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Macbook Pro 15@ Mid 2015 - Temps

C

chrismscotland

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 25, 2015
2
0
I bought a 15" Macbook Pro a couple of weeks ago with the i7 2.5GHz processor, 16GB RAM and the AMD Radeon R9 M370X GPU and broadly its been great, a few adjustments moving over from Windows but I feel I'm finally getting there!

I am a bit concerned about the CPU Temperatures and fan activity however, I find that at idle my CPU seems to stay around 55 Degree Celsius which appears to be hot based on what I've read elsewhere, it also spikes very very quickly up to 97-99 Degrees Celsius at the slightest hint of being asked to do anything, which of course also spikes the fans up and makes it sound like a plane is taking off....

I never got this sort of temperature spiking doing similar things on an older Lenovo PC with a lower specced CPU and I don't feel that what I'm doing should be straining the Macbook (looking through photo's, browsing the web, video mainly), I can understand when I'm playing a game or if I were batch processing 300 RAW files but it seems a little odd and I wondered what other 2015 Macbook 15" owners were experiencing temperature and fan wise?
 
Well, it was worth a shot.

I'm not sure what would cause the computer to heat up. I don't seem to have any excessive heat issues with my 13" 2015 rMBP.
 
Those are normal temps. Skylake and future dGPU's should help with delivering less heat.

Remember if you use iGPU your rMBP will be hotter.
 
SDAVE said:
Those are normal temps. Skylake and future dGPU's should help with delivering less heat.

Remember if you use iGPU your rMBP will be hotter.
Click to expand...
not completely sure it's normal .... My 13" idle at 36-41°C. I know, Broadwell is better than Haswell, but 55° C at idle seems a little high. Not excessive, but a little high (I was expecting something like 48-50°C)
 
Max(IT) said:
not completely sure it's normal .... My 13" idle at 36-41°C. I know, Broadwell is better than Haswell, but 55° C at idle seems a little high. Not excessive, but a little high (I was expecting something like 48-50°C)
Click to expand...

Op should take it to the Genius bar and get them to check it. They may have bad thermal pasting job, which is a rare occurrence with Apple....but not surprised with the way the company is running...
 
It's definitely does not sound normal to me. I have the same 2015 15" MBP and its cores idle in the mid-30's, sometimes the upper 30's. When running benchmark programs that peg all 4 cores, the CPU core temps immediately shoot up to the upper 90's, even hitting 100, and the fans can be heard in a matter of a few seconds. Stopping the benchmark tests brings the core temps down to the mid-50's in as little as 3 seconds, and lower 40's in less than a minute, and upper 30's in less than 2 minutes. This is with Safari running (and typing this), Mail open, iTunes streaming, and Messages open.

Tasks like updating a 50,000 image Aperture library will drive temps to the upper 50's and the fans are noticeable; however all 4 cores are running at 75% or so each when doing this, so it's definitely working. Doing cloning/healing in Snapheal maybe takes the CPU temps to 50 or so, with all 4 cores about about 20%.

I'd say a Genius Bar trip is in order.
 
I've owned a rMBP 2015 with M370x. After spotlight indexing and steady use, normal temps are 45-55 celsius. In clamshell expect 10 celsius more and a light hum from the fans.
 
Last edited:
chrismscotland said:
I bought a 15" Macbook Pro a couple of weeks ago with the i7 2.5GHz processor, 16GB RAM and the AMD Radeon R9 M370X GPU and broadly its been great, a few adjustments moving over from Windows but I feel I'm finally getting there!

I am a bit concerned about the CPU Temperatures and fan activity however, I find that at idle my CPU seems to stay around 55 Degree Celsius which appears to be hot based on what I've read elsewhere, it also spikes very very quickly up to 97-99 Degrees Celsius at the slightest hint of being asked to do anything, which of course also spikes the fans up and makes it sound like a plane is taking off....

I never got this sort of temperature spiking doing similar things on an older Lenovo PC with a lower specced CPU and I don't feel that what I'm doing should be straining the Macbook (looking through photo's, browsing the web, video mainly), I can understand when I'm playing a game or if I were batch processing 300 RAW files but it seems a little odd and I wondered what other 2015 Macbook 15" owners were experiencing temperature and fan wise?
Click to expand...

I don't see the temperatures your reporting to be unusual for a 15"MBP. Another aspect is the monitoring software being utilised, some applications with report CPU core temperature, other CPU proximity which results in a big difference. If the App your using is reading CPU core temperatures then I see no issue. The 15" rMBP with dGPU is a very powerful portable running in an equally thin & light chassis, hight operating temperatures goes with the territory.

As can be seen here SMC FanControl (menu bar) is clearly monitoring CPU proximity, while Intel`s own App is focused on CPU core temperatures, hence why some will state hotter or cooler, in my experience 50C - 55C is pretty much nominal for the 15" unless it is literally doing nothing with no apps open.
Screen Shot 2015-11-05 at 14.42.09.png


Apple I believe have modified the fan behaviour for the M370X which tend to make them spool up sooner rather than later, which frankly is not a bad thing, albeit irritating.

If you want reduce the operating temperatures use search, you will find many recommendations, including my own.

