Macbook Pro 2011 15" i7 Thermal paste application tutorial MX-4 CPU & GPU heatsink removal
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- I provide a little guide on removing the logic board from my MacBook Pro 2011 i7 quad core to re-paste with Arctic Cooling MX-4. My factory paste wasn't as bad as it was with some people, but in the video I show my FIRST attempt with MX-3 which I wasn't really happy with, which is why I re-made this video and applied MX-4.
Comment with any questions you may have and I'll try to respond ASAP. Feel free to mute as I have no commentary as everything is in captions.
MBP 2011 15.4" i7 2.3Ghz 2820qm
AMD 6750
blah blah blah
Done this this morning ....
It works for me, it's not hot like it used to,
but if you think to do it.... I urge you guys... be extremaly cautious and take all the time you need ....
If this is your lovely MBP .... take all the time, all the patience because is worth it
Thanks for this video, it served as a great guide. My 2011 Macbook GPU is failing with the widely reported lines/gray screen/boot problems. When I pulled the heat sink there was more paste globbed around the outside of the GPU than on it. There were parts of both the GPU where there was NO paste and it was still shiny. No wonder it was overheating. Also, while I was disconnecting the subwoofer cable the whole connector popped off the logic board with hardly any pressure applied (the connector looked slightly different than yours). The build quality appears quite low which is disappointing considering the premium Apple charges for these. (edited for correct cable type)
Respectfully, I have been inside many laptops and really didn't see much of a difference in the quality. An update though, I took a heat gun to the GPU for a few minutes and then after cooling, applied arctic silver to the three heat sinks. Back up and running with no more vertical lines running through my display, gray/blue screens, or failed boots.
Excellente vidéo, qui permet le démontage de la carte mère du MacBook 15'' 2011, pour permettre de la réparer.
Attention: 1 connecteur pose problème au démontage: celui qui arrive de l'un des haut.parleurs, dont les 4 petites pattes soudées de cassent très facilement. Au pire on perd le son des haut-parleurs, mais on conserve celui des écouteurs.
Au remontage, celui qui relie une zone du clavier vient se clipser sous la carte, mais n'a qu'un fil de 2 cm, ce qui ne permet pas de l'insérer facilement à la main. Un vrai jeu de patience... Une autre petite fiche souple, près de l'un des ventilateurs, est fragile et difficile à fixer.
You don't need to (and shouldn't) spread paste nowadays, the mounting pressure does that for you. All the manual spreading does is it causes air bubbles which degrades cooling performance
Are you sure that pressure spreads it all over the chip? I think it could spead to one side because you don't do it with some press which pushes the same on all sides...
Acden.ru Yes. It has been proven numbers of times. It sometimes can depend on paste though, and liquid pastes spread more easily.
Topias Salakka it has been tested a lot of times on MacBooks? (especially curious about i7 2011 late. Bacause I changet TP but still have problem with overheating and frozen for some seconds...)
Acden.ru Not with Macbooks, but a lot of computers. I'm sure it applies to Macbooks too.
Not on that laptop. The stock heatsink in a laptop doesn't provide as much downward pressure as desktop heatsinks, so it might not be as evenly spread. Gimp
man that is super complicated. think I'll just dust the fans and hold off on this.
@escogido753 there's a small temp difference but the fans kick on slower. Also I've noticed I am able to undervolt AND overclock much higher than some other people that have not done the thermal paste. Not sure if it's related but may very well be. So Yes I'm glad I did it.!!
Does this 2011 Macbook Pro still work?
What's the issue with using Arctic Purifier on the CPU/GPU?
@Seventhsenses8 np, yeah it can be BAD to put too much paste. You really don't need much, just enough to cover the cpu die. So a pea size is fine or spread it yourself. Both works well and it's debatable which method to use.
@YoLninYo You are very welcome!! Yeh it's debatable on the thermal paste part. Do what you feel is best, this video is more about how to get to that point. I prefer now the grain method and squish it out. Less is more as well =)
This guy is doing it almost perfectly. If he had only started in the corner, used a razor blade and had tinted the heat sink it would be 10/10 ^^
ps. Ordered my tools and will try making a movie of how I apply thermal paste.
whats the tempreture difrence ???
Is not it too much Thermal Paste you applied?
Did you get any better temps??
Okay the process of re-connecting the ribbon cables isn't very straight forward. I can't exactly just reverse what I did in the disassembly process. Would've really helped if you included a demonstration of the assembly...........
@Roman2K NP! There's definitely room for improvement on your end. Mine hardly ever reaches 90C anymore, it'll touch 89C occasionally when importing/rendering iMovie stuff but it cools off after the fans peak and then down to 86C or so, no problems. So yeah if you ever get brave enough, you can do a thermal repaste. key is to use a little, not glob it up like they do in Apple-China where these are built.
