2010 Macbook Pro 17" i7 heat question

[penter]

I find that my 15" i7 also runs hot to the touch.
GPU and CPU seem to be pretty much in par, and they generally run 50 to 65 celcius.

The enclosures hover constantly around 40 Celsius, which is REALLY annoying. Though it's hot to the touch, it's uncomfortable.
But hey. Looking at it from the bright side, putting it on my lap quickly cools the computer back down, because we're these computer's most effective cooling system. We're essentially water-cooled systems.

Now I have a question. Is it normal for iStat to NOT report a temperature? The GPU got to 74 Cº once, and it just showed " - " shortly thereafter.

 

[trondah]

The enclosures hover constantly around 40 Celsius, which is REALLY annoying. Though it's hot to the touch, it's uncomfortable.

What? How is 40C hot to the touch? Your body is 37! Your temperatures are very low for a MBP, if your CPU runs at 65C with load then you have a very cool laptop.

 

[Pax]

I find that my 15" i7 also runs hot to the touch.
GPU and CPU seem to be pretty much in par, and they generally run 50 to 65 celcius.

The enclosures hover constantly around 40 Celsius, which is REALLY annoying. Though it's hot to the touch, it's uncomfortable.
But hey. Looking at it from the bright side, putting it on my lap quickly cools the computer back down, because we're these computer's most effective cooling system. We're essentially water-cooled systems.

Now I have a question. Is it normal for iStat to NOT report a temperature? The GPU got to 74 Cº once, and it just showed " - " shortly thereafter.

I think you MIGHT have a problem, or two problems
1 - the - in iStat sounds like the GPU shutting down, or having a problem with its temp sensor
2 - the enclosure temperature of 40 C is very high. Especially if the Mac isn't working very hard. My experience with previous generation previous unibodies is that at idle the enclosure is usually in the 20s. Even at full load when the CPU is in the 90s the enclosure never goes about mid 30s. 40 C sounds really high

What are your fan speeds at CPU idle? I think both left & right should be 2000 rpm.

I'd suggest you post a separate new thread on here asking other i7 users for their enclosure temperatures at idle. And/or contacting Apple.

 

[penter]

I think you MIGHT have a problem, or two problems
1 - the - in iStat sounds like the GPU shutting down, or having a problem with its temp sensor
2 - the enclosure temperature of 40 C is very high. Especially if the Mac isn't working very hard. My experience with previous generation previous unibodies is that at idle the enclosure is usually in the 20s. Even at full load when the CPU is in the 90s the enclosure never goes about mid 30s. 40 C sounds really high

What are your fan speeds at CPU idle? I think both left & right should be 2000 rpm.

I'd suggest you post a separate new thread on here asking other i7 users for their enclosure temperatures at idle. And/or contacting Apple.

Thanks for the reply. my fans run at 2000rpm. (though it usually varies +- 4)
I've been running light tasks (e-mail and several safari windows). No ventilation obstructions, and the base now sits at a solid 34C. This is pretty much as low as it gets. I'll post this in a new thread.
Oh, btw, I have a 7200 rpm HD. Maybe that could be the difference? Because I also notice that my external 7200 rpm drive also runs pretty dang warm...

edit: after writing this post, the enclosure base temps are all at 36C lol

 

[Pax]

Thanks for the reply. my fans run at 2000rpm. (though it usually varies +- 4)
I've been running light tasks (e-mail and several safari windows). No ventilation obstructions, and the base now sits at a solid 34C. This is pretty much as low as it gets. I'll post this in a new thread.
Oh, btw, I have a 7200 rpm HD. Maybe that could be the difference? Because I also notice that my external 7200 rpm drive also runs pretty dang warm...

edit: after writing this post, the enclosure base temps are all at 36C lol

2000 rpm ± a bit is normal. Your base does seem a bit warm, esp if the CPU is in the 50s. Dunno about the 7200 rpm drive.

Here are my temps from a 13" C2D 2009 model. It's been on a flat wooden desk idling for about an hour. Ambient is probably ~20 C. I think my CPU is at the cooler end of the spectrum, C2Ds seem to idle up to ~50 C. Like your i7.

I know I should have waited for your new thread....

 

[penter]

darn... I wish mine were that low.
I've opened the new thread.
You can re-post ur last comment if you want there, Pax.

 

[MBHockey]

My i7 runs pretty cool. Been using it on a wood desk for the entire day today, nothing too strenuous too recently though:

 

[Pax]

darn...

Don't panic, I said you might have a problem. Hopefully not. Your skin temps seem high compared with earlier models, but the i7 does have a much higher heat output than the C2Ds (35 W vs 25 W) so it would seem reasonable to expect it to be a bit hotter.

You really need to get some other helpful i7 owners to post theirs under the same conditions. I'd be curious to see the answers.

Just had my CPU redlined for about 15 minutes, here are the figures. Skin doesn't seem to want to go above 32. Feels warm, but not at all uncomfortable, underneath the fan & near Magsafe. And this is with ~25 watts coming out of the CPU. Fans at ~4000 rpm

 

[penter]

oh, I edited my post above, btw. check it out. it has the link for the new thread

Just had my CPU redlined for about 15 minutes, here are the figures. Skin doesn't seem to want to go above 32.

its weird that your skin stays so cool... I'm starting to think It's just my HD

 

[JabbaII]

I have i7 MBP 2010.

When I use elgato to convert x264 to iPad format, CPU averages about 95 degrees celsius and max out 103 degrees celsius.

During long encoding processes, the application would just stop (no crash) ..

This is monitoring using iStat (not sure how accurate that is)

 

[Wolfpup]

Yikes, that sounds like the fans should be kicking in more. My Core 2 based Asus does 66c max under 100% load on CPU and gpu (the gpu gets hotter though)