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I have a MacBook Pro 13.3" 2019 (4 thunderbolt ports), an I have been concerned about overheating for a while. My processor is an Intel® Core™ i5-8279U. Graphics card is Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics 655. I regularly use Intel Power Gadget to keep an eye on temperatures and frequencies. I have found that the graphics card produces a lot of heat. I was playing certain games, but CS:GO, is especially stuffed up and doesn't allow me to change settings, so the resolution is too long vertically, and I can't turn down the graphics settings. Thus, running max GPU clock running max graphics settings is fun, however within a two minutes the package temperature sits between 90ºC and 100ºC and stays there, with the fan revving like crazy. I place a pen on the side of the laptop so that there is more airflow (1 mm at the lowest to 13 mm at the highest). I live in Australia, so room temperatures will often exceed 25ºC, but will never be more than 30ºC whilst I'm in the room because the A/C will go on. The maximum junction temperature for the processor, as stated by Intel is 100ºC. Whilst the GPU is is at max freq., the CPU is throttled down from usual frequencies, but when loading levels and stuff, the CPU will boost, and then the computer fan becomes louder than the ceiling fan and then I quit because Macs are expensive and I don't think like I am doing the right thing. Currently my PC is being used by other people in my household during coronavirus lockdown, so this would be no problem.

Are these high temperatures bad, and is there way to fix it? Due to the fact that it's so damn thin, I don't want to pull it apart myself, and I don't know any technicians who are keen to work on Apple devices. I've heard that all Mac internals are soldered together except the battery, so what about the fan? Will these extreme temperatures damage Li+ batteries, or other components?

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  • Unfortunately overheating is a typical problem for Apple devices. Changing thermal paste to a better quality one could help a bit, but will void your warranty.
    – gronostaj
    Apr 21, 2020 at 6:05

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Macs running macOS won't let themselves overheat. They will throttle the CPU and GPU and other chips and run the fans full blast, and if that somehow still doesn't do it, they will shut down.

Don't block the vents, don't put anything over the keyboard, don't use it on something soft that doesn't allow proper airflow, like a pillow or bedcovers or a towel, and don't use it if the ambient air temperature is over 35ºC.

If your CPU is designed to operate at up to 100ºC safely, it may let the CPU get up to that, but it should never exceed it.

MacBooks are carefully engineered and tested, including thermal stress and reliability tests in heat chambers. This isn't some slapped together white box PC with no guarantees. That's one of the many reasons you pay Apple prices for them instead of white box prices.

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  • This said, using your Mac at max temp all the time WILL have an impact on how long you'll enjoy using it at all... There used to be a shareware called CoolBook, that I used a lot on my 2006 MacBook Pro way back when, that could undervolt your machine, thus reducing TDP, but it was an imperfect solution, brought kernel panics if you set your sticks too low, and it had to work with a range of frequencies that was inbuilt in the CPU, so you couldn't exactly place the cursor where you wanted. It only worked on the CPU, not the GPU per se, though going integrated did solve much of the overheatin
    – user1019780
    Apr 21, 2020 at 9:04

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