2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

[Loog]

Did my final mod on my 2020 i7. I replaced my homemade tinfoil thermal pad with an EC360 GOLD (thermal conductance of 14.5W/mK). Others seem to have been able to get good (better?) performance with pads of lower conductance. The thickness is 1.5mm -- it is thicker than necessary for the area near the edge of the case, but a good fit closer to the battery.

Geekbench scores are slightly better than with my homemade pad:

• Single-Core: 1284
• Multi-Core: 4054

View attachment 921610

The pad wasn't long enough so I used the offcut to cover the right edge. I peeled the blue protective cover prior to putting the back cover back on.
View attachment 921611

For fun, I created a heat spreader from a disposable tin tray that sits between the fan and on top of the thermal pad. I coloured it black for some extra black-body radiation. I have no idea how helpful/detrimental it is 😝
View attachment 921612

Great results, it does go to show that garage engineering proves a concept which is refined by quality materials.

I've been quite surprised by the thermal pad upgrade, specially those which have used material which is relatively low thermal conductivity in comparison.

I wonder, has anyone removed the thermal protector on their case to get the maximum heat dissipation?

 

[srkirt]

[QUOTE = "Loog, publicación: 28533507, miembro: 1212829"]
Excelentes resultados, demuestra que la ingeniería de garaje demuestra un concepto refinado por materiales de calidad.

Me ha sorprendido bastante la actualización de la almohadilla térmica, especialmente aquellos que han utilizado material con una conductividad térmica relativamente baja en comparación.

Me pregunto, ¿alguien ha quitado el protector térmico en su estuche para obtener la máxima disipación de calor?
[/CITAR]
Yo...

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Yo...

Sup?

 

[srkirt]

[QUOTE = "RiaKoobcam, publicación: 28533573, miembro: 1213283"]
¿Cenar?
[/CITAR]

Sup?

I removed the plastic sponge that came from the factory on top of the processor because it was too thick... I tried everything to avoid heat... even glass!! I only need to try a thin mineral like marble or granite hahaha After a thousand tests trying to dissipate the heat on top of the turbine I ended up leaving it because I could not see any effect. Now I have a piece of a credit card...

 

[IngerMan]

I did the thermal pad only mod today. 1.5mm Arctic My size I cut was 45mm by 35mm from the 140 x 140 size. I could of saved a few bucks ordering a 50x50. It covered the majority of the heatsink. The heat sink is about 60x40 total.

Scores before Pad 1250+ 3400's to low 3,500, Not bad at all. i7 16GB 256SSD

Added 1.5mm Arctic Thermal pad 140x140mm way to much size but Amazon $14 Cut a piece 35mm x 45mm. 50x50 size would be perfect just measure 2x and cut once.

 

[RiaKoobcam]

I did the thermal pad only mod today. 1.5mm Arctic My size I cut was 45mm by 35mm from the 140 x 140 size. I could of saved a few bucks ordering a 50x50. It covered the majority of the heatsink. The heat sink is about 60x40 total.

Scores before Pad 1250+ 3400's to low 3,500, Not bad at all. i7 16GB 256SSD

Added 1.5mm Arctic Thermal pad 140x140mm way to much size but Amazon $14 Cut a piece 35mm x 45mm. 50x50 size would be perfect just measure 2x and cut once.

View attachment 921651

Did you happen to get bottom case temperature readings before and after?

 

[IngerMan]

I would say cool and cool. Temperature has never been a problem on my i7. I posted in many threads my idle temps low 30’s office apps 40’s low 50’s Before mod. I only did the mod not because of temps but i wanted to achieve 4,000 multi core score. Objective done.......

 

[dcicer1]

Hi guys, I finally sold my macbook air. Cost too high and too little substance .. it was nice to try homemade methods with you, but objectively more than 1000 euros for this device is a disproportionate amount.

 

[srkirt]

Hi guys, I finally sold my macbook air. Cost too high and too little substance .. it was nice to try homemade methods with you, but objectively more than 1000 euros for this device is a disproportionate amount.

You're right!!! I bought it for not spending 600 € on the screen of the Pro 2016 and now I regret ... You have done well.

 

[Saul Giordani]

I did the thermal pad only mod today. 1.5mm Arctic My size I cut was 45mm by 35mm from the 140 x 140 size. I could of saved a few bucks ordering a 50x50. It covered the majority of the heatsink. The heat sink is about 60x40 total.

Scores before Pad 1250+ 3400's to low 3,500, Not bad at all. i7 16GB 256SSD

Added 1.5mm Arctic Thermal pad 140x140mm way to much size but Amazon $14 Cut a piece 35mm x 45mm. 50x50 size would be perfect just measure 2x and cut once.

