Windowed vs. Fullscreen Gaming and Heat production.

[Prime85]

I was wondering why my computer puts off more heat when the game is in fullscreen then in a windowed screen.

For example when playing Skyrim Cider in fullscreen my temp is between 90-100 degrees and fans are at max.

When playing Skyrim in Windowed my temp fluctuates between 75-80 degrees with fans staying around 4400.

Just curious the reason for this if anyone knows.

 

[doh123]

I assume your using full native res then.

With Skyrim in a window mine gets hotter,,, but there is a lot going on and its kicked back up to 1920x1200... when its fullscreen I only have it going 1280x800, so the GPU is worked less and it gets cooler. If your maxing out skyrim at a really high resolution, its just pushing your machine really hard, and when you knock it a bit smaller, it cools a bit... but it shouldn't cool that much unless when your going to a window you don't have Skyrim as the front app anymore and its in the background, then it'll cool off a lot.

 

[Prime85]

I assume your using full native res then.

With Skyrim in a window mine gets hotter,,, but there is a lot going on and its kicked back up to 1920x1200... when its fullscreen I only have it going 1280x800, so the GPU is worked less and it gets cooler. If your maxing out skyrim at a really high resolution, its just pushing your machine really hard, and when you knock it a bit smaller, it cools a bit... but it shouldn't cool that much unless when your going to a window you don't have Skyrim as the front app anymore and its in the background, then it'll cool off a lot.

When i have it in full screen i have it at 1680X1050 which is my full native res. So your saying that if i lower the res then i should be able to run it cooler in full screen? i do notice that it runs cooler in windowed for me but it has a slight lag every so often, compared to being flawless in fullscreen.

Lag is not bad enough to take away from gameplay, barely noticeable but it is there.

 

[atarria]

fan control

usmcFanControl.app

If you do not already have it you may want to get this free utility to help cool your machine while you game.

 

[doh123]

I'm just saying.. the harder you push your machine, the hotter it gets.... so yes, turning down graphics options, and resolution (which puts a TON of work on the GPU) will make the machine need to do less work, and produce less heat.