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Am I slowly cooking my MacBook Pro?

Kristenn said:
If I play on the 9600M shared card (256MB)
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You mean your shared 9400M.

But if I want really good fps for fighting in battle grounds or just a bunch of monsters in really large places. I need my 512MB card.
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Actually you just need the faster GPU with the faster, dedicated VRAM... you don't really need more VRAM.

But it makes my computer much hotter. So Im wondering... am I slowly killing my computer? Like... cooking it from the inside?
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No. Heat like that won't kill a CPU or GPU... only overvolting it will. 90C is pretty high, but not unheard of in modern CPU/GPUs.


Or worse... kills itself?
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*Blinks* Well if it ... kills itself I guess that's out of your control... o.o
 
dennis123123 said:
:eek::eek::eek:

If any CPU I saw was over 80 celsius I would panic! 90 is a common MAXIMUM temperature, where anything over could cause death and destruction and small fires (well, maybe that was a bit over the top, but it could easily cook itself or surrounding parts)

I know this is old, but check out the values for MAXIMUM temperatures (these are NOT regular operating temps)
http://www.technibble.com/what-is-my-computers-maximum-cpu-temperature/

Find the model number of your cpu and look the value up from the intel site
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Errr... I have a two year old MBP and it's temps have been flutuating from 55°C to 100°C (under load) and it's without Apple Care and you know what? It's still working!!

Perhaps you should check out Intel's technical fact sheets regarding C2D's, you'd might be surprised to learn there failure temp is something like 125°C.
 
jfyrfytr25 said:
seriously how old are you? can you not shovel driveways this winter or something to get a few hundred?
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to the OP, listen to this guy and what he's saying. You still have 5 months before the warranty expires, so use that time wisely and I'm positively sure you can get a few hundred by then, plus family members might see you working and be willing to chip in with a few bucks, and even if they don't, you'll probably have more than enough for apple care and you can use the rest on something else.

it's more of a peace of mind thing, but trust me, if you ever have something happening with your computer, AppleCare pays itself off and then some.

and, even if you get it and your computer is a champ and never breaks down, you'll have learned the value of hard work, saving and doing with your money whatever you want, you'll probably find that when you're spending your own dime you are extra careful on what you spend it on, and the care you give to the things you buy.
 
bottom line here is use "FAN CONTROL 1.2" its an amazing addition to your mac. ive used SMC FAN CONTROL for 2 years, always manually controlling my fan speeds, when i saw my temps go up. i became very familiar with when i would need to run my fans at max speed, like when on youtube watching videos, i knew my CPU would be stressed and need some cooling, so i would jack the fans up to max speed (6000 RPM) but then a few weeks ago, I found FAN CONTROL 1.2 and it does an amazing job at turning up my fans when things get hot. check it out, you will love it. I would rather replace a fan because it was being used alot than kill components due to heat. !
 
A couple months ago my fan suddenly started spinning really fast and loud. I downloaded iCyclone at the time and saw it was going 6000RPM. I couldn't slow it down, even with manual fan controlling.

One day, the fan suddenly stopped making noise. I noticed the temperature was now getting really high.

Then one day the computer shut off abruptly. After a few times doing this (One day actually being a Kernel Panic!) I discovered it was doing it when the temperature reached around 85-90ºC, but the fan was now only spinning at a max of 2000RPM, with the normal being around 1200RPM.

I talked with a service person who said it might be something bigger. Like the logic board. I decided to stick with the computer and try to save up for a new MBP to replace it instead of spending who knows what on whatever they might find wrong.

After looking at this thread I decided to reset the PRAM and the SMC.

Resetting the PRAM did nothing.

Resetting the SMC has disabled all my fan monitors ability to find out how many RPM's it's going. Seriously. iCyclone shows 0RPM and SMCFanControl shows 000RPM for the fans. And it's currently at 78º.

I can't do anything processor intensive now because if it goes between 85 and 90º it shuts off without warning. I then have to wait for it to cool off before starting up. When asleep or off it sits at 45º, but quickly gets up to the 70's where it stays for the most part. (I bought a Targus fan pad to help.)

Zero RPM sucks. And I can't tell if the fan is actually not moving or if the sensor is just disabled. If I unplug the fan pad I got I hear a buzzing inside, but can't hear a fan anymore.

