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MBP 8,2 Quad Core MacBook Pro Temperature..why does everyone say it will be hotter?!!

NickZac

NickZac

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 11, 2010
1,758
10
I have the 2.3 w/ 8 gigs RAM, and I know people that have the 2.0 and 2.2, and NONE of them run nearly as hot as the dual core MBPs we have replaced. The original Core Duo MBPs were ridiculously hot and the Core 2 Duo ran cooler. Just because a chip is more capable does NOT mean it runs hotter. It may have the potential to get hotter, but it appears it can do more tasks with less total utilization. For the exact same tasks being run on my current MBP versus previous, the percent of the CPU being used is far less on my 15.


I am currently:
-On the Internet (12+ windows w/ multiple tabs in each open in FireFox)
-Live Streaming Music Vids (HD I think, Taio Cruz baby!)
-Running SPSS and actively doing regression analysis
-Word
-PowerPoint
-Excel
-iTunes
-iChat
-Mail
-13 Widgets
-iPhoto
-Paintbrush
-More crap


SPSS and FireFox total about 1.3 to 1.75 GB RAM...SPSS is a resource hog. Excel is a resource hog with what I am doing. In my C2D MBP 13, the temp would be go up to 205 F before the fan would kick at 6,000RPM and bring it down to 165-70. It would stay at that until the video was not being played and SPSS was not actively being used to make computations. CPU percentage use would be at least 25% up to 90% and the CPU was constantly running at a high percentage and you could hear it 'thinking'.

My 2.3 2011 MBP15 CPU percentage has not went over 15% when actively computing statistics using the SPSS Processor. The current CPU use with the above programs running, including a video live streaming is under 5% and 95% + remains Idle. Most of the time it sits at 2% with the above running.

The fans are chillin' at 1998 RPM and have not gone up for the last 12 hours the computer has been on and been actively used. So how hot is the CPU?

124-137 F.

And it is sitting on my BED.

The GPU and 'sinks run about 10-25 F cooler. This is actually the coolest running CPU I have owned within at least the past decade. When running SAS the difference is even more impressive given many SAS systems are ridiculous computer killers.

Pics or Shens? Indeed.




Now that I am also video conferencing it hit 151 F...OMG guys is my MBP overheating?
 

Attachments

  • 2011 15MBP 2.3:8 Screen shot 2011-04-12.jpg
    2011 15MBP 2.3:8 Screen shot 2011-04-12.jpg
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It's simple, really.. If one person's MBP runs hot then they all do. Anyone who believes differently is a fanboy, Steve Jobs worshipper, duckling, whatever.. :eek:
 
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Well I don't want the heat to cook the computer out or burn my penis; would an aftermarket cryo system work?
 
According to the specs, it's 45W. So it's hotter than the last gen 32nm i5/i7 according to Intel.
 
mark28 said:
According to the specs, it's 45W. So it's hotter than the last gen 32nm i5/i7 according to Intel.
Click to expand...

On paper, yes. In practice, no. It may be listed to consume, and/or in practice consume more energy, but the current system dissipates heat better, perhaps due to better CPU optimization, newer cooling technology, smart power management, or simply the quad cores not having to spike CPU percentage nearly as high as the duals for the same tasks.


I am sitting at 118 F now since I am not jamming to music anymore!
 
I went from a first generation MacBook core duo to a MacBook Pro 8,2. It runs at least 10C cooler under full load and is extreme amounts faster.
 
It runs much cooler than my 2008 aluminum Macbook. Muuuuuch cooler. When I got the MBP yesterday, first thing I did after installing some stuff and setting a few prefs was to play a few HD videos on it to see how much hotter it got than my macbook. AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
 
The new Macbook Pro's do clearly produce more heat than the previous generation. They even throttle the speed of the CPU to prevent overheating.
And the fans can spin up to 6200RPM.

well... it's actually not true that they run hotter, because even my 13" Unibody Macbook got to temperatures of about 98C sometimes. But it feels like they heat up much faster than previous models.
 
I think people get hung up thermal numbers, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Not even close. Under full load, yes it will take more energy and make more heat. But think of how many processes it takes before your CPU has to put the pedal to the metal. It takes a lot. Now think of your older C2D. It gets stressed out much easier. So it gets hotter, faster. While my old C2D is sprinting to handle all the tasks I'm assigning to it, the i7 is barely breaking a jog. My C2D is sweating balls, my i7 isn't breaking a sweat.

