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2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread
- Thread starter ilikewhey
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I have this. It’s noticeably heavy, I was surprised by the feel of the weight. It’s almost half the cost of the mod 😆
the plastic shipping envelope it came says .3 pounds or .136Kg,
Specs say
Gravity: 3.2 g/cm³
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This is not really an issue if you have a current backup - which should be standard today. Time Machine was introduced 13 years ago, and if you don't like it, there's always CCC, SuperDuper and the likes.
Hi guys, I took some time to make some considerations regarding the dissipation of the MBA .. I removed the shim after two weeks and applied the MX4 after having thoroughly cleaned everything. To be honest, I didn't find any big differences with the shim or without, maybe a higher speed of descent of the temperatures when the load was lower. I'm waiting for the thermal pads, those can be the turning point. My idea is to completely cover the area from the fan to the heatsink, thus allowing the original entry of fresh air, but making sure that the same air heats up in contact with the pads, ending up being shot out of the fan. I will let you know more, I am currently writing this post with the fan off and the CPU temperature of 40 ° C, the same temperature that I had before with the shim.
Looking forward to see your results and photos. When you post will you document your specs please.
Hi, all the tests done by me and all the benchmarks you can find them in the previous pages (about 10), in any case I will post photos and results.
I don't think this is going to work as you intend it to. Thermal pads are very soft, and just a little bit sticky, but not too much. You can place one on the heatsink and it will be held in place by the pressure between the heatsink itself the and the back cover (with some foam right on top of the heatsink).
The space between the fan and the heatsink acts as the tunnel for the air to pass through. Putting the thermal pad there will potentially block the airflow. And because there's more vertical space than above the heatsink, thermal pad will not hold in place but will either fall to the back cover or to the motherboard, depending on the MBA position in your bag.
2ª test de 80º a 100º en single core y 708 ???
I don't understand anything ... the best performance at 100º ??? only with solid thermal patch ???
2º test: Cpu + thermal patch + MX4 + copper wedge + MX4 + heatsink. It seems that the cpu does not like the thermal patch ... The last thing is very thin adhesive aluminum foil and with it I take the heat from the blades to the fan.
Attachments
for CPU temp - Fanny
Fanny Widget for macOS
Fanny Widget - Monitor your Mac's fan speed and CPU/GPU temperature from your Notification Center for free
fannywidget.com
For network - Little Snitch
Little Snitch
Protects your privacy and prevents your private data from being sent out to the Internet without your knowledge.
I got to running a Cinebench test today. Unfortunately, I did not run this pre-mod (only GB5). Regardless, below are my results. I ran the test 2 times with ~1 minute in between each. The first score was 1161 and second run netted 1156. Seems like sustained 1.8/1.9 @ 85C is doable with the mod.
Edit: Fans never went above 2.8k RPM
Edit: Fans never went above 2.8k RPM
Well, this is almost like my i7 score (1186), so I think it's a great result.
More updates: Post mod lets me play some lightweight blizzard games like hearhstone.
PreMod - 100C and Max fans immediately with heavy GPU lag.
Now, temps stay below 80C and fans never exceed 3k RPM. Stats below after playing for 20 minutes. Not bad. I was not expecting this but am happy I can hop into a match every once in a while.
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PreMod - 100C and Max fans immediately with heavy GPU lag.
Now, temps stay below 80C and fans never exceed 3k RPM. Stats below after playing for 20 minutes. Not bad. I was not expecting this but am happy I can hop into a match every once in a while.
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post or pre mod?
Post mod. I plan to replace the shim with the one @Loog made, different thermal paste and polish the shim/heatsink a little, so will get to the final score in a week. But I think yours is a great result, probably very close to the max performance you can get.
Update on playing Blizzard games:
I hit 6K Fans almost 40 minutes into playing. Shell is pretty hot - haha. Tho the GPU/CPU still are below 90C. THis isn't a gaming laptop - I consider all this icing on the cake.
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I hit 6K Fans almost 40 minutes into playing. Shell is pretty hot - haha. Tho the GPU/CPU still are below 90C. THis isn't a gaming laptop - I consider all this icing on the cake.
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Right, it's not about performance gains for me anymore. At this point, if I do anything else it will be to keep the temps running cooler. Post mod performance is what I need for my use case (sustained or bursts).
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This is honestly quite good man. encouraging for when i get my i5 2020 mod going too. Consider the fact that my actual gaming laptop hits over 90C just as a standard.
My MBA (i5, 16g, 500g) is still a couple of weeks from delivery. I have ordered the gear to do the shim/goop/pad mod. One question though. I have done these types of mods on windows PC/laptops. Does opening the case, and changing the goop, void the Apple warranty/Applecare? Obviously if I screw up, and the CPU burns up from incorrect modding, I am at risk. But, say the wifi card goes out, will they honor the Applecare? (I am pretty sure I would remove the pad before I sent it anywhere...
I am not sold on the thermal pad yet. If the idea is the sandwich more air to push it through the corrugated heat sink, I suppose that makes sense. I don’t like the idea of purposefully transferring all of that heat to the bottom case. I am not willing to get an extra couple of megahertz at the expense of the lap ability of the laptop
Backplate has a special insulating foam that doesn’t allow all the heat to transfer from the heatsink to your lap. So it’s not getting too hot even with the thermal pad. In any case, this is very easy to try and see for yourself, thermal pad is very easy to remove if you are not satisfied.
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I am 90% sure Apple won’t be able to detect it, if you remove the shim and repaste it. The only thing they can find is the different thermal paste applied, but I highly doubt it.
Well, I also have the i5. Default it scored 741, after replacing the thermal paste (but without copper pad) it increased to ~860. So this score is GREAT! Congrats. Maybe do you have some pictures or recommendations on how to apply the paste/copper pad(which thickness)?
Thanks
For the lazy (me) is there a best heat transfer pad, or are they all the same?
All my recs are here. I tried 2/3 of them and this was the best one. Note you'll have to cut the pad to fit the heatsink (normal house scissors will do).
2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread
A few have asked - so posting here... Here is all I bought to make this mod happen (I'm based in US). What I bought for the mod: Thermal Pad https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKX5X6J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Screwdriver set for MBA...
forums.macrumors.com
Yeah for sure! See above. Applying the paste requires discipline to only set a few drops and then smear it around the total surface area. Any excess you can clear and wipe off with a cloth. I have some pics Ill try to get to this weekend.
From an Amazon review -> this is what it looks like when used. Came concept for our MBAs - just stick it to the heatsink
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is there enough room to apply a 0.5mm copper sheet over the thermal pad the size of the heatsink? (heatsink-pad-copper sheet)All my recs are here. I tried 2/3 of them and this was the best one. Note you'll have to cut the pad to fit the heatsink (normal house scissors will do).
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A few have asked - so posting here... Here is all I bought to make this mod happen (I'm based in US). What I bought for the mod: Thermal Pad https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKX5X6J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Screwdriver set for MBA...
Yeah for sure! See above. Applying the paste requires discipline to only set a few drops and then smear it around the total surface area. Any excess you can clear and wipe off with a cloth. I have some pics Ill try to get to this weekend.
From an Amazon review -> this is what it looks like when used. Came concept for our MBAs - just stick it to the heatsink
View attachment 917809