MBP real cooling solutions

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Level 1

46 points

MBP real cooling solutions

I'm curious to see if someone has come up with some drastic way to cool off a MBP?

For example blowing air from the outside in the case with an external cooler, etc.

Please, let's skip the smcFanControl / apple knows what they're doing / etc discussions, it's useless: I live in a hot place and the fans at full speed yield 85c/185f cpu temps and 5 motherboards later the problem is still there. They made a good design compromise with the 'thin' obsession constraints, but the result is still very poor cooling and machines do overheat and die.

Summer is coming and I need to find a solution, or lose another motherboard.

The case temperature is a horrible indicator of the heat and cooling the case is useless; we tried having a MBP on a block of ice, literally! the internal temps do not change, so the case doesn't cool the heatsink.

This is one of the idea I had: connecting the heatsink to the case since the case can be put on another good conductor to take the heat away.

Pushing the whole the room toward arctic temperatures with the AC works, but it's more economical to buy a new computer regularly.

Since the computer is the cursed 2011 model, Apple's only suggestion was to resell the computer to an unsuspecting soul and buy a different model. But, from testing, it seems like all MBP just suck at cooling under load and are basically not meant to be used in hot climates.

Cooling pads have absolutely NO effect whatsoever on the temperatures.

You can program the SMC to push the fans at a higher rpm than the official but it doesn't yield anything useful either.

So, far the only way to run OSX without overheating seems to be in a PC but this year I want to make one last attempt at sticking with Apple hardware, which is why I'm curious to see if anyone has come up with a solution, no matter how extreme, that works properly.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Mar 18, 2017 5:57 AM

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Answer 1

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Mar 18, 2017 6:30 AM in response to Lexiepex

It's a peltier cooler; their main issue is that the hot side is right next to the cold side so this needs to be managed, but also that this creates condensation, which is a problem for here (I'm on an island) where the air is saturated with humidity.

I've seen them for PCs where they go on the side and blow air inside the case; maybe this could be adapted to blow air through the DVD slot; I don't have the DVD drive in the computer anymore, but a second HD, so there is actually more room to make this happen. it's worth investigating.

Here is one of the side devices, but this one is not Peltier based: https://www.amazon.com/LC05-Cooling-Auto-Temp-Detection-Compatible/dp/B00XKU47Y2

however they write it's not recommended for Mac computers.

another option is to drill open the case where the fans are and make another case below that will blow ice cold air, but I need to find how to vent the heat generated by the cooling.

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Answer 2

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Mar 18, 2017 6:16 AM in response to ThomasD3

In earlier days there used to be an item that was flat and had a cold side by some thermoelectric effect: you could put a notebook on it. I am not sure if it still exists and if it is enough to keep the notebook cool in your circomstances.

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Answer 3

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Mar 18, 2017 7:40 AM in response to ThomasD3

Indeed that is what I meant.

I have the DvD drive removed also, but I placed an 2.5" SSD in there instead of a HDD: even lower power thus less heat. I am high in the Alps and air is cool and very dry here. If you want to use the Peltier solution, mount it in a large wooden board, say 1 m2, have a blower streaming air on the warm underside to get rid of that, and put the MBP on top and over that a little tent, but remember: cooler air is even wetter than warm air!

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Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,578 points

Mar 18, 2017 7:43 AM in response to ThomasD3

Having maintained a relative's old convection-cooled (no fans) G3 iMac in an environment that would hit 90F in summer, I can appreciate the weather issues you face. However, before jumping into complex hardware mods, eliminating any software issues as contributing to the heat issue is a logical troubleshooting step. I've been here a long time and the majority of notebook heat issues reported reported seem to fall into two categries:

1--questionable software such as anti-virus, some banking security programs, so-called "cleaning/tune-up" apps, and adware.

2--blocked vents

The easy bit is the vents. Unibody MBPs use the hinge area for exhaust and that area must remain unobstructed. Not sure about your 15-incher but my 13-inch 2012 non-Retina MBPalso uses the hinge area for air intake.

Now the software--some of the miscreants I listed above can get instaled without your knowledge from unscrupulous download hosting sites or torrent sites. You can safely give us a snapshot of your software config. A respected and long-serving member of these Apple communities has created a simple utility that will take a "snapshot" of your configuration without revealing any sensitive information about you and your computer. It is Etrecheck, and is available here:

http://etrecheck.com/

Run it and, when its report displays, click its "Share Report" icon and then select "Copy Report" from the resulting dropdown. Paste the entire report into a response to your own thread here. It will allow us to quickly identify or eliminate software as the problem.

