I believe someone tested this in the heatsink thread and came to the conclusion that both returned the same results. I tested the 1.5 and it was on the thick side, was compressed when putting the cover back on, I would go with the 1.0mm.
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MacBook Air 2020 - thermal pad, great results
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I believe someone tested this in the heatsink thread and came to the conclusion that both returned the same results. I tested the 1.5 and it was on the thick side, was compressed when putting the cover back on, I would go with the 1.0mm.
Those results are excellent. You even have some thermal headroom left as it is just hovering at 80c. It's too bad that the CPU is limited to 10W. Otherwise, you can achieve even higher clock speeds than 2.6Ghz (possibly over 3Ghz).
But I doubt if you can get the same results with the i5/i7 versions, as they run much hotter than the i3.
But I doubt if you can get the same results with the i5/i7 versions, as they run much hotter than the i3.
So, I've removed the heatsink, and instead of a shim, just CPU -> thermal pad -> heatsink -> thermal pad to chassis. Cleaned off the Apple TIM first. Didn't use anything other than thermal pads.
much, much improved.
can actually run games and the fan will come on, but won't be screaming louder than the audio.
I used 0.5mm thermal pads.
I'm tempted to try a shim, but even with just thermal pads which are easy, no mess install there's a dramatic improvement.
edit:
this is on an i7. thermal pad under heatsink = better than the lack of contact from the factory. Apple really screwed up on the heatsink.
much, much improved.
can actually run games and the fan will come on, but won't be screaming louder than the audio.
I used 0.5mm thermal pads.
I'm tempted to try a shim, but even with just thermal pads which are easy, no mess install there's a dramatic improvement.
edit:
this is on an i7. thermal pad under heatsink = better than the lack of contact from the factory. Apple really screwed up on the heatsink.
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I've just completed this mod on my 2020 i5/8gb. I used a 20x20x0.5mm shim, arctic mx4 paste, and 1.0mm arctic thermal pad. The Geekbench 5 results were definitely improved substantially.
Stock configuration:
Single Core: 1067
Multi Core: 2447
After shim and thermal pad:
Single Core: 1166
Multi Core: 3946
Overall, it took me about an hour to complete and it wasn't too bad of a modification to do at all. Main thing I was worried about was not stripping any screws.
Edit: thanks @fcracer for the great write up / tutorial on your website.
Stock configuration:
Single Core: 1067
Multi Core: 2447
After shim and thermal pad:
Single Core: 1166
Multi Core: 3946
Overall, it took me about an hour to complete and it wasn't too bad of a modification to do at all. Main thing I was worried about was not stripping any screws.
Edit: thanks @fcracer for the great write up / tutorial on your website.
That's interesting.. just thermal pads? That's definitely a little easier of a mod. Do you have any benchmarks with that configuration?
Yup, just thermal pads only.
I know its not "ideal" but a friend did it and told me it worked well and it does.
The big thing as I understand it is that out of the box the heatsink doesn't even really touch the processor properly (and the Apple applied TIM is garbage), so a thermal pad is better than nothing.
He's got a shim he's going to fit later but hasn't got around to it. I'm not sure I'm going to bother or not.
I did very nearly make a shim (after 4-5 beers) out of a beer can - again aluminium isn't ideal but its better than a thermal pad
but thought that might be just a little bit too ghetto for a 2020 machine Either way, thermal pad works way better than stock! No benchmarks yet, my machine was busy running time machine backup as I hadn't plugged in at home for a while, maybe this evening when I get back home from work and the machine has settled down a bit.
But... gaming, the fan is much less loud and during "normal" operation the fan is inaudible now.
edit:
just tried a benchmark and got this:
MacBook Air (Early 2020) - Geekbench
Benchmark results for a MacBook Air (Early 2020) with an Intel Core i7-1060NG7 processor.
browser.geekbench.com
However... photoanalysisd was running in the background using 100% cpu of one core (which would explain the single core being decent and the multi-core being slow - one core was busy with something else).
I'll try again when the machine is settled down a bit. Fan did not become audible during the benchmark.
