I have a late-2013 Retina MacBook Pro, and it gets really hot really easily. I've monitored the temp with htop and iStat and they both show the same readings. It's supposed to be able to play some pretty graphics intensive games, at least that's the impression I got. I tried playing Rust (very basic graphics for those unaware of the game) on medium settings, and my cpu temp was hovering around 100. I also tried playing Endless Legend, and my cpu temps were hovering around 100 before I even got into the game, just looking at the menu, in windowed mode, at 1280×800 resolution, with low graphics settings, with no other applications running. Is this normal? Is the game performance of the Retina MBP this bad usually or is mine unusually bad? Are these temperatures safe or will they decrease the life of my computer if sustained for a few hours at a time?
EDIT : Check out the performance trying to play a game of chess here. You can see the CPU temp spike to over 100 degrees in seconds
Best Answer
100C (212F) is the thermal limit for the intel processor in your machine. The computer will shut itself down to prevent damage if necessary. This means a sustained and significant increase above that threshold. Not a spike. The temperatures you report are within normal operating temperatures based on the usage. Tips, moving forward:
Bottom Line: This is completely normal behavior and nothing to worry about.