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sineight Author

Level 1

0 points

Macbook Pro Retina Late 2013 CPU temperature issues while gaming (99 celsius) Is this normal ?

Hello everyone, this is my first time here. I recently purchased a macbook pro retina late 2013 notebook just over a month ago. It seems to be working just fine. I've installed bootcamp and installed windows 7. I use Speccy for my temperature monitor. I've played DayZ Standalone as well as L4D2. I noticed while playing both games on their lowest settings the CPU temperature consistently stays in the 90 degree celsius range often reaching 99 degrees celsius. I am fairly tech saavy and have a decent knowledge of computers.I bought the ThermaPak Heatshift pad in hopes of cooling it down but to no avail as it only does a great job at cooling everything else. This is my first laptop so I treat it like my baby ! haha I was wondering if these temp readings are normal because I know that even reaching 70 celsius can be somewhat damaging. Thank you for your assistance.

EDIT:

I've attached a screenshot of the temperature for proof

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Mar 17, 2014 2:38 PM

21 replies

km2292

Level 1

0 points

Apr 19, 2014 12:44 AM in response to sineight

Hi there,

I was just wondering how you find out the temperature stats.

I bought a new macbook 2 months ago and turned it on for the first time yesterday.

When I went to turn it on it didn't start up which I thought was a bit odd as they usually have some power.

I have been using it for about half an hour, just watching catch up tv online and it's unusually hot - almost too hot to touch. How can I find out the exact temperature?

Thanks,

sineight Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 20, 2014 6:33 AM in response to km2292

I downloaded istats menu as well as another program, istats pro, in order to see if both gave me the same temp reading. Generally, 100 celsius is considered "shut down" temps for computer processors.

It is only a 10 day demo but a good program: http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

as well as istats pro widget : http://download.cnet.com/iStat-pro/3000-12565_4-71074.html

Jun 8, 2014 2:27 PM in response to sineight

I use turbo boost switcher to keep the clocks low on the cpu end. For the gpu clocks to stay low, you would have enable vsync and set every graphical setting to low even the resolution. I usually have it 1024x768 or less and set the aspect ration 16:10. For valve games, i enable fps_max and set it 30-45fps (depends how fluid it is in the game) in the set launch options if you use steam. If you don't want to install turbo boost disabler, I suggest you download xcode and open instruments and go to prefrences and cpu and disable 2 cores because you have one core and a thread for each core your computer has. Also, I have a manual fan control to kick in at max RPM when it gets 60C or higher.

Be careful using these apps though. Everytime I go for repair, and they suggest it to be a hardware or software issue, Apple Genius Bar loves to pick on me with these installed. So if you have a software issue or hardware issue, you would probably need a spare 20gb of your disk to have a clean install of OSX available to prove these programs aren't the culprit.

Turbo boost disabler I use (Installs a kext):

https://github.com/rugarciap/Turbo-Boost-Switcher

Fan Control

http://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control

Doing all this allows me to play games 70C or less on my Macbook Air. Probably makes a much bigger difference for me than you because my base clocks are way lower than yours.

You aren't the only one worried about temps. Its not neccessarily bad for the cpu but its bad for the components nearby your cpu. SSD, Memory, etc.

Oct 17, 2015 1:37 PM in response to sineight

Hi sineight,

I have recently bought MacBook Pro (15-inch Retina Mid 2014) - Intel Core i7-4870HQ. Gradually, realized the CPUs temperature seem higher that I expected. Exactly the same as the situation you had / have.
this is more than a year when you started this discussion, I wondering if you could give us an update about your MPB. Do you still have it ?

Oct 17, 2015 1:42 PM in response to Moon-Light

In the near future, is it going to cause a serious failure for my MBP ?

Oct 17, 2015 11:33 PM in response to Moon-Light

MacBook Pro (15-inch Retina Mid 2014) - Intel Core i7-4870HQ

Macbook Pro Retina Late 2013 CPU temperature issues while gaming (99 celsius) Is this normal ?