How to fix MacBook Pro 16" thermals! ...or maybe not
Good day everyone,
Today I finally solved my Macbook Pro’s overheating problem, unlocking infinite power.
Or so I thought.
What I did in this experiment was to use a Noctua heatsink and fan [NH-L9x65] on my 16” MacBook Pro with an i9 2.4Ghz.
I was curious to what extent the multicore performance would improve. The sigle core improved slightly, reaching more often 5Ghz form the usual 4.9Ghz.
Multicore using cinebench stabilised on 3.3/3.2GHz and temps not over 70°C (158°F) usually around 60°C (140°F) after sanding the heatsink and using thermal paste. Performance wise, nothing special.
Let’s go one by one.
First test:
Thermal Pad from ThermalRight rated 12.8 W/MK 1.5mm thickness;
Noctua NH-L9x65;
Application: Thermal pad placed on top of heatsink + noctua.
Multicore around 3.2GHz and temps around 80°C (176°F).
Second test:
For the second test I decided to remove the black paint from the heatsink. I used some sanding paper, mostly fine grain one, to remove just the one the heatpipe.
Then, I put the perfect amount of thermal paste onto the heatpipe and placed the noctua heatsink on top of it.
Temperatures dropped about 10°C compared to the pad. This with the stock fans spinning at minimum speed.
If forced to max seed, the Mac would get another 8°C cooler.
Room temperature was around 22°C or 72°F.
The perfect amount of thermal paste on a MacBook Pro.
To end, some screenshots from intel power gadget and cinebench:
Final considerations:
Is this worth? No. Performance doesn’t really change, only thermals.
Would I recommend it? No, don’t try this at home.
If you need extra performance/chill, buy a desktop or wait for the new Apple Silicon Macs.
Thank you for reading!
