Guild Wars 2

I recently bought myself a thirteen inch Mac Book Pro. Guild Wars 2 runs great on it, however the MBP can get very hot at the bottom. I downloaded a program called SMCFanControl, this handy program lets me control my MBP fan RPM. I currently keep the fan RPM at 4,200- 5,600. I don’t want the fan RPM to be too fast (Don’t want it to blow out on me) I also don’t want my computer internal hardware to melt. Does anybody know what my RPM should be at to sufficiently keep the MBP somewhat cooler? Any tips would be great to fix this heat problem.

This is very far from scientific, but I’ve gamed on both my Macbook Pro and my iMac for many years, also using a fan control program (though I use one called HDD Fan Control).

It usually is hovering at about 3600-3800 and I think that’s always been adequate, but I suppose it depends on how warm it is where you live. Those temperatures keep it below 56 degrees celsius, which I believe is fine.

I have a mid-2011 MBP and have the same issues. SMC fan control is a terrific app but it doesn’t really solve the problem. AT the end of the day I went with an elevated laptop stand and parked a big-as-kitten fan blowing on the back. Since I play with headphones I am oblivious to the hurricane sound of the big fan. But that really did cut the heat dramatically.

Try this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Hope it helps.

Well for our MBP running guild wars 2 with a fan RPM of 4200-5600 the temperature comes out to be at around 100 Celsius. The same temperature needed to boil water. This is very bad for our Mac Book Pro’s. Anybody else have the same heating issue?

A great way to increase ventilation is to prop of the back of the laptop off of your desktop surface, this way there’s more space for air to enter and exit through the back hinge. My CPU sits around 75-80C while doing this, which isn’t completely bad considering many rigs hit 90’s.

i dont have a MBP but I do have an iMac and the fans roughly hit about the same speed. 100C is not bad but sadly beyond SMC there isn’t much you can do. Laptop Cooling pad might help

Tyjaka.6137:

I recently bought myself a thirteen inch Mac Book Pro. Guild Wars 2 runs great on it, however the MBP can get very hot at the bottom. I downloaded a program called SMCFanControl, this handy program lets me control my MBP fan RPM. I currently keep the fan RPM at 4,200- 5,600. I don’t want the fan RPM to be too fast (Don’t want it to blow out on me) I also don’t want my computer internal hardware to melt. Does anybody know what my RPM should be at to sufficiently keep the MBP somewhat cooler? Any tips would be great to fix this heat problem.

Do you really think this belongs in the Guild Wars 2 Mac Beta Tech Support forum?

Think before you post.

Todd.8162:

Tyjaka.6137:

I recently bought myself a thirteen inch Mac Book Pro. Guild Wars 2 runs great on it, however the MBP can get very hot at the bottom. I downloaded a program called SMCFanControl, this handy program lets me control my MBP fan RPM. I currently keep the fan RPM at 4,200- 5,600. I don’t want the fan RPM to be too fast (Don’t want it to blow out on me) I also don’t want my computer internal hardware to melt. Does anybody know what my RPM should be at to sufficiently keep the MBP somewhat cooler? Any tips would be great to fix this heat problem.

Do you really think this belongs in the Guild Wars 2 Mac Beta Tech Support forum?

Think before you post.

He did say that this happened while playing this game. The game might be causing a heating problem because of the load on the CPUs . There are other threads that touch on similar issues.

Think before you post.

Readers,

I submit that your experience with fans and heat on an MBP while playing GW2 (or any 3D game) is expected and within tolerance. The fans spin up when the system is under load, correct, but that should not suggest that the load is out of tolerance for what the system was built to withstand.

Imagine you worked an 8-to-5 job doing video logos for your local TV station. Your MBP’s fans and temperature would be under this type of load all day long, and you wouldn’t worry too much about it — in fact, you would expect it to withstand a full day’s work on the job. So, when you play GW2 for 4 hours in a row, you’re not stressing your MBP out any more than it was designed to be stressed.

Also consider this: The aluminum material that the MBP’s body is made of is a natural heat sink. It’s going to feel hot by design. Did you notice, though, that when you turn the game off, the aluminum body cools down rather quickly? It’s not a sign of failure when the body gets hot — it’s a giant heatsink! It’s supposed to do that!

I can’t give any advice on programs that fiddle with the fans or other system components. I run mine without any tweaks of this nature. I worry that tweaks of this nature could be dangerous to the health of my MBP.

I absolutely, positively encourage you to always play with your MBP on a flat surface, and always ensure that its vents are clear of debris.

