Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

WoW, MBP, and Temperature

K

Kosher Terror

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2004
49
0
Oakland
When I play WoW on my 2.4Ghz SR MBP these are the temperatures I get.
tempskd1.jpg

Even when using a chill pad my CPU Temp will peak around 187 and GPU around 180. I feel like this can't be good. Can anyone give me some advice here?
 
I'll try to remember to check my temps, but I would suggest using SMCFancontrol and setting your fans to max before starting WoW. I use it in BootCamp on my MBP and it gets hot, but takes a lot longer to get there with the fans on from start. If you are using a USB headset, the overall temp increases noticeably.

This is one point where the Blizz tech support is really terrible. They suggest that you cap your FPS using /console maxfps 30. The game looks awful with this setting, so I don't recommend it, though it will bring your temps down significantly.
 
Barham said:
I'll try to remember to check my temps, but I would suggest using SMCFancontrol and setting your fans to max before starting WoW. I use it in BootCamp on my MBP and it gets hot, but takes a lot longer to get there with the fans on from start. If you are using a USB headset, the overall temp increases noticeably.

This is one point where the Blizz tech support is really terrible. They suggest that you cap your FPS using /console maxfps 30. The game looks awful with this setting, so I don't recommend it, though it will bring your temps down significantly.
Click to expand...

I wrote that feature (maxfps) to help people solve overheating issues. So, I favor using it, instead of overheating.

FPS can be very subjective so we encourage people to play with it (you can set it to any value). Some people like to set it to 35 and then enable vsync, then you can get a very smooth 30FPS consistently.

Neither Apple nor Blizzard advocate playing without the battery installed, esp since one bump of your MagSafe cable can cause an instant disruption to your computer.
 
topgunn said:
Try taking out the battery when you play. It's weird but it works.
Click to expand...

PLaying without battery will downclock your MBP and thats why it runs cooler.

I'm at 146 CPU and 160 GPU now, this is after a 1.5 hrs WoW session and im running wow in windowed mode with my MPB screen for firefox. I'm using a laptop stand (only passive cooling)
 
C or F

Those are very high numbers if Celsius.

That said, I've used laptops exclusively now for a few years, and every single one of them roasts when playing 3D games. The best I've had has been a Dell M70, but it still maxed out around 85C, but at least its fans were fairly quiet. My MBP hits 90-93C gaming. My old acer 8104 would hit 105C!

I think the only way to get reasonable gaming temps on a laptop is to get a huge 17" Dell - the thinner the laptop the hotter it seems to get.
 
My FPS is capped at 30 (which is sufficient), but the system overheats after 3 hours and I notice the FPS actually dropping under 20 at times.

I usually have iTunes, firefox and skype running all at once while I play.

I understand the FPS dropping in Altarac Valley with 80 players on screen, but I don't know why it would do that when I'm in a relatively empty place.

Also, the metal just above (and around) the keyboard gets sizzling hot..
 
recoman3 said:
My FPS is capped at 30 (which is sufficient), but the system overheats after 3 hours and I notice the FPS actually dropping under 20 at times.

I usually have iTunes, firefox and skype running all at once while I play.

I understand the FPS dropping in Altarac Valley with 80 players on screen, but I don't know why it would do that when I'm in a relatively empty place.

Also, the metal just above (and around) the keyboard gets sizzling hot..
Click to expand...

Try running at a lower resolution...you've got a ridiculous amount of pixels to render.

I have also found that a laptop cooling pad (mine is made by Antec) works very well to keep my MBP a LOT cooler during gaming. Remember, the aluminum body helps with heat dissipation, so it is important to try and keep air moving across the bottom of your laptop.

Eric
 
run it in bootcamp and download inputremapper. Use that program to set your fans to over 4000..maybe even 6000. That will definitely cool your computer and let it run fine.
 
rbarris said:
I wrote that feature (maxfps) to help people solve overheating issues. So, I favor using it, instead of overheating.

FPS can be very subjective so we encourage people to play with it (you can set it to any value). Some people like to set it to 35 and then enable vsync, then you can get a very smooth 30FPS consistently.

Neither Apple nor Blizzard advocate playing without the battery installed, esp since one bump of your MagSafe cable can cause an instant disruption to your computer.
Click to expand...

Well, I look like an ass now, don't I?

Personally though, I've seen threads on the Blizzard Mac tech forums that are very little help on this issue. Usually the staff there is much more friendly and helpful, but asking players to cap fps to 30 (or 35 with vsync, which does look smoother) on a machine capable of 70-85 fps depending on circumstance, doesn't seem like a viable solution. I understand that by no means are you saying that people have to do that, but there are other options SMC being one of them.
 
rbarris said:
I wrote that feature (maxfps) to help people solve overheating issues. So, I favor using it, instead of overheating.

FPS can be very subjective so we encourage people to play with it (you can set it to any value). Some people like to set it to 35 and then enable vsync, then you can get a very smooth 30FPS consistently.
Click to expand...

Thanks for calling my attention to this feature. I ended up making a bunch of macros with different fps, that way depending on the environment I just click on one and *boom* temperature drops. I am averaging around 140-150 now.
 
Kosher Terror said:
Thanks for calling my attention to this feature. I ended up making a bunch of macros with different fps, that way depending on the environment I just click on one and *boom* temperature drops. I am averaging around 140-150 now.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I was wondering if you could provide a bit of description regarding inputremapper and macros. I would like to be able to control my fanspeed when gaming in XP..
 
Kosher Terror said:
When I play WoW on my 2.4Ghz SR MBP these are the temperatures I get.
tempskd1.jpg

Even when using a chill pad my CPU Temp will peak around 187 and GPU around 180. I feel like this can't be good. Can anyone give me some advice here?
Click to expand...

Those are normal temps when having your MBP loaded like that, assuming its in Fahrenheit lol.

No overheating going on here.

There are tons of these threads here so plz use Search.
 
Barham said:
asking players to cap fps to 30 (or 35 with vsync, which does look smoother) on a machine capable of 70-85 fps depending on circumstance, doesn't seem like a viable solution. I understand that by no means are you saying that people have to do that, but there are other options SMC being one of them.
Click to expand...

I would point out that some people do both - they throttle frame rates to some number they like and they also use SMCfancontrol to increase airflow. Whatever works for you.

To some extent this comes down to your definition of "capable". If the machine can generate 70+ FPS but winds up overheating after an hour, do we consider that "capable" or not?

The point of the maxfps feature is to put control over how much CPU/GPU power the game will use back in the hands of the user. My opinion is that if you have to max out your fans to 6K RPM all the time, the machine is probably too hot.

BTW we made that feature dynamic so if you want to fiddle with it in real time as one poster alluded to, it is easy to do.
 
What is wrong with you people? Fahrenheit? Are you kidding me? That's jibberish - report your temps in Celsius like a normal human being so people can actually understand them. :mad:
 
I was going to make a new thread here, with something related to this... Yes, it does get really HOT, but my FPS don't ever drop, they still go on at 70-80 at ease... but the problem is, that I reformatted my Leopard installation, to have it feeling "snappier" (had a lot of crap before), and now, for some reason, when I'm playing, I have like 80-120ms.. which is normal, and all of a sudden my latency goes up to 2000ms or even 4000ms, and STAYS THERE, my gf's white MB works wonderfull and this never happens, and this never happened before to me.... anyone has any problems like this with their MBP?

Perhaps it has something to do with the temperature? Right now my room is smoking hot, and the airport card is at 60ºC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back