MBP temperature while playing WOW

[sinser]

I'm wondering what can of temperatures you get while playing WOW on a MBP.
Yesterday I limited the FPS of the game to 30, this has yield a very quiet performance of the game: laptop seems seems less stressed and fan speed has decreased from 5500 rpm to 3500 rpm. Nonetheless the temperature of the laptop is kind of stuck at 71-73 Celsius (161 F for Americans). Is this a normal working condition ?

[Hawkeye411]

I haven't played for a while (I cancel my account during the summer). However, I do remember that my uMBP was getting VERY HOT but it did play the game very well.

Cheers.

[WinterMute]

It's not unheard of, are you using the machine on a hard surface?

I use the River design iLap stand, it works a treat for all MBP lap stuff not just WoW.

Get the iStat Pro widget if you haven't already, the GPU reading can get a bit scary sometimes...!

[sinser]

It's not unheard of, are you using the machine on a hard surface?

I use the River design iLap stand, it works a treat for all MBP lap stuff not just WoW.

Get the iStat Pro widget if you haven't already, the GPU reading can get a bit scary sometimes...!

Oh...I'm using all the tricks. I have a Griffin Elevator. If I touch the upper left side of the case after the framerate cap, it feels MUCH less hot, but iStat still reports 72 C degrees.

[WinterMute]

Oh...I'm using all the tricks. I have a Griffin Elevator. If I touch the right side of the case after the framerate cap, it feels MUCH less hot, but iStat still reports 72 C degrees.

OK, then you're doing the right things, yes it gets a bit toasty, make sure the ambient room temperature doesn't rise too.

[aznguyen316]

Interesting this has been a concern for me of late. I am on a UMB though, are you just running the 9400m? My temps average 70-74C and the fans are usually on at 5500-6100 (SMC Fan) max the entire session which kind of bothers me. I am playing on a hard wood table though w/o a cooler of any sorts.

I may try capping the framerate and see how that goes b/c I was originally doing ultra (playing Vanilla WoW) and that got hot so I turned down some gfx but still gets hot. How do you go about capping at 30FPS?

[voyagerd]

My GPU gets up to 96°C when playing WoW.

[sinser]

Interesting this has been a concern for me of late. I am on a UMB though, are you just running the 9400m? My temps average 70-74C and the fans are usually on at 5500-6100 (SMC Fan) max the entire session which kind of bothers me. I am playing on a hard wood table though w/o a cooler of any sorts.

I may try capping the framerate and see how that goes b/c I was originally doing ultra (playing Vanilla WoW) and that got hot so I turned down some gfx but still gets hot. How do you go about capping at 30FPS?

To cap just use the command

/console maxfps #desiredframerate

[aznguyen316]

To cap just use the command

/console maxfps #desiredframerate

thank you

[mus0r]

Oh...I'm using all the tricks. I have a Griffin Elevator. If I touch the upper left side of the case after the framerate cap, it feels MUCH less hot, but iStat still reports 72 C degrees.

I had the same problem. Used the Griffin thing, too. Eventually the heat lead to glitches, then KPs and all sorts of trouble. When I took it in for service they ended up gutting the thing and replacing almost every part of it except the drives.

[jeffer]

Use smcfancontrol as well and let it run at max rpm as soon as you startup wow. Also, make sure your mbp isn't on a soft area as it cools from it's body as well. Next to that, use /console maxfps 30 (can be higher/lower depending on what fps you want) to lower the fps so your gpu isn't pushing it's limit the whole time.

With the above, I'm around 62 degrees while raiding.

[aznguyen316]

/console maxfps 30
/console maxfpsbk 8

these worked wonders for me already! no more max fan and temps stay around 72C no higher so far.

maxfpsbk is good for when the program is not at focus -in background, if you're afk or somthing, FPS will drop to the min (8FPS is the min. atm) so like me, I use it while I scan using auctioneer or if I am doing something else while WoW is running. it's like it's not even open!

[iAlexG]

I play cod4 and qauke wars and my left fingers start to burn since the motherboard is underneath!!! I can only play for 30mins because my fingers start to hurt.

[RiotGaming]

There's definitely something wrong with your mac. I have a Macbook and a Macbook Pro. And the 3rd generation macbook GMA950 can run it very smoothly without any large increase in the temperature.

[sinser]

sorry.

[davegregory]

I have a 15" Unibody MBP late 08 and it also becomes extremely hot when using the nvidia graphics card. My GPU would go up to 98 C. I took it to the Apple Store because eventually the machine would lock up. The guy told me that there are reports of that happening and I could leave it with him to get tested for a faulty GPU, which, if was the case, I'd lose my MBP for about 2 weeks and I wasn't willing to do that right then. But I'm really considering taking it back and having it fixed before the warranty expires in Sept.

