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MacBook Pro and After Effects

L

LouieCm

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2014
17
0
Hey everyone,
I have a mid 2012 MacBook pro 15" , non.retina, I got it a few months ago, I have already upgraded the ram from 8 to 16 GBP and soon will upgrade to ssd drive too. I live working on after effects but I've noticed that when I start rendering, the laptop heats up ( 95 -100°C ), when I use it under normal browsing like Internet , YouTube etc, it's around 45-50°C, which is normal. That said, my question is, I'd there anything I can do to improve this issue? I have thunderbolt, I've heard that I could work with it to fix performance issues? Not sure what to do since MacBook pro it's not a bad laptop but I really need to get after effects to not heat up so much when rendering.
Any help, tips are welcome
Thank you,
Louie

----------

Hey everyone,
I have a mid 2012 MacBook pro 15" , non.retina, I got it a few months ago, I have already upgraded the ram from 8 to 16 GB and soon will upgrade to ssd drive too. I love working on after effects but I've noticed that when I start rendering, the laptop heats up ( 95 -100°C ), when I use it under normal browsing like Internet , YouTube etc, it's around 45-50°C, which is normal. That said, my question is, I'd there anything I can do to improve this issue? I have thunderbolt, I've heard that I could work with it to fix performance issues? Not sure what to do since MacBook pro it's not a bad laptop but I really need to get after effects to not heat up so much when rendering.
Any help, tips are welcome
Thank you,
Louie
 
Rendering in After Effects (or any other video program for that fact) requires a lot of CPU and GPU power. The higher temperatures are...wait for it....wait for it....normal. What you're experiencing is normal.
 
100°C I'd normal when rendering?? Well it not damage the hardware and shutdown?? I've heard that I could use the thunderbolt to add external cpu not sure if it's correct dice I don't understand much about it. I'm scared to fanfare my MacBook
Thx
Louie
 
Yes...it's normal. That's why the fans will spin at a much higher rate (to help dissipate the heat). Certain programs (video rendering, Flash, games) will tax a CPU and GPU, so the higher temps are expected.
 
It's normal but

LouieCm said:
100°C I'd normal when rendering?? Well it not damage the hardware and shutdown?? I've heard that I could use the thunderbolt to add external cpu not sure if it's correct dice I don't understand much about it. I'm scared to fanfare my MacBook
Thx
Louie
Click to expand...

It is normal for a computer of any type to heat up when doing this sort of work, it will shut down before it damages your computer, but like any machine running at the limits of it's componenets, it will wear it out quicker.

The 15 inch macbook pro is brilliant for this sort of work on the go but if you are going to be doing this sort of thing 15 hours a day you really would be better off handing it off to a desktop as much as possible.
 
No. I never do more then 2-3 hours a day ( used to) but now everytime I try to work on my MacBook pro, I start Rendering a 20 minute work, I look at the temperature to control it, when I see it going to high almost 100°C without hearing the fans starting up, I panic and I stop the rending:(:( I never hear the fan going faster, maybe I need to wait awhile ? Or would it have to start spinning as soon as I see the temp high?
Thx again
 
The 15 is horrible with heat. I own the 15 and recommend it for nothing more than Facebook and web browsing...unless you like BBQ chicken thighs.
 
Arondp, ....that silly what you're saying, I use Facebook, YouTube videos, etc and my MacBook pro 15 mid 2012 DOESN'T HEAT up at all, is always under 50°C ....if yours heats up so much just using Facebook then you have a problem. MINE only does that when rendering.
 
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LouieCm said:
Arondp, ....that silly what you're saying, I use Facebook, YouTube videos, etc and my MacBook pro 15 mid 2012 first hear up at all, is always under 50°C ....if yours heats up so much just using Facebook then you have a problem. MINE only does that when rendering.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it heats up on Facebook. Anything more then it will, however.
 
he/she/it is playing some silly Facebook game that runs on Flash and is probably poorly coded. Flash is CPU and GPU intensive and will cause the CPU temp to rise (which is why I've gone Flash free).
 
