MacBook Air Overheating?

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Level 1

7 points

MacBook Air Overheating?

Hi there,

So recently I have gotten a Macbook Air latest model 2012 with the new Ivy Bridge Processor etc. I have been playing games on the MacBook Air for about 3-4hours a day on games such as Red Crucible 2 and OpenBVE. Anyway the laptop is not overheating as I have been using smcfan control with the fans at full rpm and I am just wondering if playing intense games 3-4 hours a day is bad for the laptop? Could it damage the processor or any internal components if it does get hot?

Many thanks and your replies are greatly appreciated! 🙂

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1), Macbook Air 2012 13 inch

Posted on Sep 6, 2012 7:40 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

MrVinney96

Level 1

15 points

Sep 6, 2012 12:16 PM in response to isancho2308

Hi.

The same goes for me. Remember, not only your CPU cores are on that chip, there is also a GPU on that same chip. In games, that GPU has to work hard to display the images and render the textures, so it gets hot.

Gaming 3-4 hours a day isn't bad. There is a heatsink on that CPU/GPU combination, so it won't do any damage. As long as your fan is working, there is no problem.

BTW, the computer will give the fan a higher speed if the processor gets hot. Setting the fan at max RPM isn't nessecary, the system will do it by itself.

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Answer 2

isancho2308 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 6, 2012 12:58 PM in response to MrVinney96

Thank you very much, that is really helpful. Maybe I dont need smc fan thing at max lol 🙂 again thanks 🙂

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Answer 3

isancho2308 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 6, 2012 1:07 PM in response to MrVinney96

Hi again, Sorry forgot to mention, is it better to leave the MacBook Air plugged in the whole time while playing and leave it at 100% or is it better to keep letting it go dead and then keep recharging it while playing the game?

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Answer 4

Sep 6, 2012 1:58 PM in response to isancho2308

Hi

You really don't want running the game on the battery and then recharge it every single time. Play while plugged, and once every month or so, you want to unplug it and run the game until OS X shows desperate warnings of how the battery is almost empty. Then, connect it to the wall and charge it while playing or with the system in stand-by. Remember, the system is always running on the battery, that's also why the powerbrick gets pretty toasty when you charge while gaming.

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