It's what I get for not buying AppleCare.
 
Jasoco said:
A couple months ago my fan suddenly started spinning really fast and loud. I downloaded iCyclone at the time and saw it was going 6000RPM. I couldn't slow it down, even with manual fan controlling.

One day, the fan suddenly stopped making noise. I noticed the temperature was now getting really high.

Then one day the computer shut off abruptly. After a few times doing this (One day actually being a Kernel Panic!) I discovered it was doing it when the temperature reached around 85-90ºC, but the fan was now only spinning at a max of 2000RPM, with the normal being around 1200RPM.

I talked with a service person who said it might be something bigger. Like the logic board. I decided to stick with the computer and try to save up for a new MBP to replace it instead of spending who knows what on whatever they might find wrong.

After looking at this thread I decided to reset the PRAM and the SMC.

Resetting the PRAM did nothing.

Resetting the SMC has disabled all my fan monitors ability to find out how many RPM's it's going. Seriously. iCyclone shows 0RPM and SMCFanControl shows 000RPM for the fans. And it's currently at 78º.

I can't do anything processor intensive now because if it goes between 85 and 90º it shuts off without warning. I then have to wait for it to cool off before starting up. When asleep or off it sits at 45º, but quickly gets up to the 70's where it stays for the most part. (I bought a Targus fan pad to help.)

Zero RPM sucks. And I can't tell if the fan is actually not moving or if the sensor is just disabled. If I unplug the fan pad I got I hear a buzzing inside, but can't hear a fan anymore.

It's what I get for not buying AppleCare.
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have you tried uninstalling SMC and getting FAN CONTROL 1.2 ?? if that doesnt work, i would say your fans died.
 
loneshark said:
have you tried uninstalling SMC and getting FAN CONTROL 1.2 ?? if that doesnt work, i would say your fans died.
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SMCFanControl is right now showing ~1500 again. So resetting the PRAM and SMC didn't do anything. Sucks. Guess it really is broken.
 
Heres the best advice you are going to get from this thread.

Don't play WOW. Spend your time learning something or ruin some girls life. Both better options then frying your laptop on an unproductive game.
 
and after more searching, i think i have found my Macbook Pro fan solution !

here >> http://www.derman.com/MacBook-Pro-Fan-Control


its much better than FAN CONTROL 1.2 and SMC FAN CONTROL

FAN CONTROL would not max out the fans to 6000, it would only go up to 5800.

This EXTENDED FAN CONTROL 1.2 is much much better, and allows for left and right fan control, plus whether to use the GPU or the CPU temperatures as the basis for fan speed. very very nice preference pane application.

after 2 years of using this Macbook Pro, i have finally found what i need in a fan controller. w00t.
 
vant said:
Heres the best advice you are going to get from this thread.

Don't play WOW. Spend your time learning something or ruin some girls life. Both better options then frying your laptop on an unproductive game.
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Umm. Thanks?

I quit playing weeks ago..found it boring.

But isnt it a boys job to ruin some girls life? and I need this laptop for school. Wow isn't the only app that works the cpu into the 80c range >>
 
heres some more advice: if you do learn something new, skip chess. i think ive fried a couple laptops (not macs, though) probably from intensive chess analysis (chess apps run the CPU at 100% load at all times).
 
Don't worry, its designed to shut down if it overheats. Either that or you'll get warnings or both :cool:

My MacBook at school overheated on a hot summers day lol. It crashed/shut down, soon followed by everyone else's MacBook! (I was only browsing the web LOL). Anyway when I rebooted it there was no damage done! :D
 
My MBP's logic board fried recently after running too hot for too long. I don't play games, etc. It just ran blazing hot all the time. Warm summer weather doesn't help it much either. The new board improved things. By about 2%. The machine was almost unusable due to the jet engine noise of the fan. My silent, stable and fast 3+ year old Windows box sitting next to it is like an unintended Microsoft ad by comparison. Not trolling, I love my Mac, but sheesh... Even my wife, who vastly prefers Macs was choosing Windows to preserve her sanity.

Enter CoolBook. Now my MBP is silent again, even when doing things that normally get the fan up to 6000RPM. Best $10 I ever spent on my Mac, money even more well spent than on the license for my beloved LaunchBar. It's a pleasure to use again.
 