Q-6
 
Last edited:
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try to make SMC reset

50-55 deg while idling could be the bad ventilation problem (like lots of dust inside of the fans and cells), but that is not your case. Bring it to the Apple and ask them to check it.

Also check for background processes once again before bringing
 
SDAVE said:
Those are normal temps. Skylake and future dGPU's should help with delivering less heat.

Remember if you use iGPU your rMBP will be hotter.
Click to expand...

Idk bout that, even when rendering video out my 15 inch with Iris Pro stays at almost alarmingly cool temps. I've heard it was supposed to run hotter, but maybe Apple tweaked some stuff in an OSX update cuz the fans seem to be doing a wonderful job.
 
joecool99 said:
replace thermal paste and clean fans etc. - those temps are too high.
Click to expand...

Completely depends on your point of measurement, am on a 13" rMBP and it`s not under significant load and the CPU core temp is this;
Screen Shot 2015-11-06 at 15.23.17.png
50C-55C on the Quad Core i7 is nothing, portable Mac`s have numerous temperature sensors, so it`s important to understand exactly which sensor the monitoring software is reading out.

Q-6
 
here's mine at only 4% usage (just playint netflix in a simple browser.

Mine's the 2014 rMBP which is the same CPU as OP.
 

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SDAVE said:
here's mine at only 4% usage (just playint netflix in a simple browser.

Mine's the 2014 rMBP which is the same CPU as OP.
Click to expand...

Exactly see what I mean, now if you were using say SMC Fan Control the operating temp would be 10C - 20C less. Neither application is inaccurate, rather user interpretation is key. The only times you generally see the delta equalise is under extreme loads for extended duration, then you can expect CPU Core temps of +100C & CPU proximity of -100C +/- 2/3 degrees C, especially on the 15" Quad Core with dGPU. I see exactly the same on my own 15" Retina.

Q-6
 
Queen6 said:
Exactly see what I mean, now if you were using say SMC Fan Control the operating temp would be 10C - 20C less. Neither application is inaccurate, rather user interpretation is key. The only times you generally see the delta equalise is under extreme loads for extended duration, then you can expect CPU Core temps of +100C & CPU proximity of -100C +/- 2/3 degrees C, especially on the 15" Quad Core with dGPU. I see exactly the same on my own 15" Retina.

Q-6
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't see a big deal with these temps. Idle I'm about 50C-52C. It jumps up quickly if CPU utilization goes up to 50% or more.

I mean what do people expect? These CPUs are monsters. Skylake will help drop down the temps but we're still going to get kicks in the fan when needed.

My 2011 MBP was worse, that thing used to get so hot with Quad i7 2.3Ghz
 
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SDAVE said:
Yeah I don't see a big deal with these temps. Idle I'm about 50C-52C. It jumps up quickly if CPU utilization goes up to 50% or more.

I mean what do people expect? These CPUs are monsters. Skylake will help drop down the temps but we're still going to get kicks in the fan when needed.

My 2011 MBP was worse, that thing used to get so hot with Quad i7 2.3Ghz
Click to expand...

Agreed, we still have a 2011, and it runs significantly hotter than the Retina`s. Some of the operating temperatures people quote for the 15" are hardly attainable by the the 12" Retina MacBook, equally that`s related to their lack of knowledge and the software employed. The "silent" OP has no issue, the later rMBP`s will spool up the fans sooner, rather than later, equally the MBP with dGPU has a tragic reliability record, related specifically to dGPU failure. So you can't blame Apple for that, all the same the fans "howling" all day long is enough to drive you insane...

Q-6
 
Queen6 said:
Agreed, we still have a 2011, and it runs significantly hotter than the Retina`s. Some of the operating temperatures people quote for the 15" are hardly attainable by the the 12" Retina MacBook, equally that`s related to their lack of knowledge and the software employed. The "silent" OP has no issue, the later rMBP`s will spool up the fans sooner, rather than later, equally the MBP with dGPU has a tragic reliability record, related specifically to dGPU failure. So you can't blame Apple for that, all the same the fans "howling" all day long is enough to drive you insane...

Q-6
Click to expand...

For me the dGPU is cooler than the iGPU at most tasks. The surface of the rMBP gets so hot it's almost untouchable. I use gfxStatus sometimes and force iGPU to stay on and it gets super hot.
 
SDAVE said:
For me the dGPU is cooler than the iGPU at most tasks. The surface of the rMBP gets so hot it's almost untouchable. I use gfxStatus sometimes and force iGPU to stay on and it gets super hot.
Click to expand...

I find that when both "high-power" chips are maxed then the temperature is literally stratospheric being physically scalding to the touch, equally my own 15" Retina is an older model, with the iGPU being no where near as powerful as the current 15" I think we can both agree that the 15" MBP is not for those looking for a quiet & cool portable MAC :)

Q-6
 
At work we run Chrome on our Macs in the lab. I push mine very hard and find Chrome performs very nicely without any heating issues.

Once in a while if I'm doing something that doesn't require our heavily customized Chrome browser, I'll run Safari just for a change. The two of them cover all our needs quite nicely. Chrome is my personal favorite mainly because it's faster with the plethora of extensions that Safari lacks.
 
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