2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

[Loog]

Just ordered new MBP 2020 i5 (10th gen)/16 DDR4/512 ... I’ll have the chance to try both MBP and MBA during 14 days before returning one of them ...

@SeeG, looking forward to the side by side reviews.

 

[vyruzreaper]

I'm also going to most likely buy the MBP 13 -> which might mean I won't be doing the heatsink mod :/

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Just ordered new MBP 2020 i5 (10th gen)/16 DDR4/512 ... I’ll have the chance to try both MBP and MBA during 14 days before returning one of them ...

Look forward to your tests, particular of low end tasks that come up a lot in the 'you should buy a pro' argument. Using Chrome, Zoom, office docs, streaming - getting idle temps of your 2020 MBP and MBA would be great info!

 

[Loog]

I'm also going to most likely buy the MBP 13 -> which might mean I won't be doing the heatsink mod :/

@vyruzreaper ... we've not seen these devices perform as yet, better than the MBA for sure. History has told us that the thermal paste used isn't as good as others on the market, I don't really see Apple replacing this for this range of hardware (I may be corrected here), therefore the mod MAY still be valid, however with less compelling reasons to why you would want/need to do this.

I'm certainly not rushing out to buy now as I did with the Air, I'm really tempted with my birthday around a week away, 24 months 0% finance. This time I'm going to let the dust settle and see what other tests bring and not just the synthetic ones. I'm interested in the difference between the i5/i7 especially as the CPU is not 10w this time, they are going to be kicking out some heat at the higher frequencies I suspect.

This format for me is a real game changer, 32GB in a 13" format, I may be able to hand back my HP zbook and move full time for all my work.

 

[MifuneKinski]

With mods is it worth going for the i7 MBA vs 8th gen i5 MBP 13inch?

Think the MBA is the better way to go but can't decide on i5 vs i7.

 

[nill1234]

With mods is it worth going for the i7 MBA vs 8th gen i5 MBP 13inch?

Think the MBA is the better way to go but can't decide on i5 vs i7.

There is not much difference get the i5.

 

[AirBud]

With mods is it worth going for the i7 MBA vs 8th gen i5 MBP 13inch?

Think the MBA is the better way to go but can't decide on i5 vs i7.

The single core performance is slightly better on the i7 MBA but the multi core performance on the base 13” MBP is about 20% better. The GPU performance is about 40% better on the MBA though.

The i7 MBA has about a 10% more powerful CPU than the i5 MBA. I think the i5 is the best value overall but if you want the most power in the MBA form factor than an i7 provides it.

 

[MifuneKinski]

Nice, so I think modded MBA i5 8b ram is the better way to go than getting the new MBP i5/16gb. Looking forward to this mod! Is there a consensus on what is better the copper shim or doing thermal paste? Also need to look at the "wind tunnel" design.

 

[Mopar]

So here's the update for my v2 heatsink mod. For those of you late to the party, read my original mod post first.

I ordered this set of shims from Amazon. The 0.3mm shim turns out to be the best thickness for 2020 heatsink. The set I ordered was only 15x15mm square, which is actually too small, but I was impatient and these were the only ones that were Prime. I had to use two pieces, one for the CPU die and one for the GPU die, cut to size with a regular pair of scissors. The copper is soft enough at this thickness that regular scissors will work, you just have to be careful. Also worth noting: to cut the small piece for the GPU, I didn't make one cut, I made several cuts taking a little off at a time, that way it warps the final piece a minimal amount and you can flatten it back out. I put a thin layer of paste on the dies, then another layer on one side of the shims. The performance in the end is about the same as with my original foil sandwich mod, but the copper shim is the way to go, definitely worth the price of admission.

The dimensions of the dies combined is about 16x12mm, and the milled section of the heatsink is about 22x17mm. A 20x20mm shim would be ideal, and only have to be trimmed on one side. Be sure your shim fits within the milled out section of the heatsink, otherwise you'll end up with another air/paste gap instead of making good metal/metal contact with minimal paste in between.

When applying paste, the new method of application for PC building is to put a small dab in the center, then install the heatsink. This is for modern high-pressure heatsink mounts that area torqued down and put a lot of force on the die, which forces the paste into a thin layer. The Air heatsink mount is just four little screws that don't exert much force, so you need to spread the paste in advance, but you want it as thin as you can get it, less is more in this case.

The attached photos show: an overview of the innards of the 2020 i3 Air; heatsink just after being removed with original foil sandwich mod; closeup of the heatsink showing the milled out section that goes over the dies (I still don't understand why Apple would do this); closeups of the dies and heatsinks with measurements; my two pieces of 0.3mm copper shim in place on the dies; final shots of the paste applied; Geekbench and Cinebench results comparing original stock heatsink, my first mod with the foil sandwich, and v2 mod with the copper shim.

