(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(

[IceStormNG]

So.. my final abomination.

Printed a little frame and added a 5V Noctua Fan to the back of that MBP when in vertical dock. The Noctua fan is rather quiet (1500RPM, 140mm). Just a barely noticeable humming.

Combined with the thermal pad mod it adds some good cooling to the VRMs and also the other padded components. Keeps the MBP fans much lower on RPM and also removes any throttling under full load (MBP fans will still run on MAX though. But at least it's not throttling anymore).

As the MBP is then placed with the fan pointing towards the wall, I don't even notice it. Win/Win (if you can call it a win that we have to stuff like this).

 

[ateslik]

almost 5000 replies on this thread. Unreal.

Well, after suffering with the 5500M I broke down and bought the 5600M. It was a big improvement, but I thought there would be a new 16" at WWDC. So I sold my 5600M a week before WWDC (I got 70% of the purchase price after a year of ownership - not terrible). I bought the 13" M1 16Gb since the 16" didn't come out. Holy hell this thing is incredible. All my software works with no issues and web pages literally slap on the screen. I almost never see pages loading piece by piece. They just appear instantly. The speed blows away the 5600M. It's not even close. But the most incredible part is the temperatures. Right now, after a full morning of browsing and youtube iStats is showing 92 degrees farenheit. I've been watching it, and when I max it out it hits a whopping 105. The 5600M was 144F at idle!! This machine is cold to the touch, whip fast, and dead silent. What an incredible achievement. I can't wait for the 16"!

 

[supaninjax]

almost 5000 replies on this thread. Unreal.

Well, after suffering with the 5500M I broke down and bought the 5600M. It was a big improvement, but I thought there would be a new 16" at WWDC. So I sold my 5600M a week before WWDC (I got 70% of the purchase price after a year of ownership - not terrible). I bought the 13" M1 16Gb since the 16" didn't come out. Holy hell this thing is incredible. All my software works with no issues and web pages literally slap on the screen. I almost never see pages loading piece by piece. They just appear instantly. The speed blows away the 5600M. It's not even close. But the most incredible part is the temperatures. Right now, after a full morning of browsing and youtube iStats is showing 92 degrees farenheit. I've been watching it, and when I max it out it hits a whopping 105. The 5600M was 144F at idle!! This machine is cold to the touch, whip fast, and dead silent. What an incredible achievement. I can't wait for the 16"!

How does it do with external monitors compared to the 16”?

 

[Borzab]

So.. my final abomination.

Printed a little frame and added a 5V Noctua Fan to the back of that MBP when in vertical dock. The Noctua fan is rather quiet (1500RPM, 140mm). Just a barely noticeable humming.

View attachment 1795209 View attachment 1795210

Combined with the thermal pad mod it adds some good cooling to the VRMs and also the other padded components. Keeps the MBP fans much lower on RPM and also removes any throttling under full load (MBP fans will still run on MAX though. But at least it's not throttling anymore).

As the MBP is then placed with the fan pointing towards the wall, I don't even notice it. Win/Win (if you can call it a win that we have to stuff like this).

Nice decision! Which external monitor you use? How much RPM in MBP fans?

 

[IceStormNG]

I use an MSI Creator 32" 4K monitor (PS321URV).
The internal fans are almost always at idle (1800RPM). Even during a teams meeting. Sure. When exporting from Final cut, they go full blast, but the machine also doesn't throttle then and then CPU keeps the clock up.

Is that ideal? Nope. But the best I can do for now. If the machine didn't lost that much value already, I would've sold it and bought something else. But it already lost 2000€ in value from when I bought it 1 year ago.

 

[Borzab]

1800 RPM it's great result!
I used to use a 4k monitor (LG 24UD58 23.8) and I don't remember the laptop getting too hot. Yes, it was warmer than usual, but it wasn't as noisy.
But recently I switched to a 5k monitor of my own build and the fans started working at an average of 3000-3500 RPM.
I've been looking for ways to make external cooling for a laptop for a long time and recently saw this post. But yours is more simple and elegant! Do you think there will be a big difference with your solution and a cooling pad like this?
Usually on my computer, the following programs are running: PHPStorm, Windows 10 in Parallels, Navicat, Google Chrome.

