Probook: Arctic Silver AS5

[zoltankr]

Did someone try to replace stock thermal paste with Arctic Silver AS5? If yes, how much does it help? 4-5C lower?

 

[Big]

I replaced my i3 with an i7 and used Arctic Silver 5.
Temperature seems to be the same. Remember that Arctic Silver 5 has a break-in period of up to 200 hours.

 

[riodoro1]

I've replaced my thermal grease with something better (not arctic) but improvements are low, theres no point in doing so as the stock one is still doing it's job.
It's OS X that heats up our machines so much, not the grease.

 

[mr-andrek]

Windows and, especially, Linux are no better. Hell, even worse. It's not OSX - the heat management itself in our ProBooks is screwed up.

 

[appleiscool]

Windows and, especially, Linux are no better. Hell, even worse. It's not OSX - the heat management itself in our ProBooks is screwed up.

previous gen probook and elite book fans were much quieter.

the problem is widespread with current probook 4x30s afaik - but not sure about 4x40s - did a teardown and checked the thermal parts system, its pretty much the same as elitebook except the fan.

hp are playing deaf and dumb, they chose the lowest bidder for these damn noisy fans, and someone pocketed the difference instead of using better quality fans in pro books.

its loud on osx and linux, but windows 7/8 is really bad you have to use the thinkpad fan control tool from some guy who wrote it in germany? well europe somewhere..

 

[custom-mac]

I own both 4430s and 4540s. I could tell that 4540s never gest even worm. Hardware monitor helps to understand the difference. My 4540s is also has Ivy Bridge, so it idles around 32° celsius. My 4430s has Sandy Bridge and it was idling around 48° celsius. To me, it was a bit excessive, plus I did not really felt any heat coming out of exhaust, so I decided to inspect the heat sink and sure enough it had al-cheapo thermal compound. I replaced it with Arctic Silver. Now 4430s idles ~ 42° celsius. So there is an improvement and yes, every degree counts! There is another thing to pay attention - Fan strategy. When we try to quiet it down - it may fall behind and CPU temp will keep going up, so is the fan speed. I think it requires some tweaking to get it well balanced. Of course, Ivi Bridge solves this issue by simply better efficiency.

BTW, replacing thermal compound is very trivial and simple procedure on 4430s laptops, not so on laptops with plastic cover like in 4530s.

 

[RehabMan]

I own both 4430s and 4540s. I could tell that 4540s never gest even worm. Hardware monitor helps to understand the difference. My 4540s is also has Ivy Bridge, so it idles around 32° celsius. My 4430s has Sandy Bridge and it was idling around 48° celsius. To me, it was a bit excessive, plus I did not really felt any heat coming out of exhaust, so I decided to inspect the heat sink and sure enough it had al-cheapo thermal compound. I replaced it with Arctic Silver. Now 4430s idles ~ 42° celsius. So there is an improvement and yes, every degree counts! There is another thing to pay attention - Fan strategy. When we try to quiet it down - it may fall behind and CPU temp will keep going up, so is the fan speed. I think it requires some tweaking to get it well balanced. Of course, Ivi Bridge solves this issue by simply better efficiency.

BTW, replacing thermal compound is very trivial and simple procedure on 4430s laptops, not so on laptops with plastic cover like in 4530s.

I used AS5 for my 4530s when I did the silent fan hardware mod (http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook/99227-probook-silent-fan-mod.html)

My 4530s idles in the low 30s (fan running at lowest speed ~1920rpm).

 

[custom-mac]

I used AS5 for my 4530s when I did the silent fan hardware mod (http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook/99227-probook-silent-fan-mod.html)

My 4530s idles in the low 30s (fan running at lowest speed ~1920rpm).

I will wait until AS5 sets, hopefully it will bring temp down even more.

I want to use this post to express my gratitude for your effort. I should have tried ProBook earlier - it exceeded my expectation. Not sure what experience was before I got in, but it is joy to use Mac OS X on this hardware.

Thanks!

 

[custom-mac]

I think the real issue here might be a result of defective heat transfer pipe. I removed back plate, so I could check temp of the heat sink. Yes it is worm right on top of CPU, but 15mm off of it - it is almost room temperature. This is consistent with my previous observation when CPU temp was 80°, but exhaust air is barely worm ~34°.

So Thermal paste would not solve this issue as no heat is being transfered to the fan area. I have ordered a few used heat sinks from ebay just to check this theory...

I could find 4 heat sink distinct variants sorted by serial number:
1. "Yellow" mark on label (one I have) - suffers from "cold pipe syndrome"
2. no mark (numbers on heat pipe) - the best craftsmanship from the way it looks
3. "Blue" mark on label and pipe - very rough, but possibly the best as the pipe seems to be the "fattest"
4. "Green mark on the label


Marks are not the only difference, there are other physical differences present - one can easily deduct - they made by different vendors.

 

[johnnyboy]

I'm running RehabMan's Silent Fan patch on a 4540s with IvyBridge i5. Idles at 48-50 C. Gets pretty hot on the left side where it says 'Probook'. I have 8 GB ram and a 2nd SSD. Not sure if this is what generates the extra heat compared to other users. In any case, I'd like to get that down a bit if its possible.

I'm not very knowledge about heating myself but I will ask around and try something. If I find a solution I'll post it.