I would argue this proves there is nothing wrong with the basic design. It's the poor execution of mating the heatsink to the CPU/GPU. That heatsink is plenty big for the job and the fan obviously moves enough air over it. There's just bad thermal conductance between the chips and sink from the factory.

Nice copper plate mod, BTW. 👍

 

[Loog]

Nice, so I think modded MBA i5 8b ram is the better way to go than getting the new MBP i5/16gb. Looking forward to this mod! Is there a consensus on what is better the copper shim or doing thermal paste? Also need to look at the "wind tunnel" design.

@srkirt did the thermal paste only mod on his MBA 2018, if you look back through this thread you'll see it was like an ocean to fill the space. The shim remove any tolerance mismatch between surfaces so you get better thermal transfer to the heatsink. In my opinion you will need to do both, I'm hoping for some feedback from @AirBud who is using 0.5mm where others have used 0.3mm.

 

[KPOM]

With mods is it worth going for the i7 MBA vs 8th gen i5 MBP 13inch?

Think the MBA is the better way to go but can't decide on i5 vs i7.

If you are considering the i7/16/512 Air, note that the 10th-gen i5/16/512 Pro is just $150 more and will definitely be faster, being a 28W model with a base speed of 2.0GHz that exceeds the sustained Turbo Boost speeds of the i7 (which maxes out around 1.6-1.7GHz with sustained loads).

 

[MifuneKinski]

If you are considering the i7/16/512 Air, note that the 10th-gen i5/16/512 Pro is just $150 more and will definitely be faster, being a 28W model with a base speed of 2.0GHz that exceeds the sustained Turbo Boost speeds of the i7 (which maxes out around 1.6-1.7GHz with sustained loads).

The pro i5 10th gen is 1700 vs 1380 for the air i5

 

[KPOM]

The pro i5 10th gen is 1700 vs 1380 for the air i5

With the education discount. But I was comparing the i7 Air with the i5 Pro without the education discount

 

[magbarn]

With mods is it worth going for the i7 MBA vs 8th gen i5 MBP 13inch?

Think the MBA is the better way to go but can't decide on i5 vs i7.

I don't know if anyone has modded a 2020 i7 yet, but this is my 2020 i7 while running in the fridge (I know it's ridiculous, but maybe a potential preview of an i7 allowed to run closer to full potential while being kept under 100C).
The CPU peaked at about 85C while running in the fridge!
Other people have gotten better scores, I may just have a bum chip...
Anyways, it's all packed up now and going back to Apple.
I've placed an order for a 2020 MBP 13 10th gen i7/32/2TB config...
I've also placed an order for a 2020 i5/8/512 for the wifey, no need for the i7

This is at room temp, the 2nd run below the 1st is after allowing the heat to build up and running the CPU while at 100C.

 

[guiguigui]

About warranty and the copper shim mod, according to this thread from ifixit it shouldn't void the warranty to open the backplate (you can do it always, to clean dust for example) neither to disassemble the heatsink (you can do it to change thermal paste). Both considered normal maintenance.
However, if at any point you have to take it to the tech service it's gonna be mandatory to take out the shim.

 

[guiguigui]

@kinchee87 @Robotronic did you find any issue when implementing the copper shim? Like the power plug-unplug after disconnecting the battery like @Jordi Padreny mentioned for his non-2020 MBA?

 

[Robotronic]

@kinchee87 @Robotronic did you find any issue when implementing the copper shim? Like the power plug-unplug after disconnecting the battery like @Jordi Padreny mentioned for his non-2020 MBA?

I didn't disconnect the battery when working on either of mine. I've been working on PCs/laptops for 25 years, haven't fried one so far. There's no power going to that area of the board when it's off. Be careful and you'll be fine.

 

[robots3humans0]

MacBook Air 2020: i7/16GB/1TB

Finally, here are pictures of what was underneath my heat sink!


Processor
The "2 cm" marking is aligned to the inner edge of the heatsink padding:

View attachment 910956


I should have aligned the "3 cm" marking to the inner edge of the heat sink padding:

View attachment 910957


Heat Sink
Underside of the heat sink, featuring a very shallow rounded-rectangle cutout (might be around 0.2 mm in depth):

View attachment 910959 View attachment 910960


The cutout relative to a 15x15 mm copper shim:

View attachment 910961 View attachment 910962


The "2 cm" marking is aligned to the long edge of the cutout:

View attachment 910964


The "3 cm" marking is aligned to the short edge of the cutout:

View attachment 910965


To gauge how thick the shims needed to be, I prototyped various shims with paper of different thicknesses. I found that the thickness of a business card was quite good. Unfortunately, the shims I bought were 0.6 mm thick, so I had to spend a few hours slowly filing them down 🤦🏻 In the end, they were thicker than needed, but thin enough for me to screw the heat sink down. The screws are incredibly small and the threaded ends are only around 2 mm in length.

