Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

My rMBP runs "too cool". Something wrong?

G

GP20

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2012
69
0
I just got a replacement late '13 Macbook Pro 15 retina - the 2.3Ghz model. The previous one that I returned was running too hot.

I tested the machines with Geekbench 32bit and monitored the temperature and fan speeds with iStat. During the tests, the previous rMBP's temperature went up as high as 230~240F and the fans were blasting at +6000RPM like fighter jets.

The new replacement only gets as hot as 190F and the fan speeds NEVER go above 2500RPM with no fan noise. I should be happy that my machine runs so cool, right?

But since then, I've compared with 2 other rMBP 15 2.3Ghz, and both their temperatures are in the range of 200F~210F and the fan speeds are about 3200RPM, with a slight bit of fan noise.

So now it got me wondering, could there be something wrong with my replacement rMBP that it's not running to its full potentials? What programs can I use to test the rest of the machine? (Particularly the GPU processing)
 
Last edited:
GP20 said:
I just got a replacement late '13 Macbook Pro 15 retina - the 2.3Ghz model. The previous one that I returned was running too hot.

I tested the machines with Geekbench 32bit and monitored the temperature and fan speeds with iStat. During the tests, the previous rMBP's temperature went up as high as 230~240F and the fans were blasting at +6000RPM like fighter jets.

The new replacement only gets as hot as 190F and the fan speeds NEVER go above 2500RPM with no fan noise. I should be be happy that my machine runs so cool, right?

But since then, I've compared with 2 other rMBP 15 2.3Ghz, and both their temperatures are in the range of 200F~210F and the fan speeds are about 3200RPM, with a slight bit of fan noise.

So now it got me wondering, could there be something wrong with my replacement rMBP that it's not running to its full potentials? What programs can I use to test the rest of the machine? (Particularly the GPU processing)
Click to expand...

190 degrees F is almost 90 degrees C. That is not cool for a CPU. That's actually near the throttling point IIRC.
 
GP20 said:
The new replacement only gets as hot as 190F and the fan speeds NEVER go above 2500RPM with no fan noise. I should be happy that my machine runs so cool, right?/QUOTE]

Your machine is not running cool, quite the opposite, the fans are not ramping up as they need to. Try
resetting the SMC. This should hopefully correct the fans so they increase in speed as the temps increase.
Click to expand...
 
But while the fan speeds are not as high as the other 2 rMBP's (2500rpm vs 3200rpm), the temperature is also 20F lower than the other 2 rMBPs. If it's simply that the fans aren't spinning as fast as they should, wouldn't that mean the temperature should be higher than the other 2 rMBPs as well?
 
Your fans need to be that high, that's the point. The CPU starts throttling around 90c (or 100c, I forget). You are running at 87c.

As a point of interest, my rMBP never really gets adobe 40c for most tasks, but when it does, I can hear the fans ramping up. When the Mac gets hotter you really want the fans to keep pace with the temps.
 
That's not cool at all.

If your concerned that your fans are responding well, I would perform a SMC reset.
 
GP20 said:
I just got a replacement late '13 Macbook Pro 15 retina - the 2.3Ghz model. The previous one that I returned was running too hot.

I tested the machines with Geekbench 32bit and monitored the temperature and fan speeds with iStat. During the tests, the previous rMBP's temperature went up as high as 230~240F and the fans were blasting at +6000RPM like fighter jets.

The new replacement only gets as hot as 190F and the fan speeds NEVER go above 2500RPM with no fan noise. I should be happy that my machine runs so cool, right?

But since then, I've compared with 2 other rMBP 15 2.3Ghz, and both their temperatures are in the range of 200F~210F and the fan speeds are about 3200RPM, with a slight bit of fan noise.

So now it got me wondering, could there be something wrong with my replacement rMBP that it's not running to its full potentials? What programs can I use to test the rest of the machine? (Particularly the GPU processing)
Click to expand...

Your computer does not at all run cool. It's very hot and i would go back to apple again.
 
Ive used 3 late 2013 15" rMBPs so far. All of them sit between 90-95 celsius during heavy usage over prolonged periods of time. ~37-43 celsius during light usage (browsing)...Sounds normal to me
 
blooperz said:
Ive used 3 late 2013 15" rMBPs so far. All of them sit between 90-95 celsius during heavy usage over prolonged periods of time. ~37-43 celsius during light usage (browsing)...Sounds normal to me
Click to expand...


Really? How can you see how hot it is, I'm sure mine deffinentaly is not that hot.
 
230-240F is beyond the specifications of the cpu. If your machine ran like that, you would be looking at early hardware failure. It's absurd that Apple would design these things to regularly run at Tjunction under heavy loads. Note the exact specs here.
 
I run Geekbench 32bit Mode and the highest CPU temperature recorded was 79ºC and it was only for a very brief time 2-4sec total. Personally I use the app Macs Fan Control to control the fans of the rMBP. The fan speed are set to dynamically increase and decrease with the temperature of the CPU.
 
One more thing I should mention is if your other computer are running hot and the fans are spinning high, perhaps there are other issues at place like too much thermal paste.
 
GP20 said:
could there be something wrong with my replacement rMBP that it's not running to its full potentials?
Click to expand...

The temp has NO effect until it triggers throttling or shutdown. Below those levels it runs the same at ALL temperatures (within spec), it cannot run "too cool".

Its a digital machine, not an internal combustion engine that needs to warm up.
 
maflynn said:
Your fans need to be that high, that's the point. The CPU starts throttling around 90c (or 100c, I forget). You are running at 87c.

As a point of interest, my rMBP never really gets adobe 40c for most tasks, but when it does, I can hear the fans ramping up. When the Mac gets hotter you really want the fans to keep pace with the temps.
Click to expand...

My MBP (no r) keeps the fans idle until it hits 80 or 85 C, and only then ramps them up to find a stable temperature.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back