iMacs, heat and you

[niuniu]

Sick to death of gaming on MBPs (since 2006!). They overheat and throttle down. Maybe it's time to finally give in and buy an iMac at this next update, especially as I hear they're planning on making the MBPs thinner - great for most people, not great for guys like me.

Doing some searches and saw that iMacs also have heat issues reported however. Does anyone have heat issues so bad that the actual performance throttles down?

Are most of the issues with the smaller sized iMac or does the 27inch have problems with heat too?

Thanks in advance!

 

[leman]

Sick to death of gaming on MBPs (since 2006!). They overheat and throttle down. Maybe it's time to finally give in and buy an iMac at this next update, especially as I hear they're planning on making the MBPs thinner - great for most people, not great for guys like me.

Doing some searches and saw that iMacs also have heat issues reported however. Does anyone have heat issues so bad that the actual performance throttles down?

Are most of the issues with the smaller sized iMac or does the 27inch have problems with heat too?

Thanks in advance!

They both get hot. I am not aware of any heat problems though. I also never ever had a MBP overheat, and I do game a lot.

 

[mikdog]

haven't been gaming but my 27" imac doesn't break a sweat with video editing. same stuff would send my ex-mbp's fans into conniptions. and the mbp would get super hot.

 

[omvs]

My iMac gets pretty warm, but the fans don't spin up to the annoying whine that happens on the macbook. I've run D3, TOR, and a bunch of other random PC games at 2560x1440 without any noticeable throttling. Internal temps (reported by iStat menus) get to ~180F if I remember correctly.

I have noticed Civ 5 tends to start bogging down over time, but I think thats due to the game itself having to deal with too many units & such, not the video card throttling because of heat.

2011, 27", 2GB 2970.

 

[Spike88]

.

The design of all-in-1 boxes and compact laptops run hotter (when compared to open box design). Especially when performing aggresive Disk IOs and GPU load. Seriously.... Put the exact same parts in an open box and the open box runs much cooler.

If wondering, some folks do install 3rd party fan control to "force" the fans to spin slightly faster, which lowers their internal heat. I use 3rd party fan control softare on my iMac and it now runs 5C-8C cooler (when compared to pure stock settings). And yes, I like the insides of my computer cooler. And, I like automobile engine to run cooler under heavy loads as well.

If wondering, I use SMC Fan Control 2.3 (re: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol ) and set my iMac fans 200-300 RPMs faster.

It works great - for my iMac. IMO, iMacs and MBPs running cooler "inside the tight box" is a good thing... And if one doesn't like 3rd party fan control software, they don't have to install it within their systems. Freedom of Choice - one of the benefits of living in a free country.....

 

[necromorph]

Maybe it's time apple introduced h2o cooling

 

[jsolares]

Sick to death of gaming on MBPs (since 2006!). They overheat and throttle down. Maybe it's time to finally give in and buy an iMac at this next update, especially as I hear they're planning on making the MBPs thinner - great for most people, not great for guys like me.

Doing some searches and saw that iMacs also have heat issues reported however. Does anyone have heat issues so bad that the actual performance throttles down?

Are most of the issues with the smaller sized iMac or does the 27inch have problems with heat too?

Thanks in advance!

I've had no problem with throttling down but my ambient temps rarely go above 25-27C ( 76-80F )

If you really want gaming macs aren't really the way to go, but if you only do gaming once in a while an iMac should be more than good enough, my 2010 runs D3 just fine

 

[niuniu]

Thanks guys, even the iMac users that didn't post. A lack of people complaining is the best reassurance their is

 

[iSayuSay]

Thanks guys, even the iMac users that didn't post. A lack of people complaining is the best reassurance their is

Maybe it's just my bad luck. But I was forced to bring my 2011 iMac (27" top of the line i7) back thrice!!

The first 2 visits for smudged dirty display (you'd be surprised how common it is), they replaced it quite soon .. Happy .. and the last one for unknown hardware failure which prevent my machine to boot (and it's still being diagnosed as I post this) . Not cool!! 3 problems within the first year!! (warranty wasnt even expired let alone AppleCare).

Dont get me wrong, the machine feels great and fast when it works. It could be a really great computer and once you upgrade the RAM, it feels like (well .. Almost) a MacPro.
But the thin sexy space on an iMac prevent it to be one.

My verdict : dont get the iMac, I really cant recommend it. But as I said it might be just my machine, if you're willing to risk it, well good for you.