Ipod overheating troubles

Question

I usually start playing game called Order and Chaos online and have my ipod plugged in i have rubber thin case and my ipod gots overheating within 15 minute and this trouble me and take 30-45 minute to cool down comepletely on lockscreen.  I tried taking off the case it helped a little but still it overheats around the upper front screen and the upper back (1-2 cn above apple logo) areas and when i smell it like actually smell it close up it smells like burning circuits or metal and this freak me out im worry it be ruining my ipod. I have ipod touch 4gen on iOS 5.0.1 and im worry about this so i want to know and btw mu case is thin rubber or silicone case if that helps and it heats hot but not enough hot to burn or untouchable
1) what to do to stop from overheating so fast
2) are you guys have this trouble too
3) what damage might this causing
Please dont share your own story of over heating ipod or repeat same things i say and im not gonna take it back to apple for battery replace unless it under 20$ ok and sorry for my bad grammar and spleling i do fast this time because last time i wrote this message i click on add/ edit product by accident and i lost it so thank you please halpme

Answer 1

Hi,
There's two things that actually generate heat in your iPod; making the CPU works hard and charging the battery and there's nothing you can actually do to reduce the heat of these more than removing your case to let the device cool himself by air convection.
Games like Order and Chaos that make intense CPU usage will get your iPod warm.  Since high CPU usage imply energy consumption, you will then plug your device to continue playing, therefore combining the two heat generating events.
You can say that your iPod is heating, but how could you say it's "overheating"?  That would imply that it generate more heat than it is actually designed to withstand which would be hard for you to monitor.
While it is quite normal that you feel heat when you play O&C while charging, it is not to smell burned circuit (but can you make the distinction between warm circuit and overheating circuit? I doubt that it is an objective way to do a diagnostic.  For me, it seems to be completely normal.
Since you can't measure if the internal temperature is above what it should be, your best option is probably to go at genius bar to get their feeling.  If something's wrong and still under warranty, you'll get a new one.  If no longer under warranty, at least, you will have some objective information to assess if you may get harmed by using it like this (there is a few story about this but they are exceptions).
Any silicon case will reduce heat dissipation.  It may not be significant to reduce your iPod's life, it will help to cool it down if you remove it.