Early-2011 MBP i7 2.3 Ghz AMD 6750 1Gb Temps

If anyone has the same setup please post processor and graphics temps while using programs. I am only interested when significant temps are shown.
Example i7 processer using Disc Warrior the processor temps climbed while doing certain task (up to 89 degree Celsius) this seems really high to me but its a new processor and I am not sure if this is within range or not or pushing the max temp range. I am also curious to know while gaming what temps the GPU climbed to (not integrated chip but the dedicated, using graphics intense games)? The computer never frooze, shutdown or had any issues at the time, I am just curious.

 

Use SMC Fan Control and if is possible try to replace your thermal paste or go with support if they can do it, almost 90c is a very dangerous temp for a laptop and with the time that temp can reduce the life of your MBP.

Yesterday curiously i replaced my thermal paste (almost the same situation like you), and when i opened the heatsink there was a very bad applied thermal paste, yeah how couldn't burn with all that thermal paste? I applied MX-4 and the temps playing SC2 decreased, with the fan at 6000RPM are 70-73 (before were 85-90c).

Seriously if you can replace the thermal that would be a very good idea, but if you dont have all the screwdrivers required and never opened a laptop dont try it really, i did it with a friend who replaced the temps in his PC and consoles (PS3, Wii.) and has the screwdrivers, is very risky to replace the thermal if you never did it, specially with a MBP (to replace the thermal you need to remove almost everything).

 

When only doing some tasks temps are usually below 60 degrees but using the program earlier for an extended time it climbed to 89. So even though its a new computer you would still recommended doing a repaste? I have doing computer maintenance on several PC's before but never a MBP with a unibody. How much is involved with doing it. I have opened the bottom and replaced HDD and RAM but nothing else. What type of paste is good, I usually use Arctic Silver 5. What is recommended for the Sandy Bridge i7 processor?

 

I have the 2.2+6750 17" machine... and Its really no issue. Apple lets it get in the 90s, mainly because Intel says the processor can run up to 105. As long as I manually control my fans, it never gets over 85 and is usually barely over 80 when maxed out. It never has a problem if I let the fans go automatically, but it stays over 90 a bit longer.. I guess waiting until it sees its not cooling off enough, then spins the fans up more.

Some people have had luck replacing thermal grease, as some machines just have it poorly slapped on there by the factory workers in China who assemble the machines. I haven't wanted to try it out myself since I haven't had a real heat issue.

 

If you can replace the thermal paste do it, but if you never had replaced the thermal dont do it, it can be a bit risky because if something goes bad you end without warranty and MBP, there is a big improve in temps because apple uses a lot of thermal paste in the cpu and gpu (seriously bad applied).

To replace the thermal paste in the unibody models you have to remove the mobo completely (almost everything including the battery), but you need also some special screwdrivers apart from the cover for the battery and mobo (check ifixit), usually i like use MX4 (or MX3) because it doesn't has conductivity and no curing time (takes effect immediately).

I did it because i had replaced the thermal paste of my MBP 15'' 2009, but if you had never replaced the mobo and you are not very carefully with that (everything must be as before, so if you use warranty they can't see anything to avoid it) i don't recommend you to do it.

The support from here said me that they could replace the thermal but for almost 70 dollars, obviously i wasn't going to spend that money in something that i can do, try with support if they can replace the thermal paste (explain them the situation) but thats better than doing something with risks (more for you if you dont feel secure to do it)

 

OP your temps sound fine, maybe a bit high if it's not processor intensive but exporting in iMovie can get me up to 88C-90C for a short bit before dropping to 86C same setup i7 2.3Ghz 6750 here. I plan on doing thermal paste very soon actually.

 

Whats the best fan control program that has pre configured options to make adjustments easier to set?

 

smcfancontrol doesn't have preconfigured settings, but they are super simple to add new ones that you want that you cn switch with a couple of clicks from the menubar

 

Wow! Great program! Runs 10 degrees Celsius cooler just by changing the minimum to 4,000 RPM. Will there be any issues leaving it like this always?

 

Well that depends on how much you use heavy apps, for example as default i use 3000RPM, but when im using heavy apps like exporting videos on iMovie or playing games i use 6000RPM, most because i want to extend the more possible the life of my fans but that are more my personal preferences than an answer to your question.

 

uses more battery power... and wears the fans out faster.

 

I have the same setup as the OP.

My temps were "decent" for everyday use....but once I did something CPU intensive my temps would jump to 93C.

So, I cracked it open this weekend..... my god the amount of thermal paste used is CRAZY (it totally covered my entire 6750 GPU chip... resisters and all). Also the stock thermal paste had the consistency of wet foam (very airy soft... not good for thermal transfer)

Spent a good 30min trying to get it all off from between the GPU resisters (cpu was a crazy amount too...but not as many raised resisters to worry about so cleaning was easier).

I then applied an appropriate amount of IC7 to both the GPU chip and the cpu.

I also did the intel controller chip and the thunderbolt chip (stock thermal paste barely touched the chip of either).

Overall, my temps have dropped an average of 15C for the CPU and GPU and the chipset runs a good 7C cooler.

