Using a 30" Apple CD with a 2012 (non retina) MBP - melt GPU?

[Rico Muerte]

So recently Ive decided to use one of my 30" cinema displays as a secondary screen for my 2012 (non retina) MBP - see specs below:

Once thing I noticed whlile using this config was operating temps hitting mid to high 70s while watching youtube videos on the 30".
I have SMC Fan Control installed & I use it to bump up the fan speed if it starts getting a little warm.
While using the 30" i tend to keep the default fan speed to at least 3k.

I guess my main question/concern is my GPU enough to use the 30" as part of a regular configuration without melting it or doing some kind of long term damage?
I have had a few occasions when the 30" screen seems to glitch out but I think the issue is the display port on my MBP, as Ive used a different dual link adapter & the issue continued, & if I plugged the 30" back into the 2012 cMP it worked without issue.

I dont want to kill the GPU on my MBP if it's not ideal for running a 30" CD.

 

[joevt]

When you connect an external display, the MBP switches to the Nvidia GPU which uses more power than the Intel GPU.
The gfxCardStatus app tells you which GPU is currently being used.
https://gfx.io

 

[TheRdungeon]

So recently Ive decided to use one of my 30" cinema displays as a secondary screen for my 2012 (non retina) MBP - see specs below:

View attachment 1806962
View attachment 1806963
View attachment 1806964

Once thing I noticed whlile using this config was operating temps hitting mid to high 70s while watching youtube videos on the 30".
I have SMC Fan Control installed & I use it to bump up the fan speed if it starts getting a little warm.
While using the 30" i tend to keep the default fan speed to at least 3k.

I guess my main question/concern is my GPU enough to use the 30" as part of a regular configuration without melting it or doing some kind of long term damage?
I have had a few occasions when the 30" screen seems to glitch out but I think the issue is the display port on my MBP, as Ive used a different dual link adapter & the issue continued, & if I plugged the 30" back into the 2012 cMP it worked without issue.

I dont want to kill the GPU on my MBP if it's not ideal for running a 30" CD.

I have the same laptop running a 23" version of the same display, and it definitely gets warm. But the reason is likely that the 30" is a much higher resolution, it's almost like running the equivalent of three displays once you add in your laptop's main display. And as someone said above, anything hooked up to the thunderbolt port will automatically switch on the dedicated GPU which uses more power, and the GPU shares the same heatsink as the CPU so everything gets a lot hotter with an external monitor, especially the 30" ACD.

But as to your question, absolutely no it's not doing any damage at all! That's the bare minimum of what a GPU is designed to do