Extreme heat when gaming? Simple fix :)

[yusukeaoki]

No one is saying it's a good idea to take it off.

We're arguing whether or not it cools the computer better. Completely different.

Taking the plate off means not giving space for the fan to breath.
Which means it WILL trap heat inside more than having the plate.
Unless if you have a stand or something that hold the MBP up by corners only.

Not to mention all the components being exposed by outside stuff like dust and possibly water if you spilled it near.

 

[Adamantoise]

Taking the plate off means not giving space for the fan to breath.
Which means it WILL trap heat inside more than having the plate.
Unless if you have a stand or something that hold the MBP up by corners only.

Not to mention all the components being exposed by outside stuff like dust and possibly water if you spilled it near.

Of course, the machine will be elevated ... I honestly thought it went without saying but you're the third person to inquire about it.

Again, my computer never sees any kind of load where heating is an issue, and even if it were I won't risk exposing my machine to dust and foreign objects merely for lower temperatures, but the point of this whole argument is ... The OP is correct.

 

[Risasi]

Of course, the machine will be elevated ... I honestly thought it went without saying but you're the third person to inquire about it.

Again, my computer never sees any kind of load where heating is an issue, and even if it were I won't risk exposing my machine to dust and foreign objects merely for lower temperatures, but the point of this whole argument is ... The OP is correct.

Lower temps..again, proof? You have given no information on what you're looking at to say you have lower temps. iStat, a thermal gun? What? Throw us a bone here, so far I've seen no hard science. For all I know you're whacking out the sensors enough it thinks it's cool but doesn't kick on the fans and you're actually running hotter than you think you are...

 

[Risasi]

Here you go, this is at least a much more scientific approach than I've seen on this forum lately: http://my2011macbookpro.com/modding-the-case-bottom-panel-to-reduce-temps/

Please note the outcome:

Conclusion

Changing the airflow characteristics was a fairly major mod, with some moderate results:

5˚C improvement across the board at idle
4˚ improvement in the max temperature experienced, and…
no temperature difference at load. (1.5˚C if you really want to count OCCT once the fans settled down).

Again, he's using temp monitor software. Which I wouldn't be surprised to find out has a certain tolerance on either side of the mean, needs to be confirmed with an outside measurement source probably a really expensive thermal imaging tool that I'm guessing all the vendors (like Apple!) use in the design process. Big frickin' whoop and his computer was and it still operating well within tolerances, before and after the mod.

 

[shardey]

Here you go, this is at least a much more scientific approach than I've seen on this forum lately: http://my2011macbookpro.com/modding-the-case-bottom-panel-to-reduce-temps/

Please note the outcome:


Again, he's using temp monitor software. Which I wouldn't be surprised to find out has a certain tolerance on either side of the mean, needs to be confirmed with an outside measurement source probably a really expensive thermal imaging tool that I'm guessing all the vendors (like Apple!) use in the design process. Big frickin' whoop and his computer was and it still operating well within tolerances, before and after the mod.

I have read this entire post and have been on your side, thanks to the time frame it took me to finish it I was able to see your last post.

I would understand doing little cutouts under the gpu and cpu, installing dust filters to help increase cooling while not reducing your notebook to a not mobile desktop.

 

[ender land]

Right the heat sink dissipates heat from the CPU and GPU via the heat sink, but how do you think that heat leaves the relatively air tight unibody enclosure?

I'm talking about the laptop as a whole, not just the processor. When the fan moves the hot air from the CPU where do you think it goes exactly? You think it leave the unibody enclosure via convection?

Anyway, point is the laptop will cool better without a bottom than with one screwed on.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, I'm electrical but even I know this.

There are very few reasons taking the cover off could hurt. My post previously was to combat blatant inaccurate use of engineering terminology

Some things you'd have to figure out would be:

1) Does the fan point directly at the processor? It makes sense that it would be but I am not sure.
2) Do other peripheral components also need cooling other than the processor? ie GPU or other logic board components which heat up?
3) How much of the heat transferred to the aluminum back is through conduction (not convection)

Depending on answers to those questions taking the back off could very well hurt overall temperature levels. I doubt it, but, depending on how airflow is routed (maybe the fan is placed in such a way that it blows air over the processor via the back casing, and perhaps this would not succeed as well if the backing wasn't there? maybe the fan pulls air over the processor somehow instead of pushing?) it's possible the temp would increase.

Likewise, if the restricted airflow inside the laptop causes additional, non-directly affected components to cool, removing the back casing could stop this from happening and adversely affect the computer.

It is also unknown how much direct conduction happens through the back casing - if a significant amount of heat is transferred away through the back casing via conduction removing it would force that heat to instead be removed via other means. I doubt this is the case, but, depending on how the internals are setup, it's possible.

 

[thermodynamic]

How would allowing more air impact the machine lower airflow? I mean, I have some elementary understanding of Physics and it doesn't make sense to me.

But I see a 10+ C drop in temperatures across the board.

CPU is at 79, main board is 31, heat sink at 60, and there are others but they are hidden at the moment

In boot camp.

I would recommend the following, if reducing heat is of paramount importance:

my2011macbookpro.com/replacing-thermal-paste-on-the-cpu-and-gpu-results/

As others have stated, an open case invites dust, and - of course - the possibility of short-circuiting the laptop.

The increase of airflow into the wide area certainly seems to help cooling (but by 10C??!)

I would surmise that cutting holes in the case manually may not be a bad idea, assuming you don't mind giving up your warranty either.

Also, for general use, even content creation (e.g. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash (creation or playback), etc) most MBPs don't get above 55C and do the job admirably well. Anything massively intensive (e.g. 3D rendering, video production) are usually not done on laptops in general in the first place, nor would I recommend using a laptop for such stringent work. (yes, some models are better-designed in that they can handle 24/7 heavy tasks and get to 76C as opposed to 89C, but that's still too hot IMHO. My dedicated rendering station I won't let get above 65C when rendering, but that's another story...)

If anything, Apple could have put in some vent grilles with a mesh screen to help mitigate the issue. Along with better thermal paste. But, again, few people use laptops for such industrial-strength work. (It'd be nice, but desktop CPUs are going to be faster to begin with for such processing.)

 

[plaske12]

Don't mean to be a nerd but you're wrong.

You laptop will run cooler with the cover off than it would with the cover on.

With the cover on, the machine relies on radiation (and the occasional conduction if it's in direct contact with a cooler object) to dissipate heat; but with the cover off, it's all convection.

However, you are right about one thing, cutting holes in a laptop's cover is sure to disrupt the airflow scheme. However, this doesn't apply to the Macbook Pro as there isn't any significant inner to outer airflow. You see, heat dissipation with the cover on doesn't rely on any convection whatsoever.

Now besides all the physics, it's just common sense really ... You're exposing a hot object to a cooler ambient environment ... How can you argue that it will hinder the cooling? Lol?

That is not entirely true for macbooks.

I myself am now on a 15inch macbook pro, mid2010. in order to get some good fps in Lol in medium to high settings, i have overclocked the nvidia 330m by 170mhz (in Bootcamp) some would argue that this will not get you any better fps while just baking your graphics card, but i can say for a fact that it does make a difference. and in order not to overheat my mac i run it with the lid off, standing vertical in a dock ( check out hengedocks, really cool)

now as for the airflow, it is true that taking the lid of, or drilling some holes shere the fans are, does increase airflow thru the heatsinks, which therefore cool the cpu and mostly the gpu more. i can play for hours like this and never hit 75c on my overclocked gpu.

the only problem is that, with the lid on, the air that is blown thru the heatsinks, is actually sucked in from the back right side of the vents by the hinge, and blown out on the left side. if you look at the design of the internals it seems that the air getting sucked in first has to pass a lot of other components in the macbook before reaching the fans.

so without the lid, the other components do not get this pre-air flow and might heat up (cus all of the air is directly sucked in the fans)

in real life i have never had this problem, but to be sure i always put a big pc fan next to the macbook on 5V blowing slowly against the whole thing to make sure there are no 'dead spots' due to not having a cover that directs the air thru the machine before cooling the cpu.

anyway, i like what OP is trying to do, as i do it myself )))


hope this helps

 

[Queen6]

That is not entirely true for macbooks.

I myself am now on a 15inch macbook pro, mid2010. in order to get some good fps in Lol in medium to high settings, i have overclocked the nvidia 330m by 170mhz (in Bootcamp) some would argue that this will not get you any better fps while just baking your graphics card, but i can say for a fact that it does make a difference. and in order not to overheat my mac i run it with the lid off, standing vertical in a dock ( check out hengedocks, really cool)

now as for the airflow, it is true that taking the lid of, or drilling some holes shere the fans are, does increase airflow thru the heatsinks, which therefore cool the cpu and mostly the gpu more. i can play for hours like this and never hit 75c on my overclocked gpu.

the only problem is that, with the lid on, the air that is blown thru the heatsinks, is actually sucked in from the back right side of the vents by the hinge, and blown out on the left side. if you look at the design of the internals it seems that the air getting sucked in first has to pass a lot of other components in the macbook before reaching the fans.

so without the lid, the other components do not get this pre-air flow and might heat up (cus all of the air is directly sucked in the fans)

in real life i have never had this problem, but to be sure i always put a big pc fan next to the macbook on 5V blowing slowly against the whole thing to make sure there are no 'dead spots' due to not having a cover that directs the air thru the machine before cooling the cpu.

anyway, i like what OP is trying to do, as i do it myself )))


hope this helps

Bottom line is Mac portables are not, nor ever have been designed with gaming mind, the result is they overheat. Better to by a console or build a cheap gaming PC. I can see what people are trying to achieve, equally not entirely practical for a portable computer, taking the base plate off implies the notebook is static, consoles & PC do a far better job in this role for gamers.

Q-6

 

[BoneDaddy]

HO LEESH IT! The degree of ignorant, immature, instigating, asinine and whinny posts in here, is stupendous!

 

[simonsi]

Still a 4yr old thread...hopefully the OP has grown up somewhat since...

 

[Adamantoise]

Wow I can't believe those posts came from me. I was a real **** in 2011 apparently.