View attachment 921651

How can my multi-core score be only ~3500, with same thermal pad you have and recently updated to Catalina .5?

 

[IngerMan]

How can my multi-core score be only ~3500, with same thermal pad you have and recently updated to Catalina .5?

It seems the thermal pad mod really helps with the temperature. Normally when waking up che cpu temp of my MBA 17 was around 41-42º, now it's 37-38º. And during the normal usage never reaches the 70º, while before it was reaching the 75-80º

1) I was getting 3,500 multi score before the mod. I can consistently get over 3900 with the pad on a cool idle 32C MBA
i7.

2) Ambient room temperature is a big factor, I am in a AC 21 C room. I run 32C on CPU1 at idle before and after Pad.

3) Your Pad does not look like the Blue Artic I have, also you laid it out differently. I took your picture and outlined how
I did it.

4) When applying the pad after cutting it to 35mmx45mm
a) Make sure there are no hanging chads.
b) Remove one side of the film and place it correctly on the heatsink, you can pick up and redo as needed.
c) Apply light amount of pressure with your finger tips like caressing a nipple, to seat the pad on the heatsink.
d) Remove the top side film
e) Done.

 

[Saul Giordani]

1) I was getting 3,500 multi score before the mod. I can consistently get over 3900 with the pad on a cool idle 32C MBA
i7.

2) Ambient room temperature is a big factor, I am in a AC 21 C room. I run 32C on CPU1 at idle before and after Pad.

3) Your Pad does not look like the Blue Artic I have, also you laid it out differently. I took your picture and outlined how
I did it.

4) When applying the pad after cutting it to 35mmx45mm
a) Make sure there are no hanging chads.
b) Remove one side of the film and place it correctly on the heatsink, you can pick up and redo as needed.
c) Apply light amount of pressure with your finger tips like caressing a nipple, to seat the pad on the heatsink.
d) Remove the top side film
e) Done.

View attachment 921756

I put the artic few days ago

 

[srkirt]

Guys after two days of applying the Grizzly paste it is true that now it has more effect. But sometimes at night having it on my belly in bed is impossible! I have to put the fan at 8,000 rpm to cool the entire case. That without doing anything !! just watch videos on Youtube in 1080p !! is that this design is **** ... put the fan on full blast and you will see how it depends on the angle of the screen more or less air comes out ... it is in the absence of air inlet and outlet ... I am able to cut all the plastic for more air to enter.
Now only writing is going well but as my body warms up the machine and it warms me up, it's a ****ing oven !!! hahahahaha
While I was writing an idea occurred to me ... we are going to prove that the more air flow with a wedge.

 

[Loog]

Guys after two days of applying the Grizzly paste it is true that now it has more effect. But sometimes at night having it on my belly in bed is impossible! I have to put the fan at 8,000 rpm to cool the entire case. That without doing anything !! just watch videos on Youtube in 1080p !! is that this design is **** ... put the fan on full blast and you will see how it depends on the angle of the screen more or less air comes out ... it is in the absence of air inlet and outlet ... I am able to cut all the plastic for more air to enter.
Now only writing is going well but as my body warms up the machine and it warms me up, it's a ****ing oven !!! hahahahaha
While I was writing an idea occurred to me ... we are going to prove that the more air flow with a wedge.

@srkirt, you said you'd removed the thermal insulation from the case ... so this would be expected behaviour if you have direct contact with the back plate. You can't have it both ways, that's why I removed my thermal pad and just stuck with the shim so I get the performance increase without excessive heat on the backplate when working the device hard.

 

[TenthDoctor]

Guys after two days of applying the Grizzly paste it is true that now it has more effect. But sometimes at night having it on my belly in bed is impossible! I have to put the fan at 8,000 rpm to cool the entire case. That without doing anything !! just watch videos on Youtube in 1080p !! is that this design is **** ... put the fan on full blast and you will see how it depends on the angle of the screen more or less air comes out ... it is in the absence of air inlet and outlet ... I am able to cut all the plastic for more air to enter.
Now only writing is going well but as my body warms up the machine and it warms me up, it's a ****ing oven !!! hahahahaha
While I was writing an idea occurred to me ... we are going to prove that the more air flow with a wedge.

Aren’t you afraid you are going to ruin your computer with all these attempted modifications?

 

[The Man]

Aren’t you afraid you are going to ruin your computer with all these attempted modifications?

