MBA M1 runs really hot while playing simple steam PC games.

[hola3838]

Been using my MBA M1 (base version) for couple of days, under normal use the temperature almost never get above 40°c (104F) or so. Since M1 can run PC games thru Rosetta 2, I thought I install steam and try to play some simple games see how it goes.

I installed Don't starve, which is a pretty simple game, not hardware demanding at all, it ran fine, and the temperature is cool as usual, it never went past 50°c (122F).

After that I installed Totally accurate battle simulator and Disco asylum, not that demanding games either, the games run perfectly, but this is when the temperature going really high and really fast, with in minutes the machine was showing its running around 90°c(194F), after a while it will go up as high as 100°c(212F), and the case is starting very hot to touch (aluminum area above the F1-F12). After seeing the temp getting as high as 100°c I just close the games stop playing it, don't want to over heat it or something.

So what I wish to know is, as far as I know the old Intel based Macbook have heating problem even if it has fan build in, the temperature can go as high as 100°c, too. But since the new Macbook air M1 doesn't have a fan at all, even thou it will start down throttle after it reach a certain point, but it still doesn't have a fan at all, is it ok to play games on it like this? Thanks to everyone who reply.

 

[dieselm]

Don't worry about it. Part of why you bought the Macbook Air (I'm guessing) is because you wanted peace without having to think about the fans (temperature). So enjoy it!

It'll throttle itself down and you'll lose about 15% performance when it reaches equilibrium. (The chip does less work, which creates less heat. At some point, it loses enough heat that it has the headroom to ramp itself back up again, and so on.). People will run render jobs on it for hours, which is way harder than anything you will do to it.

The chip is designed to protect itself. It won't overheat. It won't wear itself out.
It doesn't reduce the lifetime of the chip. Let it do its thing. Enjoy it!

 

[onetonnesam]

My answer is not going to be helpful. But I have also noticed this playing Jackbox party through Steam on my MBP M1. Mentioned to my wife and she reminded me that "Steam" is basically water at 100 deg Celcius. Boom tish. I'll see myself out.

 

[Toutou]

The thermal envelope of the M1 chip is roughly the same as those of the previously used Intel chips, i.e. the CPU runs at full speed until it hits around 90-100 °C and then it throttles down in order to reach thermal equilibrium, and continues to sit at these high temperatures indefinitely. Most MacBooks have been able to survive their 10 year useful lifespan this way and we currently have no reason to believe the M1 Airs won't.

Please note that the Pro has a fan and is able to reach full speed thermal equilibrium without throttling, which is a new thing among the MacBooks. But the Air is business as usual, the CPU is just faster even when throttled.

Also please note that both TABS and Disco Elysium are kind of demanding, because TABS runs physics and AI for many units and Disco Elysium is apparently not-so-well optimized. And even if they weren't, many games (including TABS) don't have any built-in FPS limit, so they run the GPU at 100 % no matter what's happening on the scene. Difficult scene? Lower FPS. Simple scene? Absurdly high FPS. Enabling V-Sync in the settings usually helps, because a side effect of V-Sync is having your FPS limited to whatever refresh rate your screen currently runs at, which is usually 60 FPS.

 

[ian87w]

Been using my MBA M1 (base version) for couple of days, under normal use the temperature almost never get above 40°c (104F) or so. Since M1 can run PC games thru Rosetta 2, I thought I install steam and try to play some simple games see how it goes.

I installed Don't starve, which is a pretty simple game, not hardware demanding at all, it ran fine, and the temperature is cool as usual, it never went past 50°c (122F).

After that I installed Totally accurate battle simulator and Disco asylum, not that demanding games either, the games run perfectly, but this is when the temperature going really high and really fast, with in minutes the machine was showing its running around 90°c(194F), after a while it will go up as high as 100°c(212F), and the case is starting very hot to touch (aluminum area above the F1-F12). After seeing the temp getting as high as 100°c I just close the games stop playing it, don't want to over heat it or something.

So what I wish to know is, as far as I know the old Intel based Macbook have heating problem even if it has fan build in, the temperature can go as high as 100°c, too. But since the new Macbook air M1 doesn't have a fan at all, even thou it will start down throttle after it reach a certain point, but it still doesn't have a fan at all, is it ok to play games on it like this? Thanks to everyone who reply.

Disco asylum is not demanding? ? It's a hugely demanding game. None of my PCs I have can run it well (choppy even at lowest setting). The recommended system requirement per Steam is an i7 with Geforce 1060... ? Add on rosetta emulation on the M1, I wouldn't be surprised of the temperature rising.

