Best iMac position for heat loss.

[chosens]

My imac gets hot a lot from gaming, i usually close the game and wait for it to cool down. Should my imac be position up, down, straight for fastest heat loss?

 

[S.B.G]

iMac's have a vent at the top on the backside. Since heat rises, it will vent out of the top. So, positioning the iMac in the way it was designed is how it should be.

 

[insane79]

is it the new slim line ones after late 2012?
Those don't get hot even after gaming..

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

is it the new slim line ones after late 2012?
Those don't get hot even after gaming..

Of course they do. Contrary to what you have read on Apple.com, they do not run on magic.

 

[hologram]

I have an early 2008 iMac that overheated all the time, to the point where it would shut down without warning until it cooled off, and this would happen several times a day. I just wanted it to last till the next big iMac refresh, if possible, but that didn't seem likely.

Then I discovered smcFanControl. (Sounds like a commercial endorsement, huh, except it's free!)

I have it as a login item now, and it runs whenever my computer is awake. I made 2 custom settings for it... one for normal operation, where there' not too much going on, and another for heavy use like converting video formats or burning DVD's, and honestly, since I started using it a few weeks ago my computer hasn't overheated once. It lives in the menu bar, and a single click will raise the fan speeds if I'm doing something that generates more heat. If nothing else goes wrong, I should easily make it to the next upgrade.

You could try turning it on before gaming, and turning it off again afterwards.