Also, I'm curious as to whether the thermal pad to case is responsible for transferring heat to the chassis and improving that way, or rather ensuring a better air seal to help air flow THROUGH the heatsink when it essentially blocks off another path for the air between the heatsink and the case.
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Yeah that's right. The underside of the heatsink has a machined out section and it results in about a half mm gap between it and the cpu / gpu dye.
I did very nearly make a shim (after 4-5 beers) out of a beer can - again aluminium isn't ideal but its better than a thermal pad
Haha yeah probably better to grab a pack of copper ones on Amazon. They're pretty cheap.
I was on a Webex teams video call for work before the mod and within about 5 minutes, the fan kicked on pretty fierce. I'm hoping with the mod, this will improve drastically. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow on one of my calls and we'll see.
I believe it's more that the heat is transferred to the chassis which then acts like a large heat sink.
The thermal pads I used were 0.5mm and it works as described above using pads only for both under and on top of the heatsink.
You’re very welcome, glad to hear it’s working well for you. My little i7 MBA 2020 continues to work perfectly with the shim and pad modification. It’ll consistently blast out a 4,000+ GeekBench and runs great. It’s definitely holding me over until the Apple Silicon MacBooks arrive.
Here’s the link to the how-to for others contemplating the modification.
I don't see any warranty void if removed stickers. Modern CPUs are thermally protected and will shut down if they get too hot so you could argue your case. Either way, if this has to go back for something else under AppleCare it will be returned to stock.
edit:
I've bought some shims because I think multi-core will benefit from it. I definitely get less fan noise but I'm hitting nowhere near 4k Geekbench. but hey, I had plenty of thermal pads handy and its definitely an improvement until the shims arrive. 0.5mm thermal pads only is definitely "easy mode" and still way better than stock.
If you look a few posts up, fcracer posted a link to his webpage that has a really nice write up of the procedure. That's what I looked at before I did the mod. It definitely doesn't require a professional to do. Just make sure you have the two proper screwdrivers (Torx T3 and Pentalobe P5) and the materials before you get started.
The only complications/risks are
- you will need some pentalobe and TORX screwdrivers that are fairly small
- the heatsink screws are TINY
- you MUST be careful with the screws. they are small screws, and thus will be easy to strip and probably easy to over-torque and ruin the threads on
- make sure you have the correct screwdriver bits
- make 100% sure you don't over-tighten things
- be sure not to lose any parts
I'm quite late to this but I recently did the copper shim + thermal pad mod and my cinebench score is now 879/1903
I'm quite happy with this as the temps never did exceed 94 during the multi-core.The thermal paste I'm using is thermal grizzly kryonaut.
I tried the CPU -> Thermal pad -> Heatsink -> Thermal pad and unfortunately it didn't change anything. My temp is still 100C... while idling.
I used 0.5mm Thermal Grizzly pads.
Maybe I did something wrong? Maybe try thicker pads? Maybe I overtightened the screws? I don't know exactly what that means, but I stopped tightening as soon as they stopped turning.
I used 0.5mm Thermal Grizzly pads.
Maybe I did something wrong? Maybe try thicker pads? Maybe I overtightened the screws? I don't know exactly what that means, but I stopped tightening as soon as they stopped turning.
if its 100c while idling then there is something wrong with that thing lol. Ive been on my air for the last hour with a half dozen sites open, YouTube, messenger etc and its at 37c right now, no thermal pad mods etc
Most definitely something wrong. I thought it was the poor stock thermal performance, but now it's becoming clear that it's not. It actually idles at around 70C, if I don't do anything at all. As soon as I click or open something, anything, it goes to 100C.
Any suggestions as to what I should check? I'm more of a Windows/PC guy, not that familiar with Macs. I've always had some MacBook or other, but they just... worked. As Macs usually do. Now this one may prove to be a challenge.
check out this thread i made awhile back, alot of information about what to do and what not to do.
2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread
MBA 2020(2018 also possible) cooling modification thread. here is a detailed guide on the process provided by @fcracer "The issue" The 2020 MBA is almost a perfect laptop OOTB for my needs. Size, battery life, keyboard, weight, and what seemed to be the right amount of performance to carry...
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