Mac temperatures when play games

[Macintosh1984]

Hi!

I have an iMac 27 "Late 2012 i7, Fusion Drive and NVIDIA 680MX.

I'm terrified because when I play, after 15-20 minutes I see the CPU reach 95° and the 75° GPU, for example F1 2016, even gaming with 720 resolution and low quality!

I can not believe what I see, these high temperatures, especially the CPU, when the GPU could work better.

Do you recommend me something to improve the situation?

What maximum temperatures can be reached for the CPU and GPU?

 

[casperes1996]

Don't worry about it. Intel CPUs have TJunction at 100C and my AMD GPU has its TJunction at 105°, where it is regularly at.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

Do you recommend me something to improve the situation?

Get a PC to play games on. Simple as that.

 

[Macintosh1984]

Don't worry about it. Intel CPUs have TJunction at 100C and my AMD GPU has its TJunction at 105°, where it is regularly at.

95° it is very close to 105°! How do you handle it? Do you recommend smcFanControl?

It is better to play full screen 720 or windowed?
[doublepost=1524070250][/doublepost]

Get a PC to play games on. Simple as that.

Have you an other solution?

 

[TheSkywalker77]

95° it is very close to 105°! How do you handle it? Do you recommend smcFanControl?

It is better to play full screen 720 or windowed?
[doublepost=1524070250][/doublepost]
Have you an other solution?

Nope. Easiest thing is to switch to a PC for gaming. A lot more games are compatible with Windows and most decent Windows computers are cheaper than a Mac.

 

[casperes1996]

95° it is very close to 105°! How do you handle it? Do you recommend smcFanControl?

It is better to play full screen 720 or windowed?
[doublepost=1524070250][/doublepost]
Have you an other solution?

Well it isn't me handling it, now is it? That's my iMac. And she's handling it just fine.

It's important to note that TJunction is not where it shuts off, but where it starts slowing down (throttling). T-Stop for my GPU is 110°. I can't remember what it is for Intel CPUs.
[doublepost=1524078847][/doublepost]

It is better to play full screen 720 or windowed?

If the resolution is the same, the load on the GPU is the same - With one crucial exception. In High Sierra and Windows, Full Screen games can disable unneeded system GPU calls - The desktop compositor, thus putting less load on the GPU, meaning that games often perform better in full screen. This is mostly used in Windows since it only came in High Sierra on the Mac side. It's easy to implement though. In fact, implementing it, only requires that you not use anything that requires the system compositor.
Also bear in mind that if the frame rate isn't capped, it won't matter how low the settings are, your GPU and CPU will run as hard as they can to deliver as many frames per second as they can, even if there's no benefit at all. Thus, whether you game at 720p, 1080p or 4k (assuming your iMac can handle the game at said resolution), if the FPS isn't limited, the load on the hardware will be minimally different.

I personally used to use MacsFanControl but I don't really anymore. The thing is that MacsFanControl (and all other fan control software) tops out at 2700RPM on my iMac, which is what the system reports as the max. However, macOS itself can push it to 3800RPM if need be. It rarely goes past 3200RPM, but it can. (If you start a fan control software when the fan speed is this high, it will allow you to control it to that level.)
Trust in the SMC and macOS is my advice. The temperatures may seem high, but they are within what Intel and Nvidia (in my case AMD) advice.

Have you an other solution?

Don't worry about it is mine . - If you really want to do something though, there are other options.

1) Undervolting and underclocking your hardware, lowering its performance but also temps.

2) Pulling the machine apart and replacing the thermal paste - This might net you 7° lower temps.

 

[Macintosh1984]

Thanks @casperes1996 for your explanations!

1) Undervolting and underclocking hardware, how?
2) You say that over time the original thermal paste is ruined and therefore should be reapplied?

 

[casperes1996]

1) Undervolting and underclocking hardware, how?
2) You say that over time the original thermal paste is ruined and therefore should be reapplied?

1) I've never done it on Macs - But I've read other threads on here that talked about utilities for it. They worked on older MacBooks, but I don't know if they work on all devices. Google around and see if you can find something.
Be warned that undervolting can lead to stability issues if the processor is trying to run too fast for the voltage it receives.

2) Nope. What I'm saying is that it never was top quality. No OEM that I know of uses top quality thermal paste. They use the cheapest that they think is good enough.
For extreme results, use Liquid Metal..... Though be careful with that one, as if it is applied incorrectly it'll short circuit your logic board or CPU

 

[Macintosh1984]

Well, I think the only way forward is to limit the framerates or NVIDIA GeForce NOW!

I do not want to risk damaging my expensive Mac! It is incredible that even games a few years ago, lead to these problems. It is evident that iMac to maintain its beautiful design can lead to these difficulties when playing.

Thanks!

 

[casperes1996]

I do not want to risk damaging my expensive Mac! It is incredible that even games a few years ago, lead to these problems. It is evident that iMac to maintain its beautiful design can lead to these difficulties when playing.

