13 inch Macbook Pro Core Temp Question.

[TitaniumWarrior]

Hey

I have the 13-inch 2.26Ghz Macbook Pro with the Geforce 9400m graphics. I've had this since last summer with no issues, but recently I've been starting to use it more for school. (Final Cut, Motion, Ripping DVD's etc.) I've also gotten into doing a bit of gaming.

My question is this, is it normal for core temps to sit as high as 90 - 100°C while doing things like rendering video and gaming. For example, I was playing the Sims 3 for the first time the other day, and the core temps sat at about 95°C while playing. Is this a normal temperature? or is it something I need to be worried about.

I've already downloaded SMCfancontroller and use it whenever I'm doing something like encoding a DVD. I'm just overly concerned that I might cause some damage if I let it get around 100°C too often.

Am I just being paranoid? or is my concern justified?

 

[rawCpoppa]

It's normal. Especially how the the fan ramps up to full speed only when temps get in the 80-90 deg C range. This used to happen to me when I was folding.

What you can do is adjust the fan speed to max before you start gaming so it will help slowdown the temp increase and may even keep it at high 80s to 90 deg max.

The cpu is designed to operate up to 120 deg C (I think) and if higher the macbook will shut itself off so technically this shouldn't damage the cpu but people always say that high temps lower the life of electronics regardless so try to keep the temps 80-90 deg C.You can also use a standing fan to blow cool air on your macbook.

 

[TitaniumWarrior]

Thanks for the help

So far I've had no problem with shutting down, and I've rarely ever seen it go past 100°C. I'll take your advice and adjust the fan BEFORE gaming, it should help out.

I'm honestly amazed that such a small fan is able to make such a difference, I hope it doesn't get worn out if I use it on high RPM too much.

 

[Relznuk]

It's normal. Especially how the the fan ramps up to full speed only when temps get in the 80-90 deg C range. This used to happen to me when I was folding.

What you can do is adjust the fan speed to max before you start gaming so it will help slowdown the temp increase and may even keep it at high 80s to 90 deg max.

The cpu is designed to operate up to 120 deg C (I think) and if higher the macbook will shut itself off so technically this shouldn't damage the cpu but people always say that high temps lower the life of electronics regardless so try to keep the temps 80-90 deg C.You can also use a standing fan to blow cool air on your macbook.

Exactly. The temperatures you are experiencing are not dangerous, and not something to worry about.

 

[Mindinversion]

Thermal shutdown on the 2.4Ghz is 105c according to Apple.
SHOULD be close to, if not identical for all C2D models used by Apple.

That said, when I was hitting 92-95c playing WoW, I was just a wee bit concerned. Two things helped me out.

1) reset pram.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Resetting Pram seemed to clear some odd fan speed issue, as afterward I didn't break 80c [tested with no fan control active]

2) use fan control for mac.

not to be confused with SMC fan control, this program has one great advantage over SMC. You can set fan speed to a minimum temp [I think lowest is 45c] but you can also set the temp at which the fan hits MAX speed [Which I believe was 70c]. This allows you to essentially manually control how steeply the fan speed scales with temps. Also nice b/c you don't have to switch profiles when you're done gaming and want to move back to nice QUIET web browsing, etc.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23137

 

[TitaniumWarrior]

Thermal shutdown on the 2.4Ghz is 105c according to Apple.
SHOULD be close to, if not identical for all C2D models used by Apple.

That said, when I was hitting 92-95c playing WoW, I was just a wee bit concerned. Two things helped me out.

1) reset pram.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Resetting Pram seemed to clear some odd fan speed issue, as afterward I didn't break 80c [tested with no fan control active]

2) use fan control for mac.

not to be confused with SMC fan control, this program has one great advantage over SMC. You can set fan speed to a minimum temp [I think lowest is 45c] but you can also set the temp at which the fan hits MAX speed [Which I believe was 70c]. This allows you to essentially manually control how steeply the fan speed scales with temps. Also nice b/c you don't have to switch profiles when you're done gaming and want to move back to nice QUIET web browsing, etc.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23137

Thus far I've had no problems with the fan speed, it's been pretty consistent, so I shouldn't need to mess around with the PRAM.

As for the fan controller, it looks interesting, it would be pretty convenient not to have to switch profiles back and forth like you do with SMC.

 

[Pax]

The fan control algorithm seems to be designed to keep the CPU at 95 C. The algorithm seems to go
- keep fans at 2000 rpm until 80-90 C
- gently increase fan speed as CPU temp rises towards 105 C
- allow CPU to sit near 105 C for a couple of minutes while fans increase still further
- keep ramping fans up, pulling CPU back down to 95 C
- adjust fan speed to keep CPU at 95 C.

So 95 C is quite "normal" in the sense that your MBP is behaving like all the other millions of MBPs out there. There is some debate on these forums about whether 95 C is "bad for" your CPU in the long run - whether it will shorten its life. My personal view is that it will not materially shorten its life (I've some experience in semiconductor physics). I think your CPU will almost certainly outlast the other components of your MBP. For example, we rarely see fried logic boards on this forum, apart from 8600M graphics card death. Lots of people out there torture test their Macs (including, I expect, Apple) and we don't hear much about premature logic board death.

But if you are worried that a hot CPU will shorten its life, you can use a fan control algorithm to push the fans faster thus changing the 95 C setpoint. I do not, I think they solve a problem which doesn't really exist.

(This might start a flame war!)

 

[m85476585]

http://guides.macrumors.com/MacBook_Pro_FAQ#Q:_My_CPU_temperature_is_XX_degrees.21_Is_this_safe.3F

Apple lets the CPUs in their laptops run hot to keep the computers quieter and save battery by not running the fans. High temperatures will decrease the life of the hardware somewhat (though it's hard to say by how much). The CPU itself will be fine and can easily handle temperatures within spec (<105C) and will protect itself from higher temperatures, but heat increases the chance of something else failing. This suggests that Apple no longer cares about selling quality hardware, despite the fact that they still charge a premium price.

 

[TitaniumWarrior]

Thanks for all your input guys.