2011 MBP 15" high-end running Steam

[AFPoster]

So last night I decided to run Steam and play Counter-Strike Source and HL:2. My mac runs at a cool 35c throughout the day with a couple browsers open, mail app and excel and I stay around 2000 on the right fan and 1996 on the left. I loaded up this game and after about 2 minutes I jumped to 6k on each fan, and cpu went to 88c. Which is normal. Let me say this the noise didn't bother me, this mac ran like a winner in a marathon. No complaints, it was perfect.

I'd try WoW or SC2 but no desire to purchase that stuff since I have minimal time, just wanted to try the above to for a few hours each since my friend was over and gave me his info to test.

Wanted to drop some good news since others always have issues, also the heat I couldn't even feel, I put my hand near the monitor (laid it on the aluminum) and I could feel the warmth but nothing painful or to hot to touch, just a normal warm feeling that never got any hotter.

 

[Manacit]

I, too, have had absolutely no problems with cooling in my 15" 2.3

Yesterday I converted an entire season of TV (10 800MB episodes) to the Apple TV 2 Preset with Handbrake. The temps did get to 93 C, and the fans were spinning at their max 6200RPM, but it converted them all! That's 800% usage for >2hrs with the discreet GPU on (second monitor), and it didn't freeze or shut off! My crappy ASUS 1201n, which is about 1/10th as powerful, gets just as hot as his, and it can't nearly do as much.

 

[AFPoster]

I'm just glad at least 2 of us have some awesome MBP's.

 

[NikFinn]

So last night I decided to run Steam and play Counter-Strike Source and HL:2. My mac runs at a cool 35c throughout the day with a couple browsers open, mail app and excel and I stay around 2000 on the right fan and 1996 on the left. I loaded up this game and after about 2 minutes I jumped to 6k on each fan, and cpu went to 88c. Which is normal. Let me say this the noise didn't bother me, this mac ran like a winner in a marathon. No complaints, it was perfect.

I play CS:S while outputting to a 1080p monitor and I reach about these temperatures without any problems whatsoever and I have a 13" i5.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

was ripping harry potter with handbrake to test MBP out, output file was 4GB
cpu temp went from 30 to 85 (max) and for the first time i heard the fans - they hit a peak of 4000rpm - as soon as file was ripped cpu temp and fan speed dropped back to normal

would like to try a few games out, as soon as i finish settin up my sys

 

[AFPoster]

was ripping harry potter with handbrake to test MBP out, output file was 4GB
cpu temp went from 30 to 85 (max) and for the first time i heard the fans - they hit a peak of 4000rpm - as soon as file was ripped cpu temp and fan speed dropped back to normal

would like to try a few games out, as soon as i finish settin up my sys

what settings do you use in Handbrake? I did a 3gb output file and my temp was a little lower, fast rip as well. no complaints.

 

[WillEH]

You have to remember when Apple designed/made the MBP's/iMac's etc, they didn't design them to run games (as far as I know) I understand that people do, but the poor fans, it must really put stress on them.. I'm sure if they did a test, with 2 MBP's, and one played games for 3 years every day, and the other just did video editing, etc. The video editing one would last longer. But that's just what I think. I may be wrong.

 

[AFPoster]

You have to remember when Apple designed/made the MBP's/iMac's etc, they didn't design them to run games (as far as I know) I understand that people do, but the poor fans, it must really put stress on them.. I'm sure if they did a test, with 2 MBP's, and one played games for 3 years every day, and the other just did video editing, etc. The video editing one would last longer. But that's just what I think. I may be wrong.

You could be right, could be wrong who knows. I know I upgrade every 3-4 years with Mac's, if I still used PC it would be 1x a year or 2. I know they're not meant to game and that's not why I use a Mac, but for testing I try it.

 

[Manacit]

You have to remember when Apple designed/made the MBP's/iMac's etc, they didn't design them to run games (as far as I know) I understand that people do, but the poor fans, it must really put stress on them.. I'm sure if they did a test, with 2 MBP's, and one played games for 3 years every day, and the other just did video editing, etc. The video editing one would last longer. But that's just what I think. I may be wrong.

No offense, but you don't "design a computer for playing games," you design a computer to be powerful, by putting powerful components in and a good cooling system. Gaming on a MBP won't cause any more wear and tear then using the GPU/CPU to their limit with any other application. Apple wouldn't design a machine that couldn't sustain maximum usage under operating conditions, no computer manufacturer would.

Have you ever seen a warning that says you can only use 100% CPU or 100% GPU for 15 minutes before you should stop, or before the computer shuts down? Of course not.

The fact of the matter is that these machines are designed to do whatever the hardware in them can do, whether that be play games, transcode video, or edit pictures. The cooling system is adequate to cool whatever they do, as long as you are using them under the listed operating conditions.

They didn't put the graphics card and CPU in so you could _not_ use them..

 

[WillEH]

No offense, but you don't "design a computer for playing games," you design a computer to be powerful, by putting powerful components in and a good cooling system. Gaming on a MBP won't cause any more wear and tear then using the GPU/CPU to their limit with any other application. Apple wouldn't design a machine that couldn't sustain maximum usage under operating conditions, no computer manufacturer would.

Have you ever seen a warning that says you can only use 100% CPU or 100% GPU for 15 minutes before you should stop, or before the computer shuts down? Of course not.

The fact of the matter is that these machines are designed to do whatever the hardware in them can do, whether that be play games, transcode video, or edit pictures. The cooling system is adequate to cool whatever they do, as long as you are using them under the listed operating conditions.

They didn't put the graphics card and CPU in so you could _not_ use them..

Ahmen.

I may be wrong.