 

[leman]

Disco asylum is not demanding? ? It's a hugely demanding game.

There is no technical reason why it would be demanding, it’s a point and click engine with pre-rendered backgrounds. But of course, it all depends on the quality of the implementation.

By the way, Disco Elisium runs like a charm on my 16” 5500M and on the M1 Pro as well.

Regarding the original question, it’s perfectly fine, normal and safe to have elevated temperatures when running games or similar software that places continuous computational strain on the machine.

 

[bobcomer]

I wouldn't worry about it, my M1 MBA gets over 100C quite frequently, and not even from games. If you can stand using it once it starts throttling, just keep using it. For me, I'm going to get one with a fan in it next time.

 

[Leon1das]

Worry should be less on CPU temps but instead on the heat radiating to surrounding structures like battery and SSD.

Batteries do not like prolonged temps above 40 C which can reduce their lifespan.

For SSDs threshold is higher - but still, permanently increased SSD temp is not good.

MBA with permanent 100% load (and user who pays attention to these) should be cooled with external cooler to decrease the impact on batt and SSD. Some users had great results with thermal pad mods - but chances are high these would void the warranty.

 

[leman]

Worry should be less on CPU temps but instead on the heat radiating to surrounding structures like battery and SSD.

Batteries do not like prolonged temps above 40 C which can reduce their lifespan.

For SSDs threshold is higher - but still, permanently increased SSD temp is not good.

MBA with permanent 100% load (and user who pays attention to these) should be cooled with external cooler to decrease the impact on batt and SSD. Some users had great results with thermal pad mods - but chances are high these would void the warranty.

MacBooks are carefully designed to keep the battery as far as possible from the heat-producing elements. Even on the 16” MBP running full steam the battery barely crosses 32C.

100C might seem like a lot, but please don’t forget that it’s still only a 15W heat source and the heat is absorbed by the heat spreaders and radiated via the chassis efficiently. The chip only gets hot because it’s tiny. Components in its vicinity are much cooler.

 

[Leon1das]

MacBooks are carefully designed to keep the battery as far as possible from the heat-producing elements. Even on the 16” MBP running full steam the battery barely crosses 32C.

100C might seem like a lot, but please don’t forget that it’s still only a 15W heat source and the heat is absorbed by the heat spreaders and radiated via the chassis efficiently. The chip only gets hot because it’s tiny. Components in its vicinity are much cooler.

Sorry but this is very misleading what you wrote.

M1 MBP and M1 MBA both get battery temps close and above 40 C during sustained 100% load. Checked with TG Pro.

I owned both and can confirm this with the following remarks:

M1 MBA: battery temp will go above 40. Even applying thermal pad mod will not prevent battery reaching 40 C! SSD will also go to 50 C and above, but slower then on M1 MBP (which has SSD placed closed to CPU)

M1 MBP: battery temp will go up in similar pace as with M1 MBA but SSD temp will go up faster. Factory settings for MBP fan are very permissive and it will barely kick in, and almost never at full speed. However with sustained 100% load and 100% fan (controlled by TG Pro) it will decrease battery temp to 36 C and keep SSD in 40-43 C.

 

[leman]

Sorry but this is very misleading what you wrote.

M1 MBP and M1 MBA both get battery temps close and above 40 C during sustained 100% load. Checked with TG Pro.

I owned both and can confirm this with the following remarks:

M1 MBA: battery temp will go above 40. Even applying thermal pad mod will not prevent battery reaching 40 C! SSD will also go to 50 C and above, but slower then on M1 MBP (which has SSD placed closed to CPU)

M1 MBP: battery temp will go up in similar pace as with M1 MBA but SSD temp will go up faster. Factory settings for MBP fan are very permissive and it will barely kick in, and almost never at full speed. However with sustained 100% load and 100% fan (controlled by TG Pro) it will decrease battery temp to 36 C and keep SSD in 40-43 C.

Interesting, I never went above 30-35 in my tests on the 16" MBP or the M1 MBP... what is your ambient temperature?

 

[Leon1das]

Interesting, I never went above 30-35 in my tests on the 16" MBP or the M1 MBP... what is your ambient temperature?

My ambient temp in house is 19-20 C in Northern Europe.

Prolonged stress of CPU and GPU to 95-100 C will lead to M1 MBP SSD to ~55 C and battery to ~45... on factory fan settings, and less if fan pushed to 100%..

M1 MBA will score lower on SSD temp (as by design its further from CPU vs on MBP) but its battery will go up faster then on M1 MBP...