Need input from other Macbook Pro owners running WoW re: cooling and graphics

[Rampant.A.I.]

I hate to add to the long list of "my laptop is overheating!" and "why does my laptop get so hot?" threads on here, but I couldn't find info on exactly what I'm experiencing.

Recently, WoW slowed down A LOT for me graphically. Movement in-game had become choppy and slow, almost as bad as it was on my Powerbook G4. This was about a week after installing Snow Leopard, which seemed to be getting along with WoW just fine. Some of this may be due to installing QuestHelper, but it ran fine for weeks without this kind of slowdown.

Then yesterday, I switched the Graphics preferences in the Energy Saver control panel to "Higher Performance."

LOADS of improvement, things became almost as smooth as when I first bought the laoptop. But now, the entire time the WoW app is running, the cooling fans are on full blast. I feel like there's a hairdryer running as long as I have the app opem.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad my laptop is cooling itself--it's just odd, because it ran cool and quiet without the fan for weeks before the graphical slowdown started happening.

Am I missing something here? What could be going on that's causing this kind of slowdown and strain on my brand new MBP?

 

[Huntn]

My fan runs all the time when I play WoW. See my hardware in signature.

 

[Vivid.Inferno]

I've had the same thing happening to me. I hadn't thought about it being related to SL, but now that I think about it it started not long after I installed SL. My in game isn't bad, I find it the worst in Dal and in WG. I did 25 Ulduar lastnight and didn't have a huge problem. I also haven't tried switching to the Higher Performance setting, because of the same fan-running-contsantly issue you mentioned.

 

[cjacks68]

I hate to add to the long list of "my laptop is overheating!" and "why does my laptop get so hot?" threads on here, but I couldn't find info on exactly what I'm experiencing.

Recently, WoW slowed down A LOT for me graphically. Movement in-game had become choppy and slow, almost as bad as it was on my Powerbook G4. This was about a week after installing Snow Leopard, which seemed to be getting along with WoW just fine. Some of this may be due to installing QuestHelper, but it ran fine for weeks without this kind of slowdown.

Then yesterday, I switched the Graphics preferences in the Energy Saver control panel to "Higher Performance."

LOADS of improvement, things became almost as smooth as when I first bought the laoptop. But now, the entire time the WoW app is running, the cooling fans are on full blast. I feel like there's a hairdryer running as long as I have the app opem.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad my laptop is cooling itself--it's just odd, because it ran cool and quiet without the fan for weeks before the graphical slowdown started happening.

Am I missing something here? What could be going on that's causing this kind of slowdown and strain on my brand new MBP?

If you are ever gaming then you want to use the higher performance option because that uses the 9600 dedicated graphics card. The better battery life setting only uses 9400 integrated graphics card, which will give you so much less performance. The 9600 gets hot, especially when gaming. What you describe is completely normal. If the fan noise is distracting try using headphones, its what I do and can't even hear the fans anymore.

 

[tiselday]

/console maxfps 30

should help you (if you can live with 30 FPS, that is)

 

[Rampant.A.I.]

If you are ever gaming then you want to use the higher performance option because that uses the 9600 dedicated graphics card. The better battery life setting only uses 9400 integrated graphics card, which will give you so much less performance. The 9600 gets hot, especially when gaming. What you describe is completely normal. If the fan noise is distracting try using headphones, its what I do and can't even hear the fans anymore.

Awesome. Good to hear! I'm just worried about my new baby (I know, I know, ) and it seemed unusual.

I'm actually really happy the 9600 can be manually switched on.

I've had the same thing happening to me. I hadn't thought about it being related to SL, but now that I think about it it started not long after I installed SL. My in game isn't bad, I find it the worst in Dal and in WG. I did 25 Ulduar lastnight and didn't have a huge problem. I also haven't tried switching to the Higher Performance setting, because of the same fan-running-contsantly issue you mentioned.

That's part of why I'm so confused. WoW ran smoothly before Snow Leopard, and well for about a week afterward.

Then it slowed down so bad I switched on the higher-end graphics card.