[HiRez]

maxfpsbk is good for when the program is not at focus -in background

Good tip, I didn't know about that one. Thanks.

But yeah, maxfps can make a huge difference in temperature on a laptop, not to mention battery life (not that you'd be likely to play WoW on battery very often, but you never know). I usually keep mine capped at 25 fps when I'm not on a desktop.

[RobLS]

Yeah, my first batch MBP gets pretty darn hot playing wow, or doing anything that utilizes the hardware pretty well. It also gets hot just sitting there for awhile. It doesn't bother me when its on the desk, but when I'm using it on the go on my lap its hot.

[suekitch]

I had a late 2007 15.4" MBP. When I played WoW on it the graphics temp got up to about 95 C. That was an 8600 GT.

I sold the MBP to my brother because I didn't want to be playing on a machine at that temp. Bought a Windows laptop instead and, on the battery without a cooling pad, that got up to 105 degrees once.

So yeah.. moral of the story is.. laptops get hot!

On my current 13" MBP I get into the 70s but not much higher so I guess the cooling has improved, plus the graphics (9400M) are less intensive.

I quit WoW though, so I only tested it out. I play The Sims 3 on the MBP and it's a lot better in terms of temperature.

[Freyqq]

I'm wondering what can of temperatures you get while playing WOW on a MBP.
Yesterday I limited the FPS of the game to 30, this has yield a very quiet performance of the game: laptop seems seems less stressed and fan speed has decreased from 5500 rpm to 3500 rpm. Nonetheless the temperature of the laptop is kind of stuck at 71-73 Celsius (161 F for Americans). Is this a normal working condition ?

lol i've seen it hit 96C before..These things do get hot

[cluthz]

When im raiding or do WG my MBP is about 80-83C, itds still alive after 26 months of abuse :)

[Huntn]

Do you think it really make any difference to your top end temp if you have a 3rd party software or just allowing our Mac to control it's temp?

[MacRumorUser]

Shame you can't do this in Sims3. My fans go crazy when I play it. Spore on the other hand does not cause the same problem.

[0makol16]

I have been currently playing WoW on my XP partition and the GPU gets about 68C and both of the CPU cores get about 55C when playing. I have found the game runs MUCH COOLER when on XP. The fans are going about 3500rpm average, I am also using a Targus chill pad. I play WoW on medium settings and capped the fps at 30.

[Animalk]

My MBP (see sig) while playing at just above minimum settings(view distance set to max, player textures set to max, particle density set to medium, no fps cap) will have the processor in the 72 to 82 degrees Celsius range and the gpu will go from 62 to 68 degrees Celsius range.

A year ago, playing TBC expansions, the temperature ranges were 2 to 4 degrees Celsius lower.

I have been contemplating reapplying thermal paste but the laptop at idle and low loads has below average temperatures from what I'm seeing on this board.

[Huntn]

I have been currently playing WoW on my XP partition and the GPU gets about 68C and both of the CPU cores get about 55C when playing. I have found the game runs MUCH COOLER when on XP. The fans are going about 3500rpm average, I am also using a Targus chill pad. I play WoW on medium settings and capped the fps at 30.

I realize this is besides the point of this thread but WoW is the only real game I play on OSX . I'd really resist installing it on Windows. :)

[0makol16]

I realize this is besides the point of this thread but WoW is the only real game I play on OSX . I'd really resist installing it on Windows. :)

understandable, I tried to resist installing bootcamp but Left 4 Dead got to me :rolleyes:

I'm not too sure how to keep temps low on Mac OS X, but i did use SMC fan control and set my fans to about 4250rpm and the temp kept going between 68C and 71C. 68C when nothing was going on or if I was running around, it got to 71C only during a BG arena, raids, and instances. I jsut recently started using a cooling pad and temps dropped by 2C and not its 66C to 69C.

[Demigod Mac]

Couple of MBP cooling tips in general:

1) Get the program smcFanControl and set it @ 6200 rpm
2) Keep the lid open when connected to an external display; the primary exhaust port is covered when the lid is closed. Huge cooling boost. (if you want to have only the external display active, wake up the MBP in sleep mode, then open the lid and it'll be off)
3) Elevate the MBP with a wire shelf. Get an external keyboard and mouse to use with it.
4) Use the 9400M if the game you're playing isn't intensive.
5) /console maxfps 30 in WoW helps

[Huntn]

Couple of MBP cooling tips in general:

1) Get the program smcFanControl and set it @ 6200 rpm
2) Keep the lid open when connected to an external display; the primary exhaust port is covered when the lid is closed. Huge cooling boost. (if you want to have only the external display active, wake up the MBP in sleep mode, then open the lid and it'll be off)
3) Elevate the MBP with a wire shelf. Get an external keyboard and mouse to use with it.
4) Use the 9400M if the game you're playing isn't intensive.
5) /console maxfps 30 in WoW helps

No. 5, how do you do that?
Thanks.

