Bootcamp + Gaming On The Macbook Pro

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a new machine in the coming weeks and was considoring the
Macbook Pro.

I usually game in the evenings and need something that can play games like
CSS and HL2 which the Macbook Pro's GPU should be able to handle fine.

After doing tons of readinging though, I've read that playing games in via
Bootcamp isn't very stable as the Macbook Pro starts to overheat a lot.

This is due to Apple not offering any drivers that control the fan speed when
running Windows.

Is this actually true?

Thanks for any help guys

 

No it is not true. My fans adjust in windows just fine.

 

Really? I've read on so many forums that this problem exists?

Have you played any games while in Bootcamp?

 

You'll be fine running games like HL2, its not very demanding at all and shouldn't heat it up too much anyway.

 

I've noticed that sometimes it would kick in very quickly and sometimes it would take time to start rotating faster. i only bootcamp for game. I'm a C.S student and use windows to program a lot. Virtualisation is my best option. I get the battery life(4+ hours) of the macbook pro and get to use windows at the same time. When i need raw power, i switch to bootcamp. But these days, i rarely game because i have exams soon.

 

I've played, CS CS:S HL:2 TF:2 L4D Battlefield 2. All play fine.

 

Could you also tell me what kind of fps your getting in them games please.

 

I never checked the FPS. But all the settings where on med or high.

 

You could also get smc fan control and manually set the fan speed yourself in bootcmap

 

This is very true, at least before you use software to override the default settings. Apple wants to keep their laptop quiet and thin thus they kept the fan RPM low and heatsink small. This causes overheating if you're stressing the laptop.

 

That is vary untrue. Do you even own a Mac?

 

By true, I mean the fan starts kicking in about 60-70*C in windows on a Mac with standard setting. I know that's true.

You might not consider that overheating, but if you compare to majority of other laptops, it's way above the average.

And of course, like we both stated, you can adjust the fan speed through software in windows and through bootcamp settings. Majority of the people don't know how to adjust the settings so they'll be using the default setting which causes "overheating".

 

I have a Macbook, and there's no overheating problems here! I run Call of Duty World at War, and with a medium res, I get around 40 FPS with the 9400M. I know that's irrelevant to your question about the Macbook PRO gaming, but it might give you a ballpark range on how the 9600GT would do, since it's about 2.5 times stronger.

 

I have tried hardware monitor on the macbook pro. It does not allow me to adjust my fan speed. 75-80c(some times 82c) while gaming on the most resource intensive games. but you will play on 75-79c most of the times.

 

Compared to my HDX 18t,Dell m4400,HP elitebook 8530w and others,it is average.Wtih modern CPU,overheating is considered temps above 105C and for GPU,it is 95C.

 

I suggest you put the fans to 6.2k using smc fan control on mac when you are going to game in bootcamp.

 

the overheating comes from the SMC controller not kicking the fans up quick enough. usually it'll work fine, but sometimes, occasionally it messes up and wait until the temp is like 95º+ C before even changing them from the lowest setting. I've found this starts happening most often if you've switched the graphics cards a few times and used sleep a lot without restarting the machine.

In OSX i use SMCFanControl and make sure it stays cool

When I reboot into Windows to play a game, I shut down the machine, reset the SMC, then turn it on and boot into Windows and play. After the reset of the SMC that fans work just fine for me and keep everything cool no matter how hard I push it, often spinning themselves up to a full 6200 rpm before it gets very hot. i would suggest always reseting the SMC before booting into Windows then don't worry about it.

to reset your SMC on Unibody Macbook Pro...
• power off
• Hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift on the LEFT side of the built in keyboard (not the right side
• press and hold the power button for a second or two
• let up all the keys/buttons
• turn on your machine!

remember if you want to boot into Windows without having to select it in OSX, just hold down the Alt/Option key when you hear the tone, and don't let it up until you see the option to choose what OS you want to boot.

I hope they come out with some type of a firmware patch some day that makes this unneeded, but I don't think they consider it majorly important because even when its acting wonky it still spins the fans up before it "overheats," at least by paper specs...

 

From what I understand of how SMC works you could set it manually before you enter a gaming session on windows right?

 

Yep and that's what i do. I also set up the fans on high before logging into my windows partition. Right now. my temp is at 53c on Vista. If i let the fans auto adjust themselves, i'll have to wait until the gpu reaches 70c before my fan start going above 2k rpm.

 

Wait so you have to set smc in os x before booting into windows? You cant just control it in windows?

 

Nope. This is not possible. I have to manually set the speed in os x before booting in windows.

 

while it would be possible to do, no one has yet written and application to let you to override the SMC while your in Windows, like SMCfancontrol does in OSX.... I've tried many different fan controllers, and the best I can get is being able to see the temps and the speeds, but not change them.

 

For gaming with a mac, do you use cooler???

 

What are you talking about? I've used Input Remapper for a long time to adjust the fan speeds of my MacBook while in Bootcamp, and it works flawlessly.

 

I would always use a cooler while gaming, as it draws heat away from your computer/electronics. One of the main killers of electronics in general is heat, and too much of it can damage your machine. Every little bit helps.

 

Do you use one Colton?
If yes, what do you used?

 

I don't use a cooler, I just use a cloth covered piece of wood to angle it up and give it air flow.

 

I dont know where exact the heat flow out of the macbook.

 

I've only had my mbp for a week or so now, but I have invested a bit of time on a game or two. So far setting smcfancontrol to 5000rpm in os x and playing several hours of halflife2 ep.2 in vista has yielded a top temperature of 72 for the gpu and mid 50's for the cpu. Although its a bit cumbersome to have to start the fans in os x, I'm pretty satisfied with the results. Not using a cooler by he way.


*forgot to mention, that I also installed the latest drivers from nvidia and they're working flawlessly so far.

 

I sure do! It will drop the temperature by around 10C, which I think is pretty good. This is the one I use:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997168&Tpk=notebook coolers

It's a nice cooler, all aluminum with 2 pretty powerful fans. I put some felt where the laptop touches the aluminum at the bottom where the trackpad is, just to protect and prevent it from scratching. It also has 2 USB ports on the back of it.

 

The vent on the MBP Uni is on the back behind the screen.

 

maybe its an OS (I use Vista 64) thing, but I've never been able to get Input Remapper to run correctly. When I have it enabled in any way the OS pauses likes its totally frozen for about 25 seconds every 45-60 seconds.. making it totally unusable. Disable Input Remapper, including not being able to control the fans, and everything runs fine again.