MBP reaching CPU temps of 85C - Worry?

[MayaMachine]

Hey guys. So I just got my MBP 4 days ago, and already have it doing some intense renderings in Maya 2008. From rendering just a single image, that took about 5 minutes to render, my MBP is hitting temps (CPU) up to 85 Celsius. The thing is that I am going to be rendering scenes that will take up to 20 hours to render. My thinking is that the temperature can only increase even more. But, even if it didn't go above what it has (at 85 Celsius), I'm thinking that running at 85 Celsius for 20 or so hours wouldn't be all that great.

I have no idea what a normal MBP CPU temp is while under heavy lifting. So, is it normal to have it running up at 85C? If so would it be bad to run it at that for 20 or so hours?

I have downloaded SMCFan Control, and have discovered that the fans run at a default of 2000 rpm. I have tweaked it around a bit, however, I am a bit hesitant to increase them to anything above 2500 rpm (and even then the temp will maybe only decrease be 1 degree Celsius). Your thoughts?

Maybw I'm just being paranoid because it's such a new machine and I want to take care of it, Although I don't want to come home to find that it's burned my house hehe.

Thanks for any input guys. It will really help me out

 

[e12a]

tis normal.

i've seen mine go to 90 C under heavy loads.

 

[Eric.]

I'd call Apple just to be safe. That's far into the danger zone for desktop chips, but mobile ones are always hotter. I would be concerned about it being that hot for such a long time. Maybe you can use the SMC fancontrol app to make sure the fans are running 100% when you are doing the rendering.

 

[Vanarak19]

85c sustained or just before fans kick on?

my cpu is about 75c sustained. Maybe 80c before fans get up to snuff

I'd call Apple just to be safe. That's far into the danger zone for desktop chips, but mobile ones are always hotter. I would be concerned about it being that hot for such a long time. Maybe you can use the SMC fancontrol app to make sure the fans are running 100% when you are doing the rendering.

While 85c is not good, it is not quite "danger zone". anything CONSTANTLY in the 90s, time to call apple. 85c, eh its somewhat fine.

for me, i run the fans @ about 4000rpm when rendering. perfect silence, and still keeps my machine cool in the 70's

 

[MayaMachine]

85c sustained or just before fans kick on?

Well that's the thing. The fans don't kick in. I haven't seen them react to temperatures in the 80c range (they will always be around 2000rpm)

So I gave it another job, and this time it was about a 15 minute render, but now I changed the fan speed manually to 4000rpm, and it was just peeking up to 80c, but usually sticking around 78 for the entire 15 minutes.

So now that I have achieved satisfactory temps, I'm a little concerned with the fans. If power consumption isn't a concern, is it "bad" to have the fans running at 4000rpm for the 20 or so hours it is rendering for?

One other note, idle, I get around 50c (with the default 2000rpm). So a bit warm if your asking me, but I guess I'm just use to desktop temps...

 

[docal97]

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I have been through this with apple myself in the past. They will tell u that your results are 'within spec' I dont get the sense that your temps are abnormal, even at idle. I do not personally use smc fan control. I just enjoy the machine and dont really ever look at the temps anymore and have had no issues. Themachine will shut itself down if the temps get too hot.

 

[shmutheprophet]

In a desktop, I would say hell yes, reapply your thermal paste and reseat the heatsink/fan.

However in a laptop I think this guy has the right idea:

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

I have been through this with apple myself in the past. They will tell u that your results are 'within spec' I dont get the sense that your temps are abnormal, even at idle. I do not personally use smc fan control. I just enjoy the machine and dont really ever look at the temps anymore and have had no issues. Themachine will shut itself down if the temps get too hot.

They are not going to design a laptop that overheats. You should be able to run full load 24/7 with no problems. Otherwise it would just be poor design. Don't pay attention to temps on a laptop. They're not gonna sell laptops that just overheat. If yours gets to the point where it overheats and fries, then it was defective, you'll get a new one for free anyways under the warranty.

 

[zioxide]

Well that's the thing. The fans don't kick in. I haven't seen them react to temperatures in the 80c range (they will always be around 2000rpm)

So I gave it another job, and this time it was about a 15 minute render, but now I changed the fan speed manually to 4000rpm, and it was just peeking up to 80c, but usually sticking around 78 for the entire 15 minutes.

So now that I have achieved satisfactory temps, I'm a little concerned with the fans. If power consumption isn't a concern, is it "bad" to have the fans running at 4000rpm for the 20 or so hours it is rendering for?

One other note, idle, I get around 50c (with the default 2000rpm). So a bit warm if your asking me, but I guess I'm just use to desktop temps...

That's fine. Mine always idles between 45-55C. Whenever I'm doing any CPU intensive stuff (Final Cut, After Effects), I always turn the fans up in SMC Fan Control. You should be fine running them at 4000rpm.

 

[Eric.]

