Mac Pro processor thermal paste toxic...?

Search the internet there were some threads and articles if you think it matters.

i had a psu noise issue while the machine is turned off but plugged in it would Emmit a buzzing osculating noise. aasp replaced my psu ( i did this 3x times ) now it is still there, but quieter than before. there is a smell which is coming from the psu when on, idk if this is bad (its pretty much like a LCD hd tv running for a long time hot) im not worried about that.

although i heard / read about that french article.


i'm kinda living with the noise bc it really didn't do anything, all things work, temps are fine, (i had an inspection of the electrical outlets by an electrician to see if that's alright and it was)

do you use a UPS?

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-337561.html this is interesting. for those who have ups, when the ups is turned on it will do a self test and during that time the ups will buzz and along with that the mac pro psu will buzz even louder. but then once its on its fine, but this is the first time i encountered the problem.


question: where does the smell come from?

mine is right by the place where the power cord is connected to the mac pro psu. and it just smells like hot electronics , like a tv so i was wondering.

wow, go to the apple store, i find it the hardest when dealing with apple, bc from their view customer = crazy, there machine = fine. but u will have to convince them

Thermal paste often has metals in it, and it can be toxic. Don't eat it. It's not dangerous if used properly.

Which store is this? Have you complained to the manager?

Vulcanized rubber isn't designed to conduct heat. The heat sink compound is designed to do that within specs without giving off toxic vapors. There's a fundamental difference between vulcanized rubber and heat sink compound. Don't mix up their uses. Driving a car on heat sink compound based tires would be dangerous, and using vulcanized rubber to transfer heat from a CPU to a heat sink won't be very effective.

A bit of googling found Arctic Silver as a popular compound for CPU thermal paste. This is NOT a recommendation to use this on Macs in any shape or form. What is used at an authorized service center is unknown at least by me. If this is what it is used, it certainly is not the same or similar vulcanized rubber in any way.

Message was edited by: a brody

Well, right off, if you are concerned with toxicity and long-term health effects of things in your home/office, air conditioners are pretty much tops of the list for the fungus and moulds that form in the air baffles.

I got rid of mine and am in a completely unconditioned home. The computer heat issue for the summer is fixed with a small hi-speed fan that shoves air into the front grille. I'll manage to cool the northbridge heat sink by 20-25 degrees with it running. Can be a bit noisy, but a good set of headphones with iTunes running fixes any distractions.

The smell, which my MP had as well, burned out after 6 months, but I always vent the house anyways so it's good as gone. Between the hot stink of old computer coming from the beige I have, (10 years running faithfully, I might add) three dumpster-dive CRT monitors (one with cat wee on it) and the new MP smell - it was a fairly stinky ordeal for a while.

Do you clean out your mac on a regular basis? I have found that a can of compressed air and a trip for two to the porch and blowing the gunk out goes a long way to keeping the heat - and the stink of hot machine - to a minimum.

Regards,

Deb.