(my sources: blue-shirts at the apple stores around where i live and work)

Great help everybody, I really appreciate it. This thread can be useful for other MBP users with heat issues.

Update: On average Guild Wars 2 is running roughly around 59-64 C which really isn’t bad on the MBP. My RPM are averaging 3900-5600. I will invest in a cooling pad just to get that extra push of cooling for my MBP.

@Todd.8162: Yes Todd this is the right place to put this question. Don’t spam please.

I can tell the my 2010 MBP (15 inch i5 2.4GHz, Geforce GT330m) ran at 80-85C while gaming.
I played a lot of games and it never had any problems, often long sessions like 5 hours or so a few days a week. (WHen I say “ran” is because I traded it for a MBA some month ago)

I cap my Frames-Per-Second to 30 on my MBP and I’ve found that the system runs significantly cooler this way. The processor stays about 10-15 C cooler in fact. (the game runs better too.) I’d rather play it a bit safer than risk long-term damage to my laptop.

“Well for our MBP running guild wars 2 with a fan RPM of 4200-5600 the temperature comes out to be at around 100 Celsius. The same temperature needed to boil water. This is very bad for our Mac Book Pro’s. Anybody else have the same heating issue?”

I hear you. I bought new Macbook yesterday (mid 2012, not-retina version with GT 650M), I was really excited to play gw2 on this computer. It runs rather smooth (although I expected kinda MUCH more), but the main problem is, that MBP gets up to the 100 shortly after running the game. Fans go up to 5500. Well, I don’t know details about hardware, but I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to be. What should I do? Or should I just play and not bother this high temperature?

Eddard.2930:

Todd.8162:

Tyjaka.6137:

I recently bought myself a thirteen inch Mac Book Pro. Guild Wars 2 runs great on it, however the MBP can get very hot at the bottom. I downloaded a program called SMCFanControl, this handy program lets me control my MBP fan RPM. I currently keep the fan RPM at 4,200- 5,600. I don’t want the fan RPM to be too fast (Don’t want it to blow out on me) I also don’t want my computer internal hardware to melt. Does anybody know what my RPM should be at to sufficiently keep the MBP somewhat cooler? Any tips would be great to fix this heat problem.

Do you really think this belongs in the Guild Wars 2 Mac Beta Tech Support forum?

Think before you post.

He did say that this happened while playing this game. The game might be causing a heating problem because of the load on the CPUs . There are other threads that touch on similar issues.

Think before you post.

This is a question about hardware. It has nothing to do with Arena Net or Guild Wars. It should be asked to Apple, not here. This discussion does not benefit the development of the GW2 Mac client and it does not benefit the original poster because the answers are all guesses from people pretending to have engineering-level knowledge of electronics when truly all they have are fingers and their opinion of what is “hot” or “cold.”

Is everyone here an electronics engineer with experience with the heat specifications of Intel microprocessors? No. They’re just writing opinions of what temperature they guess the computer should run at or what the cooling fan speeds should be.

Please stop doing potential harm giving advice on subjects you’re not educated in and send this person to Apple for informed help. You could very well end up causing damage to this person’s Mac by telling them things that you don’t have education enough to tell.

To answer you, what ccrazool says is correct. I work as a blue shirt. Thing about MacBooks is that they are not designed to be cool to begin with. The aluminium body mitigates a lot of heat. And although the fans are well designed the components of the computer are so tightly packed and don’t have adequate room to breathe, hence they are designed to withstand long stress at high temperatures. If your computer goes too hot it will actually automatically go to sleep as a panic measure. Don’t panic yourself when this happens, it’s just a safety measure. Instead try to make sure you are in a cool room and that the air ducts by the hinge aren’t covered. Also try to play on top of a flat hard wood, plastic, or metal surface as this also helps keeping the computer cool. If you are concerned about the heat generated on the surface of the computer, it can reach somewhere around 50 degrees Celsius, I recommend getting a cooling board for your laptop. It also cools down internal temperatures.

Yea, my experience has been similar on MacBooks with any graphic or processor intense game. Aside from the fun with the fans, one thing I’ve realized is what Chobiko noted: while well designed, there just isn’t a lot of airflow.

A desktop PC relies on proper airflow through the case. But MacBooks really rely on proper airflow around the case. I generally have my MacBook elevated a few inches, on blocks I place under all four corners. Harkens back to audiophile days But what I’ve found is that alone will allow airflow to draw the heat away from the case, so much so that the fans turn off within a minute or so even if I don’t change anything else that I’m doing.

Ok , I will play GW2 normally then, with 100 (or over) C, hopefully nothing breaks

Chobiko.9182:

what ccrazool says is correct.