 

[applesed]

almost 5000 replies on this thread. Unreal.

Well, after suffering with the 5500M I broke down and bought the 5600M. It was a big improvement, but I thought there would be a new 16" at WWDC. So I sold my 5600M a week before WWDC (I got 70% of the purchase price after a year of ownership - not terrible). I bought the 13" M1 16Gb since the 16" didn't come out. Holy hell this thing is incredible. All my software works with no issues and web pages literally slap on the screen. I almost never see pages loading piece by piece. They just appear instantly. The speed blows away the 5600M. It's not even close. But the most incredible part is the temperatures. Right now, after a full morning of browsing and youtube iStats is showing 92 degrees farenheit. I've been watching it, and when I max it out it hits a whopping 105. The 5600M was 144F at idle!! This machine is cold to the touch, whip fast, and dead silent. What an incredible achievement. I can't wait for the 16"!

I did something similar in terms of sale, but I picked up the m1 mini instead of mbp. I wanted to replace my 2013 mini anyway. I didnt have much trouble making sure everything works. It is extremely snappy and makes little noise. Even if the fan needs to run I can barely hear it.

Now that the apple silicon 16 is going to take longer, I might pick up a low end config air to tie me over if I we don’t hear something solid on the next couple months. I’m hesitant to buy a laptop that doesn’t support dual monitors natively, but the air is not a huge investment and can resale it later.

 

[MacFlop]

I use an MSI Creator 32" 4K monitor (PS321URV).
The internal fans are almost always at idle (1800RPM). Even during a teams meeting. Sure. When exporting from Final cut, they go full blast, but the machine also doesn't throttle then and then CPU keeps the clock up.

Is that ideal? Nope. But the best I can do for now. If the machine didn't lost that much value already, I would've sold it and bought something else. But it already lost 2000€ in value from when I bought it 1 year ago.

Gonna try the vrm mod when I get my stuff next week. I am so annoyed using the mbp right now as it goes high fan speed just sitting in meet. Hopefully this will make my computer more quiet.

 

[ateslik]

How does it do with external monitors compared to the 16”?

I'm only running one external monitor, an Eizo CG279X for HDR work. It runs it with no issues at native 2560x1440, clamshell or not. I haven't tried dual monitor.

Earlier today my kids had Minecraft Java Edition running full screen on it through ATLauncher and it hit a staggering 118F. I've never seen it even close to that "high", lol. I just got done watching an hour video on Youtube, while I was connected remote to work and iStats says 91F. I might start putting my drinks on this thing to keep them cool. haha.

 

[make_mac_fast_again]

Gonna try the vrm mod when I get my stuff next week. I am so annoyed using the mbp right now as it goes high fan speed just sitting in meet. Hopefully this will make my computer more quiet.

It’s life changing! Be careful when removing the bottom case there are clips in the middle of the backplate.

https://imgur.com/a/W3pEb7a

 

[MacFlop]

It’s life changing! Be careful when removing the bottom case there are clips in the middle of the backplate.

https://imgur.com/a/W3pEb7a

That's great to hear! Do you have any tips for removing the case?

 

[arche3]

There was a video of a guy that put a big heatsink on the bottom of the 16. A big cpu one with fins and stuff. Looks awesome. Lol.

 

[MacFlop]

Was a bit hassle removing the bottom case but it all worked out. It is way more cooler now and fans are not ramping up full when running Google Meet any longer. I got the thunderbolt controller down a few degrees too. It's very hot today in my room so that doesn't help but I definitely notice an improvement!

 

[supaninjax]

So.. my final abomination.

Printed a little frame and added a 5V Noctua Fan to the back of that MBP when in vertical dock. The Noctua fan is rather quiet (1500RPM, 140mm). Just a barely noticeable humming.

View attachment 1795209 View attachment 1795210

Combined with the thermal pad mod it adds some good cooling to the VRMs and also the other padded components. Keeps the MBP fans much lower on RPM and also removes any throttling under full load (MBP fans will still run on MAX though. But at least it's not throttling anymore).

As the MBP is then placed with the fan pointing towards the wall, I don't even notice it. Win/Win (if you can call it a win that we have to stuff like this).

