MBP, heat and whine FIXED?!

[scuzy]

i took apart my MBP and added the AS5 and i don't notice any temp difference
did i not put enough thermal compound on ? I cna seem to hear the fans are on is there a way to turn on the fan? Shouldi redo it again and apply more compound? I jsut put a small dap on each core and each sink area and i use a credit card to spread it all around. I also use my finger wrapped with plastic wrap to spread hte heat sink compoun on the the heat pipe.
anyone have any suggestiosn ? does it take a few cycled before hte AS5 kicks in ?

thanks

 

[excalibur313]

i took apart my MBP and added the AS5 and i don't notice any temp difference
did i not put enough thermal compound on ? I cna seem to hear the fans are on is there a way to turn on the fan? Shouldi redo it again and apply more compound? I jsut put a small dap on each core and each sink area and i use a credit card to spread it all around. I also use my finger wrapped with plastic wrap to spread hte heat sink compoun on the the heat pipe.
anyone have any suggestiosn ? does it take a few cycled before hte AS5 kicks in ?

thanks

So you applied the thermal compound as directed on their website, only using about the size of half a grain of rice? How hard did you torque down on the motherboard screws to ensure that it is a tight fit? (How does anyone know how much to do? It seems like the most important step.)

 

[Bunsen Burner]

i took apart my MBP and added the AS5 and i don't notice any temp difference
did i not put enough thermal compound on ? I cna seem to hear the fans are on is there a way to turn on the fan? Shouldi redo it again and apply more compound? I jsut put a small dap on each core and each sink area and i use a credit card to spread it all around. I also use my finger wrapped with plastic wrap to spread hte heat sink compoun on the the heat pipe.
anyone have any suggestiosn ? does it take a few cycled before hte AS5 kicks in ?

thanks

Well, you've done it wrong. The compound is applied to the chip die only. I placed a dot of the stuff about twice the size of the head of a pin on a corner of each die and spread it across and down the dies for even, thorough coverage. It takes a vanishingly small amount assuming proper die/heatsink interface. And make doubly sure there is no dust or other particles on the dies or heatsinks before applying the compound and reassembly. These directions are found at Arctic Silver's Site.

Proper torque on the mainboard screws comes down to having the right feel and that usually comes with experience.

BB

 

[scuzy]

i redid the laptop while at work and now the temp is hovering at 38C to 45C
which is about right. Last night my MBP was at 60C with only 15% cpu utilization.

 

[fowler.]

are the fans kicking on more often, or what?

 

[Thidranki]

When I plug in the AC adapter, it blinks a light orange. Anyone know what that means? It's very faint.

I'm not sure about the MacBook Pro and your exact situation, but for me on my powermac it means that the battery is charging. Red = Almost Out, Orange = Charging/Not Full Green = Full

 

[Thidranki]

Does anyone know the difference in heat for the 15 and 17 inch computers? I'm currently trying to decide between the MBK and the iMac, and if the MBKs aren't perfect and overheat, I might stretch for the iMac.

 

[slyydrr]

I got about half-way into this the other day, and at the "fan" step, I backed out... I guess I got scared. I have 6 years of experiencing building desktops (probably a good 24 full PC builds under my belt, not to mention numerous simple upgrades) so it's not that I'm not knowledgable. I will give it a try again tonight and hopefully everything works out! I'll let you know what I find and I'll document before temps to compare with after temps.

 

[scuzy]

it really isn't too bad taking it apart. The first time around wa the hardest following hte ifixit guide really helps. The second time i opened it up to readd the artic silver i did it without even lookign at the guide since it was straight forward and i remember where all the parts are. The hardest thing is remmebering which screw goes where so i scotch taped it to a paper and that way i remember each screw.

 

[excalibur313]

it really isn't too bad taking it apart. The first time around wa the hardest following hte ifixit guide really helps. The second time i opened it up to readd the artic silver i did it without even lookign at the guide since it was straight forward and i remember where all the parts are. The hardest thing is remmebering which screw goes where so i scotch taped it to a paper and that way i remember each screw.

How much computer building experience do you have? Is it much harder than building a tower? Did you notice any seals that were broken in the process that applecare could figure out that you opened? How did you now how hard to tighten the motherboard? Did you have to use a torque measuring system?

 

[scuzy]

i've been messign with the insides of computers since i was 15 and i'm 30 this year. There isn't any seals. There are orange tape they use to tape dow nthe wires and there is a foild rubber foam they use next to the left speaker. But there isn't any seals that will say void if open. I think applecare can only tell if you really tighten the screws too tight and strip the heads.

 

[excalibur313]

i've been messign with the insides of computers since i was 15 and i'm 30 this year. There isn't any seals. There are orange tape they use to tape dow nthe wires and there is a foild rubber foam they use next to the left speaker. But there isn't any seals that will say void if open. I think applecare can only tell if you really tighten the screws too tight and strip the heads.

So for the motherboard you just tightened them until they stopped or how did you know when they were tight enough to make a secure connection but not too tight to break anything?

