gaming on MBPR 13 inch

[mitch1211]

Hey Everyone,

I've been playing a bit of Counter Strike on my MBPR 13 inch late 2013 2.6GHz 16GB ram.

The fan is on quite noticeably as you'd expect, the bottom of the laptop is quite hot to touch as is the area behind the keyboard and in front of the screen.

iStat PRO on my dashboard is showing temp near the memory bank around 60 degrees celsius and around 50-55 for some of the heat sinks. The CPU temp isn't show here.

When I stop the game the fan quietens down almost immediately and the mac begins cooling down.

My question is, is gaming and getting the mac up to these temperatures bad for it? And how can I monitor the CPU usage?

I think I decreased the life the of the CPU in my old MBP due to gaming and using the CPU for intensive tasks.

I don't want this one to have a decreased life time just because I've been playing games.

Any Advice?

Mitch

 

[ayeying]

60 Deg C? That's nothing. I'm running at 75 Deg C just typing this and I only have Chrome and Messages opened.

I wouldn't even worry about decreasing the temperatures unless you're always at max fan non stop for YEARS.

My dad ran his iMac (basically a laptop in desktop form) doing Handbrake encoding nearly non stop. Playing flash videos. Running virtual machines for 5 years before switching to his current Mac Mini. The entire time the computer never had an issue. The temps when he monitored them were mildly high, upper 80s but never had an issue.

 

[Prodo123]

iStat PRO on my dashboard is showing temp near the memory bank around 60 degrees celsius and around 50-55 for some of the heat sinks. The CPU temp isn't show here.

smcFanControl is able to show CPU temperatures.
Also, 50-65°C is the idle temperature range for the cMBP CPUs. I find it ridiculous that you'd worry about your computer hitting what would otherwise be a perfectly acceptable idle temp.

For example, with overclocked GPU (HD 6750M) while heavy gaming my Early 2011 15" MBP hits the TDP of the CPU and GPU: 95°C. It doesn't go any higher or lower. This is with games like Battlefield 3 running on medium-high settings; lightweights like Counter-Strike barely budge from the idle temperature.

I think I decreased the life the of the CPU in my old MBP due to gaming and using the CPU for intensive tasks.

Your CPU will still outlive you, as long as the core temperature does not hit a point above its TDP.

 

[mitch1211]

smcFanControl is able to show CPU temperatures.
Also, 50-65°C is the idle temperature range for the cMBP CPUs. I find it ridiculous that you'd worry about your computer hitting what would otherwise be a perfectly acceptable idle temp.

For example, with overclocked GPU (HD 6750M) while heavy gaming my Early 2011 15" MBP hits the TDP of the CPU and GPU: 95°C. It doesn't go any higher or lower. This is with games like Battlefield 3 running on medium-high settings; lightweights like Counter-Strike barely budge from the idle temperature.


Your CPU will still outlive you, as long as the core temperature does not hit a point above its TDP.

ok cool, thanks for that.

So if my CPU is getting up to around 90-95 degrees during gaming I shouldn't be too concerned (CPU Core PECI, other proximal sensors around 80)?

 

[Prodo123]

ok cool, thanks for that.

So if my CPU is getting up to around 90-95 degrees during gaming I shouldn't be too concerned (CPU Core PECI, other proximal sensors around 80)?

No, not at all. Anything above and yes you should take it to the Genius Bar.

 

[iStrikeRx]

Hey Everyone,

I've been playing a bit of Counter Strike on my MBPR 13 inch late 2013 2.6GHz 16GB ram.

The fan is on quite noticeably as you'd expect, the bottom of the laptop is quite hot to touch as is the area behind the keyboard and in front of the screen.

iStat PRO on my dashboard is showing temp near the memory bank around 60 degrees celsius and around 50-55 for some of the heat sinks. The CPU temp isn't show here.

When I stop the game the fan quietens down almost immediately and the mac begins cooling down.

My question is, is gaming and getting the mac up to these temperatures bad for it? And how can I monitor the CPU usage?

I think I decreased the life the of the CPU in my old MBP due to gaming and using the CPU for intensive tasks.

I don't want this one to have a decreased life time just because I've been playing games.

Any Advice?

Mitch

If you want extra peace of mind, try changing the thermal paste. Could knock as much as 10c off your temps.

The factory workers are the ones that cause the vast majority of heat issues with Macs due to the ridiculous amounts of paste used when assembling the machine.

Here's the inside of my 15" when I opened it the first time: