Renewing Thermal Paste

[MrGimper]

I opened up my MacBook Pro 13” 2014 to give it a good clean out, and am considering renewing the thermal paste on the CPU. Anyone done this and have any recommendations as to what the best paste is nowadays.

My enthusiasm for that kind of thing died in the AMD Athlon days with Arctic Silver spread across the die very thinly by using a credit card

Cheers

 

[Schranke]

I have done it on a range of different Macbook pro's. Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut is consider one of the best non conductive paste
http://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/products/16-kryonaut-en
I use the included spreader to make a thin layer on the cpu and just reassemble the heatsink.
The difference on older system has always been a great improvement for me, but also new systems as apple is applying way to much and a cheap paste.

 

[MrGimper]

I have done it on a range of different Macbook pro's. Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut is consider one of the best non conductive paste
http://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/products/16-kryonaut-en
I use the included spreader to make a thin layer on the cpu and just reassemble the heatsink.
The difference on older system has always been a great improvement for me, but also new systems as apple is applying way to much and a cheap paste.

Nice one, thanks, but damn that’s some expensive stuff. £7 for 1g over here. But, if it’s the stuff of champions then...

 

[Schranke]

Nice one, thanks, but damn that’s some expensive stuff. £7 for 1g over here. But, if it’s the stuff of champions then...

yah it is expensive, but there is to multiple times and as long as you keep it seal it has a good shelf time. I have not been disappointed by it so far an I see a good performance difference in my 2017 system.

Would be nice if you did some benchmark and temperature test before and after

 

[MrGimper]

yah it is expensive, but there is to multiple times and as long as you keep it seal it has a good shelf time. I have not been disappointed by it so far an I see a good performance difference in my 2017 system.

Would be nice if you did some benchmark and temperature test before and after

The 1g is out of stock, so will get the 5.5g which is just under £14 here. I have a 2011 iMac that keeps powering off under stress so may try some on that too in case that’s due to overheating.

Will do some tests too. Fingers crossed!

 

[EugW]

I did this with my 10 year-old MacBook4,1 and it made a world of difference.

Ironically, I used my 10 year-old tube of Arctic Silver. It was still in good condition. I guess this stuff lasts a long, long time.

 

[bhayes444]

The 1g is out of stock, so will get the 5.5g which is just under £14 here. I have a 2011 iMac that keeps powering off under stress so may try some on that too in case that’s due to overheating.

Will do some tests too. Fingers crossed!

It seems you’ve already purchased your paste. I just wanted to throw this extremely lengthy Tom’s Hardware article about lots of different pastes they tested last year. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-comparison,5108.html The Kryonaut does seem to fair really well, but I came away feeling that a cheap, middle-of-the-pack paste was the way to go.

I would love it if Kryonaut was cheaper...

 

[EugW]

It seems you’ve already purchased your paste. I just wanted to throw this extremely lengthy Tom’s Hardware article about lots of different pastes they tested last year. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-comparison,5108.html The Kryonaut does seem to fair really well, but I came away feeling that a cheap, middle-of-the-pack paste was the way to go.

I would love it if Kryonaut was cheaper...

It's not exactly gonna break the bank, esp. since you need so little, to go for near top of the line paste.

I just find it amusing they tested against toothpaste.

BTW, I used Arctic Silver because it was handy and it was just a 2008 MacBook, but if I were buying a new tube, I'd probably go for something a little higher up in the list if available locally for not too much of a price premium. ie. I wouldn't care if it was $5 more (even if it meant spending 50% more - $15 instead of $10), but I'd care if it was say $20 more.

 

[Schranke]

I have a 2011 iMac that keeps powering off under stress so may try some on that too in case that’s due to overheating.

A good cleaning and new paste might help.
My grandparents have a system (windows) just as old, cleaned it and changed paste a couple of months ago when they were moving. Did wonders for its performance.

I guess this stuff lasts a long, long time.

It does, just keep it sealed and at livingroom temperature

I just wanted to throw this extremely lengthy Tom’s Hardware article about lots of different pastes they tested last year.

Thanks, really nice article. Will look it through in details later

I wouldn't care if it was $5 more (even if it meant spending 50% more - $15 instead of $10)

I feel the same, if I am already spending money on something and the price difference for a better quality is not that much I go for it

 

[MrGimper]

It seems you’ve already purchased your paste. I just wanted to throw this extremely lengthy Tom’s Hardware article about lots of different pastes they tested last year. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-comparison,5108.html The Kryonaut does seem to fair really well, but I came away feeling that a cheap, middle-of-the-pack paste was the way to go.

I would love it if Kryonaut was cheaper...

Excellent article. Hadn’t ordered the paste yet, but reinforces the choice of Kryonaut.

Nice thin layer and not cake the thing in it like most youtubers lol

 

[meteoreos]

I have done it on a range of different Macbook pro's. Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut is consider one of the best non conductive paste
http://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/products/16-kryonaut-en
I use the included spreader to make a thin layer on the cpu and just reassemble the heatsink.
The difference on older system has always been a great improvement for me, but also new systems as apple is applying way to much and a cheap paste.

I am thinking of doing this for my 15” 2015 MBP.

Is it really worth it? Also, does it void any warranty? I’m more concerned about losing a screw or breaking a cable.

 

[Schranke]

I am thinking of doing this for my 15” 2015 MBP.

Is it really worth it? Also, does it void any warranty? I’m more concerned about losing a screw or breaking a cable.

For me it has always been worth it, but I do love tinkering with electronics, so much of it also comes from seeing the engineering and production quality of the machine, seeing the though which have gone into everything. I am actually not entirely sure on warranty, I have heard different things, some claim it does not, some claims it does. I just take a carefull approach, put aside plenty of time and make sure I have space, good light and good tools. There is nothing to indicate you have been in there unless you really leve a mark, destroy a component or something like that. Warranty is also depending on your country, apple might have some guidelines which they normally adhere to, but some countries have more strict rules, apple have been known to try to refer to their international guideline in such cases (so have other), but standing firm normally makes them honer country specific rules.

Dont be concerned about loosing a screw, make sure you have a lot of space around you, use a tear down guide and just place out component in the same position you took them from following the guide. With cables, be care full, make sure you know which locking mechanism it is using, and then you should be fine. The generally is not as flimsy as you might think they are.

But my best recommendation is to have plenty of time, take it slow, make sure to take a break and get something to drink and eat, and have some good tools.
[doublepost=1531571658][/doublepost]I was actually using my 2012 rMBP for the first time in a while yesterday and it was running hot. 60 degrees celcius at idle connected to a external monitor. So I will do a re-paste in a weeks time. So if any one have questions to it feel free to ask me anything and I will see what I can do.

 

[maflynn]

Using some high end thermal paste will provide some improvements, just don't use liquid metal

 

[MrGimper]

OK so I received the Kryonaut today and cracked open my machine to do the re-paste. Simple process and as expected the standard paste must have been applied with a bucket and spade! Cleaned both the CPU die and cooler with alcohol and lint-free cloth/cotton buds. Applied a tiny amount of paste to the middle of the core and spread it thinly using one of those air bubble cards you get with screen protectors. Put it all back together and then realised I'd forgotten to reapply the 4 rubber bumpers onto the cooler screws, so opened up again and sorted that.

First impressions.... when running 4x Yes commands to burn the CPU, it takes longer for the fan to decide to spin up and when they hit 6200 RPM after about 5 minutes, the CPU still sits at a turbo-boosted 3.2Ghz, with no throttling.

Under normal operation, doing every day activities including running parallels, it takes much longer for the fans to spin up or for noticeable temperature increases. Overall I'm happy with the improvements.