I spread a thin layer of thermal paste onto the heat sink and "pasted" the shims on. This way, I know that the shims will be positioned properly when I lay the heat sink back onto the processor (with another layer of thermal paste).

View attachment 910966

Do you find the case heating up any more now that the heatsink is more effectively taking the heat from the chips?

I’d love some more performance and cooler actual chips but not excited about the potential of a warmer chassis.

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Do you find the case heating up any more now that the heatsink is more effectively taking the heat from the chips?

I’d love some more performance and cooler actual chips but not excited about the potential of a warmer chassis.

From what I understand of the cooling design, that's unlikely to happen unless you try some kind of mod where you use copper to contact the heat sink to the case.That was tried... probably back on page 20? With a bunch of copper coins, the idea being the case would radiate the heat out from the heatsink. Didn't seem to improve performance as much as the regular copper shim/repaste.

That's just a guess though - for those who've done the copper-shim-inside-heatsink and reapplication of thermal paste mod, any difference in case temperatures?

 

[robots3humans0]

From what I understand of the cooling design, that's unlikely to happen unless you try some kind of mod where you use copper to contact the heat sink to the case.That was tried... probably back on page 20? With a bunch of copper coins, the idea being the case would radiate the heat out from the heatsink. Didn't seem to improve performance as much as the regular copper shim/repaste.

That's just a guess though - for those who've done the copper mod, any difference in case temperatures?

Yeah I saw that one too - definitely prefer to avoid connecting the heatsink to the case. Seems like the heatsink isn’t able to be screwed down as far (only about one screw-turn less). Hoping there’s still a decent enough air gap to prevent too much more heat transfer. I wonder if since the chip cools faster it doesn’t get itself hotter and then the whole heatsink is actually cooler? Not sure that makes physics sense hah.

 

[Loog]

That's just a guess though - for those who've done the copper-shim-inside-heatsink and reapplication of thermal paste mod, any difference in case temperatures?

@RiaKoobcam, I think my 2020 feels a little warmer around the CPU area to touch from time to time. I have no metrics to support this statement I'm only going from what I know the unit feels like when working on my lap and I pack it away. I can't feel the heat transfer to me but when I pick it up there is a small area of heat where the CPU is. I put this down to the fact the fan is off more than its on even when the CPU hits 70 deg under working load. When the fan has come on and a constant load is present there is no noticeable different to how it used to feel before the mod was undertaken.

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Do you find the case heating up any more now that the heatsink is more effectively taking the heat from the chips?

I’d love some more performance and cooler actual chips but not excited about the potential of a warmer chassis.

Just to add to what Loog was saying, when I had the i5 (unmodded), I could feel the heat sink getting very warm through the case. I didn't have a FLIR camera or an IR sensor in my toolbox, but you could feel a hot square where the heat sink was located with no mods.

If someone could get before and after temp readings on the underside, that'd be sick.

 

[excelsior.ink]

I am waiting for my MBA i5/16GB/512GB to be delivered in the upcoming week but reading of all of these problems makes me think I will send it back. Can't I just find a good laptop? I mean, I am paying Apple because I don't want to care about cooling, I want Apple to handle this for me.
Anyway, it seems there is a way to make the MBA run better using these copper shims. But anyone tried thermal pads? Is it really necessary to use copper shims?

 

[RiaKoobcam]

I am waiting for my MBA i5/16GB/512GB to be delivered in the upcoming week but reading of all of these problems makes me think I will send it back. Can't I just find a good laptop? I mean, I am paying Apple because I don't want to care about cooling, I want Apple to handle this for me.
Anyway, it seems there is a way to make the MBA run better using these copper shims. But anyone tried thermal pads? Is it really necessary to use copper shims?

For what it's worth I didn't experience nearly as bad thermal issues with the i3 Macbook Air, and depending on what you do, that'd be my definition of a good laptop. Unless you're doing super hardcore stuff I don't think you'd be able to pick a difference in performance in real world use, your mileage may vary based on what you want a computer for.

 

[Loog]

I am waiting for my MBA i5/16GB/512GB to be delivered in the upcoming week but reading of all of these problems makes me think I will send it back. Can't I just find a good laptop? I mean, I am paying Apple because I don't want to care about cooling, I want Apple to handle this for me.
Anyway, it seems there is a way to make the MBA run better using these copper shims. But anyone tried thermal pads? Is it really necessary to use copper shims?

@excelsior.ink I've not seen any on this thread, shims easily removable if required and offer great thermal transfer.