Lightroom, particularly on large exports that keep the processor >50%.
I've built a few computers and applied some of this in those builds. The thought of taking apart a $2k computer that far is a bit intimidating, but I have confidence I could do it. I was already pretty close to that level when I put my SSD and data doubler in it. I think I may order the supplies and do it some rainy Saturday.
i would imagine. the thermal paste applied on macbook pros look very much like it is applied by a person but done so in a rush. Imagine someone working on thousands of MBPs everyday...think they'd give two hoots about properly aligning thermal paste? Hell naw.
I've cracked open every Macbook laptop i've owned and all the thermal paste looks sloppily applied so I just clean it up and reapply after thorough cleaning with some Arctic Ice cleaner. Years spent working on PCs makes working on this kinda stuff peanuts. if you are comfy with cracking open the comp, can't say it wouldnt have any benefits to try out and reapply the paste.
Wow this is unacceptable..
I am going to do some temp tests tonight and see how hot my 13" i7 gets while doing some video encoding and other heavy tasks.
tempted to do the same thing if it will decrease as much as you're all saying!
I am going to do some temp tests tonight and see how hot my 13" i7 gets while doing some video encoding and other heavy tasks.
tempted to do the same thing if it will decrease as much as you're all saying!
Based on all the videos of Foxconn assembly lines I've seen online, I'm willing to guess that this indeed applied by hand. Don't take my word on it though.
Retina MacBook Pro staying very cool
after owning:
iBook
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo, reapplied thermal paste myself. Was part of this thread and others when this whole ordeal became well known)
MacBook Air (11" i7)
MacBook Air (13" i7 Sandy Bridge)
I can say my new Retina MacBook Pro is running cool as a motha'. Cudos to Apple. Loving the more muffled sound of the unequal fans. Even after a 4.5 Hour encode of a Dual Layer Blu-Ray with Handbrake pegging the 4/8 Cores to 99.5% the under side remains remarkably cool. Lord knows I'm not going to crack open my brand new computer after only owning it for about 2 months though to check the thermal paste application.
after owning:
iBook
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo, reapplied thermal paste myself. Was part of this thread and others when this whole ordeal became well known)
MacBook Air (11" i7)
MacBook Air (13" i7 Sandy Bridge)
I can say my new Retina MacBook Pro is running cool as a motha'. Cudos to Apple. Loving the more muffled sound of the unequal fans. Even after a 4.5 Hour encode of a Dual Layer Blu-Ray with Handbrake pegging the 4/8 Cores to 99.5% the under side remains remarkably cool. Lord knows I'm not going to crack open my brand new computer after only owning it for about 2 months though to check the thermal paste application.
If you are concerned about temperature and want to reduce it elevation of the rear of the machine helps, as sitting flat on the desk only reflects the heat back to the base of the Mac. You can buy passive aluminium coolers like Rain Designs Mstand or iLap. Most powered coolers are designed for PC notebooks and don't work overly well with Mac`s if at all. One cooler that does work efficiently is the Moshi Zefyr 2, as it`s principle of cooling is specifically designed for Apple portables, by blowing the air horizontally across the base of the computer, however don't expect miracles. The Zefyr also folds up, making it highly portable.
Link: Moshi Zefyr 2
A cheap USB fan can achieve the same if strategically placed, not as elegant mind, nor as easy to put in your notebooks case
but they do help to reduce case temperatures.
You can use software to override Apple`s own cooling algorithm by manually taking control of fan RPM and setting up power profile presets with SMC Fan Control 2.4, or here with UltraFan which allows you stipulate a preset temperature and the software will automatically raise and lower fan RPM`s to keep the system at the predefined temp, which i personally feel is a far more elegant solution. At the end of the day you want to control your system temperature, not your fan rpm`s. For me SMC is now pretty much redundant with the latest release of UltraFan having manual control of the fans RPM, and subsequently i am starting to uninstall it from my own Mac`s. SMC FC is a great app, however although it`s recently updated, functionality is limited compared to some newer apps, equally SMC Fan Control is rock steady stable and a finished product.
Strictly speaking Apple`s own cooling algorithm works, albeit at sacrifice of increased temps for quieter operation. This has always been the Apple way and is really nothing detrimental to the system, i have one MBP from 2008 all original barring a recent fan change that has an uptime of over 30K hours. The latest MBP`s need less assistance in remaining cool; for some it`s simply disconcerting the heat generated and transferred to the case, although it`s perfectly normal as the aluminium acts as a heat-sync. i have to deal with elevated ambient temperature so at times a software solution is useful. Apart from the passive cooling the Mstands bring they also offer a very sound ergonomic solution. A passive cooler and UltraFan will maximise the cooling, there is little else you can do short of reducing the ambient temperature or the system load. If I know i am going to push a system i will close all apps that are not essential as this can and does make an impact to system temperature.
High temperatures in general is not overly harmful to your systems, what is far more detrimental is thermal stress, when temperatures rapidly fluctuate by significant margins in short periods of time. Anyone striving for great longevity should look to minimise rapid temperature changes.
The old adage still applies; it`s easier to keep a system cool, than cool-down an already hot machine. This being said it`s not strictly necessary, equally it`s nice to know that there are options for reducing temperature out there.
Other software that can assist gfxCardStatus, AdBlock (extension)
Link: Moshi Zefyr 2
A cheap USB fan can achieve the same if strategically placed, not as elegant mind, nor as easy to put in your notebooks case
but they do help to reduce case temperatures.You can use software to override Apple`s own cooling algorithm by manually taking control of fan RPM and setting up power profile presets with SMC Fan Control 2.4, or here with UltraFan which allows you stipulate a preset temperature and the software will automatically raise and lower fan RPM`s to keep the system at the predefined temp, which i personally feel is a far more elegant solution. At the end of the day you want to control your system temperature, not your fan rpm`s. For me SMC is now pretty much redundant with the latest release of UltraFan having manual control of the fans RPM, and subsequently i am starting to uninstall it from my own Mac`s. SMC FC is a great app, however although it`s recently updated, functionality is limited compared to some newer apps, equally SMC Fan Control is rock steady stable and a finished product.
Strictly speaking Apple`s own cooling algorithm works, albeit at sacrifice of increased temps for quieter operation. This has always been the Apple way and is really nothing detrimental to the system, i have one MBP from 2008 all original barring a recent fan change that has an uptime of over 30K hours. The latest MBP`s need less assistance in remaining cool; for some it`s simply disconcerting the heat generated and transferred to the case, although it`s perfectly normal as the aluminium acts as a heat-sync. i have to deal with elevated ambient temperature so at times a software solution is useful. Apart from the passive cooling the Mstands bring they also offer a very sound ergonomic solution. A passive cooler and UltraFan will maximise the cooling, there is little else you can do short of reducing the ambient temperature or the system load. If I know i am going to push a system i will close all apps that are not essential as this can and does make an impact to system temperature.
High temperatures in general is not overly harmful to your systems, what is far more detrimental is thermal stress, when temperatures rapidly fluctuate by significant margins in short periods of time. Anyone striving for great longevity should look to minimise rapid temperature changes.
The old adage still applies; it`s easier to keep a system cool, than cool-down an already hot machine. This being said it`s not strictly necessary, equally it`s nice to know that there are options for reducing temperature out there.
Other software that can assist gfxCardStatus, AdBlock (extension)
Yep, however it`s been brought back to life by those with concern, it also documents the positives and negatives of this procedure. For newer machines the benefits are marginal at best.
There are still also a great deal of older Mac portables in circulation so the advice is still valid for many.