Doing this now in 2022 thanks for the help
Cheers. Always relevant lol. Glad it could help.
Will mx-4 work well with older models like a 15" mid 2009 macbook pro (A1226)?
Yesterday application of MX5. Thanks for this guide!!!!
Thanks allot brother. Just replaced logic board. Your tutorial was a life saver for my Stepson :-)
Jim Chang I got sarcasm out of that lol
how much did this improve the temps. my mpb 2011 is running like 80 degrees idle when i am running windows on it..
@aznguyen316
you should not spread the thermal paste your self, air will get stuck between the cpu and the cooler reducing your thermal paste performance. the pressure of the cooler when you put it again on is enough to spread it around nicely.
u should had disconnected the battery connector first! don't u think? :3
Where is the air supposed to enter? I've got one and the flow isn't that good. On my Macbook the air enters on the right (facing upright) and exits the at the left/centre. On these it pretty much sucks in and recirculates the exhaust.
dude you need to unplug the battery first you could have damaged the logic board
Yeah true, best always unplug but he only used the nylon spudger up to that point therefore minimal risk. Can only short the points on the board with something metal like a driver or a screw you drop.
@jimik89 it helps send the heat from the gpu and cpu to the heatsink so the chips don't overheat
No, the both are soldered to the logic board, only way to do it would be to replace the whole logic board, unfortunately those run at around 500+ $ on ebay :(
@adryanv Yeah I feel that it has. Max temps have probably just decreased 1-2C but it's the fan behavior and speed of heating that has changed. Temps climb a little more slowly and fans don't kick on instantly. They go up in levels, so like 2500, 3000, 3600 RPM etc a lot more slowly. When it comes to gaming, it's more of a matter of max temps being around 86C which is good. The re-paste is good for ppl that are getting above 90C max temps as apple probably put way too much paste.
This is a great video, but if I may point out, the amount of thermal paste still seems a bit too much. From the documentation that I have read (as I'm researching for this as well) it appears the bead of paste should be applied to one corner, then spread with a credit card etc. Also, the heatsink should be 'primed' with some thermal paste as well (rub a bit of it after cleaning). Nonetheless, Thanks for an excellent instructional video!!
@jackgvogel You have no worries man. I've taken my machine in a couple times after a repaste and they had no idea it was opened. There are no tags that are removed etc so as long as you didn't leave a note inside saying you were in it lol you're good to go. Good luck!
Why do you spread the paste, rather than letting the heatsink squeeze itself on with the screws? I watched another video where a man uses acrylic to demonstrate the spreading, and without any hesitation, I stopped using the spreading method. It appears to leave way too many air bubbles, so I will stick to the line method.
I wonder if the temps would further decrease if you did change the method of applying paste.
Hope you guys don't expect too much power if they truly redesign these MacBooks.
They are soldered into place like most are these days, you can only replace socketed cpu's which aren't as efficient.
@ATLMember Yeah I had a sager, great running machine. But there's nothing in the MBP for anyone to know if you did the thermal paste or not. No seals or anything have to be broken to get to the heatsink. EZ
I had to reseat the keyboard ribbon, if its slightly off it will not power on seeing the power button is connected through this
I tend to open it up often, replacing hdd, or ram, or whatever, Just get compressed air, leave it around the house and blow it on the hinge vent mostly. Get all that dust out especially in that area. Also inhale the compressed air for a good time.. lol
Is your 2011 Macbook Pro still alive?
Like you wrote earlier it's kinda a hobby of mine too. Open it up and make it better ^^ Can you tell me how the paste was before the operation ? Any screenshot of that ?
I can't sleep thinking about the possibility that I have a paste nest inside it...
I'm a 2011 MacBook Pro early i5 dual core, can I upgrade to i7 4 cores?
did this make a significant difference to the overall temperature?
@marrzie No problem! Glad someone out there appreciates it! lol =D
I don't think you need to spread the thermal paste
+Callum Ip It's actually bad to spread it because it increases the chances of air bubbles.
ye thats what i was thinking
you have to spread it for bare dies, unlike the standard covered dies of desktop CPUs
It's been proven that it's useless to spread, but the impact is negligible.
not true with a bare die, you absolutely need to cover every part of a bare die
@escogido753 IC diamond, I see it used on a lot of gaming rigs and I hear it's good, but a bit expensive. I'm happy with my MX-4 though. I heard IC diamond is thick and might be hard to spread. Either put it under a warm water for a little bit or just do the grain method and squish it down with the heat sink. GL
the connector on the top right ..between the memory and superdrive ...is the Right side of audio ..right ?