As i said, if the frame rate is not limited the CPU and GPU will work as much as they can to deliver as many frames as they can. Even if it's 5000 frames. So the age is irrelevant, your hardware will always run as fast as it can. Unless you limit the frame rate.

 

[Macintosh1984]

Do you think that playing the same games on Windows BootCamp it is better for temperature?

Also on BootCamp there are protections about high temperature?

 

[casperes1996]

Do you think that playing the same games on Windows BootCamp it is better for temperature?

Also on BootCamp there are protections about high temperature?

That's a mixed bag again.

Games typically run better under Windows. So let's say you're getting 40FPS in macOS, you might get 60 in Windows. If you then limit your framerate to 30, your hardware will have more time to relax between frames, and thus, lower temperatures. - However, if the framerate isn't limited, or if the game is not one that performs that much better on Windows, you might actually see worse temperatures. In my experience, running Windows on a Mac actually results in slightly lower fan speeds for the same stress on the hardware. Or rather, the fan speed increases more slowly. It will settle at the same speed, but go up slower, thus giving you a higher temperature before it going down again.

I wouldn't really say there are better tools than in macOS. Aside from the fact that you get Geforce Experience/Radeon Settings, which is an easy way of limiting frame rates in all games.

 

[wubsylol]

Macs get hot because Apple prioritise aesthetics over thermal management. Don't worry about it.
/thread

 

[Macintosh1984]

A year later I return to the threads, I do not play games much and so in the meantime I am taking advantage of NVIDIA GeForce NOW.

But I'm changing things, I learned some news, but still not tested, I would like to ask you what you think.

First of all I ordered a Samsung T5 SSD, believe it is appropriate:
1) installing the game on Samsung T5
or
2) installing macOS on Samsung T5 making it become a boot disk + installing the game
or
3) de-fuse Fusion Drive + installing the game on Samsung T5

In order to have maximum performance and low temperatures, at least for storage devices.

Then a world opened up regarding:
- https://www.rugarciap.com/turbo-boost-switcher-for-os-x/
- https://www.northernsoftworks.com/appriority.html

To disable Turbo Boost on the processor tho have less power but also less temperature rise, and with the renice prevent an app from occupying 100% CPU usage.

Do you believe that these solutions are great? In particular, disabling Turbo Boost is harmful to the processor, given the fact that Apple does not allow it from system preferences?

 

[casperes1996]

Do you believe that these solutions are great? In particular, disabling Turbo Boost is harmful to the processor, given the fact that Apple does not allow it from system preferences?

It isn't harmful at all, no.

Re-nicing a process doesn't limit how much CPU it can use; It only limits its use relative to other programs.

 

[Macintosh1984]

So what do you advise me to do, in case you tried something that I mentioned before?

About SSD external or split Fusion Drive?

 

[casperes1996]

So what do you advise me to do, in case you tried something that I mentioned before?

About SSD external or split Fusion Drive?

The place you store the data is going to have such a miniscule effect on the heat that it'll be un-noticable. And yes; I have done measurements of that. (In all the scenarios you listed)
Turning off turbo could help somewhat depending on the circumstances.

But in short; Your temperatures are normal, and "stop worrying about it" is my best advice. My temps are a lot worse, I can tell you that much.

Your Mac will automatically go to sleep or turn off completely, on its own, if the temperatures get to a dangerous level; I've had that happen hitting 110°C on my GPU.

 

[ErikGrim]

Yup. Your Mac will shut down by itself. My first gen 5K iMac will routinely shut down in summer if I don't use SMC or iStat menus to blast the fans to 100% when playing XCOM.

 

[casperes1996]

Yup. Your Mac will shut down by itself. My first gen 5K iMac will routinely shut down in summer if I don't use SMC or iStat menus to blast the fans to 100% when playing XCOM.

Lucky you. My 1st gen 5K does that even in the cold Danish winters! The 1st gen 5Ks (at least with i7 and R9 M295X) really aren't thermally fit for the cooling system.

 

[ErikGrim]

Lucky you. My 1st gen 5K does that even in the cold Danish winters! The 1st gen 5Ks (at least with i7 and R9 M295X) really aren't thermally fit for the cooling system.

They really aren't. Are you using heating and insulation in those cold Danish winters though?

In any case, you should look at cleaning out the vents on the bottom and the back. That helped quite a bit.

 

[casperes1996]

They really aren't. Are you using heating and insulation in those cold Danish winters though?

Second gen and up weren't really issues, but I have it on the authority of repair shops that the i7 & R9 M295X model had overheating GPU chip issues constantly.

In any case, you should look at cleaning out the vents on the bottom and the back. That helped quite a bit.

I probably haven't been quite good enough about that really, so I'll do it more often, but it's not like I've never done it, and the 110°C issue for the GPU die still occurs after a clean.