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Re-applied the thermal paste on my MacBook Pro... AMAZING results!

absurdio said:
two questions:

1) I've read a few of these re-application guides, and i'm still not sure how you actually get Apple's paste off. I'd be nervous about using anything on those delicate internal parts. So what's the technique? rubbing alcohol? water? Q-tip? ...power-sander? :p

2) I imagine this does make the fans come on more often. That's fine. More fan (even audible fan) is a fair trade for a colder portable. But does the more fan impact battery life significantly? I sortof doubt it, but I still wonder.

Thanks.

And...as far as my earlier question (which nobody answered) about whether this was likely to be fixed on the Merom edition MBPs, I'm having my doubts. Heat has always been something of a problem for Apple. My TiBook gets hot. I remember when the 12" AiBooks came out and they were nigh unusable because of heat. This isn't anything new. I'm sure Apple knows about this, and I'm sure they made their peace with it long ago. This disappoints me.
Click to expand...

#1 -- I used a paper towel. You don't need to be that delicate with the top of the CPU die. Just rub it off with a paper towel... I didn't use alcohol or anything, but I guess it might help get ALL the residue off.

#2 -- Yeah, the fans do come on more often, mostly at a very soft/quite hum. When you're doing CPU intensive stuff, they come on full, but LONG before they used to come on full (because now the heat is actually transferred properly and the fans are ready to move it). As for battery life, I haven't really checked into it yet, with or without the upgrade. I've been using mine plugged in for the most part.


I'd highly recommend doing it though. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience.
 
absurdio said:
two questions:

1) I've read a few of these re-application guides, and i'm still not sure how you actually get Apple's paste off. I'd be nervous about using anything on those delicate internal parts. So what's the technique? rubbing alcohol? water? Q-tip? ...power-sander? :p

2) I imagine this does make the fans come on more often. That's fine. More fan (even audible fan) is a fair trade for a colder portable. But does the more fan impact battery life significantly? I sortof doubt it, but I still wonder.

Thanks.

And...as far as my earlier question (which nobody answered) about whether this was likely to be fixed on the Merom edition MBPs, I'm having my doubts. Heat has always been something of a problem for Apple. My TiBook gets hot. I remember when the 12" AiBooks came out and they were nigh unusable because of heat. This isn't anything new. I'm sure Apple knows about this, and I'm sure they made their peace with it long ago. This disappoints me.
Click to expand...

I use a Q-Tip with ArctiClean 1 (thermal material remover) and let that air dry. Then I go back with a fresh Q-Tip and some ArctiClean 2 (thermal suface purifier) and let that air dry.

From there I take my AS5 and put a rice-grain sized dab of TIC right in the center of the die then attach HSF (or in this case install logic board over the integrated heatpipe system). The reason for not spreading the TIC is to ensure you do in fact make proper contact between the die and heatsink. If spread too thin in an application such as this where there's the possibility of a small manufacturing flaw you run the slight chance of not making any contact (this results in a gob of melted PCB and some gnarly smells).

To address your second question. Obviously the more the fan runs the more power is being sucked from the battery. As far as noticable difference in battery life I'd say you might ultimately be looking at 5 minutes shaved off of your total runtime. Notebook fans are very well engineered with either fluid bearings, mag bearings, or ball bearings with virtually no friction and require very little power to operate.

As far as the problem being fixed by Apple... I'm leary to say that they will considering the problems with heat on some previous generation Apple laptops.

I recently ordered my 17" MBP w/ glossy screen on the 17th and awaiting it's arrival this coming week. I'll post back with my stock temps and then also my re-TIC'd temps if my MBP ends up being a cooker. I'm hoping to be able to get away with not having to tear it down but I'll do it in a heartbeat if I get one that burns.
 