It's definitely OK for your computer to be getting into the 80s, but it's a little sketchy to go over 90. Mobile parts are designed to run hotter. Your computer will force-shutdown if the CPU or GPU reach 100 degrees. There are a few things you can do to help that. I'd make a back up of your harddrive, and do a full clean reinstall of Mac OSX, and then move your files, apps, and transfer and app-user data. It's a bit of work, but it will help your computer run faster and cooler. I'd recommend it every 6 months at least. In addition, by backing up, you protect your data if your macbook harddrive fails. Even if you can't do a clean wipe, I'd still try to do a backup and a reinstall, as my Mac friends say it helps alot. If you're still getting really hot, try manually gunning up the fans before playing, using a program such as smcFanControl, and invest in a laptop stand with a fan, preferably one that is raised.
 
TechProbCC said:
It's definitely OK for your computer to be getting into the 80s, but it's a little sketchy to go over 90. Mobile parts are designed to run hotter. Your computer will force-shutdown if the CPU or GPU reach 100 degrees. There are a few things you can do to help that. I'd make a back up of your harddrive, and do a full clean reinstall of Mac OSX, and then move your files, apps, and transfer and app-user data. It's a bit of work, but it will help your computer run faster and cooler. I'd recommend it every 6 months at least. In addition, by backing up, you protect your data if your macbook harddrive fails. Even if you can't do a clean wipe, I'd still try to do a backup and a reinstall, as my Mac friends say it helps alot. If you're still getting really hot, try manually gunning up the fans before playing, using a program such as smcFanControl, and invest in a laptop stand with a fan, preferably one that is raised.
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Mobile Core 2 Duo CPUs are good up to 105C.
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAPR
After that, they will start to throttle down and at some point force shutdown.
 
Kristenn said:
Hmm. Im 13. I guess that is young compared to some here :eek:

But yes I can get a small job I think. And when I told my mom how much the logic board was she said we can look into it.

Thank you for all the help everyone. I just worry too much. Especially after what happened to my HP =O

If I do find someone that will actually pay me money to do something around here... I will try to do it. Just so I can pay for it if my mom cant. My dad is being a big meanie about helping us out too >>
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I'm 14, but I have a gateway. i wish my parents would spend a grand or 2 on a MBP. I have a paper route, I get $70.00 a month and $200+ during the holidays, I'm using it to pay for my iphone 3g, that costed $499. But get a job and buy AC. I'm in the 8th grade now, and got my paper route in the third grade.
Sell the iPod classic then. I would rather have AC on my expensive MBP than an iPhone.
 
Kristenn said:
Hmm. Im 13. I guess that is young compared to some here :eek:
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Maaaan, I wish I'd had a MBP at 13!!

Just kidding; like someone else said, I think it's really awesome that you're so young and still consider the inner workings of your computer. :)

If it helps at all, I've had the exact same freak-outs when I started playing WoW on my new MBP, too, not least of all because I've fried a couple of other (non-Apple!) laptops by overheating them. That said, I'm thus far very very impressed by the cooling system on the MBP; I read somewhere that anything up to 90C is fine, and I've not hit anything higher than 80 (maybe 81 or 82 just before the fans kick in), even on the highest graphics settings with the 9600.

That said, and this might give you a little peace of mind (I know it did for me), I tend to game using the integrated 9400 graphics card. The quality isn't quite as good as the 9600, but it's more than enough to enjoy the game... and it runs a good 10C cooler (CPU never goes above 70C). I'd say that's worth a little less in-game detail. :)
 
TechProbCC said:
It's definitely OK for your computer to be getting into the 80s, but it's a little sketchy to go over 90. Mobile parts are designed to run hotter. Your computer will force-shutdown if the CPU or GPU reach 100 degrees. There are a few things you can do to help that. I'd make a back up of your harddrive, and do a full clean reinstall of Mac OSX, and then move your files, apps, and transfer and app-user data. It's a bit of work, but it will help your computer run faster and cooler. I'd recommend it every 6 months at least. In addition, by backing up, you protect your data if your macbook harddrive fails. Even if you can't do a clean wipe, I'd still try to do a backup and a reinstall, as my Mac friends say it helps alot. If you're still getting really hot, try manually gunning up the fans before playing, using a program such as smcFanControl, and invest in a laptop stand with a fan, preferably one that is raised.
Click to expand...

Holy thread revival.
 
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