Is this normal heat for a laptop?

[chris_gamo]

So I recently purchased an MSI GE62 6QF Apache Pro laptop.

It has an Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Quad Core) @ 2.6 GHz.
16GB RAM
Nvidia GTX 970M GPU

It is very capable of playing almost any game at excellent graphic settings, but my concern is the heat on the components. For instance, I did a stress test on Arma 3 for example, turned everything up to max, turned on high performance, put on Sport Mode etc... Within about 30-40 minutes of playing my CPU and GPU were in the 70-75 C range for heat.

Obviously I do not play all my games on the best settings, I was just wanting to test the capabilities.

Is this normal?

And if so, at what temperature is it better to stop playing games and such on and let the components cool down?

Thanks.

Chris.

 

[Darkbreeze]

For what you had the settings at, yeah, that should probably be expected. You need to keep in mind that it's a laptop, not a desktop, and that even the greatest laptop ever made still has terrible cooling capabilities.

Just because a unit CAN do something, doesn't mean it SHOULD. Half the software used for laptops was designed not for laptops, but for desktops, and can create situations where the cooling system is unable to keep up.

Just as an example, there were a lot of A-series laptops with unlocked cpus that people were overclocking using AMD Overdrive and while they COULD get the system to perform much better than with the stock configuration, a large number of them were crying later when they found they had burned up their CPUs due to the inability of the system to keep the CPU cool. Of course the system would actively underclock the CPU once it reached beyond TJmax, but repeating that enough times takes it's toll, throttling notwithstanding.

Keep your settings and your expectations realistic and an eye on thermals and you should be fine. Just FYI, you probably don't want that CPU going beyond 75°C more than necessary and not beyond 80-85°C ever. Throttling likely won't take place until at least 100°C but after 85° you are slowly cooking your CPU.

For your GPU, about the same. Anything below 85°C is probably ok, if that's a full load temp. It would be preferable to see it stay below 80°C though.