gpumacbook protemperature
My question is very simple. I have some troubles with my MBP 13' mid-2010 (kernels panics, crashs and reboots). I think the problem is coming from the GPU (Nividia 320m). One solution could be to change the thermal paste on the GPU but before doing this I want to know the temperature of the GPU.
I use iStat Pro but it doesn't propose to measure this temperature. Do you know if it's possible? And if yes how can I do this?
While the TV is on standby, try going into System Preferences > Displays Preferences and set your displays to mirror.
I understand your concerns (justified or not), you love your Mac and want to keep it alive as long as possible.
Here are some home remedy (Do it Yourself)-- (also available where you live).
If you want to keep your Mac cooler during HOT games, go to pharmacy and buy what they call a gel-pack (gel balení). Freeze it!
Then put it under your Mac with a towel in between (to prevent freezing).
That will provide additional cooling for few hours. Have second gel-pack if you want to continue gaming for 24 hours a day :)
As for your temperature reports, so far they look normal based on this example.
Throttling
This test wouldn't be complete if we didn't address the subject of throttling. Prime 95 and Furmark can extract the maximum performance out of the hardware. When both programs are run simultaneously, the core frequency drops (caused by Prime 95) to 1.2 Ghz. Running Prime 95 alone, we measured temperatures between 92 and 104 degrees Celsius (197.6 and 219.2 degrees Fahrenheit), and the word "Throttling" flashes repeatedly in HWiNFO. Furmark on its own cycles through all available Turbo Boost steps. After about one hour, the temperature settled at a fairly consistent 85 degrees Celsius (185 degrees Fahrenheit) with the fan system running. We never measured above 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) with Furmark. This limitation might be due to the power adapter: in the above scenario, the system would require 86.6 watts - but the power adapter can only supply a maximum of 85 watts. Immediately after running our different tests, we subjected the system to 3DMark 06 and CineBench R11.5. The results were identical to after a cold boot.
The fastest way to quick check is to use the surface temperatures as shown here.
Best Answer
I used to have an MBP 15" mid-2010 and I was able to measure a lot of temperatures (including, I'm fairly sure, the GPU temperature) using iStat Menus. They have a 14-day trial version so it costs nothing to try.
Edit: here's a crop from a screenshot on my older MBP 15" mid-2010 showing the latest version of iStat Menus. Notice the plethora of GPU sensors.