Yeah, I don't get it. If you do need a MacBook, just buy the base MacBook Pro already. Apple failed with this one. The thermal design was meant for fanless CPU, like the retina MacBook. What was Apple thinking putting a higher performance CPU in there and adding a useless fan? Next year, the MacBook Air will perhaps get an A series processor. It will be high performance and no fan needed.

 

[srkirt]

[QUOTE = "TenthDoctor, publicación: 28535198, miembro: 1218446"]
¿No temes arruinar tu computadora con todos estos intentos de modificaciones?
[/CITAR]
noooo...
[automerge]1591386769[/automerge]
After testing with Grizzly I am now going to test GELID GC-Extreme, which by the way dries super fast and turns into cement !! also € 8 1gr !! It has only reached me for the wedge and the cpu !!

 

[McFlulle]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this thread and forum. First of all I wanted to thank all of you for the fantastic insights into the heatsink mod. You inspired me to mod my new 2020 MBA.

I bought all the materials for the copper shim mod and was about to get started modding when I noticed I do not own a pentalobe screwdriver. When I exchanged the SSD and battery in my old mid-2012 MBP, the torx screwdriver and a tri-point were all I needed, so this is new to me. Before I buy the pentalobe I thought I'd ask here if there's another 'special' kind of screwdriver I will need to unscrew the heatsink (or any other screws that I might not have thought about in advance). Thanks for your help!

 

[Bones13]

My MBA arrives next week, others have stated:

Pentalobe PL5 screwdriver for bottom of case
Torx T4 for i5 heatsink

 

[jackiez]

The i3 has the standard design (2018/2019 MBA, small "fins") while the i5 and i7 have the corrugated design. Though I've seen some user's in this thread mention the occasional i5 with the i3's design, though I haven't seen definitive pictures of that myself.

perhaps i get the wrong idea on how the corrugated design actually looks like

Yeah, I don't get it. If you do need a MacBook, just buy the base MacBook Pro already. Apple failed with this one. The thermal design was meant for fanless CPU, like the retina MacBook. What was Apple thinking putting a higher performance CPU in there and adding a useless fan? Next year, the MacBook Air will perhaps get an A series processor. It will be high performance and no fan needed.

apple dint fail with this one but just people overreact and over expect it would perform like MacBook Pro lol

 

[RiaKoobcam]

apple dint fail with this one but just people overreact and over expect it would perform like MacBook Pro lol

Agreed. It's not naive to expect the Macbook Air to have good thermal performance and noise emissions, like the Macbook Airs that have come before it. It is pretty naive to assume that 10th generation 12w chip = smaller, cheaper Macbook Pro.

If you're even asking the question 'can the i5/i7 handle (sustained workload)', you're way better off buying the base MBP. The Macbook Air line has always been about portable productivity, not intense CPU/GPU tasks.

I'm by no means an Apple apologist (I think the fact that, out of the box, the machine goes nuts on video conferencing or 'too many tabs' is ridiculous), but this thread is about improving the performance of the Macbook Air, not turning it into a much higher performance laptop for half the price.

The 2020 MBA isn't a failed product I don't think - lots of people are happy with it out of the box, even without the kind of modding we do. It's a failed purchase and a failure of research on the consumer's part if you expected it to be something the Macbook Air line has never been.

 

[octoviaa]

Agreed. It's not naive to expect the Macbook Air to have good thermal performance and noise emissions, like the Macbook Airs that have come before it. It is pretty naive to assume that 10th generation 12w chip = smaller, cheaper Macbook Pro.

If you're even asking the question 'can the i5/i7 handle (sustained workload)', you're way better off buying the base MBP. The Macbook Air line has always been about portable productivity, not intense CPU/GPU tasks.

I'm by no means an Apple apologist (I think the fact that, out of the box, the machine goes nuts on video conferencing or 'too many tabs' is ridiculous), but this thread is about improving the performance of the Macbook Air, not turning it into a much higher performance laptop for half the price.

The 2020 MBA isn't a failed product I don't think - lots of people are happy with it out of the box, even without the kind of modding we do. It's a failed purchase and a failure of research on the consumer's part if you expected it to be something the Macbook Air line has never been.

Well, everyone have subjective satisfaction level, but for me it is simple at the current price I do expect my computer to be able to run YouTube 1080p60 and VC (ZOOM) without reaching 70-80C.
I don't think my 'YouTube' or ZOOM scenario above to be considered PRO level right?

 

[octoviaa]

I'm using copper-shim on-top of the heatsink (not inside, I didn't open the apple heatsink).

