2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

[Bones13]

Hi, I've applied the thermal pad (thermal grizzly carbonate) on top of the heatsink, and I've noticed the cpu temperature has gone higher.

I have a VC in few minutes so I removed it and I'll do it without it, then I'll try again later. But I didn't expect this. Is it normal?

Which processor did you get? There looks to be 2 different heatsinks. The pad has been reported to be working on the type of heatsink that the i5 and i7 have, that have room in the heatsink for air to flow through. The i3 heatsink seems to be solid, and rely on air to flow across the top, which would be blocked with a pad. (at least from what I could tell on the different pictures in the thread.

If you have the "corrugated" type, that is showing on pics of the i5 and i7, be sure that the pad is not covering the air flow slots on either side. Limiting air flow through the cooler would be detrimental.

The thermal pad mod, to me, is still a bit controversial, many have demonstrated good results. Although I probably will try it anyways .

 

[Saul Giordani]

Which processor did you get? There looks to be 2 different heatsinks. The pad has been reported to be working on the type of heatsink that the i5 and i7 have, that have room in the heatsink for air to flow through. The i3 heatsink seems to be solid, and rely on air to flow across the top, which would be blocked with a pad. (at least from what I could tell on the different pictures in the thread.

If you have the "corrugated" type, that is showing on pics of the i5 and i7, be sure that the pad is not covering the air flow slots on either side. Limiting air flow through the cooler would be detrimental.

The thermal pad mod, to me, is still a bit controversial, many have demonstrated good results. Although I probably will try it anyways .

I've the i7 and yes, the heatsink is corrugated. I'm quite sure it was put properly. I'll try again later and sent a picture

 

[IngerMan]

Is that the i5 or i7 model IngerMan?

It is kinchee87 i7 from around page 41.
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You're right the surface of the heatsink definitely not 'flat' however if you see the video max-tech where he put waterblock just on top of the heatsink and it works, hence thinking to put the shims directly on-top of the heatsink.

Now I am so confused lol. Do I just lay a few 20*20 shims with thermal past and then the pad over the entire thing. Oh my that sounds super easy lol.... I might try that. My pad says it has adhesion and I think when they get hot they stick more, so the shims should stay in place ?????

Making a mistake is my biggest concern. The benefit of doing everything on top is its "add" only, no cleanup. But I worry that I may drop a shim and short out. Of course I could drop a screw the other way.

I wish I had the dimensions of the heat sink with the hole pattern and I could layout the shims ahead of time to see how mine would fit on the outside.

The other thing is the shim and new paste inside and pad on top are proven, its probably not any harder then trying to paste shims on the outside but would love to hear someone experience at it.


I am pretty sure I will go with the proven one from half a dozen posters instead of the unproven one.

 

[daystar]

My i7/512gb/8gb

Before and after copper shim&Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut:

Geekbench 5 +400 points on multicore.
View attachment 918768

Cinebench 20 +130 points and the clock speeds stayed at 2.2-1.9ghz and 85 degrees Celsius to the end. Before it was 1.75ghz and 100 degrees.
View attachment 918769

Thermal Grizzly minus pad 8 coming to heatsink in a couple of days and I will run the tests again with it

Thermal grizzly minus pad 8 installed and Cinebench score stayed the same but temps came down to 75 degrees and never jumped from that.

Geekbech 5 scores came up again:

 

[IngerMan]

Thermal grizzly minus pad 8 installed and Cinebench score stayed the same but temps came down to 75 degrees and never jumped from that.

What size thermal pad is your minus 8?

 

[daystar]

What size thermal pad is your minus 8?

I bought 100x100mm for future projects and cutted about 30x40mm sheet so it didn't cover the whole heatsink and left some space for air at the sides.

 

[Saul Giordani]

I've the i7 and yes, the heatsink is corrugated. I'm quite sure it was put properly. I'll try again later and sent a picture

This is what I did

 

[daystar]

This is what I did

Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut is ment to be used between the heatsink and processor, not ON the heatsink. It needs certain amount of pressure to work.

 

[Saul Giordani]

Makes perfectly sense, I was trying to do something like this

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9FIk5MfIJk/XsE69vgI9sI/AAAAAAAAAnk/DavxgEXnKuMmNawAXbS5rLkjH-T6p3djgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSC09561.jpg

 

[daystar]

Makes perfectly sense, I was trying to do something like this

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9FIk5MfIJk/XsE69vgI9sI/AAAAAAAAAnk/DavxgEXnKuMmNawAXbS5rLkjH-T6p3djgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSC09561.jpg

Use Thermal Grizzly Minus Pad 8 instead (2mm thick)

 

[Saul Giordani]

Use Thermal Grizzly Minus Pad 8 instead (2mm thick)

so this should do it right?

And I can use the one I have to put it between the heatsink and the cpu instead of the shim pad?

 

[daystar]

so this should do it right?

And I can use the one I have to put it between the heatsink and the cpu instead of the shim pad?

Well copper shim and Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut works better than the graphite sheet you got. So if possible you should use the shim and paste. Actually I'm not sure if the graphite sheep by it self makes enough contact to the heatsink because it is only 2mm thick..

