Heat issue and Gaming mid 2014?

[Reclzz]

Hey all

I'm thinkimg about buyer a MacBook Pro CTO, the DG 2014 model with 2.8 GHz i7-4980HQ (Turbo to 4.0)

I'm gonna use it for Computer Science classes, video editing and encoding, WebDev and "Light Gaming" (Meaning all Blizzard games)

Gaming will only be at home with a 23" 1080p display.

Will the processor make too much heat?

And as i understand it, gaming heat is only full graphics settings at native resolution? Seeing that my current PC will only play those games at low settings even medium will be a big improvement, but are my observations correct?

Cheers
Bo H. Sørensen

 

[snaky69]

Hey all

I'm thinkimg about buyer a MacBook Pro CTO, the DG 2014 model with 2.8 GHz i7-4980HQ (Turbo to 4.0)

I'm gonna use it for Computer Science classes, video editing and encoding, WebDev and "Light Gaming" (Meaning all Blizzard games)

Gaming will only be at home with a 23" 1080p display.

Will the processor make too much heat?

And as i understand it, gaming heat is only full graphics settings at native resolution? Seeing that my current PC will only play those games at low settings even medium will be a big improvement, but are my observations correct?

Cheers
Bo H. Sørensen

Power produces a byproduct: heat. When you ask your computer to do demanding tasks such as gaming, its temperature will increase. That's just plain old physics.

Expect temperatures to reach anywhere between 70C and 95-100C inside the computer, depending on which blizzard game you're playing. Not to worry, those temperatures are perfectly normal and fine for the hardware.

People on this forum worry way too much about heat. I think it has to do with the fact that the aluminum body makes the MBP feel hotter to the touch when it's in fact running at the same temperatures as similar notebooks with the same workload.

 

[leman]

You will get a lot of heat no matter which settings you are using for your games, unless the game is coded for power-efficiency (which virtually no games are, unfortunately). So yes, it will be hot. It should't be an issue though. Many of us play games on the rMBP and it can handle the temperatures.

 

[Giev]

Blizzard games are not light by any means. You can lower the settings, but they can be very demanding. Suboptimal 3D engine used by Blizzard doesn't help either.

Also, WoW and SC2 are both very taxing on the CPU as well.

 

[Merode]

Unless you're getting model with nVidia graphics, 1080p is off limits if you like your games playable (aka above 20FPS).

Trust me.

 

[SarcasticJoe]

Macbook Pro's are somewhat infamous for running loud and hot under sustained heavy stress and it's not completely undeserved. However the reality is that it'll get up to around 90 under heavy stress before the fans kick in and after that it'll be like any other machine. Other than some noise, which is well within tolerable limits with the "retina machines", the only real side effect of this is really that you can't use it on your lap if you're not wearing pants.

Trust me, I made that mistake once with my 2007 Macbook Pro and it was genuinely painful.

 

[yjchua95]

Hey all

I'm thinkimg about buyer a MacBook Pro CTO, the DG 2014 model with 2.8 GHz i7-4980HQ (Turbo to 4.0)

I'm gonna use it for Computer Science classes, video editing and encoding, WebDev and "Light Gaming" (Meaning all Blizzard games)

Gaming will only be at home with a 23" 1080p display.

Will the processor make too much heat?

And as i understand it, gaming heat is only full graphics settings at native resolution? Seeing that my current PC will only play those games at low settings even medium will be a big improvement, but are my observations correct?

Cheers
Bo H. Sørensen

The i7-4980HQ and i7-4870HQ have the same TDP, so the heat would be the same.

Playing games would of course make the fans ramp up like a jet taking off, but it's normal.

I play BF4 on my late-2013 rMBP (2.6/16/1TB/750M) and it gets hot, but that's normal.

 

[Reclzz]

Thanks for the replies

Yes it is the model with nVidia GT 750M and my gaming is only once in a while, like 24 hours once a year with my brother in law and friend and then once a week maybe havent played in 3 weeks though.

I do program alot so that'll be the main use. I'll be using 1 or 2 VMs max 2 at a time and ssh and microsoft remote desktop

Again thanks for all the replies

 

[x3n0n1c]

Power produces a byproduct: heat. When you ask your computer to do demanding tasks such as gaming, its temperature will increase. That's just plain old physics.

