Gaming on a MacBook Pro Concerns

[rustinpeace]

This is gonna be a long one so get your coffee.

I have a 2019 16” MacBook Pro base model, I boot camped windows 10 in means to do some gaming, and have better performance and options. I have run across a few issues in this process. I tweaked a few things here and there to get some good performance and have even used programs like Razer Cortez to assist. My main concerns include the temperate of this laptop while I am playing video games such as valorant, to combat this issue I have installed Macs Fan Control and have my fans at full blast for most of the time. I have also noticed that my GPU usage is 100% for the whole time, and I’m worried this will damage my GPU in some way. I also want to ask about cooling pads and if they help at all.


Basically, my questions are:

1. Is it safe to use programs like macs fan control, will it damage my PC?

2. Is it ok for my GPU usage to be at constant 100% while gaming?

3. Do external cooling pads help the PC temperature?

4. What can I do to keep the temperature down?

5. Am I harming my computer in any way by doing this?

(BTW, sorry if I sound like someone who doesn’t know anything or paranoid, I spent a lot of money on this computer and just wanna make sure I’m not going to damage it.)

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm thinking gaming hammers just about any GPU 100% to squeeze out the maximum FPS you can get…so that's kinda normal. Setting an FPS limit in the game might lower the percentage.

The important question about possible damage…someone else is going to have to answer.

 

[rustinpeace]

I'm thinking gaming hammers just about any GPU 100% to squeeze out the maximum FPS you can get…so that's kinda normal. Setting an FPS limit in the game might lower the percentage.

The important question about possible damage…someone else is going to have to answer.

I’ve heard that it usually doesn’t damage GPUs but sinces apples cooling is total garbage it had me worrying for the long term….

 

[leman]

Basically, my questions are:

1. Is it safe to use programs like macs fan control, will it damage my PC?

As long as you don’t turn off your fans, sure.

2. Is it ok for my GPU usage to be at constant 100% while gaming?

Yes.

3. Do external cooling pads help the PC temperature?

A bit.

4. What can I do to keep the temperature down?

You could limit the performance of your components (underclock the CPU/GPU, no idea if it’s even possible)… but… why?

5. Am I harming my computer in any way by doing this?

No

 

[rustinpeace]

As long as you don’t turn off your fans, sure.



Yes.



A bit.



You could limit the performance of your components (underclock the CPU/GPU, no idea if it’s even possible)… but… why?



No

Thanks for the help.. I really appreciate it

 

[TinyMito]

If you're wanting a machine to just game, I suggest to build a gaming desktop instead. Why spend these dollars on these machine?

The development platform for supporting games on Apple Silicon M1 is not there yet. You cannot bootcamp.

 

[rustinpeace]

If you're wanting a machine to just game, I suggest to build a gaming desktop instead. Why spend these dollars on these machine?

The development platform for supporting games on Apple Silicon M1 is not there yet. You cannot bootcamp.

I brought this computer for work use, but I would also like to game on it. This is also not a silicon Mac, as stated.

 

[leman]

You cannot bootcamp.

And you never will. What's your point?

 

[cardfan]

I let my mbp fry its little brains out if it wants to. Have AppleCare. Couldn’t care less about wanting to control fans or monitor temps.

 

[teflonsheep]

- Install TG Pro for fan control to have better control of the heat at the expense of fan noise (Apple defaults the opposite)

- I find that dropping the resolution and/or enabling v-sync can have a significant effect on temps.

Some games run hotter than others. By implementing the above I don't have any heat issues and my primary use case for my m1max is gaming (gasp!)

And you never will. What's your point?

I wouldn't say never
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/23/22798231/microsoft-qualcomm-exclusivity-deal-windows-on-arm

 

[leman]

I wouldn't say never
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/23/22798231/microsoft-qualcomm-exclusivity-deal-windows-on-arm

Yeah, I've read about that. This hopefully means that we will soon be able to officially buy Win11 licenses to use in Parallels. Native boot though? Why would MS (or Apple) want to spend huge amounts of money to make that happen? Too much of a hassle for very little benefit for either of them.

 

[acastic]

Yeah, I've read about that. This hopefully means that we will soon be able to officially buy Win11 licenses to use in Parallels. Native boot though? Why would MS (or Apple) want to spend huge amounts of money to make that happen? Too much of a hassle for very little benefit for either of them.

If Microsoft is smart, they would want to have an officially supported bootcamp for Windows 11 ARM. Apple and Intel are proving that the x86 architecture isn’t the future state of processors. Microsoft should want to get as many people using Windows ARM as possible and to start moving developers over.

 

[leman]

If Microsoft is smart, they would want to have an officially supported bootcamp for Windows 11 ARM. Apple and Intel are proving that the x86 architecture isn’t the future state of processors. Microsoft should want to get as many people using Windows ARM as possible and to start moving developers over.

It is most certainly in MS's interest to have W11 ARM running on Apple Silicon. And by that I mean virtualization. Native support would be a huge effort that presupposes cooperation between all the key players and there is very little business sense in pursuing it when the pretty much all the benefits can be achieved through virtualization.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Only thing. I can say is that excessive gaming or high load activity on a laptop dries out the CPU's thermal paste sooner. We always see that a laptop will be warmer after several years use because of this.

I replaced the thermal paste on two 10 year old MacBook Pros last year and the thermal paste was dry, flaky and solid. You probably won't be able to do this easily on an Apple Silicon based Mac.