So I've heard of that, specially playing candy crush, but since I am in the real world, I need someone to help me with my issue, which is why I created new post. If someone else has an issue ( like Mac heating up on Facebook ,), please don't use my post to get answers, create a new one...not trying to be rude, but I think I have a more serious / real issue then that. Anymore tips please guys, lemme know
Thanx :)
 
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No-one can give me advice on this?? No one can answer my questions that I'm concerned of??
Cheers
 
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Louie,

Macs are designed to run as quietly as possible. When you start pushing the CPU, the machine will wait until temps spike up near 100˚ before the fans ramp. The temps don't stay there long, after a few seconds, you will hear the fans ramping up. At this point, the fans ramp until an equilibrium temp is reached. As long as this equilibrium is at or below ~105˚C, you are ok. If the temp exceeds a certain threshold, the machine will shutdown on its own.

You can use iStat Menus or some other means to control your fans. If you don't want the temp to spike initially, set the fans to full speed before you begin the render.

Don't worry about the machine, use it as you see fit and it will serve you well.
 
Thx for that...I simply get really nervous when I look at the temps and if I touch the MacBook if feel it hot, I panic and in 10 seconds I stop the rendering....I am using temperature gauge ....so, it shouldn't ruin my Macbook pro?
 
i tried again, i just used photoshop 3D and started rendering, in no matter of seconds ( 1 minute maybe ) it hits 97ºC , i waited up to 1 minute to see if the fans kick in but didnt hear it more then normal.....2000 rpm...is it normal ? should i wait longer for the fans to kick in or they should do it right away?

Thank you,
Louie
 
My fans start to spin up almost immediately after beginning to render 3D in Cinema 4D.

Note that After Effects rarely pushes all of the CPU cores to 100% like rendering 3D does, so the fans won't spin up as fast.


You can't really hear them until 4000 rpm, which is attained 1-2 minutes in, though, so I would watch the actual rpm's of your fans, rather than doing it by what you can hear.

You probably just need to stop worrying and use your computer, though.
 
This

12dylan34 said:
My fans start to spin up almost immediately after beginning to render 3D in Cinema 4D.

Note that After Effects rarely pushes all of the CPU cores to 100% like rendering 3D does, so the fans won't spin up as fast.


You can't really hear them until 4000 rpm, which is attained 1-2 minutes in, though, so I would watch the actual rpm's of your fans, rather than doing it by what you can hear.

You probably just need to stop worrying and use your computer, though.
Click to expand...

This is about right.
 
One of these solutions will cool the laptop. http://www.newegg.com/Laptop-Cooling-Pads/SubCategory/ID-319 This is the cheapest and best solution for your problem.

You can also use fan control http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23137/fan-control to amp up the speed of the fans before you start rendering. You can also force the fans to go higher.

However, CPUs and GPUs get HOT when working at full capacity. In theory, you could get an external box with a high end graphics card, run it over thunderbolt and direct After Effects to render with the GPU on that card. Therefore I would suspect the external box would get warm BUT depending on the type of graphics card, you could get very fast renders. However, the entire set up probably isn't worth the time/money.
 
Thank you everyone for the tips.

Sirmausalot , i think your idea might be actually good, if i get an external drive, that way my macbook wouldn't heat up? I would like , if you can, give me more info on how it works and where to get it to have it set up. I dunno, maybe i am freakin out for no reason here, i am not using AE right now until i get the heating issue when rendering solved. Therefore, i did a SIMPLE 3D test in photoshop cc, i simply added a gradient background and then a second layer with PHOTOSHOP text, of which i then changed it to 3D, once i started rendering, which took no more then 4 minutes, it went up to 97ºC , by touching the macbook, i could feel it hot.... not egg boiling, but concerned if instead of just 4 minutes rendering, if it was 30 minutes or 1 hour, would it be worst ? the fans went up to almost 5000 rpm....that is normal right ? once it finished, slowly the temperature went down, very slowly, down to 42ºC at 2000rpm, after shutting photoshop. Also, i am using temperature gauge ( the paid version ), maybe i shouldn't use this one, maybe there's a better one ?

