Review on 🔥 High Performance Thermalright Thermal Pad 12.8 W/mK, 85x45x1mm, Non Conductive Heat Resistant Silicone Pads for PC Laptop Heatsink/GPU/CPU/LED Cooler (1mm) by Lance Levatte

I recently bought an M1 Macbook Air and found it was thermally throttling when doing CPU intensive video and photo rendering. A Google search on this topic yielded many videos and YouTube articles on using thermal pads to use the Mac's aluminum back as an additional heat sink. I originally bought a set of copper pads and thermal pads because I figured the thermal conductivity of the copper pads would definitely be better than any thermal pad. But after running before and after tests using Cinebench R23 for CPU load, I noticed the results weren't as good as others on YouTube and other articles. So I bought this thermal pad, a bit confused by the price. When the new thermal pads arrived, however, I immediately noticed that they weigh significantly more than cheap pads. I then opened up the Mac and removed the previous mods and then applied the new thermal pads only to the area of the heatsink that is raised to a higher level than the other end of the heatsink which is slightly lower and recessed. For the recessed part of the heatsink I put 4 copper pads directly on the heatsink and then put a new thermal pad on top. We hope this efficiently transfers heat away from the heatsink, from the copper pads straight to the new thermal pad, and then efficiently transfers it to the aluminum back of the Mac. When I ran the first 10-minute Cinebench R23 test, I immediately noticed that the back of the Mac was much hotter than my previous mod, indicating that the new thermal pad was much more efficient at dissipating heat. Most of the heat came from the center of the heatsink, which sits just above the processor. The thermal level was now uncomfortably hot, not just "very warm" for the previous thermal pad. I ran a second 10 minute Cinebench R23 test right after the first one and noticed that the heat was even higher and radiated towards the far, jagged end of the heatsink (the side with the copper pads in direct contact with the heatsink and with the new thermal pad on the pads). I then ran a third 10-minute Cinebench R23 test right after the second to create a 30-minute general R23 CPU stress test. The third test showed that the heat levels were practically the same as the second test, with the heat levels getting slightly warmer at the notched end of the heatsink but not as uncomfortable as in the middle of the heatsink. The Cinebench R23 results are listed below.1. 7450 (battery only)2. 7302 (only with battery operation)3. 7273 (Connected to the network at about 7 minutes.) Looking through my results, I noticed that I'm not getting the same results as others on YouTube and in the articles. My results were less, but definitely better than with no mods, or even with my previous mod. Note that the tests were performed with only Cinebench running, no hard case on the back of the Mac (top half only), and only running on battery power (except for the second half of the third run) were performed. I don't think plugging the Mac into a power source made any difference compared to running it on battery alone. It definitely requires the back of the Mac to be fully open, with no case of any kind, as I've tested Macs with a hard case before (tested as if the thermal mod wasn't there at all). Bottom Line: Invest in the best thermal pads when going through thermal modification. Buying cheap pads is a waste of money and time. Also, copper pads provide no additional benefit and may even decrease heat transfer efficiency. I will now buy another Thermalright pad to make the serrated end of the heatsink with just the thermal pad and no copper pads. Maybe my results can only match other successful mods on YouTube with good thermal pads.