It may not be software but the Etrecheck test takes under five minutes if your computer is otherwise healthy, and eliminating software issues now will make further troubleshooting and suggestions for additional cooling aids easier.

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Answer 5

Mar 18, 2017 7:49 AM in response to ThomasD3

You can encourage a convection current by providing an air space under electronic equipment. It must be a minimum of 3/4 inch 19mm to form a convection current.

For example, my Ethernet switch was getting very hot to the touch. So I added an additional set of rubber feet to raise it over 3/4 inch from the shelf it sits on. Now it is only slightly warm.

You could use a Peltier cooler with the hot side raised 3/4 inch off the table.

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Answer 6

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Mar 18, 2017 8:05 AM in response to Allan Jones

Allan,

The machine is used for development, so it consistently alternates idle states (text editor) with all cores at 100% during compilation and testing. Since the code tested does mostly multi-threaded math, the CPU is essentially maxed out.mal

The thermal cycles will add significant stress to the solder joints as well.

That being said, I have here an old PC laptop with similar specs (i7, 16gb ram) that handles the same code very well but the airflow from the PC's case is dramatically higher. Also another MBP here has a dead GPU (after 2 motherboards); the one we're talking about had 5 broken motherboard and is on its 6th one if I keep the count right (but I could be off by a couple)

During summer, I can expect at roughly 35C/95F with the air fully saturated with humidity; I used to live in Hawaii and I had a friend just by the sea and the PC cases would rust! Inland it was ok. Here is not as bad but the conditions are similar.

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Answer 7

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Mar 18, 2017 8:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant,
Yes, I think this is the solution; I need to make my own cooler with a Peltier element.

Since I experimented with the MBP on a block of ice, I know that cooling the case is not the solution; either I need to inject air in the machine (making a hole below the fans, or through the DVD slot) or I need to connect the heatsink to the metal case.

The air going to the peltier device would be at a minimum of ambient temperature (let's say 35-40c), but could be higher depending how I can route the hot air.
Does anyone know how to calculate what would be the best power rating for a peltier element and how many CFM need to be moved across it if I want to achieve a solid 25c drop in heat? I don't know anything about termodynamics.

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Answer 8

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Mar 18, 2017 8:32 AM in response to ThomasD3

The Peltier power rating should be about twice the power used by the mac, if your air blow system is efficient.

I would not cool the air stream much lower than the ambient temperature: you will get condensation as I said above. Just ram more warmer air through.

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Answer 9

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Mar 18, 2017 8:44 AM in response to Lexiepex

Peltier elements are quite small in nature (https://www.amazon.com/BQLZR-TEC1-12730-Thermoelectric-Peltier-Cooling/dp/B00EQ1 X5EC) for example is about 38cm2 with roughly 5mm separating the hot from the cold side.

Would it make sense to attach some kind of heatsink on both side to maximize air contact? I could have the element tilted 45 degrees in the box, so one side ***** ambient air and blows it on the element which would bounce the air up to the computer; and have the opposite on the other side when I just blow air through to remove the heat from the box;

that would let the AC in the room taking care of it.

Now, does it make sense to blow to the fans by opening the case, or the case (by connecting it to the heatsink; no clue how yet); or is there a good path from the dvd opening

Looking at the motherboard shape (https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Teardown/ 4990) it looks like there is nothing obstructing the fan on the dvd side; I need to figure out how much volume I could push through that though.

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Answer 10

Mar 18, 2017 8:56 AM in response to ThomasD3

Have you considered using a silver tower Mac Pro 5,1 desktop or later for your development work? it is much better suited to a range of cooling options.

You pay dearly to have that MacBook Pro be portable, and it is limited in many ways by that portability.

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Answer 11

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Mar 18, 2017 1:33 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

It is a wise point, but if I have to get another machine, given all the troubles I've had, I'll probably move away from the Mac; I was waiting for the new MBP to see if it's worth upgrading and the new one is a disappointment since it doesn't offer any single feature I care about compared to the 2011 (I have the version with the high res screen, an I7, 16gb and I put 1 SSD and 1 Hybrid HD in it) and the performance difference is not worth it.

So, either I find a way to make what I have work, or Apple releases something really great (which, for my needs, hasn't happened in the last 5 years), or I'll change platform.

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Answer 12

ThomasD3 Author

Level 1

46 points

Mar 18, 2017 7:54 AM in response to Lexiepex

I have 2 HDD, the main one is a SSD, the one replacing the DVD is a hybrid; it is not generating much heat, but is usually over it's recommended operating temps.

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Answer 13

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Mar 18, 2017 8:06 AM in response to ThomasD3

SSD and hybrid: Not much to gain for you then. (I have 2 SSD both 1TB: I was a big spender 😁).

Lex

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