I have the Macbook Pro, maybe it's just me, but it doesn't get all that hot, it's about the same as my previous two notebooks (Dell Inspirons 1000 and 600m). And I just watched the two-parter of Lost on it. :eek:

I should say that the Inspiron 1000 gets hotter than any notebook I've ever owned. That's one laptop that will literally fry the skin. :eek:
 
benthewraith said:
I have the Macbook Pro, maybe it's just me, but it doesn't get all that hot, it's about the same as my previous two notebooks (Dell Inspirons 1000 and 600m). And I just watched the two-parter of Lost on it. :eek:

I should say that the Inspiron 1000 gets hotter than any notebook I've ever owned. That's one laptop that will literally fry the skin. :eek:
Click to expand...
What week is your MBP? If you don't know the specific week how long ago did you order it and when did it arrive?
 
benthewraith said:
I didn't order. I store bought and it was last Wednesday.
Click to expand...
Not too old then, thats good. I called my Apple store a few weeks ago and they hadn't received any 17" MBP's but when I called them last week and asked again they said that they had received a shipment. I was tempted to go down and pick one up but I realllly wanted the new glossy screen so I went ahead and ordered online.
 
FragTek said:
Not too old then, thats good. I called my Apple store a few weeks ago and they hadn't received any 17" MBP's but when I called them last week and asked again they said that they had received a shipment. I was tempted to go down and pick one up but I realllly wanted the new glossy screen so I went ahead and ordered online.
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily true.

I bought a 2ghz "new" machine (low end MBP after speed bump) from the Apple Store and I believe I got a week 8 machine.
 
vv-tim said:
That's not necessarily true.

I bought a 2ghz "new" machine (low end MBP after speed bump) from the Apple Store and I believe I got a week 8 machine.
Click to expand...

I couldn't tell you what week mine was, heck, I'm still getting used to the Mac OS. :eek: I think you got the same machine as me but with more RAM.
 
benthewraith said:
I couldn't tell you what week mine was, heck, I'm still getting used to the Mac OS. :eek: I think you got the same machine as me but with more RAM.
Click to expand...

Nah, I got mine with the base configuration. 128MB VRAM, 512MB system RAM, 80GB hard drive.

I had some upgrades I'd bought for my Dell E1405 that I put in the MacBook (2GB of RAM and 100GB Seagate Momentus 7200.1).
 
Hmmm.. okay,

So I called a local authorized apple service centre today, and asked the guy if this is do able, he said it is.


I'm not sure if this is actually gonna help or not, but I'm wondering if this will help or not.

I'm idling at around 50 (right at this moment), and if I am working with photoshop and whatnot, it goes up to 70. I did a stress test, putting both cores to 100% load, it runs up to 80'c.

I still think th at's a bit hot, what do you people think?


I have to leave the country for a bit, I guess I'll keep on checking with the service centre, he said he's gonan order me a logic board.
 
hidea said:
Hmmm.. okay,

So I called a local authorized apple service centre today, and asked the guy if this is do able, he said it is.

I'm not sure if this is actually gonna help or not, but I'm wondering if this will help or not.

I'm idling at around 50 (right at this moment), and if I am working with photoshop and whatnot, it goes up to 70. I did a stress test, putting both cores to 100% load, it runs up to 80'c.

I still think th at's a bit hot, what do you people think?

I have to leave the country for a bit, I guess I'll keep on checking with the service centre, he said he's gonan order me a logic board.
Click to expand...

You got farther than I did. My LASP told me he had never heard of the heat problems, and that I'd have to send it off to Apple. Which of course I didn't do.

Mine runs cooler than yours though. Idles at 25-30, heats up to about 70 or so. However I never run it without a targus notebook cooling pad underneath, and if I"m doing anything intensive in windows I actually keep an external fan blowing on it. A bit overkill but I feel like without it I'd be frying the insides of my laptop.
 
Ahr

Ahrr.. mmm. I still can't decide, well, what I mean by idle is.. not using it under heavy stress, like.. when it barely wakes up from sleep, it'd be in its 20'c s or so, low 20'c .

Do it or don't do it?

I have read article that this won't do anything, and if the temperature seems to dropped, that just means the sensor is not attached properly or something.. hm.
 
hidea said:
Ahrr.. mmm. I still can't decide, well, what I mean by idle is.. not using it under heavy stress, like.. when it barely wakes up from sleep, it'd be in its 20'c s or so, low 20'c .