I have a few Noctua fans around I might try this but without the fancy frame. Are you blowing air away from the case or towards it? And how are you powering the fan?

 

[IceStormNG]

I have a few Noctua fans around I might try this but without the fancy frame. Are you blowing air away from the case or towards it? And how are you powering the fan?

It's a 5V Fan with an adapter for USB. Noctua sells these. The 5V variants come with that USB adapter to connect them to any USB port. The regular fans are 12V. They need a voltage booster to get them running. There are adaptors out there. But they cost almost as much as a 5V Noctua fan.

It's blowing air towards the chassis. Because of the openings in the frame, the air is then pushed to all 4 sides away from the chassis and therefore cools the backplate quite effectively.

If you have access to a 3D printer and want to print the frame, I can upload the STL of it.

 

[MacFlop]

It's a 5V Fan with an adapter for USB. Noctua sells these. The 5V variants come with that USB adapter to connect them to any USB port. The regular fans are 12V. They need a voltage booster to get them running. There are adaptors out there. But they cost almost as much as a 5V Noctua fan.

It's blowing air towards the chassis. Because of the openings in the frame, the air is then pushed to all 4 sides away from the chassis and therefore cools the backplate quite effectively.

If you have access to a 3D printer and want to print the frame, I can upload the STL of it.

You inspired me to do this mod. Cheers! You should send in pictures of your abomination to Apple and tell them how good this laptop is. ?

 

[IceStormNG]

You inspired me to do this mod. Cheers! You should send in pictures of your abomination to Apple and tell them how good this laptop is. ?

You're welcome

And.. Apple will probably cruelly murder me on the spot if I do show them... Or they roll on the floor laughing how we try to fix their garbage.

 

[silllli]

My 16" MacBook Pro is currently in repair at Apple (due to the heat problem and a problem with the power supply that came up in diagnostics), so I took out my 2010 15" MacBook Pro and what can I say—finally a laptop with fans only running under load (using the same external display and resolution as with the 16").

(Yes, it is an awful lot slower. But writing emails and notes is very well possible without heat, noise and throttling.)

 

[Borzab]

Guys, how do you think, it is safe to use cold accumulator for cooling MBP like this? I have doubts about the possible condensation into notebook case.

 

[IceStormNG]

That shouldn't condenstate into the chassis. But it might stain the aluminium. I would put a cloth between the pack and the MBP to suck up the condensation.

 

[GumaRodak]

Iam starting to scratch my head when i look at these mods. If the sound from fan is an issue use headphones or put the laptop into an shelf where you dont hear it or whatever

 

[IceStormNG]

It's not only about the fan noise. It's also about heavy throttling. And if you put that into a closed shelf, you make it even worse.

 

[make_mac_fast_again]

Guys, how do you think, it is safe to use cold accumulator for cooling MBP like this? I have doubts about the possible condensation into notebook case.

This is bad. Im not sure on the exact process, but I would guess if the temperatures/humidity are at certain levels the hot air inside the laptop coming into contact with the ice cold metal case will condense.

 

[PeterJP]

Iam starting to scratch my head when i look at these mods. If the sound from fan is an issue use headphones or put the laptop into an shelf where you dont hear it or whatever

Very strange advice to put a laptop into a cupboard. The problem is worst when using two screens, i.e. the built-in one and an external one. When I'm using the built-in screen, I'm by definition not putting the machine in a cupboard. Head-in-sand post! Pro tip: the rumours of the 16" overheating are true and not just when using 2 screens.

 

[GumaRodak]

Very strange advice to put a laptop into a cupboard. The problem is worst when using two screens, i.e. the built-in one and an external one. When I'm using the built-in screen, I'm by definition not putting the machine in a cupboard. Head-in-sand post! Pro tip: the rumours of the 16" overheating are true and not just when using 2 screens.

Well, if you cant use the machine how it was designed, its buyer error or marketing scam? I do photo editing on built in screen, my machine is usualy 70c all the time, fans running like 3500. Its unde load so i expect heat and fans. I pump the music volume while fans on, i dont experience any thermall trotling…for those whi cant work with fans on and heat i propose to look for another hardware