9 replies to this topic

[helterskelter92]

I recently purchased Feral Interactive's Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition port for mac. I am running the game on a Macbook Pro 13 inch, with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4gb of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics card with 256 MB of VRAM, all on Snow Leopard.

When I first started playing the game, it ran perfectly on max settings with a 1200X800 resolution. But recently, the game has become laggy in many areas and iv'e noticed that the machine is putting out a lot of heat. Iv'e been running a fan control program, to increase the fan speed in hopes of cooling down the machine, but this has no effect on the performance of the game. When I checked my CPU output with borderlands running, it was at 120% just for the game.

I have tinkered with different settings on the game, but the game still takes a lot of my CPU usage. I then tried running some of my other games, and have noticed that they all push my CPU usage. Left 4 Dead 2, Portal, and Team Fortress all clock in at around 115-130% of my CPU usage, even when I have adjusted the graphics and resolution. Could there be something wrong with my CPU, or has my laptop been unable to handle these games at such settings this whole time?

[devilhunter]

You are running the most heavy Games for the mac yet on your Laptop and wonder about heavy CPU usage?
Try running Starcraft II, it's a slideshow on mac laptops, even on lowest settings.

Many of the heavy Games from Steam & Co. received quick & dirty port-jobs and run accordingly bad.
Steam's official Games run worse than Cider Ports, and the resolution and lighting options in Borderlands quickly bring most machines to their knees, especially in later areas.  
I could show you my CPU usage history after running some of those Games on my Quad-Core and Octo-Core macs, but you wouldn't like what you see there.

Games that where created on another platform (Windows) will perform bad if they are ported somewhere else.

Especially with Console Ports (The Force Unleashed 1 & 2), they will run badly if they are ported to windows and will be unplayable if reported again to the mac.

[helterskelter92]

Mhh I see. Thanks for sharing.

As for the CPU, will running games like this, even with lower res and settings, have a negative effect on my CPU? It will still shoot above 100% operation, but the RAM handles some of the memory. So bad idea to keep running the CPU at such settings?

[doh123]

CPUs are meant to run... heat is what to worry about, not % of usage... games always peg the % way up, unless its some type of little ultra simple game of course.

[helterskelter92]

So if im running intense games like that, what temperature do you recommend I keep my computer at? I have smc FanControl, so I can increase my fan speed.

[devilhunter]

Almost all 3D intense Games will use all the CPU usage they can get.
I'd recommend 3D gaming on Desktops since they have better cooling and because Apple's Laptops have some little major heat problems as of late.
Apple downclocks graphics hardware on most portables to prevent overheating, but this doesn't rule out overheat damage on motherboards. Apple's whisper-quiet portable operation is a double edged sword here, insufficient cooling & stress results in damages.

Not to be on the negative side with portables, but i've learned to despise them because i've replaced countless motherboards, graphic cards (in stock PCs) and hard drives over the last few years on macbooks and PC systems because of overheat damage.
Nice to have a portable, but lugging it around will kill the hard drive pretty quickly (headcrashes); and dust & dirt will clog the (already under undersized) heat intakes and exhausts pretty quickly.
Nothing beats a good Desktop, where you can regulate the temps yourself on everything, but that's just my opinion :)

helterskelter92 said:

So if im running intense games like that, what temperature do you recommend I keep my computer at? I have smc FanControl, so I can increase my fan speed.

Not much you can do here, since regulating with FanControl doesn't really help as much as you'd like, because the Fan controls in EFi still rule over the hardware.
Keeping a mobile Core 2 Duo below 80°C / 170F would be recommended. High Core 2 Duo Temps are normal my C2D mac mini runs regularly @ 70°C - 80°C.
Desktop C2Ds and later models of CPUs like the Core iX series are way cooler around 50°C / 122F

[helterskelter92]

Well all I really have to game is my macbook pro. Im going to school right now, so no money to spend on fixing up my pc desktop. I never got a mac expecting to use it as a gaming machine, but now that games are being ported over and the like, I thought it would be great to run some games on. The fancontrol may not do much, but it'll keep my machine below 80 degrees at least. Thanks for the help. I'll try running the games at the lowest settings to see if it helps any.

[doh123]

my 2008 MBP 15"er when I'm playing with it maxed, it sits around 82-86º with 6200rpm fans

my 2010 MBP 13"er when I'm playing with it maxed, it sits around 77-82º with the fan at 5000 rpm... it never really gets hot enough for the fan to hit its max speed of 6200 for me.

I have not looked up the specs on Core i5s and i7s, but the Core 2 Duos have a Mac operating temp from Intel listed as 105... so 80s close to 90 shouldn't be much of an issue... but I spin my fans up to keep it as cool as possible.  Its much easier and cheaper to replace a worn out fan, than a fried logic board.

[Hrachya]

I play heavy games like GTA IV, Fallout New Vegas, Far Cry 2, [PROTOTYPE] (and run some other apps at the same time like Vuze, DropBox etc.) and my temp is 67 C. If it goes to 80, it's OK. Mine is MBP 2008 by the way.

PS If your new to laptop don't charge ur Mac if it's already charged take it out and turn on Speech option. So it will say "Please charge ur mac" or somethin' like that.

[Houbos]

Macs weren't build for heavy gaming, rather for casual usage.  Their heating distribution is excellent in idle, thanks to the aluminum chassis. But under heavy load, they turn into heating pads. If you play a lot, definitely use some cooler.

Best and cheapest one is homemade NZXT Cryo LX clone (look it up on Google Images). It's piece of metal and 2 quality 12 cm fans. It's nice, quiet and keeps your MacBook's temperatures reasonable.