Is the efficiency of the thermal paste/grease decreases with time?
I bought a Macbook pro 2 years ago and seems that it's hotter than when it was new.
I've just bought a dual 1GHz G4 PowerMac MDD off of ebay. I can imagine after a few years the original thermal paste or whatever it is shot (dried up) by now. So fresh application of Arctic Silver Fox grease should help out ---- are there any links to removal / service of CPU heat sinks for MDDs
View 2 Replies View RelatedApple REALLY doesn't know how to apply thermal paste.
View 24 Replies View RelatedI've done a search, and I haven't found anything concerning the new unibody macbooks.
In the past, people were concerned with their macbook pros because they were overheating and it was speculated that poor application of thermal grease or paste was the culprit.
I have a MBA rev.B base model, it is a lovely machine.
Its operating temperature was alright (certainly much cooler than the rev.A)
~43C from cold start, and working at ~70C with Acrobat9 Pro, OutlinerPro, Fx3, Word, Mail + WiFi (802.11g)
~77C + max spin fan with YouTube video
But as my interest lies in maximum battery endurance, my focus quickly turn towards the spinning fans.
(My concept was, slower spin = longer battery life)
Having heard the general comments of AAPL's thermal paste,
I bought a tube of AS5 and did this quite a few months ago.
The temp now:
37~39C from cold start
~57C with all the aforementioned apps running, or watching YouTube video
and, as expected, lengthened battery life
(I have also installed smcFanCtrl a few weeks later and locked the fan @1800rpm)
Hopefully this is just another thread that get you MBA users actively thinking about re-applying thermal paste ahead of summer
There are alot of videos on youtube about how to do it, but what does it actually do? All I know is that it makes your computer run cooler, but it must do something thing else right?
I am thinking of doing it myself, I think I can open up my computer without voiding the warranty, could apple tell if I did it myself? And in the videos they all use alcohol to remove it! Isn't that bad for the motherboard and such?
Well my MBP seems to have been running a tad bit warm. Took it apart and this is why. I've read all over the internet that Apple always seems to do a crappy job with applying way too much thermal paste to their processors/GPUs.
Pictures below confirms this and now my MBP is running 10-15*F cooler. Fans stays at a constant 1000RPMs. I haven't used SMC Fan Control yet to increase them as now I don't have to but maybe I will increase 500RPMs or so but I like how quiet it is now .
Cleaned them off with q-tips and 90% alcohol and applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.
Yuck what a crappy and sloppy job. I removed chunks of the old stuff.
All clean now. Look how shiny them chips are
I have a similar thread in the MBP forum, but is about a different computer that I own. Do not confuse the threads please.
I was given a 2010 MB that had coffee spilled on it. I took it apart, and consequently had to reapply thermal paste. In the end, this disassembly was in vain, because the problem was within the video cable being corroded.... Anyway, back on topic... I applied some Arctic Silver Ceramique that I had from reapplying paste on my old 2007 MB. I was noticing a significant difference in temperature between the MB and my MBP. (I just reapplied paste on my MBP about an hour ago...) The MB runs at 105?F while surfing the web and about 175-185?F under load. This temperature that I am mentioning is the temperature of just the CPU die. But, I was noticing that the entire MB was warmer, instead of just one part being hot. This is a result of better heat dissipation. The fan is at about 3200rpm under load at 175?F. I apologize that I do not have any pictures or any original temperatures to compare it to, as it was not functioning before I took it apart (and thus reapplied thermal paste).
But, if you like, you may look at my thread about reapplying thermal paste on (in?) my 2010 13" MBP, located here.
Let me start by saying I just bought a brand new, less than a week ago, (from the Apple Store) 17" Santa Rosa MBP with the hi res screen (matte), 160GB 7200 RPM HD, 2.4Ghz CPU and the 256MB 8600 GT. For some more background I am a system administrator and a PC tech so I know what I'm doing with computers (most of the time anyway ). Anyhow, after getting my MBP and installing Vista on it via bootcamp and thoroughly enjoying the dual booting, I notice the thing runs hot. Ok, I do some google'ing and find the various thermal paste horror stories floating around. In windows (I've been spending more time in windows since I got it) I notice that it is IDLING at ~ 53-60C!!! I think perhaps this is not right, something may be wrong with the temp monitor software I use? Well, I use several, one of which is Intel softare called Intel Thermal Analysis Tool that monitors the DTS (Digital Thermal Sensor) in each core, it also will load the pants out of an Intel CPU - ~ 20% higher load than Intel's specified TDC. So for living with the heat for almost a week I decide I must bust the machine open, remove the logic board (mother board for you non apple folk) and see what kind of thermal paste job is in there.
Let me say that removing the logic board from these machines IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!! It scared the #@#$%$ out of me a few times! I took my time and marked where every last screw went and every cable, even the yellow tape. Once I had the board out and turned it over (the CPU, NB and GPU face DOWN so they can't be seen unless you remove the logic board) the sight was HORRIFIC!!! In my professional opinion they used about 40x too much paste, yes I said FORTY TIMES! All thermal paste is supposed to do is fill the micro groves and pits in the heatsink so VERY LITTLE IS NEEDED! Too much is worse than none. Anyhow, I'm sure you want pics so here they are. Oh, and my idle and LOAD temps dropped by ALMOST 20C!!!