Do it or don't do it?

I have read article that this won't do anything, and if the temperature seems to dropped, that just means the sensor is not attached properly or something.. hm.
Click to expand...

I am thinking they forgot to connect the sensor as well.

So far I am just going to live with it but Apple should really update the SMC with user options to control fans within a safety margin of course.
 
how about the guys here then? did they forget to do it as well?

but if anything, I'm gonna go give the tech arctic silver 5, maybe that'll help a bit. and still, too much thermalpaste isn't good anyway, it's physically illogical.

or any other recommended brand?
 
last saturday I was using my MBP for internet browsing with WiFi, then let it sit for a while and picked it up. I then started playing X-Plane version 8.40, which is the Universal Binary.

Well, to make a long story short I wasn't playing for 5 minutes when the fans were on full blast and the case was too hot to handle. I was using it on a wood surface because that was all that was available to me.

The next day I took it in to the apple store and they said the spiel on 'oh the case is part of the cooling design' and 'wood will make it run hot' and so on. They told me they'd like me to reproduce my results in the store so they didn't waste my time taking away my computer. I respect that.

Unfortunately they gave me a space on their Genius bar, which is a $20,000 solid block of i think Corian, which they said is excellent heat dissipator. I still managed to get it running pretty hot, but they said 'oh thats normal'.

Well running it on a corian counter i'd think so! what about the real world?

I think mine may have thermal paste issues. they denied there is one. They asked me if i'd done all the Firmware updates, and I said yes. that tells me that heating was definitely addressed.

I don't have mooing (at least not anymore) but I may have the whine. It seems to change pitch when I unplug the computer, and it goes away with the yes > /dev/null or whatever or when my computer is running at full load.

I have the Core Duo 15.4" 2.16ghz Build To Order (I bought before 2.16 was a standard speed) with 2gb RAM.
If memory serves the week is the two numbers after the W86? the first things I have are W86140.

The apple store people said that if I wanted they'd change out my computer for me. I didn't want to without exploring other avenues first.

Right now CoreDuo Temp is reporting i've running at 1.5-1.67ghz, 65 deg. Celsius. My CPUs are running at 12% at the absolute most i've seen right now. I took the computer out of sleep after a few hours just minutes ago and it was at this temperature almost immediately.
I'm on a wood surface, true, but I can't help it- I don't have another desk right now.

I put up two instances of the yes>/dev/null and i very very quickly jump through the 80s and finally to 91 celsius before the fans kick in audibly. And they are noticeable.
The fans get it down into the mid 80s or so. The case is warm when typing normally. With this it gets a fair bit warmer and I just forget the F1-12 buttons exist, because if i overshoot its burn unit for me!.
fter some time it levels off at about 83-84. It doesn't drop below that for more than a few seconds.

I wasn't at the apple store closest to my house...should I try the other one?

Other than this I love my mac. I just want it to run as smoothly as possible.
 
I've reapplied the thermal paste on my macbook (arctic silver 5) and to be fair its not really made much difference. Maybe dropped 2 or 3 degrees off my idle temps, but i'm still hitting the 80's under load.

I've been using AS5 for years and i know how to apply it. The problem with the macbook is the Fan does not turn on til 70c (could clearly see this when i had it open and did a test run). Apple should really do a firmware update and get the fans to start spinning at a slow speed a bit sooner (maybe 60-65c)
 
Any suggestions for how to bring your computer up to 100% processing for a while? I want to see what temperature it gets up to.

I have the latest firmwear update. The computer will get up to the low 60s at idle and I've seen it at the low 70's while running programs but I don't know how hot it might get.

-- David
 
My MBP is 15" 2.16GHZ, week 16 (W8616...). Same issues concerning whine, as soon as the AC is unplugged I hear the noise much louder and it seems to pause during scrolling and then pick back up.

CoreDuo Temp says 60 C idle. How do I 'stress it'?

I tried running iMovie and rendering while watching a movie in iTunes and opened iWeb but couldn't get CPU Usage over 55% or so. The case is very warm/hot to touch in same areas (above F buttons and underneath keyboard).