 

[scuzy]

i think that's a more of a personal judgement. I tighten it till it's secure and tight

 

[slyydrr]

So for the motherboard you just tightened them until they stopped or how did you know when they were tight enough to make a secure connection but not too tight to break anything?

My recommendation, tighten it tight, but not too tight. You shouldn't even once have the thought pass through your head "If I turn it just a smidge tighter, will I strip it?" If you're worried about that, then chances are you might even be a tad too tight already. You want it to be tight and secure, but not overtightened. Hopefully that helps.

 

[slyydrr]

Well, I finished the surgery. It went extremely well in terms of ease. That guide was brilliant, now I wait to see how effective it was. Before I was idling between 52-58C (I didn't do any extensive testing, but it should be enough to see if there's a noticeable difference), so hopefully this puts me a good 10C lower. I'll edit this post w/ results, and some wonderful pictures of just how ****** of a job they did w/ the thermal paste...

EDIT: I think I should have really taken the time to get some numbers before. Right now I'm sitting in the same range, but the entire laptop feels cooler to the touch. Even if the core is staying the same temperature, but the heat is disappating properly, that's perfect for me. So, unfortunately I have no numbers, but at the same time it DOES feel quite a bit cooler!

Also, keep in mind, I used AS3, not AS5. It's what I had around the house, and didn't want to goto the store.

 

[Mojo67821]

Well, I finished the surgery. It went extremely well in terms of ease. That guide was brilliant, now I wait to see how effective it was. Before I was idling between 52-58C (I didn't do any extensive testing, but it should be enough to see if there's a noticeable difference), so hopefully this puts me a good 10C lower. I'll edit this post w/ results, and some wonderful pictures of just how ****** of a job they did w/ the thermal paste...

EDIT: I think I should have really taken the time to get some numbers before. Right now I'm sitting in the same range, but the entire laptop feels cooler to the touch. Even if the core is staying the same temperature, but the heat is disappating properly, that's perfect for me. So, unfortunately I have no numbers, but at the same time it DOES feel quite a bit cooler!

Also, keep in mind, I used AS3, not AS5. It's what I had around the house, and didn't want to goto the store.

I'm using this "Core Duo Temp" program that someone told me about to get my temp. Does anyone know how accurate this is? It seems to jump around a little bit. I'm running between 50 and 57 whith a light load. I'd like to get a reading from the windows side, considering it runs much hotter when I'm in windows.

Is this temp range normal?

 

[PatrickF]

I'm using this "Core Duo Temp" program that someone told me about to get my temp. Does anyone know how accurate this is? It seems to jump around a little bit. I'm running between 50 and 57 whith a light load. I'd like to get a reading from the windows side, considering it runs much hotter when I'm in windows.

Is this temp range normal?

Mine runs between 55C and 65C under low load and up to a max of 85C to 90C under completely full load. The idle temperature doesn't seem excessive to me given the form factor and the quiet nature of the computer. It does get hot though but I tend to use my MBP on a desk or when I put it on my lap I have a big wooden chopping board inbetween. That's much more comfortable anyway as it keeps the laptop more stable.

My server PC idles at around 55C using the diode sensor with a big fan on it. Sure it's quite a bit cooler but it's also slower (old single core Athlon XP 2GHz) and has a huge heatsink with a big fan on it.

Where it does change is under load - my server maxes out at about 62C or so under full load, which is much better than the 85C max on the MBP!

 

[Krevnik]

Mine runs between 55C and 65C under low load and up to a max of 85C to 90C under completely full load. The idle temperature doesn't seem excessive to me given the form factor and the quiet nature of the computer. It does get hot though but I tend to use my MBP on a desk or when I put it on my lap I have a big wooden chopping board inbetween. That's much more comfortable anyway as it keeps the laptop more stable.

My server PC idles at around 55C using the diode sensor with a big fan on it. Sure it's quite a bit cooler but it's also slower (old single core Athlon XP 2GHz) and has a huge heatsink with a big fan on it.

Where it does change is under load - my server maxes out at about 62C or so under full load, which is much better than the 85C max on the MBP!

After re-applying the paste... when the MBP is running clamshell...

Idle: 48 C (45 C when lid is open)
Load: 63 C (SNES9x, Options Turned Up, Rosetta) (58 C when lid is open)

Now this is lid-closed, mind you, but that is much more in line with your server PC, is it not?

EDIT: Updated with a couple new numbers when the lid is /open/ this time (normal usage). Now, one can likely not compare numbers directly across two machines like this (since the temp sensor on the die varies from chip to chip by a couple degrees), but when we are talking differences in the 20C range, there /is/ a noticable difference.

 

[PatrickF]

After re-applying the paste... when the MBP is running clamshell...

Idle: 48 C
Load: 63 C (SNES9x, Options Turned Up, Rosetta)

Now this is lid-closed, mind you, but that is much more in line with your server PC, is it not?

Certainly looks better. I'm not saying that the temperatures of the MBP are great but I can bear them considering my PC's CPU has a huge beast of a heatsink and fan on top of it and the MBP is just 1" thick. I do have Arctic Silver in there though.

That noted I do believe that AS will bring down the temperatures once applied properly. Shame that wasn't done at the factory.