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Extreme heat when gaming? Simple fix :)

A

aCondor

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2010
430
0
United States
Thanks for the advice. I already game in an industrial freezer but this "take-your-mac-apart" solution will probably shave at least another 2 degrees C. Now all I have to do is find my screwdriver and ruin my internals!

Prediction: OP :)mad:) will make a nasty reply to this post.
 
derbothaus

derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
Another great idea would be to take ice cubes and place them in front of a box fan that blows cool air over and under the chassis. Or better yet game outside in winter. Your temps will be very under control. It is pretty simple, adding airflow will decrease your temps. Wow. Mind is blown.
 
awer25

awer25

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2011
1,100
327
Given the OP's attitude towards those who were trying to help, why are people still posting suggestions?
 
I

IllIllIll

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2011
1,110
331
I just buy blocks of dry ice and put my MBP on top of them when I want to play games. No having to worry about taking the bottom cover off.

And for the times my MBP catches on fire, I just pee on it.
 
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T

Takashi

macrumors regular
Oct 26, 2009
203
0
Young Spade said:
Simply take the bottom plate of the MacBook Pro off and you're good to go.

With the recent release of Skyrim, I can play it just fine in Bootcamp, but the machine always ran in the top 90s. I was hesitant at first, but after taking the bottom off and running it bare, the machine stays in or under 80 C.

And yes, this is with it running at 1020 by 700 or something like that. No lag, amazing gameplay.
Click to expand...

There is a better way. Just take your MBP outside and use it when it's < 0C outside. All you need is a thick winter jacket and an extra long power cord and you are all set. No tools required.
 
A

auhlixer

macrumors regular
Apr 15, 2006
207
3
Philadelphia, PA
Rout slots in the bottom

lengthwise like 2mm wide and 4-5 should be enough to make a difference.

Now you just need to invest in a machine shop to do it
 
X

xxcysxx

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2011
264
1
Young Spade,
you are not the only one. i was thinking about doing this ventilation mod at one time, but haven't got around to doing it yet. been busy with schools and stuff.

aftermarket bottom cover with vent holes for mbp 13

i was thinking about getting an extra (used?) bottom plate to play around with ventilation holes and see how it perform. either way i still have an original unmodified bottom plate to put back on incase of a remorse.:D
 
R

RedReplicant

macrumors 6502a
Mar 31, 2010
696
7
miles01110 said:
Probably one of the more pointless threads in the last week. Heat is not an issue, and has no appreciable effect on the life of your machine.
Click to expand...

These machines throttle themselves very heavily when you load the GPU and CPU at the same time.
 
V

VMMan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2009
766
239
One of my hobbies that I neglected after moving back to Macs was my interest in building and mod'ng PCs. If any of you have also built or overclocked your machines, then you would probably relate to how most mod'ers focus a lot on heat and cooling systems.

I have also wondered about methods to lower the temps on my Macs. As a hobbyist, I care more about these kinds of things than is "necessary", but it's something that a lot of us enjoy.

It's easy to look at anybody's hobbyist interests as trivial..
 
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V

VMMan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2009
766
239
IllIllIll said:
Leaving the bottom cover off a laptop and potentially exposing the innards to dust and liquids is a hobby?
Click to expand...

You may not relate to this, but enthusiasts do a heck of a lot more zany things to their PCs. These include using freon to literally freeze the CPU or the attachments of massive heatsinks, I mean big physical pipes to window mounted plates to radiate heat, etc.

This may seem alien to Mac users, but there are a lot of PC extreme enthusiast sites. I find it completely interesting and would hope that MacRumors would allow Mac extreme enthusiasts in its fold.
 
T

thundersteele

macrumors 68030
Oct 19, 2011
2,984
9
Switzerland
Yeah, I don't understand the amount of negative replies in this thread. Sure, for most of us this is not a solution, but it _does_ work for him.

As VMMan explained, some people enjoy tweaking their hardware, and do it as a hobby.

@IllIllIll
If you pour liquids on your MBP, whether or not the bottom cover is removed won't make a difference.


Btw, the icebox+fan and playing in a freezer solutions are inferior to this one. Ice melts, which puts some amount of liquid very close to the laptop, and operating below 10C is not recommended by apple (display freeze?). Compared to this, taking the bottom off is a very simple solution!
 
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I

IllIllIll

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2011
1,110
331
VMMan said:
You may not relate to this, but enthusiasts do a heck of a lot more zany things to their PCs. These include using freon to literally freeze the CPU or the attachments of massive heatsinks, I mean big physical pipes to window mounted plates to radiate heat, etc.

This may seem alien to Mac users, but there are a lot of PC extreme enthusiast sites. I find it completely interesting and would hope that MacRumors would allow Mac extreme enthusiasts in its fold.
Click to expand...

No, I relate just fine, thanks. I regularly build PCs and have employed many of the techniques you described. But there is a big difference between assembling a water cooling rig and simply leaving the bottom cover off a MBP. One is employing a purpose-built device to cool a CPU safely, the other is simply lazy jury-rigging. I don't know why you have difficulty differentiating between the two.

Would a good case modder also drive without a hood on his car? Yes you can do it but it's dumb, ugly, and potentially unsafe.
 
V

VMMan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2009
766
239
IllIllIll said:
No, I relate just fine, thanks. I regularly build PCs and have employed many of the techniques you described. But there is a big difference between assembling a water cooling rig and simply leaving the bottom cover off a MBP. One is employing a purpose-built device to cool a CPU safely, the other is simply lazy jury-rigging. I don't know why you have difficulty differentiating between the two.

Would a good case modder also drive without a hood on his car? Yes you can do it but it's dumb, ugly, and potentially unsafe.
Click to expand...

Then what serious, better alternative have you recommended to the OP who found a method that works for him in dropping 10 degrees?
 
R

Risasi

macrumors 6502
Sep 16, 2011
338
0
IllIllIll said:
No, I relate just fine, thanks. I regularly build PCs and have employed many of the techniques you described. But there is a big difference between assembling a water cooling rig and simply leaving the bottom cover off a MBP. One is employing a purpose-built device to cool a CPU safely, the other is simply lazy jury-rigging. I don't know why you have difficulty differentiating between the two.

Would a good case modder also drive without a hood on his car? Yes you can do it but it's dumb, ugly, and potentially unsafe.
Click to expand...

Not only that, it's dubious to me this "mod" is even beneficial. Too many unknowns; how is he measuring temps? Temps of what component? He clearly must be measuring in windows if he's running skyrim, and how trustworthy are the temp monitors available in boot camped windows, eh? And then finally he is going from temps in the 90's to 80's by doing this. What's the point? Running in the 90's is going to do no harm...
 
I

IllIllIll

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2011
1,110
331
VMMan said:
Then what serious, better alternative have you recommended to the OP who found a method that works for him in dropping 10 degrees?
Click to expand...
The OP didn't ask for an alternative so I'm not going to waste my time thinking one up for him. He seems satisfied with his solution but that doesn't mean we can't ridicule him for it.
 
miles01110

miles01110

macrumors Core
Jul 24, 2006
19,260
36
The Ivory Tower (I'm not coming down)
VMMan said:
Then what serious, better alternative have you recommended to the OP who found a method that works for him in dropping 10 degrees?
Click to expand...

Not really the point. Dropping the temperature 10 degrees has no effect on the performance of the machine. If you're going to open your computer up to a multitude of issues by leaving critical parts exposed, you should at least get something out of it.

Hopefully nobody uninformed will find this thread and think it's a good idea to remove your bottom case and operate your machine that way. I thought it was obvious that it's a stupid idea... apparently my expectations are still too high.
 
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