Shame on whoever is assembling these machines as the average user will NEVER fix this and would perhaps think 'this is just how hot it is supposed to run'. I would demand Apple fix this, I would show them pictures etc, etc.
Oh the HORROR!
Now the heat pipe cooling system before:
Here is a CLEAN logic board - From left to right: GPU, North Bridge, CPU:
Proper paste applied - I have some special diamond dust thermal paste that is VERY durable so I used it - I have seen others apply the paste to the chips AND to the heat sinks, THIS IS BAD, VERY BAD!!! ONLY APPLY TO CHIPS.
And finally the cleaned heat pipe cooler:
This is an interesting Japanese article where engineers critique the design and construction of the Macbook Air.
[URL]
They have various pics and as you can see from this one:
[URL]
Apple stills insists on slathering it on like A1 on a cheap steak.
I have had my Macbook Air about a month now, still loving the laptop but I definitely see the need to replace the thermal paste with something better, I have Artic Silver 5 left from when I did it on my Mac Mini Core Solo to Core Duo upgrade.
Does anyone have a picture of how much thermal paste needs to be applied?
So I got some left over IC Diamond 7 and It would really make me feel better to change the paste.. I seen some pics and apple is no better than dell when it comes to applying thermal paste.. lol they just "slop" it on there
Anyway.. . I'm ready to do this but the only thing that's stopping me is the warranty issue
Now it isn't my first time playing with hardware so braking something isn't and issue.. but from what I'm reading is that it's "seals" all throughout the laptop so if I removed anything.
Anyone wanna shed some light on this.
So i saw this on lifehacker today: [URL]
I'm curious, how difficult is it to change the thermal paste and clean the fan on a 13" unibody macbook pro?
The extend of the work i have done on the MBP has been changing the HDD and RAM, but i know this would be a lot more difficult.
I have a 11 inch macbook air and was wondering if anyone has opened it up, to see if the thermal paste is applied with the correct amount. cus i know the rev A B and C had way to much thermal paste.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI cant stand with MBA heat problem. Everytime I broadcast my webcam on yahoo it gets realllly hot within 5 minutes and slow all things down. my mouse movement also stutter. Do you guys have the same problem when broadcast your webcam on yahoo?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI have seen a lot of posts about new Thermal Paste (mostly Arctic Silver 5) helping with the heat on MBA, most being positive. I have a rev B and have just bought the AS 5 but before I apply and risk the warranty I would like to see how many actually saw lower temperatures after applying it.
So if you have a Rev B and you have re-applied the Thermal Paste did you temperature under idle and load decrease?
I tried to re-apply the thermal paste myself but when it came to disconnecting the wire connectors from the logic board, 3 of the connectors came off completely from the logic board or has damaged the pins. (the battery connection, and two for the left fan)
I have a feeling that these three became brittle or weak from the heat that was generated from the laptop (hence i wanted to do the thermal paste mod). Or it's just my stupidity that these broke. But the others came off without a problem.
So, I'm gonna reapply thermal paste on my sisters aging macbook pro and my old iMac G5 since they are starting to heat up quite a bit.
My question is if I really have to buy things like arctiClean or can I just use alcohol, like MEK (methyl-ethyl-keton / butanone) which I already have.
At the moment I'm looking to upgrade my late 2009 Mac mini's hard drive (with 2,5" WD Blue 640GB).
I was looking photos on ifixit on how to do it and get an idea that if I dissassemble mini I can also replace thermal grease too (I have AC's MX3). Usually default thermal greases are silicon based and are not so efficient than MX3.
My basic question is if anyone replace thermal grease on mini already? Is it difficult to remove heatsinks from CPU and GPU? What was the temperature drop? Does mini have "push-pull" based pins for mounting heat spreaders?
How is the thermal paste in the 2008 Mac Pro?
Is it applied well?
Did any of you guys remove it and replace it with a more high-performance compound such as Arctic Silver 5 or Ceramique?
I have a feeling that Apple did a bad job correctly applying the thermal paste because some of the temperatures that I am seeing are a little on the high side.
I am looking for the right type of Thermal Paste to use in my Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) model 11.2. Have looked around the web but have only found related past to G3 and Power Book G4.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI have a ~2 month old 13" MacBook Pro (specs in sig). Several hours ago, I reapplied thermal paste to my old (pre-unibody) white MacBook and I am THRILLED with the results. I have a thread about it here: [URL] My white MB runs so cool, that I prefer using it, rather than my MBP.
I would replace the stock thermal paste with Arctic Silver Ceramique, but I am concerned about my warranty possibly being voided. Another reason that I wouldn't do this to my MBP is that my controlling mom will not let me do this to my new computer. If I can get any evidence from any of you that this will not adversely affect my computer or my warranty, I may be able to convince her to allow me to reapply the thermal paste.
I'm using Macbook a lot (8-10 hours per day). I want to know how to use battery efficiency and long lasting.
Info:MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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