Macbook air 2012 heat!

The MacBook Air's CPU is designed with a 105 Degree C heat tolerance, which is 5 degrees higher than the 2011 model's processor. If temps exceed the safety limit, the CPU is designed to shutdown before any damage occurs. However, extreme heat is bad for any electronic components, and should be avoided is practical to do so.

Are you doing damage? Probably not. But the Air is hardly designed to be a gaming rig, so if you want the system to live better, longer, you should consider easing up a bit on the "hardcore" gaming activities that take the machine up to "redline".

You also might consider using a conductive heat transfer pad to extract heat from the case. It might lower operating temps a bit.

i've used SMC Fan Control to change the Fan Speed per Temp. i don't want to burn out the fan prematurely, so i've reduced the top end just a hair.

Max RPM is around 85C instead of 90-95C, seems to keep it a bit cooler under medium stress.

Although I'm the type of guy who typically applauds finding intuitive ways to "hack" a solution; I'm going to speak out against using applications like SMC Fan Control. I understand that you're taking into consideration of burning out the fans prematurely, but still.

Is it a bad application? Not at all. As a matter of fact, it works as advertised. The real problem here is the fact that you're inadvertantly tampering with the design of the product. The fans are designed to increase when a core temperature starts, reducing when optimal temperature has been acheived. Putting the additional wear and tear on your fans will keep your Mac cool for now, but eventually, you'll have to rely on SMC Fan Control for simple tasks that would normally require no effort. Basically, you're just masking a potential problem.

If you feel that the Mac is running outside of it's proper temperature threshold, either call AppleCare or schedule a Genius Bar appointment. Act while you're either still within the terms of your limited hardware warranty or AppleCare protection plan. Don't sit on it. If there's a hardware issue at hand, it can be addressed and you'll be able to enjoy a flawless Mac with no overheating.

I'm not trying to be a know it all. I genuinely want everyone here to enjoy their Mac without experiencing any issue whatsoever. Speaking from experience, I've learned the hard way what happens when problems aren't address or fixed accordingly. Our computers are expensive, let's take care of them 🙂

Just my two cents.