Bought this on Memorial Day in San Diego at Apple Store. If I take it back and complain will they give me another or take mine for repair? Suggestions?? (and no I am not about to open it up and stress myself with thermal paste reapplication, that is not my area of expertise or JOB!)
 
vv-tim said:
#1 -- I used a paper towel. You don't need to be that delicate with the top of the CPU die. Just rub it off with a paper towel... I didn't use alcohol or anything, but I guess it might help get ALL the residue off.
Click to expand...

FragTek said:
I use a Q-Tip with ArctiClean 1 (thermal material remover) and let that air dry. Then I go back with a fresh Q-Tip and some ArctiClean 2 (thermal suface purifier) and let that air dry.
Click to expand...
Rubbing alcohol will remove most thermal materials with relatively little effort. When replacing thermal material, you should never leave behind old residue that may have become contaminated or brittle, nor should you use a cotton puff product (Q-tip or ball) as the final wipe. If you use cotton or normal paper towels, it should be finished off with rubbing alcohol and a shop towel or lint-free cloth. If you're going to go to the trouble of replacing your thermal compound, it should be done properly so as to minimize contaminants.
 
debrey said:
Any suggestions for how to bring your computer up to 100% processing for a while?
-- David
Click to expand...
Yep, open the Console and run the following: yes > /dev/null
This will make one of your two cores run at 100%. You will have to open yet another Console and type in the command again to put the other core at 100% as well.

The same goes for you wattage
 
Rovman said:
I've reapplied the thermal paste on my macbook (arctic silver 5) and to be fair its not really made much difference. Maybe dropped 2 or 3 degrees off my idle temps, but i'm still hitting the 80's under load.

I've been using AS5 for years and i know how to apply it. The problem with the macbook is the Fan does not turn on til 70c (could clearly see this when i had it open and did a test run). Apple should really do a firmware update and get the fans to start spinning at a slow speed a bit sooner (maybe 60-65c)
Click to expand...

With a PC you use an app like Speedfan to adjust the fan speeds. Someone should delelop an app like that for Macs.

Having said that, and reading of all the problems with recent Apple products, you'd be nuts to buy one until they get their act together, which doesn't sound llike that's going to happen any time soon.
 
drake said:
With a PC you use an app like Speedfan to adjust the fan speeds. Someone should delelop an app like that for Macs.

Having said that, and reading of all the problems with recent Apple products, you'd be nuts to buy one until they get their act together, which doesn't sound llike that's going to happen any time soon.
Click to expand...

While a small minority is complaining, I reckon the vast majority is happily using their MacBook Pro. Granted, I feel that my MacBook Pro at times runs much hotter than is comfortable but I can still touch it without burning myself.

When I am just writing in word, surfing the internet and listening to music over iTunes it is rather fine and dandy.

CoreDuoTemp reports a breezy 33-34°C and the current speed is shuffling between 1.33Ghz and 1.50Ghz. Right now I am running off the adaptor but I have still set it to Better Energy Savings.

CoreDuoTemp.png

Note: It have been running approximately 4 hours now.

However, it would be nice if someone would write a program to adjust the VID, FID and multiplier of the Core Duo. Also, be able to control the fan settings would be a large plus. I know these programs exists to Windows based computers (use it on my desktop), so it should be possible.
 
Hmm... I'm still juggling whether I should do it or not. The thing is, the place that will help me do it is supposedly an authorized apple service centre. it's a local service centre, I can't name the place due to personal reasons. But I did a look up on apple.ca and they mentioned the place's name as an authorized XServe service centre.

Okay, having said all that, my biggest blockage is this... if they really are authorzied, arent' they suppose to follow the guideline? as in.. why would the person reduce the amout of the thermal grease (which is what we all wanted) and not follow the guideline apple provided to their authorized service centres?

I was reffered to this place by another authorized apple reseller, and a friend of mine actually went to this place to get his RAM upgraded.

I mean, there's always the possiblity of this place can be a fraud, or what not.
I know I'm being paranoid, but I think I should be, because this laptop isn't exactly a cheap piece of work.

what would you say people?
 
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