cMP 2009 (4.1->5.1) CPU temp while gaming

[LoWright]

Hi there,

I was hoping if someone could tell me if about 85°C is an okay temperature to have for my CPUs, while i am playing games on the mac (that is via Parallels Desktop VM). The temperature does already nearly hit 80°C just when starting the VM. Does that indicate that I should use new thermal paste?
The idle temps are around 50°C without VM running.

Thank you in advance

Mac Pro (Early 2009) - 2 x 3.46 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon - 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 - Radeon RX 580 8 GB - 250 GB SATA SSD, 4 TB + 2 TB HDD - Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6

 

[eyoungren]

I'd say so. Parallels itself consumes a lot of CPU resources, then you're adding on the OS and the game itself.

You'll know when it's too much - the Mac will simply shut off on you.

Maybe someone else has a more informed opinion.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Maybe it's the time to think about water-cooling your MP.
Using an open-air 20L external reservoir and AC pump, it would be easy to get your CPU temp to 45~46 degrees Celcius, when ambient temperature stay at 30~33 degrees.

 

[chaosbunny]

I have a 5,1 Mac Pro with similar upgrades. Just checked, mine idles at 40°C, I turned the fans a little bit higher with Macs Fan Control though. It runs at 65°C when playing Pillars of Eternity II (that's without Parallels - CPU is at 250% while playing acording to Activity Monitor).

 

[LoWright]

Thanks a lot, ya'll. I'm not capable of installing a watercooling system, but i was anyways regarding the option to maybe get my hands on a windows machine for gaming.
Appreciate your help!

 

[Amethyst1]

Thanks a lot, ya'll. I'm not capable of installing a watercooling system, but i was anyways regarding the option to maybe get my hands on a windows machine for gaming.

Why don't you install Windows natively on the Mac Pro and use that installation for gaming? Parallels just adds unnecessary overhead in that case.