Macintosh

Hello there i am looking for help on this issue with my mac, let me explain:

Situation:
I recently bough a macbook pro (december 2011) it is the latest macbook pro you can get right now and has everything maxed:
2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1GB Ram.
Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB

Problem:
The problem is the fan of my macbook pro, let me explain that the reason i bought this mac is because i work professionally as a motion graphic designer and thus needed a good computer(laptop) that wasn't a pc.
Every time i launch a Maya render or an After Effects render the fan noise kicks in and gets slightly loud, im perfectly ok with that since the fan noise stops right after the render completes.
The problem is that this doesn't happen with games, whenever i play a game the fan noise just keeps going and going and even if i lower the graphics of even EVE online to the lowest the fan noise is still pretty high.
I guess this noise belongs to the fan of the cpu which heats up every time some complex calculus kicks in like calculating shadows reflections and lighting overall.

My questions:
1-Are MacBook Pros thought for video games, were they designed thinking that the user might want to play a game for an entire afternoon or are macbook pros only for the digital and visual arts fields of profession and other things not related to games?

2-Am i lowering the lifetime of my Mac if i keep forcing it into playing video games with their graphical quality to the max?
This CPU(i suppose its the CPU) fan noise really preoccupies me because it feels if like something was about to blow up or burn due to overheating.

3-Anyone out there playing EVE online or other games in their mac and are experiencing this fan noise problem, is it normal? any way to prevent it?

Thanks
Dave

You will not shorten the life of the laptop by playing games on it - the fan is designed to keep the laptop operating according to Apple's thermal specification.

You may want to consider one of those fan assisted laptop coolers that sit under the laptop when in use. They are designed to blow cooler air onto the underside of the laptop using a fan that is (usually) quieter than the one inside.

Do not use an application to slow down the internal fan Because it runs at that speed for a reason.

If you wanna look at the insides of your MBP:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Unibody-Teardown/618/1

Then, from Apple:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/care/
The bottom of the MacBook Pro case functions as a cooling surface that transfers heat from inside the computer to the cooler air outside. The bottom of the case is raised slightly to allow airflow, which keeps the unit within normal operating temperatures. In addition, warm air is vented from the slots in the back of the case.

Finally, messing with the fan speeds is... bad. You might fry your MBP with that, and since that information is kept on the SMC, if you fry it and take it back to Apple they might just say you tempered with the cooling system and you loose your warranty.

Running a game generates heat from CPU and GPU. It will heat up. Running EvE on my wife's 15" MBP was always noisy.

Since the new MBPs are made of aluminum, they are intended to have their cases / bodies helping to dissipate that heat. What you can do is to use it on a flat surface, maybe with some holders to give it a bit more space from the surface and thus better airflow.

One more thing, heat is not a problem as long as it is controlled, and the fans spin up to take care of that. Being the only mechanical part, in the past fans could have their lives shortened significantly by running at full speed. That is not the case anymore with the new fans that run on pure magnetism and zero friction, thus allowing you to run them full throttle for virtually ever. =)