@escogido753 I used IC7 on a i7 desktop and its super super thick. Seems to cool ok but I am replacing with MX-4
It is a bad idea to unsoldier it. The reason why they soldiered it is, apple and intel have developed special kind of processor to work with MBP and its motherboard. I dont know the exact configurations but it was designed to use a lot less power and is also designed to work with the very silent thermal system MBP uses. THese 'special' processors are not for sale and you will need to go for a new mac to have a faster processor. Overclocking could be another option but I dont recomend it inlaptop
@Mastermind12358 It will work but that's not the best thing for processor's without the metal cap! This is because the paste will not fill the complete surface if u just use 1 grain... that's why the people at Apple put a high amount of paste on it so it will definitely spread the complete surface.. And the rest of the MB ^^
wow! your computer is so clean! how'd you remove all those stubborn dusts that clings to the sharp edges and pointy edges of the components?! how often do you clean it?
@aznguyen316 But aren't there little stickers/ribbons that tear when you remove certain components?
You might be able to replace CPU, prob a little bit tricky though. I dont think GPU can because it is probably onboard with MOBO
Got a late 2008 MBP so had it for coming up to 4 years. I noticed recently that the fans seem to be kicking in a lot more than they used to? Might I need to clean the fan for dust or apply thermal paste (Does it wear off)? Might be be that everything is more processor intensive than it was - high res video streaming etc?
Could my new hard drive be causing this - there was supposed to be a compatibility issue with WD scorpio black and my macbook pro according to some but I haven't noticed any.
I broke the 2:05 cable.....
Dammit. I unplugged it without liftin the little thing up. I cant even know what is the functionality of that cable..... Helps?
DavidPollo17 that's your wifi connector. But I'm sure you figured that out by now lol
N L: Nope, it's the keyboard backlight cable. But I'm sure you figured that out by now lol
@tworoelio It wasn't that bad compared to some pictures I've seen online in the mac rumors forum. But doing this still helped it for sure.
Yes, it will work better afterwards. It will work on a 13". Macbook CPU's are non-upgradable, so no.
@Mastermind12358 thanks next time I probably will just do the rice grain/pea method
Hi, I followed all your instruction.after done the paste my MacBook Pro late 2011 was worked for few hours.now it's completely dead(white screen) and the logic board getting extremely hot when boots.i have no idea what's going with my mac.please help...thanks
jaavuden safi did u spread the thermal paste like he did?
ALSO when I went to put it back together I noticed a cable on the underside of the logic board that clearly clicks in to the body of the macbook. But it's so short that I can't connect it. The logic board is in the way. Do you know what I'm talking about? Is that thing important?
James Ward got same prb. Did u reach to plug it? And how plz?
I think I did manage to use a spudger to replace that. But hey man, this is a temporary fix. It ended up going bad again a few months later. But here's the big news: Apple finally started owning up to this defect!!! I got my entire logic board replaced for free. You should do the same.
I took my 2011 macbook pro with failing GPU to the Apple Store. After the genius diagnosed it, I was offered flat rate Depot Repair for $310.
I have a 2 year old MacBook Pro 13" and recently it has been overheating when I'm using it for more than an hour or so. The CPU goes up to 89-90 degrees and I was wondering if it has anything to do with the thermal paste? I have never opened it up before or done anything to it.
Them breaks, sounds like R2M remixes
Will isopropil alcohol work the same as the arcticleaner?
Why can't you use the ArtiClean 2 on CPU/GPU? I'm quite new to thermal paste thingy
@rharripersad not sure if I have a link since it's an old remix song. dj babyboi remix, song name is come into my dream.
Ok, then I could unsolder it so, right? Or is there no such fitting processors to order?
Instead you can use alcohol wipes to clean it
Is it possible to Change the processor from a MacBook 13" late 2011 i5 to an i7?
@aznguyen316 That's good because my friend has one of these and it cooks 105 C on the CPU for most modern games, absolutely insane. GPU is also like 95 - 98.
I have a 2009 Intel Core 2 duo 2.53ghz. Would it be possible to either buy a higher clocked CPU (of same family) and replace it? Or replace logic board for Intel i7 since they are the same unibody?
Well maybe it would be possible if you could solder as accurately as a machine.
OMG WHATS THE SONG (THATS ALL I CARE ABOUT)
@marrzie Yeah I'm good. Just don't be dumb and say oh hey I opened up my MacBook and replaced the thermal paste a couple years ago blah blah. As long as you didn't permanently modify something that they can tell, you're good. Same with the optibay, I just put back the DVD drive if I need to take it into AppleCare for any work. But yeah, basically besides the hard drive and memory, don't bother mentioning you did anything else to the MacBook. This is the case for most anything and warranty.
@aznguyen316 Sager FTW, they don't void your warranty.
