MacBook – Should I be worried about 98°C CPU temperature on MacbookAir

cpuhomebrewmacbook protemperature

I'm a developer and often times I need to compile some packages or maybe even run some codes for couple of hours.

Recently I have noticed that whenever I use Homebrew to install something, it defaults to source, and compilation causes my CPU temp to go around 98 Celsius . Some of the compiles are quite long, couple of minutes, and I'm worried this might harm my MacBookAir.

Should I be worried about this 98°C CPU temperature on MacbookAir?
And if so, how can I fix that?

Best Answer

Michiel's correct in that if the computer gets too hot, it'll shut down automatically. However, if you want to be on the safe side, you can check out smcFanControl and Fan Control.

smcFanControl:

smcFanControl lets the user set the minimum speed of the build in fans. So you can increase your minimum fan speed to make your Intel Mac run cooler. However in order not to damage your machines smcFanControl doesn't let you set a minimum speed to a value below Apple's defaults (MacUpdate).

Fan Control

Some MacBooks and MacBook Pros are just to hot for daylong use. Fan Control adjusts the minimum fan speed depending on the current CPU temperature. For safety, it leaves the original automatic fan speed control intact (lobotomo).

And remember, if your computer ever gets to 660.4°C, don't leave it on your lap, unless you want liquid aluminum all over you.

UPDATE:

I found another tool called CoolBook that

lets you monitor the frequency, voltage and temperature of the CoreDuo / Core2Duo CPU. Registered users can also change the frequency and voltage of the processor.

Here's a list of features that are listed on the site:

Reduce heat (presumably by optimizing fan speed)
Reduce fan speed (presumably by lowering fan speed)
Extend battery life
Improve performance
Fine tune your CPU

This seems like a useful tool, but it does not support Lion and Mountain Lion, and does not work on Intel i3, i5, and i7 processors.

Related Solutions

Macbook Pro 15 mid 2012 – not able to solve overheating

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.

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CPU temperature using sysctl

I think that's the CPU throttling, not temp - see here: -

What does machdep.xcpm.cpu_thermal_level mean?

This shows your temps:-

sudo powermetrics --samplers smc