Extreme Overheating Re: Faulty NVIDIA cards?

I got my MBP about a month ago, and I got Spore two days ago. The first time I played I noticed my MBP running extremely hot. However, earlier today I played for about 45 minutes and I began to smell burning plastic. I immediately turned my MBP off and let it cool down. I turned it back on and did some research, apparently the NVIDIA 8600 graphics cards are messed up? Along with that I downloaded istat, tried playing spore again this time for only half an hour and my MBP reached a GPU Diode temp of 175 degrees Fahrenheit thats 80 degrees Celsius! I'm downloading SMCfc but regardless I don't think I can keep the temperature down while I play.

Does anyone play spore on their MBP? And if so, what are your temp readings?

Any other suggestions on how to cool my MBP?

And for those of you who are wondering, I keep my MBP raised off of my desk using a turned over steel mesh envelope tray.

I'm considering sending my MBP into apple, and demanding they fix it, they better deal with this NVIDIA problem.

When I game on my MBP my CPU and GPU easily gets to 80*C...
I think once it even reached a little higher than that.

I also believe the MBP has temp. thresholds to protect the computer from damage...

Is it just getting hot or do you show signs of your GPU failing? Occasionally mine has lines jump across the screen and the screen flashes. Mine runs VERY hot when I am playing games. I am not sure how hot because I always boot into Windows with boot camp.

If it is just getting hot then there is no problem. There are tons of posts about MacBook Pros getting VERY hot. It is normal.

To the OP:

If you really did smell plastic burning and it was coming from your MBP I would contact Apple and speak with support. They may have you send it in for them to look at it if there are no authorized Apple service centers or stores nearby. While all MacBook Pro computers get fairly hot playing intensive graphic games, they should never get hot enough to where you can smell plastic burning.

It's possible there may be something wrong with the fan speed thermal control or it could be graphics related. In any event since it's still under warranty, let Apple deal with it.

Regards.

I'm sitting here only on this site and running at 63 degrees. I wouldn't be worried about that temperature, but if there's a smell you should be following chscag's advice - get in touch with Apple. Burning is in no way normal, faulty graphics card or no.

I want to ask a silly question, which application tells you the temp of your MBP?

Sorry for being off topic.

The iStat pro widget does, that's what I use.

Okay I downloaded it and it's working, thank you very much.

After you unzip there should just be a thing that says iStat pro.wdgt or something like that... double click to install.

DylanOlver said:

I got my MBP about a month ago, and I got Spore two days ago. The first time I played I noticed my MBP running extremely hot. However, earlier today I played for about 45 minutes and I began to smell burning plastic. I immediately turned my MBP off and let it cool down. I turned it back on and did some research, apparently the NVIDIA 8600 graphics cards are messed up? Along with that I downloaded istat, tried playing spore again this time for only half an hour and my MBP reached a GPU Diode temp of 175 degrees Fahrenheit thats 80 degrees Celsius! I'm downloading SMCfc but regardless I don't think I can keep the temperature down while I play.

Does anyone play spore on their MBP? And if so, what are your temp readings?

Any other suggestions on how to cool my MBP?

And for those of you who are wondering, I keep my MBP raised off of my desk using a turned over steel mesh envelope tray.

I'm considering sending my MBP into apple, and demanding they fix it, they better deal with this NVIDIA problem.

Click to expand...

I would suggest that you use a laptop cooling fan of some sort and limit your gaming activities to keep it cool. The fact of the matter is that your GPU chip will fail due to the faulty manufacturing process of the GPU. nVidia has acknowledged it and it is well documented as you have discovered.

I just had to replace the motherboard in my 13 month old MBP out of pocket for the exact same defect. Apple is affected by this problem just as Dell, HP, Acer and others are however they are not yet acknowledging the problem. Apple may never acknowledge the defect which is leaving me with an unfavorable impression of the company. I'm fully aware that my computer was out of warranty by just 2 weeks however in light of the faulty GPU I think that either Apple or nVidia should step up to the plate and take care of their customers. I should NOT have had to pay for this repair and neither should you. I also have no assurance that the new part installed in my MBP is of the new design and Apple refused to sell me a warranty on the repair. All I got was 90 days, SHAME ON YOU APPLE! This is a premium brand and as such we all deserve better. You wouldn't buy a Lexus and expect to be treated like this.

Yes, it is really rotten. My NBP is 2.5 years old and the GPS died a week ago. I have to pay for the repair. I do not expect a premium product would have a design fault and the manufacturer is not appear to feel responsible. They have recalled the batteries and they should recall the GPS.