Advice needed

[Martyimac]

Wife has an older 2018 mini i5 and likes to play single player online games similar to candy crush, puzzles etc. In the evening when these games are very busy, the mini gets VERY hot and even macsfancontrol can't seem to keep the mini cool enough to not stutter while playing.
Will a new M1 mini be able to better handle the GPU load and heat generated while playing?

 

[eldho]

The M1 Mini runs very cool. I would be very surprised if it was not a lot cooler than your intel machine for those games.

 

[Boyd01]

How much memory do you have in the 2018 Mini? What kind of screen(s) are connected to it? The 8gb version is very tight on memory, especially since part of it is used for the screen. When memory gets low, the Mac "swaps" data to the SSD which causes it to heat up quickly. If you are using a scaled resolution on your monitor - for example, a 4k screen that is set to 2560x1440 - that also can cause the Mini to get hot.

 

[opeter]

In the evening when these games are very busy, the mini gets VERY hot and even macsfancontrol can't seem to keep the mini cool enough to not stutter while playing.

First and foremost, you didn't write what kind of resolution is used, the macOS version etc. (Big Sur 11.x is more demanding than let's say macOS 10.4.x Mojave). Also no information about the RAM... 8 GB can be very fast filled up.

BTW: I suspect, the problem is the intel integrated graphics chip (UHD 630), that can't keep up with these games.

 

[Martyimac]

First and foremost, you didn't write what kind of resolution is used, the macOS version etc. (Big Sur 11.x is more demanding than let's say macOS 10.4.x Mojave). Also no information about the RAM... 8 GB can be very fast filled up.

BTW: I suspect, the problem is the intel integrated graphics chip (UHD 630), that can't keep up with these games.

How much memory do you have in the 2018 Mini? What kind of screen(s) are connected to it? The 8gb version is very tight on memory, especially since part of it is used for the screen. When memory gets low, the Mac "swaps" data to the SSD which causes it to heat up quickly. If you are using a scaled resolution on your monitor - for example, a 4k screen that is set to 2560x1440 - that also can cause the Mini to get hot.

To answer both posts.
It has 32GB of Ram
Running at it's rated 1920x1200 resolution on a Dell U2415
Running Monterey
UHD 630 graphics chip

This morning, after starting cool and running macsfancontrol from the git go, the mini got warm but not hot and no stuttering while playing the games.
I'm thinking that part of the stuttering, which only occurs at night, is partly to blame due to the website themselves getting overloaded and hence start to stutter. That and macs fan control keeping the heat-up under control rather than trying to cool down an already overheated mini.

Thanks to all that responded.

 

[Boyd01]

That amount of RAM and your screen should be pretty optimal for the 2018 Mini in terms of performance, so I'd say you're good there. Of course, there are external GPU's that might help in some cases, but that's another can of worms.