Please , you tips and advices and enormously important to me, hopefully with your helps i can fix this and be more confident when working on rendering , without freaaking out.

Thanks again,
Louie
 
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Stop freaking out this is normal.

LouieCm said:
Thank you everyone for the tips.

Sirmausalot , i think your idea might be actually good, if i get an external drive, that way my macbook wouldn't heat up? I would like , if you can, give me more info on how it works and where to get it to have it set up. I dunno, maybe i am freakin out for no reason here, i am not using AE right now until i get the heating issue when rendering solved. Therefore, i did a SIMPLE 3D test in photoshop cc, i simply added a gradient background and then a second layer with PHOTOSHOP text, of which i then changed it to 3D, once i started rendering, which took no more then 4 minutes, it went up to 97ºC , by touching the macbook, i could feel it hot.... not egg boiling, but concerned if instead of just 4 minutes rendering, if it was 30 minutes or 1 hour, would it be worst ? the fans went up to almost 5000 rpm....that is normal right ? once it finished, slowly the temperature went down, very slowly, down to 42ºC at 2000rpm, after shutting photoshop. Also, i am using temperature gauge ( the paid version ), maybe i shouldn't use this one, maybe there's a better one ?

Please , you tips and advices and enormously important to me, hopefully with your helps i can fix this and be more confident when working on rendering , without freaaking out.

Thanks again,
Louie
Click to expand...


No need to freak out this is normal your computer is working well within it's design parameters and can run like that for hours at a time. The fans are to keep the temps below 105 celcius and that is what they are doing if it gets too high then it will throttle the component speed before finally shutting down to protect it, if this happens then you are pushing it too hard if it doesn't then you are fine.
 
Thank you for all your helps. I have done a 10 second text effect with only optical flares and it went up to 87ºC when rendering, is there anything that i could buy to add to my macbook pro 15" mid 2012 at all ? As i mentioned, i already upgraded from 8GB ram to 16GB, i wanted to upgrade to 32GB but apparently it doesn't exist for macbook pros. I will also change my HDD to SSD drive. Apart from those things, is there any other upgrade that can be done on my macbook to improve after effects work and do rendering without the heat up issue ? If not, is there any external hardware that i could buy to make it work flawless ? I know my mac has thunderbolt dock, what can i make use of it for ?

Thank you so much, and sorry for all the questions again, need to prepare myself for a master in AE and need to get my macbook pro capable of it.

Louie
 
meson said:
Louie,

Macs are designed to run as quietly as possible. When you start pushing the CPU, the machine will wait until temps spike up near 100˚ before the fans ramp. The temps don't stay there long, after a few seconds, you will hear the fans ramping up. At this point, the fans ramp until an equilibrium temp is reached. As long as this equilibrium is at or below ~105˚C, you are ok. If the temp exceeds a certain threshold, the machine will shutdown on its own.

You can use iStat Menus or some other means to control your fans. If you don't want the temp to spike initially, set the fans to full speed before you begin the render.

Don't worry about the machine, use it as you see fit and it will serve you well.
Click to expand...

This person is exactly right. Apple waits till the last second to ramp up the fans. In the meantime while the temp is sitting at 100c the CPU is throttling itself automatically to reduce performance and therefore heat output. Once the fans ramps up, performance will slowly increase again. This is not dangerous at all to a macbook and they are just designed to run hot. meaning, they are designed to dissipate heat from a CPU that is loaded up for a few seconds so the fans don't ramp up randomly. If this software was not made to be run on a macbook they wouldn't let you install it in the first place :)
 
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