Put the i7 under full load and it's obviously a different story. But that's not the issue for this conversation.
 
the most intensive thing i've done on mine so far, which used the CPU and discrete GPU, was play dragon age II and even then the temps stayed at about ~70-75 although the fans were blasting.

it plays the game very well on OS X in case anyone's considering playing it.

but now with loads of browsers/tabs open and itunes playing i'm at 32c with the fans at 2000.

i'm very impressed with this machine. the only thing i would request from apple is a magsafe adapter that outputs 87/88 watts
 
My laptop runs much cooler than the i5 I had before. How much cooler you ask? I dunno, but it doesn't burn my body parts when I use the computer now.
 
Hackintosh Sr. said:
My laptop runs much cooler than the i5 I had before. How much cooler you ask? I dunno, but it doesn't burn my body parts when I use the computer now.
Click to expand...

That's exactly the benchmark I'm going by with my comparison. I'm a literal laptop user much of the time, and I am not afraid to wear shorts while using my new MBP. My 2008 aluminum macbook, on the other hand? Well, they don't call it the "Penis Scorcher" for nothing.
 
On mine, if I run a 1080p youtube video, after about 1min it starts to shoot up to 180F. The Enclosure temp is 79F.
Although for the video test, I didnt start from a cold start but after running several applications. Im not sure what i will get after the cold start
 
k43l said:
The new Macbook Pro's do clearly produce more heat than the previous generation. They even throttle the speed of the CPU to prevent overheating.
And the fans can spin up to 6200RPM.

well... it's actually not true that they run hotter, because even my 13" Unibody Macbook got to temperatures of about 98C sometimes. But it feels like they heat up much faster than previous models.
Click to expand...

It is a little odd given the higher power use and the larger battery. They def have the potential to (all other things equal), but in practice they do not run nearly as hot. This thread indicates they run cooler in real world use. I am sitting at a sweltering 124F.

6,000 or 6,200 is pretty much the same thing, as I don't tinker with fan speeds given they come configured the way they do for a reason. :p

Apple must have done something to change the cooling, or Intel has integrated power with reduced heat production. Something has changed given how cool these things run.
 
NickZac said:
My 2.3 2011 MBP15 CPU percentage has not went over 15% when actively computing statistics using the SPSS Processor. The current CPU use with the above programs running, including a video live streaming is under 5% and 95% + remains Idle. Most of the time it sits at 2% with the above running[/B]
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with the fact that these machines are in no way hotter than previous generations but the above highlights a big flaw with the testing. You're not really pushing the machine at all.
 
Hansr said:
I don't disagree with the fact that these machines are in no way hotter than previous generations but the above highlights a big flaw with the testing. You're not really pushing the machine at all.
Click to expand...

Yeah, new MBP has potential to run much hotter. When idle or not doing much, then it there would not be much difference.


eg.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4205/the-macbook-pro-review-13-and-15-inch-2011-brings-sandy-bridge/14

Full CPU load power consumption when doing a CPU intensive task (cinebench) compared to the 2010 model is almost 40W more than the 2010 model.
 
NickZac said:
On paper, yes. In practice, no. It may be listed to consume, and/or in practice consume more energy, but the current system dissipates heat better, perhaps due to better CPU optimization, newer cooling technology, smart power management, or simply the quad cores not having to spike CPU percentage nearly as high as the duals for the same tasks.


I am sitting at 118 F now since I am not jamming to music anymore!
Click to expand...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4205/the-macbook-pro-review-13-and-15-inch-2011-brings-sandy-bridge/14

This test shows a different story. The 2011 15" is always the hottest. But then again, it's rated at 45W so it should be of no surprise.

Also a quote:

"There's no way to get around it—if you're going to be using these systems to anywhere near their potential, they are going to get significantly warmer than last year's. Also, as a result, the new systems are noisier. Fans are more likely to spin up and given how small they are, they are quite audible. If this is a deal breaker for you, the best advice I can give you is to wait for Ivy Bridge."
 
That's true, but for light duty use (web, itunes, mail, ical, iphoto, office) that I use my machine for probably 80% of the time, it is significantly cooler than my 2008 aluminum macbook. I'll take that tradeoff. For instance, right now I'm sitting with the MBP on my lap doing basically the stuff I mentioned above. SMC fan control shows the temp floating between 104-111 degrees. The same tasks on my MB put my temp around 155-165.
 
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