Woot! It’s rare, folks, but it happens!

Looks like a lot of people are getting a lot of help from this thread. Thank you so much to everybody giving their feedback. I really appreciate it.

If my new Macbook will burn, it’s all your fault, I call it ^^

I think the biggest complication with running hot on these laptops is that the fans might not be able to keep up. I was running my feb2011 13" on a 1680×1050 external monitor for 4 hours straight on time and when I got off, I heard that the fan inside the laptop was clicking against the case. Luckily I was under warranty so a local Apple authorized dealer was able to fix it for me for free and I haven’t had any trouble since.

My rule of thumb is to stick with the native resolution or below since resolution has a huge impact on performance.

I set a screen cap of 30 on my rMBP. Doing that makes my fans not even audible.

I cap’d it on 30 in my non-retina 15’ mid 2012 MBP, and It’s exactly the same. Maybe I will try this System Management trick or something. I’m still a little concerned about this…

Chobiko.9182:

If your computer goes too hot it will actually automatically go to sleep as a panic measure. Don’t panic yourself when this happens, it’s just a safety measure. Instead try to make sure you are in a cool room and that the air ducts by the hinge aren’t covered.

My MBP has recently started doing this – about 20 minutes of Guild Wars and it sleeps itself. Only been doing it about a week, maybe 2 – I’ve dropped it in for service. The vents aren’t covered, and in my view a laptop shouldn’t do this when you’re running in normal operation (that is, not modified).

If it did it once in a blue moon, that might be understandable – but it’s every time. Very frustrating. The room is climate controlled to 19 Celsius, hardly tropical. I suspect some kind of fault, perhaps the fans are not keeping up anymore (it runs very loud).

As an aside, I’ve taken to running on my Mac mini whilst the MBP is in the shop – that thing plays GW2 fine (within about 5fps of the MBP’s performance, which is super odd considering the spec disparity between the two). It’s also mostly silent, the fans spin up a little but not much. I think this has to do with your comment about components being packed in to the notebooks – the mini (despite being, ahem, mini) probably has much more room to breathe.

MBP’s have always been known to run really hot. You can get a cooling pad that will blow out the heat on an additional fan but for the most part it will just run hot when gaming. I was concerned but mine has run hot on a daily basis doing video work/games for years and it still does just fine. Just get your Apple Care because if the board does burn up they give you another one. Oh and back your drive up. But it should be fine. Also you should from time to time open it up and clean out your air vents to make sure it is getting all it needs.

If yours is shutting down due to heat then first thing I would check would be the air flow. If there is dust in there then that will cause more heat. Also make sure there is no dust on your board. And of course check your fans. They might need to be replaced as well.

Also a 13 inch macbook pro isn’t really built for gaming, bearing in mind you have on fan inside and mbp, having a full aluminium shell meant for venting heat out, will get very hot. Also, MBP aren’t designed for gaming in mind. You could sell it and buy a decent desktop cable of running the game?

Fael.5681:

I cap my Frames-Per-Second to 30 on my MBP and I’ve found that the system runs significantly cooler this way. The processor stays about 10-15 C cooler in fact. (the game runs better too.) I’d rather play it a bit safer than risk long-term damage to my laptop.

This helped my fan RPM & the heat of my Macbook Pro. Keeping my frames to 30 fpm keeps my Macbook quieter as well as cooler. I really recommend Macbook Pro users to go to ‘graphic options’ and change their frame rate to 30. This will keep it relatively cooler.

Another thing that will greatly help is a laptop cooling pad.

• Alright here is the secret to a cooler Mac****

1. This is the easiest and has been mentioned, keep the kitten end elevated and uncovered. The vent where all the heat comes out is actually at the back hinge/ slash hinge where the screen meets the hinge of the laptop not the direct bottom like windows ones

2. Reset SMC. With the comp off hold shift + command + option while holding the power button for 5 seconds.

3. If you have experience with building your own pc’s and absolutely know what you are doing and don’t care about your warranty, you can crack open the case. Strip all of Apples thermal paste with rubbing alcohol. Apple’s paste is guaranteed to be gooped and causing the heat to be insulated rather than transferred correctly. Apply your own thermal paste ie. Arctic Silver or Mx-4 etc. using the dot method. I personally got a drop of 15 degrees doing this I am not even joking.

this is the vid for doing the paste http://youtu.be/VlMxoHK0Os4

http://alphaod.com/pics/mr02/mr_thermalpaste01-042410.jpg this is an image of the cow patty like amount of paste Apple uses in pre 2012 models……… The horror.