Well worth the effort in my opinion.

The tools I needed to do this were an A00 Phillips (only had a A01 phillips so I used the flat head equivalent of an A00 Phillips) and a T7 torx.

edit...

Just to get some more "hard" numbers I went ahead and ran p95 again.

Before changing the thermal paste the temp would jump to 90C almost as soon as I started p95 (fans would rev up to 6000rpm as fast) and before the first test was done it would be jumping between 90-93C.

After the repaste it heated up much slower with the fans speeding up as the cpu did.
At test 1 it was in the mid 70's
At test 2 it was in the lower 80's
At test 3 it hovered in the mid 80's (about 86C) and stayed there until I quit it at test 8.

The fans sped up slowly as the temp slowly increased.

Overall, since I was able to keep it under 90C and the temps rose so much slower..... I am really happy with the repaste.

I also found the CPU heatsink temp increased more after the repaste than before which means heat is being transferred better than before.

Also, temps dropped fast and my idle (as I am typing this now) have my CPU at 40C, cpu heatsink at 34C, and GPU at 36C.



D.

 

I will repaste then soon. Is this any good ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Cooling MX-4 AC-MX4? I will order the two tools needed to do it. I have replaced motherboards and monitors in notebooks including unibody construction. I have never done a lot with any MBP are there any good disassembly guides so I can look to make sure I am doing it right?

 

I went to ifixit to get an idea.... but they only have a teardown guide so they don't give you all the info you need (but still a good source to have available)

Basically, the screws are easy enough to take out (torx and phillips) but you have to pay attention to what goes where.
Also, there are a lot of cables to unplug (way more than most laptops I have worked on before). If when you try and lift the motherboard you find it not coming out easy... double check that you did not miss a cable or screw.

I should have taken pictures and made a guide...but I was in a hurry to get it done.
I still might do so sometime in the future but no time at the moment.

As for paste... the MX4 is perfectly fine.
The biggest thing about paste is proper application...not so much brand.
(although I have switched over from AS5 to IC7 since I like the thickness of IC7 and the "no curing" time.... AS5 is still my choice for those "thin" applications)

Good luck

D.

 

i am planning to buy a 2011 13" base model, i was going thru reviews and found that the 2011 runs hotter than 2010 on similar use. is it true or its just in some cases when u do some really CPU intense stuff

thanks.

 

If you have Apple care, go complain. Don't bother taking your notebook apart as it will void your warranty

 

Taking your MBP apart does NOT void the warranty..... damaging it while taking it apart does.

So, if you can take it apart and not damage it... your warranty is intact (which is why we can replace HD's etc.. without voiding our warranty).

D.

 

Did you notice a difference in temperature when using Skype voice/video after?

 

amazing info, debaucher. I'd do that myself if I weren't afraid I'd incorrectly apply the paste. In fact, I had a bad experience with heat sinks and cpu's when I first started learning that lead to me accidentally frying a processor. lol. I'd still like to learn to do it right, so I guess I just need a computer to experiment on. you know, build up the confidence.

is this the stuff you used?

http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_parts.asp?PRID=14675

 

Hey I just made a video and whipped up some imovie stuff to make it easier to follow. This was for my 2011 15" MacBook Pro thermal paste/heatsink removal. I used MX-4 and I'll report back on load tests soon enough.

YouTube - Macbook Pro 2011 15" i7 Thermal paste application MX-4 CPU & GPU heatsink removal

You can read some of my thoughts on it in my blog =D in sig.

 

Very nicely done... thanks and rep

 

woah! awesome video, man. seriously.

question for you: is it advised or recommended that we spread the paste with our fingers in a plastic bag/glove as you did? I've never seen that approach and was under the impression that the act of sandwiching the blob of grease between the chip and heat sink spread it out for you? Despite my long tech history of experience, I've never done it before...so pardon this noobish question.

+rep.

 

answered my own question:

AS recommends the "spread" method Arctic Silver Incorporated - Home

for i7 mobile processors. thanks for the fantastic vid, aznguyen. did you too notice a temperature drop?

 

So far the big thing I've noticed is that it takes longer for my fans to want to kick in and the temps won't climb as fast, as a previous member shared.

Right now on integrated, my system sits at 36-38C for CPU and 32C for GPU. I'm just browsing the internet for the past 20 minutes and those are temps. Let me know how yours compares. I haven't done the cinebench + yes dev null to max out all 8 threads yet, been lazy lol, I'll do that sometime.

Also on my MX-3 I did the dot, rice grain, pea method since it was so thick and hard to spread, but on the MX4 it spread a lot easier so that's why I spread it like that. I did it really thin as well. Anyway good luck! I'm happy with the results so far.

 

Nice mix in the background. I notice you're from Florida as well, gotta love the breaks!

 

lol yeah it's an oldie but goodie, dj babyboi. I'm originally from Wichita, Kansas, and man when the breaks and rave scene was hot, it was pretty dope here hahah

 

thanks for the reply. Does anyone know if the "finger" method any more or less effective or easy than using a clean credit card or something? I've read both but haven't really found a definitive answer. I see this big emphasis on "thin, even" spreading but wonder how a finger can give the most even spread? seems like a card or something like that would be most effective? idk.

