How hot is too hot?

[macmee]

I don't often do high powered stuff but I wanted to play a game today so I went on high performance mode.

My device is extremely hot right now. Touching the back of the device is hot, my entire touchscreen is hot, I do hear the fan though.

Is this safe? Is it going to harm my device? I've never had something heat up so much, I'm afraid of using it in high performance mode due to all the heat.

 

[xramz]

I use SpeedFan to monitor CPU temperatures.
Hot for me is about 60 degrees Celsius.
Maybe download SpeedFan and see what temperature your SP2 reaches

 

[macmee]

I use SpeedFan to monitor CPU temperatures.
Hot for me is about 60 degrees Celsius.
Maybe download SpeedFan and see what temperature your SP2 reaches

Do you think this is alright then? It seems way to hot!

 

[macmee]

just hit 53

 

[macmee]

it got close to 60 too

that's a damn shame, it can run League of Legends on max everything

 

[xramz]

Nah I think you're fine. 60 isn't too bad. I was just saying that's the hottest mine has gotten.
The components are made to shut down if it gets too 100. Sure the hotter it runs the less life the device will have but I would say 60 is acceptable. I mean it's not like you game 24/7
Just watch out for dust getting in the back of the SP2 as that can make things run hotter and the fan less effective.
But yeah, you're fine for running league at max. Just try not play for hours on end

 

[Philtastic]

The SP2 throttles once it hits 80 degrees Celcius. You're fine running it at max. I just finished having Diablo 3 running for the past 4 hours on it (I was not actually playing for that long ) which pushes it to 80 degrees. I've done this many times. It's fine.

 

[macmee]

The SP2 throttles once it hits 80 degrees Celcius. You're fine running it at max. I just finished having Diablo 3 running for the past 4 hours on it (I was not actually playing for that long ) which pushes it to 80 degrees. I've done this many times. It's fine.

I read that 35C+ starts to hurt the battery life. Not true?

 

[Philtastic]

Yes, having higher temperatures does impact the battery health to some extent but so does having it charged beyond 50% or so. Heck, keeping the battery at 100% for extended periods of time wears down the battery's maximum charge. For more info on various factors that impact Li-ion battery health, see the following link: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University.

The effect of elevated temperature for a couple of hours is generally not significant enough to warrant sacrificing your enjoyment of the device. Similarly, trying to constantly keep the battery around 50% charge is also more hassle than it's worth. Constantly running it at high temperature might cause the battery to lose maximum charge faster which means that, maybe after 2 years, you'll only have 70% max charge instead of maybe 80-85%, at which point, there'd probably be something much better out anyway. In the meantime, today, you get to enjoy being a power user on the go.

It's a similar thinking with phone batteries. To maximize battery health, you should limit how much battery you use since that both uses up charge cycles and produces heat, so would you always use your phone at minimal brightness, disable LTE/4G until you need it, always close every app if you're not looking at it, and only have it on for set periods of time to make sure you don't go over 30 degrees? Actually, you could also do similar things with the Surface: close every program/app when you're not using it, use minimal brightness all the time, make sure to always have it plugged in for power to limit battery use, keep it in airplane mode to reduce network/Bluetooth usage until needed, close background processes to minimize CPU usage, etc.

Basically, enjoy your Surface for what it is: a really powerful device that is already obsolete so use the hell out of it and buy the new hotness 2-4 years from now.

 

[CrippsCorner]

I like your summery! People care too much sometimes, these machines we buy (tablets, laptops or phones) aren't forever...

 

[GoodBytes]

Battery University is not a valid source of information. There is a whole discussion on Wikipedia on it. It turns out it was an author for a book, to provide a source of what he is saying, made himself that website.
That's like arguing that pigs can really fly, and I provide source my own website to support my argumentation.

The information provided is, however, not entirely wrong, but not entirely correct either.
Here is the discussion: Talk:Lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battery manufacture have a wide variety of technologies. A battery might be Lithion-ion, but it is not the same as another manufacture or another model of a Lithium-ion battery. "Lithium-on" "Lithium-poly", "NiMH", etc. are just the base chemistry.
That is why for example, Sanyo Eneloops (now Panasonic), despite providing lower mAh than the competitor, are genuinely one of the best NiMH rechargeable battery you can get on the consumer market. They last longer, they hold their charge when not in used longer, and you can recharge them the most times.

This is why you have many conflicting reports on many things. And also, another factor is the charger. You have crappy chargers, and you have good ones.
The same like NiMh batteries. You can use a Smart charger and get the best performance out of the battery each time and charge quick, or you can use the ones at the BestBuy and such which are cheap, and this is something that is very noticeable.

It is possible that Microsoft used batteries that are more resistant to heat. Meaning when the CPU is throttled at 80C, it is "not so bad". Probably if the CPU gets hotter now it will be an issue, but it wont' as it is being throttled, and probably the battery temperature has headroom.



At Microsoft Surface Pro 3 AMA at Reddit, Microsoft Surface team said:

Q: (by: caliber)
I have an original Surface Pro, and my number one complaint with it is that when the battery stops holding a charge in two years, my only option is to have the entire device replaced by Microsoft for $450.

In two years, there's a good chance the device won't even be worth that much anymore, which turns the Surface Pro into essentially a disposable computer. This was almost a deal breaker for me buying my Surface Pro, and the only reason I still bought one was because I got a good enough deal on it that I've come to terms with the fact that when the battery wears out, I'll need to buy a new computer.

Is this still the case with the Surface Pro 3?

A:
The batteries on our Surface products are designed with some of the highest charge cycles for consumer electronic devices. This means that the battery can get charged daily (5 days a week) for over 4.5 years and still maintain 80% capacity.
[...]
We’ve built a great battery into the product (details above).

IF the battery fails during the warranty period, we’ll replace the battery.

IF the battery fails after the warranty period, you’ll call Microsoft support and arrange for the battery to be replaced. The cost will be $200 USD.

This is something that you normally see from other manufacture laptop. Usually after 1 year to 2 years (depending on the battery used in the system), the battery needs to be changed.

Anyway, my point, was that battery university is not a reliable source., and that not all Lithium-ion/poly batteries are the same. So your previous device experience might not reflect now.