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HELP! MBP 15" (2010) gets VERY hot when playing Skyrim!

S

specklemuffins

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 20, 2012
5
0
So I have a late 2010 15" MacBook Pro. I'm running Windows 7 on it through Bootcamp. I've noticed that after I play Skyrim for about 15 minutes, my computer gets unbelievably hot, hotter than it ever gets doing anything else on Windows or Snow Leopard. Also, while playing, the disc spins constantly and I can hear the fans working very hard. I'm worried I'm doing permanent damage. Any suggestions??
 
Sometimes I have to turn off and restart the game because my frame rate has slowed down so much. Is this related to the heat issue??
 
BREAKING NEWS!

Running intensive 3D applications can cause a GPU to heat up. Sources also claim that heat does indeed cause metals such as aluminium to feel hot to the touch.

In other news, the moon is infact NOT made of cheese.
 
striker33 said:
BREAKING NEWS!

Running intensive 3D applications can cause a GPU to heat up. Sources also claim that heat does indeed cause metals such as aluminium to feel hot to the touch.

In other news, the moon is infact NOT made of cheese.
Click to expand...

Thanks for being snide and sarcastic. I'm aware that computers normally heat up when performing intensive activities. Excuse me that I'm concerned about the well being of my $3,000 computer. I was concerned because it seemed ABNORMALLY hot and was causing game performance to suffer. If you don't have anything helpful to say...why did you bother replying??
 
I've played games under OSX and Windows. It definitely seems like the temp control under OSX is a lot better than under Windows. There have been a few threads about this previously.
 
Well thanks all. I'm relieved that this is normal. I'm still a little concerned that my frame rate slows down so much after playing for awhile. I've read all kinds of things about downloading fan apps, but I dunno....
 
Most computers will do an emergency shutdown if the core temp gets too high. My desktop's i7 hits a core temp of 100 degrees C normally under load. IIRC, damage doesn't occur until you get into the 120-140 degrees C range. The only time I'v had a computer do an automatic shutdown due to heat was when one of my HDD's decided to spontaniously combust.
 
Dronac said:
Most computers will do an emergency shutdown if the core temp gets too high. My desktop's i7 hits a core temp of 100 degrees C normally under load. IIRC, damage doesn't occur until you get into the 120-140 degrees C range. The only time I'v had a computer do an automatic shutdown due to heat was when one of my HDD's decided to spontaniously combust.
Click to expand...

Thank you! That makes me feel better! I need to monitor my temp. and be sure it's not getting dangerously high. It certainly feels very hot but I'm glad to hear that's pretty normal! =)
 
specklemuffins said:
Thanks for being snide and sarcastic. I'm aware that computers normally heat up when performing intensive activities. Excuse me that I'm concerned about the well being of my $3,000 computer. I was concerned because it seemed ABNORMALLY hot and was causing game performance to suffer. If you don't have anything helpful to say...why did you bother replying??
Click to expand...

He probably bothered replying in the hopes that people might start to think for themselves to solve problems, or at the very least google things for themselves to solve problems.

Also, probably for a bit of humor for the rest of us... I mean, I thought it was pretty funny...

----------
specklemuffins said:
Well thanks all. I'm relieved that this is normal. I'm still a little concerned that my frame rate slows down so much after playing for awhile. I've read all kinds of things about downloading fan apps, but I dunno....
Click to expand...

Also, there have been other threads explaining the performance throttling that takes place in the older MBP as a result of the thermal design.

I.e more heat = performance dips, and it continues until the heat ceases getting slower and slower, but it is still normal. I even saw a graph somewhere... Showed a pretty linear dip in performance as time went on and the unit got hotter.
 
specklemuffins said:
Well thanks all. I'm relieved that this is normal. I'm still a little concerned that my frame rate slows down so much after playing for awhile. I've read all kinds of things about downloading fan apps, but I dunno....
Click to expand...

Doesn't it throttle back the processor when it starts approaching a certain temperature so it can keep the temp under control? I seem to remember something about that, and it could be why your frame rate slows down.
 
sweetbrat said:
Doesn't it throttle back the processor when it starts approaching a certain temperature so it can keep the temp under control? I seem to remember something about that, and it could be why your frame rate slows down.
Click to expand...

See, we agree :D
 
striker33 said:
BREAKING NEWS!

Running intensive 3D applications can cause a GPU to heat up. Sources also claim that heat does indeed cause metals such as aluminium to feel hot to the touch.

In other news, the moon is infact NOT made of cheese.
Click to expand...

It's normal, don't worry too much about it. I play games and it heats up a lot.
 
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