 

[srkirt]

Anything that is not putting wedges and making space between the heatsink and the cover will not do much ... It is not so complicated to take a soldering iron and copper or aluminum strips and make it a radiator.
He has been researching this topic for more than two months ... with a wind tunnel, increasing the pressure by sealing the entire tunnel, tried with all kinds of pasta except Grizzly, making sandwiches anyway, with pasta and a thermal pad on the cpu, at back with pad on the heatsink and paste on the cpu ... nothing decreases the temperature and the performance of the turbo boost like the wedges with good thermal paste, add a radiator to dissipate the heat of the heatsink more and seal the air tunnel to increase pressure .
When I get the 40x40 100% copper radiator from China and mechanize it to adapt it to the i5 it will be the pump !!!
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I spent the money on this and it has not helped me at all ... This week with the Grizzly I will try with these plates that I bought instead of two of 0.3 I will put one of 6 or 5mm

 

[SuperSonic80]

This is what I did

Looking at your picture, I got an idea. Imho, putting the thermal pad on top of your heatsink you minimized the gap between the heatsink and the bottom cover and by doing this you increased the airflow passing through the heatsink.

What if by doing all these mods people don't improve the thermal interface but rather optimise the airflow. Had anyone tried to seal as many holes as possible around heatsink to pass more air through it?

 

[octoviaa]

Thermal grizzly minus pad 8 installed and Cinebench score stayed the same but temps came down to 75 degrees and never jumped from that.

Geekbech 5 scores came up again:

Does the pad cover the whole heatsink? Would you mind to provide some pictures?

 

[dcicer1]

Hi guys, with 2020 i3 pad does nothing. I'm using one 1mm thick and straining against the backplate. I imagine that in this way the air passes with more difficulty. Obviously I have the shim between heatsink and die and this keeps the heatsink raised, also the backplate has a thicker sponge that in theory goes to touch the heatsink.

 

[nill1234]

The pad on an I3 doesn’t do anything because it has an other cooler which is not corrugated.

 

[AdamNC]

I have just ordered a 2020 MBA i5 526 8gig. All this talk about the heat and all has me nervous. I don’t do VC’s or any real hard use work, mostly weather tracking emails, Quicken, Number crunching. Should I be concerned? And I had a idea I may try and wanted to see if you think it would be worth it. I noticed the pattern on the heat sink. I was wondering if getting heat pad and cutting strips shown in yellow so air could flow through a little would help? Any thoughts?

 

[RiaKoobcam]

I have just ordered a 2020 MBA i5 526 8gig. All this talk about the heat and all has me nervous. I don’t do VC’s or any real hard use work, mostly weather tracking emails, Quicken, Number crunching. Should I be concerned? And I had a idea I may try and wanted to see if you think it would be worth it. I noticed the pattern on the heat sink. I was wondering if getting heat pad and cutting strips shown in yellow so air could flow through a little would help? Any thoughts?
View attachment 919082

I don't think you should be concerned with that workload, no. Modding the heatsink would definitely help, but with your workload, I think you'll be fine

As far as your idea goes - can't hurt to try!

 

[dcicer1]

with this last image I declare my test on the dissipation and improvement of the MBA closed. It is practically impossible to improve dissipation without good airflow. I tried to recreate a kind of heatpipe but with the same poor results.

 

[Saul Giordani]

I have just ordered a 2020 MBA i5 526 8gig. All this talk about the heat and all has me nervous. I don’t do VC’s or any real hard use work, mostly weather tracking emails, Quicken, Number crunching. Should I be concerned? And I had a idea I may try and wanted to see if you think it would be worth it. I noticed the pattern on the heat sink. I was wondering if getting heat pad and cutting strips shown in yellow so air could flow through a little would help? Any thoughts?
View attachment 919082

I don't have any overheating issue with that kind of workflow. The issue comes when I use zoom or Skype. So if you don't use them a lot, just don't worry!

 

[Loog]

I don't have any overheating issue with that kind of workflow. The issue comes when I use zoom or Skype. So if you don't use them a lot, just don't worry!

I've found the latest version of zoom 5.0.4 to be slightly better, don't use virtual backgrounds. Also try playing around with enabling/disabling GPU support for MS Teams, I found on was better for me with GPU support on and so long as TimeMachine is not running when on conference is underway I can now keep the temp/fan to a reasonable level i.e. 85 - 90 deg at 3000 rpm. Not ideal but acceptable (if you're not working on your lap in shorts)

 

[twintin]

Also try playing around with enabling/disabling GPU support for MS Teams,

How do you do that (have looked, but not found any settings) ?

I found on was better for me with GPU support on and so long as TimeMachine is not running when on conference is underway I can now keep the temp/fan to a reasonable level i.e. 85 - 90 deg at 3000 rpm. Not ideal but acceptable (if you're not working on your lap in shorts)

Is this with your 2018 Air or something else ? My i3 runs around 70-80 with 2700 RPM.

 

[cheese01]

seeing some of the "improvements" people are making to their MBA's in this thread has made me lose my faith in humanity...

 

[Loog]

How do you do that (have looked, but not found any settings) ?



Is this with your 2018 Air or something else ? My i3 runs around 70-80 with 2700 RPM.

@twintin If you click your name and go to settings, the option is in there. Yes I'm running a 2018 MBA Retina. Temperatures do fluctuate call to call, I've referenced more the higher end for long calls with other stuff happening in the background. You can reduce manually by swiping off to another window and leave the video running but without you seeing it, also be mindful if on AC with TimeMachine.