When running games my Macbook Pro heats up to 100 Degrees Celsius? (2012 - 8gb RAM, i7 Processor)

It certainly will not help it. With that said, there are heat sensors that will shut down the MBP before it commits Hari Kari. The temperatures you report are right at that level.

You are correct, MBPs are not good gaming machines. PC's are much better.

Ciao.

I do not play games on my MBP and the few times that I have had runaway applications, I have immediately restarted my machine so it has not been exposed to high temperature for any prolonged period . I have seen on this forum users who have reported shutdowns due to heat and have restarted the Mbps. I also have seen very experienced participants indicate that indeed there are shutdown provisions for heat in the MBP.

What I suggest you might do is call Apple support back and pose the same question again. They have centers through out the country and you are bound to talk to a different representive. Don't accept an 'I think' answer. This is clearly a yes or no situation. If you cannot get a definitive answer, insist on talking to someone who knows for certain.

Though I am of the opinion that the MBP will shut down, I would be most interested to know if I am wrong.

Ciao.

Will it damage the hardware? At some point yes it will. Heat is the killer of all things electronic, along with liquids.

Right the Mac notebooks are not really meant for gaming, especially the 13" models, as they have a very low volume fan/cooling system and the 13" only has one fan.

Apple has a 14 day No Questions Asked return policy for full refund. You may consider return it and buying the 15" or something else that is better designed for your intended use.

The 15" models aren't much better at cooling.

I just called Apple Care my self and the representative asked a senior advisor about the question, if the MBP will shut down due to high temperatures. He said that there is a 'hardware kill switch' inside that will shut the unit down if it reach temperatures that will damage the MBP.

I was not left with a "wishy washy it's a maybe" impression how the answer was presented to me. I still would like to hear what answer that you might get.

Ciao.

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That is a MAX Temp not what it is supposed to run at all the time or even for a short but extended priod of time.

The temp of your Mac should be somewhere in the range of 40-50°c when at idle. If it is higher then that then you may have a problem with the thermal paste or the cooling system. Not all computers coming off the production line are made the same.

I just last night put a i7 2720QM quad core CPU, 2.2 Ghz, in my Dell E6420 that came with a Dual core i5 2.5Ghz CPU. I redid the thermal paste with a very good product and the i7 is running cooler then the i5 did. Also the i5 would run one core at around 50°c all the time and the other around the 40° mark. The i7 runs at a steady 42-47°c for all 4 cores. So all intel CPUs aren't built that same either.

If your Mac is running at idle above 50°c I'd take it back and get another. You do have 14 days to return it.

Actually it is built into the CPU so that doesn't get Fried. Once it get to a certain Temp it just stops working and causes the system to shut down. That may be the Hardware Kill switch the Apple care person was talking about. I do know it is built into every Intel CPU.

Well if you didn't buy it from Apple or an Authorised Apple Dealer then good luck with that 2 year warranty, Just Sayin.

Happy New Year to you.

In my honest opinion, and with more then 20 years of working on, in and building computers, YES it will.

Just how and when your system will die, and it will die eventually no matter what, from the excessive heat is anyones guess.

Next week, next year or in 5 years. But the excessive heat will shorten it's life span. That is a simple fact.

I have a 2011 Macbook that I run WoW and some Steam games on. While my temps never ran than hot while playing, what I would suggest doing is downloading smcFanControl so that you can up the power of your fans while playing games and then set them back at their default when you're done. I do that when playing WoW and I never go over 71 degrees Celsius (I'm usually around 54 degrees C when playing now.)

Also, when in wow, type " /console max fps 30 " (without the quotation marks) to keep your framerates around 30. This can reduce heat significantly.