MacBook Pro Advice (related to heat and games)

[chaz91]

Hi there - my late 2009 13 inch MacBook Pro sadly stopped working recently and as I will be in the USA this summer I figure now makes a good time for me to upgrade.

I have a question - I mostly use my mac for lightish-medium use (iTunes, office, handbrake, aperture) but occasionally like to play games. Usually strategy games so not necessarily as intensive as some shooters. I also play them directly in OSX as opposed to running bootcamp.

Therefore, I am quite drawn to the 15inch as it is the only MBP with the dedicated graphics card. Do you think that the NVIDIA card makes a 'huge' difference over the iris? And does running the games in OSX reduce the graphical load when compared to running them in bootcamp?

The main reason for asking is I have seen a few threads that mention concerns about excessive heating - and it seems to be related (unless I'm wrong) to the dedicated graphics cars. Is over-hearing a major problem for the majority of users of the above MBP, or just a few unlucky ones?

Thanks very much in advance for your help.

 

[hamiltonDSi]

Nvidia is better for games, Iris is better for apps like AutoCAD or Photoshop.
Also, Iris is runs cooler and it's more battery friendly.

 

[saturnotaku]

If gaming is a consideration, you will want the model with the discreet GPU. For OpenCL-accelerated applications, you can force the Iris Pro using Gfxcardstatus.

 

[yjchua95]

Also, Iris is runs cooler and it's more battery friendly.

I disagree. During heavy work, Iris runs hotter than the NVIDIA model as all tasks are concentrated into a single chip (Iris is within the CPU), while with the NVIDIA, tasks are spread out between two chips.

Also, in Macoh stress-testing, when forced into Iris-only, the tests show that the CPU will throttle, while when forced into NVIDIA-only, the CPU doesn't throttle at all.

 

[hamiltonDSi]

I disagree. During heavy work, Iris runs hotter than the NVIDIA model as all tasks are concentrated into a single chip (Iris is within the CPU), while with the NVIDIA, tasks are spread out between two chips.

You did not understood. I was referring that it runs cooler at normal or basic daily tasks than Nvidia.
Of course during gaming or heavy work a chipset will get more hotter than a dedicated GPU.

 

[chaz91]

Thanks for your quick responses.

So do you think that some of the heat problems are due to the computer NOT switching to the dedicated GPU?

This isn't a very large problem I presume otherwise I would have thought there would be a bigger deal being made online (other than the 4 or so threads on apple) about the heating problems?

Basically I'm just worried about the heat issues that people have mentioned and don't want to run into them, reducing the enjoyability of using the computer and also reducing the lifespan of the mac.

Thanks again.

 

[yjchua95]

Thanks for your quick responses.

So do you think that some of the heat problems are due to the computer NOT switching to the dedicated GPU?

This isn't a very large problem I presume otherwise I would have thought there would be a bigger deal being made online (other than the 4 or so threads on apple) about the heating problems?

Basically I'm just worried about the heat issues that people have mentioned and don't want to run into them, reducing the enjoyability of using the computer and also reducing the lifespan of the mac.

Thanks again.

The 8600GT failures in the 2008 MBPs were because of NVIDIA's fault. Apple repaired the affected models for free because it was on NVIDIA's dime.

The GT330M failures in the 2010 MBPs, I'm not sure what caused it.

The Radeon failure in the 2011 MBPs, they were clearly Apple's fault because of the over-application of thermal paste.

I think it's safe to assume that Apple doesn't shoddily apply thermal paste to the dGPU anymore because we haven't heard anything about GT650M failures yet, but it's still not at the 3-year mark yet.

iFixit's tear down of the 2012 15" showed that the thermal paste was properly applied this time, if I remember correctly. Do a quick search for iFixit's tear down of the 2012 RMBPs.

The 750M model will only run perhaps 3-4°C higher than the Iris Pro model, and you can always disable the 750M anytime with gfxcardstatus.

If you configure both Iris-only and Iris+750M models to at least 2.3/16/512, both are priced identically, so the 750M is basically a freebie.

 

[c1phr]

You did not understood. I was referring that it runs cooler at normal or basic daily tasks than Nvidia.
Of course during gaming or heavy work a chipset will get more hotter than a dedicated GPU.

In basic daily tasks, the Nvidia model still uses the Iris Pro. The Nvidia remains turned off until something needs the higher performance, so daily tasks shouldn't have any difference on battery life or heat between the two models.

 

[Freyqq]

Nvidia is better for games, Iris is better for apps like AutoCAD or Photoshop.
Also, Iris is runs cooler and it's more battery friendly.

FYI, photoshop elements 12 won't even engage the dGPU anyway. I just tried it.

If you are gaming at all, I'd go with the 750M.