85c sustained or just before fans kick on?

my cpu is about 75c sustained. Maybe 80c before fans get up to snuff



While 85c is not good, it is not quite "danger zone". anything CONSTANTLY in the 90s, time to call apple. 85c, eh its somewhat fine.

for me, i run the fans @ about 4000rpm when rendering. perfect silence, and still keeps my machine cool in the 70's

I did say for desktops. I know I'd be shutting down immediately if I had a desktop running that hot.


Also, since this is a new laptop the thermal paste may need its burn-in time, if it does the same as Arctic Silver.

 

[MayaMachine]

Sweet. Thanks guys. Just a couple days ago I got Age of Empires III and that seems to pressure my machine even more than rendering. My first game I hadn't manually set the rpm and it froze and quit on itself, which I'm assuming was from overheating. By the time it got to the desktop the temps were in the high 80c's, but I'm thinking they were a bit higher since it took a sec to get tot the desktop. However since then I haven't had any issues because I have set the rpm to 4000 before hand.

So I guess I can live with it, all I gota do is remember to manually set it higher... I wonder if that counts as defective if it overheats like that on running graphic intensive games.

Anyways thanks guys

 

[shmutheprophet]

Sweet. Thanks guys. Just a couple days ago I got Age of Empires III and that seems to pressure my machine even more than rendering. My first game I hadn't manually set the rpm and it froze and quit on itself, which I'm assuming was from overheating. By the time it got to the desktop the temps were in the high 80c's, but I'm thinking they were a bit higher since it took a sec to get tot the desktop. However since then I haven't had any issues because I have set the rpm to 4000 before hand.

So I guess I can live with it, all I gota do is remember to manually set it higher... I wonder if that counts as defective if it overheats like that on running graphic intensive games.

Anyways thanks guys

Depends on what the ambient temp is. If its 100F where the MBP is then it should be overheating. If its room temperature it might be.

 

[creator2456]

I ramp my fans up to 6000 when doing anything that will work my MBP to the fullest. I have yet to hear any funny noises from the fans in just over 2 years of operation. Longest I have gone with them at 6000 was ~48 hours while rendering and converting a bunch of videos. IRRC my temps hovered around the low 70C with some peaks and valleys.

 

[alphaod]

You're using Maya, what did you think? I think doing Ray Tracing and shading takes a lot of processing power especially if you use Open GL mode which taxes the GPU.

 

[lordthistle]

That temperature is normal. My MBP reached that range when using the Aperture trial and importing pictures.

But my MBP was not normal... so may be the temp is not normal... ;-)

Joking... 80C are nothing. Fans do not kick: they wait and see if processor load decreases.

thistle

 

[Tosser]

They are not going to design a laptop that overheats.

Except, that with the MBA, they did.

You should be able to run full load 24/7 with no problems.

Except, that with the MBA you can't.

Otherwise it would just be poor design.

And with the MBA, it is.

Don't pay attention to temps on a laptop. They're not gonna sell laptops that just overheat.

Except, with the MBA, they do.


Anyway, with regards to the MBP. I don't even get why you bought a MBP to begin with, just to have it sit there and do 20 hour renderings. You'd be much better off with a desktop of some sort. Oh, and it'll be quicker.

 

[katorga]

High temps are normal...

My MBP hits 85-90C under extended periods of heavy load.

My employer-provided Dell D630 hits mid-80s under extended periods of heavy load.

My employer-provided Dell M70 hits the mid-70's, and is the coolest running laptop I've had.

My old Acer 8104 hit 97-105C.

My D410 hit high-80's.

An ancient HP ZD7000 hit high 90s.

My wife's MB hits high 80s

Our old TiBook 800Mhz G4 hit high 80s.

Other than the fact that the MBP "feels" hotter to the touch due to the metal case, it seems in line with every other laptop I've used in the last 8 years.

 

[CaptainChunk]

Typical. My MBP 2.6GHz reaches about 85 degrees when I'm rendering or transcoding video in FCP. It's nothing to be worried about.

 

[MayaMachine]

You're using Maya, what did you think? I think doing Ray Tracing and shading takes a lot of processing power especially if you use Open GL mode which taxes the GPU.

It runs pretty good. I had a desktop before hand and got the MBP because now I'm going to be heading out to school, but performance wise I'd say It's handling extremely well. I rendered a single shot recently with my old desktop that was OC to 3.2 ghz or something like that, and it rendered the shot in 5 minutes 2 seconds. I then took that same shot over to my new MBP 2.6 ghz and it rendered in 5 minutes 7 seconds. So as you can imagine I was shocked. So it's either the MBP is squeezing every ounce of performance, or my desktop was being held back. Maybe the RAM. Likely a combo of the two .

Anyway, with regards to the MBP. I don't even get why you bought a MBP to begin with, just to have it sit there and do 20 hour renderings. You'd be much better off with a desktop of some sort. Oh, and it'll be quicker.

Well I would be using a desktop in a combo with my MBP but I had do give back the desktop I was using to my friend, who I borrowed it from. Since I'm heading off to school I decided that I need to go portable over power. I do completely agree though, I probably shouldn't be using the MBP for rendering. I'm thinking that I can get pull together some hardware and make a cheap little rendering station out of it that can just chill in my apartment for when the time comes.