 

Lol yeah you're probably better off using a card if you want the most perfect flatness haha. I just used my finger and could feel it and all that. Didn't want to bother using a card. I'm happy with how it turned out. It was a good thin layer.

 

its not advisable to use a finger... as you may get nasty stuff in there like skin oils which can prevent it from working as good... really should use a nice clean flat object

 

Well I didn't just use my plain finger... Had it in a plastic bag haha. I've seen people use little finger condoms too.

 

sorry.. I just wanted to make it clear as some people might just be browsing through and see about spreading with a finger

 

Sorry for the late replies to those who asked me questions (busy weekend).

As for the link you had earlier...yes that is the stuff I use.
It is thick so warming it up before hand really helps.

As for spreading, it depends on the paste itself (brand/thickness etc..).
Most companies do NOT recommend spreading it out with a credit card or finger or whatever (as5 says to spread using a credit card on bare cores since their paste is thin and it takes 3 weeks to settle/cure during which point the bubbles should have worked their way out).

What the makers of IC7 diamond say (I talked with their "engineers" at one point) is that you just put some on and let the heatsink spread it.
When I asked them what to do if you have a bare core which is rectangular they recommended the "line" method where you just run a line in the middle across the long end (from end to end).

This way you do not introduce bubbles like the "finger" spread method.

If you are putting it on a core with a heat spreader or square bare core, then they say to put a "drop" in the middle of the core.

They also said "more is better than less" but dont put too much on.

I even helps to try a couple of times...ie.. put some on put down the heatsink (give a little twist before screwing down if possible) then take it off again and see how you did.

If it looks good... then clean it up and redo.. if not then add more/less depending on how your first application worked.

Also, ajreynol..... I found a really good price on the IC7 from svc.com so you may want to check them out if you want that particular paste.

But in my opinion... basically all pastes are the same.
You get a difference of a few degrees Celsius depending on the brand/style of paste... but overall they are equal.
It is more your application that determines how well it cools which is why I suggest giving your application a "test run" before putting everything back together.

I hope this helps with the questions I was asked.

OH... to answer the question about skype etc.... overall my temps are lower so no matter what I do... it takes longer for the temps to rise, they do not rise as high and my temps lower faster (all with the fans not spinning as fast either).

OH and aznguyen316... thanks for making the video... you saved me the trouble

D.

 

interesting. Thanks for the insight, guys. Will let you all know how it goes.

 

I think I'm with Debaucher on this.. but people on macrumors was saying that there are sensors within the MBP that are able to tell apple geniuses that you tinkered with the hardware

Can anyone confirm this?

 

^ can't say I can confirm it, but it's very doubtful. There are liquid sensors though. I've taken apart my MBP and had them service it. It was for optibay and I just put back in the original superdrive. The HDD and Ram are the only things Apple can know about that you've messed with. You obviously won't tell them, hey something screwed up on my system, oh btw I opened it up awhile back to change out the thermal paste.

 

I took my MBP apart and repasted. The temperatures are a little slower to rise but I did notice it acts better thermally than before. Meaning when the fans come on I can see and instant slow decrease in temps, before it would stay high for a long time before coming back down. I also did see and excessive amount of paste used on the CPU that was covering most of the transistors. I am still running test to see what the temps will climb to Max, so far I belive the highest temp is 88 degrees celsius. Before the repaste I did see the temp go to 95 degrees celsius.

 

Mine is now running between 12C-20C cooler.

(!)

Took me quite awhile because (1) I've never done this before and (2) I was using a high-viscosity paste that couldn't (wouldn't) spread like arctic silver does. I used IC Diamond 27.

now averaging somewhere around 45C under loads that would usually sit around 60C-65C. am a happy camper, despite the time.

 

BTW, there are no sensors that are in the MacBook Pro to show that you messed with it. Just like many new computers they have an accelerometer or whatever its called that will detect if you drop it and stop the HDD, it will also detect tilt of the computer. I can't someone even suggested there are sensors that tell them if its been tinkered with. LMAO!

 

yea, no sensors whatsoever.

oh, and my awesome temperature gains have receded a bit. I'd say its around 10C cooler than before. Averaging around 50C-54C. So somewhere between 6C-15C cooler, typically.

 

That is normal.
All thermal paste takes a few days to "normalize".
I also use IC7 diamond and have been happy with it.

To make application easier I usually put the tube in hot water for a few min to soften it up then quickly add to the chip, put the heatsink down (give a little twist) then secure.

Glad you got it done.

You will notice that it takes longer for your fans to spin up (since the temps dont rise as fast) and will slow down faster (since it will cool faster now as well).

D.

 

understood.

 

My temps definitely seem much better especially after gaming. It got a little warm while playing the OS X version of COD4 under max resolution of 1650x1050 or whatever the max resolutionon the Hi-Def screen I opted for is but dropped supper quick. I exited the game after playing for about an hour and temps wee 66 CPU, 62 GPU. I was impressed.