[0makol16]

No. 5, how do you do that?
Thanks.

there was a forum on the WoW community site about capping fps :D

[Animalk]

No. 5, how do you do that?
Thanks.

When in game, hit enter for the chat text input to come up.

Type the following:

/console maxfps x

Where x represents the maximum frame rate you want the game to run at.

[Huntn]

When in game, hit enter for the chat text input to come up.

Type the following:

/console maxfps x

Where x represents the maximum frame rate you want the game to run at.

Thanks! By chance do you know the name of the file where this setting is recorded? For the people who have done this, any adverse effects?

[sinser]

Thanks! By chance do you know the name of the file where this setting is recorded? For the people who have done this, any adverse effects?

There's no adverse effect. It's likely that you won't even notice the fps cap and you can always switch back to maximum fps.
You don't have to type the command every time you log in.

[Huntn]

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but has anyone with Fan Control experimented to see if the top end temp really changes with it versus without it? My guess is that Fan Control might slow the rate at which you laptop heats up, but eventually it will be the same temp as without it. I say that because when I'm playing WoW my fan runs continuously without the fan control program.

[Huntn]

understandable, I tried to resist installing bootcamp but Left 4 Dead got to me :rolleyes:

Worth installing Windows on your computer for. Playing it on my 360 and looking forward to L4D2 this Christmas (I think). :)

[voyagerd]

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but has anyone with Fan Control experimented to see if the top end temp really changes with it versus without it? My guess is that Fan Control might slow the rate at which you laptop heats up, but eventually it will be the same temp as without it. I say that because when I'm playing WoW my fan runs continuously without the fan control program.

My laptop runs a lot cooler with SMC fan control since it allows me to turn the fans up above the default maximum. Without it, the fans top out at 6000rpm. With SMC fan control, I can set the fans to their maximum, just under 8000rpm. I almost always have them set to 7000rpm, which keeps the CPU in the range of 80-90°C.

[Huntn]

My laptop runs a lot cooler with SMC fan control since it allows me to turn the fans up above the default maximum. Without it, the fans top out at 6000rpm. With SMC fan control, I can set the fans to their maximum, just under 8000rpm. I almost always have them set to 7000rpm, which keeps the CPU in the range of 80-90°C.

Well, I guess I need to install it and see for myself. Thanks for the info!

Update. I installed it and have been playing with SMCFC prefs. When I first launched it, I got two fan reading (in the menu bar), now I'm only getting one. Don't see a setting that controls the fan display in the menu bar. Any ideas on how to get both readings back?

I'm gonna experiment with playing WoW with SMCFC off, check temps, and then compare with it running. Will report back.

[sinser]

My laptop runs a lot cooler with SMC fan control since it allows me to turn the fans up above the default maximum. Without it, the fans top out at 6000rpm. With SMC fan control, I can set the fans to their maximum, just under 8000rpm. I almost always have them set to 7000rpm, which keeps the CPU in the range of 80-90°C.

80/90 C with fans running at 7000 rpm ???? Sounds terrible...
I think I wrote it before but after turning the fps to 30, I get 68 - 73 C, fans at 3500 rpm.

[Animalk]

Thanks! By chance do you know the name of the file where this setting is recorded? For the people who have done this, any adverse effects?

In your World of Warcraft folder, go inside the WTF folder. Inside you should see a file called "config.wtf".

Open this file with TextEdit and you will see a bunch of instructions listed from top to bottom.

So for maxfps, you would write the following into the file:

SET maxfps "x"

where x is again the maximum frame rate you want while in game.

Remember that World of Warcraft checks this file at launch for settings. This file is often cleared on patches. This file doesn't exist unless your game has run at least once after a new install.

Good luck.

[uberamd]

My Macbook Air reaches 180 F when using Skype and it hasn't exploded, so I have learned to quit worrying about temps.

[cluthz]

80/90 C with fans running at 7000 rpm ???? Sounds terrible...
I think I wrote it before but after turning the fps to 30, I get 68 - 73 C, fans at 3500 rpm.


I didn't think the old alu-macbook pros could do more than 6000 rpm.

Running WoW @ 85-90C with fans blazing @ 6000 rpm does not hurt the MBPs with 8600GT gfx,
since I have played over 3000 hrs!!! ( :( ) on mine.