The layers:
1. Apple Heatsink
2. Thermal-paste (this is important to make sure the heatsink and copper-shim have proper contact, Im using MX2)
3. Copper-shim (.3mm) (only cover the middle part where the processor is located)
4. Thermal-pad (2mm) (just two stripe of thermal-pad the purpose is to hold the copper-shim so they won't move)
5. Copper-shim (.3mm) (I don't think this one makes much different but I put it anyway as I have plenty of copper-shim and it does get hot when I touch it hence it does transfer away the heat)

My ambient tempt is around 28C

My Geekbench 5:

Metal Score:

It is paramount to have a proper contact between the heatsink and copper-shim and I have to re-do about 3 to 4 times.
The copper-shim:

IC Chipset GPU CPU Thermal Heatsink Copper Pad Shim Size 20 x 20 x 0.3mm Pack of 20

This Copper Shims thermal conductivity up to 401w / mk, and ordinary copper thermal conductivity is only 20-30w / mk CPU and GPU graphics card in the inside part of the laptop using a thermal plastic thermal conductivity, thermal plastic at high temperature for a long time easy to aging, and ulti...

www.amazon.sg

Thermal-pad:

YOUNUON 100x100mm 0.5mm 1mm 1.5mm 2mm 3mm 4mm 5mm tichkess Thermal Pad CPU Heatsink Pad Cooling Conductive Silicone Thermal - AliExpress 7

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

For anyone who want a much simpler approach would be just to use thermal-pad.
My score with thermal-pad only (no copper shim) in Geekbench multi: ~3400 (single score is about the same)

But if you want to try my approach, below are what I learned:
1. The good contact between heatsink and copper-shim is very important hence the thermal-paste is important factor.
2. If you don't have a good score, redo and make sure the contact between heatsink and copper-shim are good.

The score used here is to shows there is thermal improvement achieved to make the MBA more cool and silent the score is not meant for 'bragging' right that I can make MBA to perform as MBP.

I tried connecting to 2K 32inch external monitor and watch YT 1080p my temp hover around 60-65C better than 70-80C before the mod.

Seeing how a relatively simple and cheap mod can help increase the overall experience of the MBA, I think if APPLE is willing to do this properly it would have been pretty much easy for them.

 

[RiaKoobcam]

Well, everyone have subjective satisfaction level, but for me it is simple at the current price I do expect my computer to be able to run YouTube 1080p60 and VC (ZOOM) without reaching 70-80C.
I don't think my 'YouTube' or ZOOM scenario above to be considered PRO level right?

No, I completely agree with you. It's BS that mods have to happen for some units to achieve good temperatures and performance for just watching videos or teleconferencing.

It's just when the machine was first released, a lot of people thought 'if we can solve the thermal bottle necks, on paper, it should be better than the Macbook Pro because of its newer processor and updated iGPU.'

Thermals weren't holding the MBA back from being a Macbook Pro - it's not designed for graphics heavy stuff or video editing or whatever. It's designed for productivity and speed.

When I first came here and said 'I can't use YouTube without the temperature getting uncomfortable and the fans going crazy', people would say 'you obviously need a Macbook Pro then, that's a pro workload.'

Nooooo it isn't. My point was if every Macbook Air from 2013 to 2019 I've owned has managed to do it just fine, the 2020 upgrade should as well.

 

[octoviaa]

No, I completely agree with you. It's BS that mods have to happen for some units to achieve good temperatures and performance for just watching videos or teleconferencing.

It's just when the machine was first released, a lot of people thought 'if we can solve the thermal bottle necks, on paper, it should be better than the Macbook Pro because of its newer processor and updated iGPU.'

Thermals weren't holding the MBA back from being a Macbook Pro - it's not designed for graphics heavy stuff or video editing or whatever. It's designed for productivity and speed.

When I first came here and said 'I can't use YouTube without the temperature getting uncomfortable and the fans going crazy', people would say 'you obviously need a Macbook Pro then, that's a pro workload.'

Nooooo it isn't. My point was if every Macbook Air from 2013 to 2019 I've owned has managed to do it just fine, the 2020 upgrade should as well.

Yes agree.
I don't think it is consumer fault too though, because it is normal expectation from consumer to be able to do YT without even reaching 70-80C, normal to expect doing VC / ZOOM without overheat and it is normal for people to expect the new machine should be better (definitely not worse) than previous model which you perfectly mentioned your 2013 model manage to do just fine, so how on earth 2020 model become hotter doing the same thing?

And some people even say 'isn't it between specification to run 70-80C?' YES it is I bet if you look it up at Intel technical specification then the 80C will be in the 'normal'. But anyone with 'common sense' would definitely disagree.
Especially running continuously for hours with that temperature definitely not fine.