Expect temperatures to reach anywhere between 70C and 95-100C inside the computer, depending on which blizzard game you're playing. Not to worry, those temperatures are perfectly normal and fine for the hardware.

People on this forum worry way too much about heat. I think it has to do with the fact that the aluminum body makes the MBP feel hotter to the touch when it's in fact running at the same temperatures as similar notebooks with the same workload.

Yes, these chips are rated to operate at these temperatures, but they will shorten their lifespan and reduce the life of components around them. The simple fact is the cooling in Apple's notebooks are insufficient. A CPU should never be allowed to hit its max temp and start throttling, if they do then the cooling is not robust enough.

People are justified in being concerned.

 

[kupkakez]

I only play Blizzard games on my 2014 15" rMBP base model and I find the best way to reduce heat, in WoW is to cap your frames. I run most everything at Fair/Good (shadows, water, ssao low/off) and cap my FPS at 40, it helps to keep it from heating up.

 

[lordromanov01]

Everybody always mentions the CPU temperature when playing games, but what I would like to know is how hot the body feels? Also, how loud do the fans get?

My current laptop (HP Envy, 2010) gets hot enough to burn me even when just browsing the internet, and gets loud enough with games that I have to turn the game volume up a good amount.

 

[x3n0n1c]

Everybody always mentions the CPU temperature when playing games, but what I would like to know is how hot the body feels? Also, how loud do the fans get?

My current laptop (HP Envy, 2010) gets hot enough to burn me even when just browsing the internet, and gets loud enough with games that I have to turn the game volume up a good amount.

All laptops will get quite warm and noisy when gaming. They simply have no other option than maxing out the fans in an attempt to dissipate the heat generated.

The fans in macbooks are generally pretty tolerable, but certainly audible under load.

As for heat, the aluminium unibody transfers heat to your skin much better than a plastic case does. It doesn't mean the laptop is actually hotter, but it will feel that way.

It will never get hot enough to burn you, but they will not be comfortable on your lap during gaming.

 

[Uggbits]

One of the more worrisome issues with sustained high heat on these machines is the thermal paste apple uses. Unlike high-end aftermarket stuff that can take a high heat load our thermal paste has a risk of drying out at sustained use of 100+*c. If it happens general task temperatures will increase dramatically. Thankfully changing the paste on a rmbp is quite simple, or if you have AppleCare make them do it.

Using a preset fan profile on something like SMC will help avoid bouncing off the thermal barrier to get your fans going. Putting a frame limit in games can also help, but there are quite a few issues down to raw power delivery plaguing the rmbp as there are in most laptops when it comes to gaming.

It is by nature a compromise design, so you have fewer pcie lanes, less cooling, less power etc than a traditional desktop footprint, but you gain exceptional mobility. A similarity or worse specced tower should easily provide a better gaming experience. My tower uses a 3770k and an old 460gtx which are both about 50% faster than my early 2013 rmbp proc and gpu, yet it runs games about 100-150% better despite the old gpu tech. I'm talking both raw fame rates from 20-80 in similar situations to overall smoothness.

 

[eezacque]

Power produces a byproduct: heat. When you ask your computer to do demanding tasks such as gaming, its temperature will increase. That's just plain old physics.

Most laptop components don't take the heat very well. That's just plain old electronics.

A MacBook Pro cannot get rid of its heat, because Apple sacrifices quality for sleek design. Because everything is soldered onto the logic board, your machine will fail beyond repair after your Applecare has expired.

 

[Reclzz]

Thank you alle for the replies

I've re-evaluated the whole thing.
Gonna buy the base MacBook Pro Retina with 2.5 GHz upgrade (or would the base 2.2 be enough for programming?) for school and buy a Mac Pro 4.1 og 5.1 for gaming and school work

Cheers all

 

[snaky69]

A MacBook Pro cannot get rid of its heat, because Apple sacrifices quality for sleek design. Because everything is soldered onto the logic board, your machine will fail beyond repair after your Applecare has expired.

Which is economics/consumerism

In all honesty, I've seen quite a few laptops used by friends to run large calculations (FEA, CFD and BOINC), they run about 100 to 105C for weeks on end with no perceivable damage. Said laptops have had their CPUs and GPUs(CUDA) pegged at 100% for the past 3-4 years, the only pauses being for updates(they are windows machines) and in between calculations.

I personally don't see gaming as an issue unless the logicboard has a manufacturing/engineering defect from the get go.