Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Re-apply thermal paste to PB
- Thread starter jrsx
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I totally see what you were saying now! I'm sorry I misunderstood. However, there is no conceivable way I can get the two pieces apart. They are fused extremely tight, perhaps heat over time? I tried clamping it and trying to separate with a screw driver, undoing them with pliers, heating it up until it was to hot to touch and trying to get them apart, all to no avail. I think I will have to go without them. Here is a picture:
Attachments
No, no, no.
All I meant was I did not apply new paste. Anything that was there when I pulled the heat sink off was left there. So, the old paste I assume would have reliquified when heat was applied again. Yes, I left the two screws out.
No, no, no.
All I meant was I did not apply new paste. Anything that was there when I pulled the heat sink off was left there. So, the old paste I assume would have reliquified when heat was applied again. Yes, I left the two screws out.
Ok, I was like, "What dark magic has he used?!?"
Yay! Finally got around to re-applying thermal paste! It looked like a miserable job, and I left the GPU stock thermal pad on, but once I got it back together, temps are holding out at around 105* F, about the same as my iBook. Better than the 120* I was getting on a regular basis, LOL! GPU seems to not like that it didn't get new thermal paste, though. It seems to stay around 115*, but I think I can cope with that. I left it alone, because the pad seemed ok, and the GPU lies under part of the metal framework of the PB, and to replace the compound, I would have to remove the motherboard, or figure out a way to maneuver under the metal frame.
If it does not go in to thermal shutdown, yes.
My G4s routinely operate in the 120-140º range. Fans kick in at 140º, the second one at 145º. Granted, these are the 17"s, but they are still G4s. My new thermal paste for my 17" 1.0 did not change this much, if at all.
The iMac G5 I have runs even hotter. I've seen it at 160º with the hard drive at 135º. That's extreme - it cooled down quickly, but these are within design temps. Especially when under load.
My Quicksilver has hard drive temps that hover between 108º to 120º. That's within hard drive operating temp conditions. I don't know what the CPU temps are because there is no sensor, so I have to extrapolate. I figure my CPU temps for dual 7447a's are probably somewhere in the 140ºs.
EDIT: Take a look here. In this screenshot (taken before my 17" died and before the application of new thermal paste) in the top right you can see the operating temp when I took the screenshot. 132º. The fans would not even be on.
Stop worrying. Macs are designed to go into instant thermal shutdown if a temp threshold is exceeded. I did that three times with my wife's PB before I got that heat sink back on. Once it was back on, it functioned fine. You are well within design temps.
Last edited:
Ok, thanks. I'm just reassuring myself. Would hate to ruin a beat of a machine like this! It hasn't frozen yet, and the highest temp I've seen was on the GPU at 133F. When it comes to comp temps, I always like the lowest, but seeing as how this was my first experience w/ thermal compound, I'm not too surprised it hasn't changed an incredible bit!
You aren't going to change it by any significant amount. Maybe two or three degrees tops. And 133º is cool in comparison to the 148 and 149º that I've pulled before on my 17"s. Still with no shutdown. In a hot room. Under load.
My PB doesn't seem to make up it's mind, lol. I was using it for a while, it got to about 121F (still using it right now), I left, and the CPU temps dropped to 115F. I think it will be fine for the most part, although my iBook does better. Under a heavy load, my iBook can reach 150F, but that's the very highest I've ever seen it. But the PB has seen much more stress (it was used extensively through high-school and college by the person I got it from), so that probably had an effect on the CPU and GPU over time. My iBook hasn't seen very much, tbh. It's in pretty good shape still.
I left it for 20 minutes or so without it going to sleep, and temps dropped from 125F or so to 111F. The GPU was at 126F.
I have a strange issue, which doesn't really have anything to do with temps, but I'll post it here anyway. My battery is taking FOREVER to charge. It's gone from 19% to 23% in about 4 hours. It is a bad battery, but the PowerBook won't run without it for some reason. The DC-in board is still good, because Power Management runs perfectly fine, all expect the battery. Is this just a sign of it needing a new battery?
EDIT: It glows orange also, but half the time it says, "Battery is not charging". I've reset the PMU, but that didn't help.
I have a strange issue, which doesn't really have anything to do with temps, but I'll post it here anyway. My battery is taking FOREVER to charge. It's gone from 19% to 23% in about 4 hours. It is a bad battery, but the PowerBook won't run without it for some reason. The DC-in board is still good, because Power Management runs perfectly fine, all expect the battery. Is this just a sign of it needing a new battery?
EDIT: It glows orange also, but half the time it says, "Battery is not charging". I've reset the PMU, but that didn't help.
Yikes! It's jumping to 140F easily right now...
I'm not sure if I applied to little or too much at this point..
I'm not sure if I applied to little or too much at this point..
Ah. The heatsink made relatively good contact w/out the screws, not as well of course with them, but it didn't move around at all.
So long as it is firm and you can't move it by moving the machine around I think you are okay. That being said there should be no flex between the heat sink and the die. If there is air may form bubbles in the paste and then it will conduct heat poorly and raise the temperature...
Yes Intell, you are right, but it does work fairly well. Is there any way to re-secure these screws in your experience? I've read that this is a very common issue, where over time, heat will bond the screw and socket together, and the whole thing will pop out, especially since it's not well secured in the first place.
OK, I think I'm pretty pleased for now. My iBook has better idle temps, but honestly when my iBook is running two apps at once, it gets about as hot as my PB does under the same workload. I'm typing on it right now, and although it has only been on for about 20-30 minutes with 3 or so apps open, it's at 130F. My PB does about the same once it gets going. Thanks all for advise and help!
I should mention that all the temps I've listed are CPU. My iBook doesn't have a GPU temp monitor, so I can't compare them, unfortunately.
I should mention that all the temps I've listed are CPU. My iBook doesn't have a GPU temp monitor, so I can't compare them, unfortunately.
