Resolved MBPr 15.4" - BootCamp Gaming

[ArthurianX]

Hey guys,

I just bought a MBPr, really like this machine, works like a charm for for web development, adobe suite and so on. I did had some issues trying to find my best pace of work without external monitors (when I am not at the office or at home) with the Best for Mac resolution and the performance problems that appear when you increase the resolution, anyhow.

Where I wanted to get at is this, I do like the graphical prowess of this machine a lot, I have installed a W7 on my Bootcamp and the games look really great. My question is, is it ok if I put 3-4 hours of gaming on this machine a few times per week?, I mean it can take it, I don't even use the best settings where I still have a decent FPS, when playing on the laptop, without external displays attached I'm @1280x800, the fans start whirring and the unit gets a little hot, but not like my former Dell XPS15z.

Is it healthy to do this?
Should I try an external cooling pad when playing to avoid overheating?

I completely gave up on Windows PC & Laptop and this is gonna be my EVERYTHING machine, work/play etc.

I'm asking this because I really like the machine and I want to keep healthy for as long as possible, any good advice?

 

[Zeov]

i have played ALOT on my MBPR

i use this setup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syGHLeJaa6M a few hours a day.. and about 1-2 hours of gaming + other heavy stuff a day..

it works just fine.


Though i have thought about getting some cooling solution for the future.. but for now it works just fine watching a movie and gaming at the same time + skype and other social media. havent had a single forced shutdown..


.. now if only someone would release a thunderbolt Pcie Solution for high end GPus already!!


ps. I've been to a lan party a whole weekend with like 8+ hours of gaming for like 3 days .. had no problems either.. was fun to see my Mac own my friend's big chunky Pc's im both performance and the fact that their fans was insanely loud compared to mine.

 

[ArthurianX]

If you wouldn't have added that description, it would've looked like an awesome setup made with synergy.

And you're running WoW in a "parallelified" BootCamp? Do you have good performance like that?

I'm booting into Bootcamp andplay from there, never tried to run a game from Parallels.

 

[Zeov]

If you wouldn't have added that description, it would've looked like an awesome setup made with synergy.

And you're running WoW in a "parallelified" BootCamp? Do you have good performance like that?

I'm booting into Bootcamp andplay from there, never tried to run a game from Parallels.

im running bootcamp windows 7.. never used parallels before.

 

[MacKid]

The rMBP's cooling design is godlike, it'll be fine.

If you really want some details on it, http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/12

 

[ArthurianX]

Yes, seeing how ingenious the cooling is made I thought that too (but still wanted to make sure), I mean I had a Dell XPS15z, when that monster started the fans, it was LOUD, while this rMBP [I guess] it circulates the air differently, even on extreme usage I hear only the speed at which the air is moving, the fans itself really low.

I just got out of a 3 hour session of Assassin's Creed 3 .


Awesome machine.

 

[Asuriyan]

Don't worry. It's built to handle it. More so than any other laptop I've owned, it holds its own under load.

I do use a Zalman cooling pad that I've had for a few years while at my desk, as much for the elevation while typing as anything. I don't bother to plug in its fans.

 

[ArthurianX]

Awesome,

THANKS GUYS.

 

[Soloduo11x]

I've been monitoring my gpu clock speeds while gameing on my MBPr 15.4" It seems to bounce between 900 and 700 is this normal?

 

[Radiating]

The rMBP's cooling design is godlike, it'll be fine.

If you really want some details on it, http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/12

Agreed. I have no idea why people think using your machine to the potential it was designed to ensure will harm it. The rMBP was designed with insane levels of precision in every dimension, it's supposed to work properly especially under load.

The rMBP I've owned has been running overclocked literally as far as you can possibly push the clocks (and its overclocked to begin with) since launch with no issue with constant gaming. Though I use headphones as the fan can be loud.

Performance is over 1750 on passmark when overclocked. For comparison the what mid range desktop video cards score and is as fast as a desktop 650 GTX 40% as fast as the high end desktop single video card solutions like the $1000 690 GTX.

This thing is so fast.

 

[Dyno-Mike]

I've been monitoring my gpu clock speeds while gameing on my MBPr 15.4" It seems to bounce between 900 and 700 is this normal?

I've been seeing this a lot too.
It starts doing it when the GPU reaches 78c and makes games stutter erratically .
Disabling turbo boost used to stop it for me but since the new EFI update, it does it even when disabled.

Has anybody got any fixes?
It doesn't occur in OSX, only in windows.