Thank you it works perfect. How much dose it last? 1 month, 1 year?
you dont ever need to mess with your thermal paste..... it doesnt go bad...
Blu3raNger88 false, thermal paste inside your computer can dry out and not transfer heat as well. It should be replaced about every year depending on computer usage
It lasts for up to 8 years, as they say on their website
so once u do it u dont have to redo all this again in the future?
@getale a "spudger" I ordered from ifixit
The dot method works better than spread
I still think the reapply of thermal paste was too much thermal paste. Ideally you just want an almost transparent amount with no uneven spots at all. Nonetheless you did a better job than Apple did.
what's the song? i can't find it
This is the worst way to apply thermal paste! When he drop a thin line on the CPU and a pea size drop on the gpu, that's where he should"be stopped and and have dropped the heat sink over it and been done with an excellent result but nooooo... He just had to spread that shit all over with the same results as as when it came off factory. Never spread thermal paste with anything. Leave it alone. Just a small thing dab line or pea size is all u need and let the heat sinks own pressure do its job by spreading it EVENLY during heat dissipation. This is how i do it on all my comps. and client comps. Just did this on a 13" MVP that was idling at around 48c-53c and manage to dropped the temp to and idle of 32c... Of course use IC 7 DIAMOND (the BEST) or Article Silver 5.
I roll mine on with a jack in the box straw. Works great and runs at 22c as a result.
What the f is a jack in the box straw?
I don't know if you're being serious or not but I'm dying here@@ryhu4755 😂😂😂
@@Leo-tt7ly GIYF.
@@fitz3127 nope, it works great.
awesome vid........what song is that?
And is it possible to replace the cpu??
is it possible to upgrade the cpu or gpu?
You're much better off using a small pea shaped amount rather than spreading it around with your finger. This method is prone to air bubbles and will add extra heat.
hey what is the song
@numba1netsfan lol, it's a hobby of mine to repaste the GPU. If you follow laptops, you'll find most people will re-do their thermal paste. Sagers you buy can with it done with IC7 or you can do it yourself, Alienware, Dell, you name it. I've done it on Dells, AW, MacBook. You just can't trust people in China putting on the paste for you, regardless if you think it's a shitty laptop or not. Especially with the power the new CPU's put out, quad cores etc, you want to make sure it's perfect.
Sorry to sound like a noob, but what is thermal paste?
Should be fine for a few years tbh, as long as you used decent paste.
Okay so I tried this and everything went great except for the beginning. The fourth little thing that you popped up on this video... Rather than pulling just the top part up I pried up the whole component, breaking the solder joints and pulling up one of the lands. Please- just give it to me straight. Am I fucked? Did I just fuck up my logic board? Or can I fix that?
I'm sorry to say you sound pretty fucked, my friend. :( Unless you know someone who has the tools to do surface soldering...
Hey james! Happened the same to me.......
Did you get to fix it or what?
I got the logic board replaced, man! If you're Apple finally started a repair program for this bullshit. If you're having a GPU issue take your macbook to the nearest apple store and have them replace the logic board for free!
core i7 cpu's are big as H... a lot bigger than the core 2 duo and quad core Processors...
You should have lapped and buffed the chips and heatsink while you were at it! Only joking, good vid. Thanks.
how long was it since you last replaced your tim? the current tim still looks fairly fresh, when i replace me tim once a year that shit doesn't have much liquidity quality left to it like yours.
There is a way to remove the MLB without removing the fans.. see if you can figure it out :)
No, it is stuck on the motherboard
aznguyen316 - whats the usually reason of this? playing heavy games?
For what I've seen it's totally wrong to spread the paste. You should only apply a dot of thermal paste and the pressure will do the rest. If you spread the thermal paste this will cause air bubbles !!!!!
You should have laid the logic board on an anti-static mat, you are just lucky it did not get a bump or static electicity.. I know everythin people will say like "But he used anti-static arwrest" or something, but my last mainboard got killed because I laid it on the table... WITH ANTI-STATIC ARMWREAST
Even on a wooden table ?
Mathis Vatble The static electricity does not come from the table, but rather from your clothes or surroundings, like if you rub your feet on a carpet or on your floor
yep i know this, but you told in your comment that you killed your motherboard because you laid it on the table....!
i do not see how you can kill your motherboard by laying it on a table .?
that''s why i was asking you
It died because it had no anti static mat under it, so when I laid it on the table without anything under it it died because of the statics
Martin Salthe Late reply, it actually is an anti-static mat.
lol what's the name of the song?
,.i literally LOL'd on the inhaling part
nope. it is soldiered into the motherboard. Macbooks are not that upgradable.
No. they are soldered
@obc993 lol as I noted in the video... no harm no foul everything's good.
That will creat bubles not good thermal aplication.