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12dylan34

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
884
15
I have the 3.4 GHz i7 version with the 680MX.

For this test, I just did a short render of a test scene in Cinema 4D that I have. This should put heavy stress on all physical and virtual cores, and a small amount of stress on the GPU.

After a solid 10 minutes of the processors going at full bore, no part of the back of this thing is even warm to the touch. Parts are about skin temp, and others, like the bottom, are cold. It sounds unbelievable, but I swear that I'm telling the truth. The max CPU temp got to about 170 degrees F, but the back never got warm. There's a fair amount of warm air blowing out of the back vents, though.

The fan through this process peaked at about 2100 RPM, which is less of a fan noise and more of just a soft "whoosh." More like just white noise. Certainly not too disturbing. It idles at about 1200 RPM, which, for all intents and purposes, is silent, even in a very quiet room. Some screenshots are attached just for fun, and to look at the temperatures as well. At idle, parts of the machine, namely the LCD proximity and the HDD, are too cold to even register with the sensor, and just have a "-" in the place of their temp.
 

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WrrN

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2012
143
6
I have the 3.4 GHz i7 version with the 680MX.

For this test, I just did a short render of a ...

Great news. Thanks for sharing.

I see you use ClipMenu; I couldn't work without it.
What's the name of the sensor app you used?
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
Sounds great! Could you also try a test that stresses both the graphics card and CPU pretty heavily? I'm really glad I went for the i7+680mx after all, sounds like the new iMac is running cooler than previuos iMacs. Great job by Apple!
 

Blkant

macrumors regular
Jul 27, 2012
114
312
I think more than the CPU, it is the GPU that will be the real test of heat. Honestly I think a high demand game running for an hour is the best way to test it, one that demands from both CPU and GPU.

Obviously however, those are not normal circumstances, so for all general purposes its great to hear the heat factor is essentially gone. Lord knows even under moderate use my 2007 iMac has actually made a very mild burn effect on my hand just adjusting it before.
 

12dylan34

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
884
15
Great news. Thanks for sharing.

I see you use ClipMenu; I couldn't work without it.
What's the name of the sensor app you used?

The sensor app is iStat Menus. I've used it for a really long time, and it's great. It has a ton of useful features.

As for ClipMenu, I just thought that something like this would be very useful a few months ago, and googled around until I found this. It's definitely really useful.

-----------------

On a more general note, I'd love to see something that stresses the GPU simultaneously like a game. I'm not really a gamer, so I don't have any serious games (I got the 680 primarily for playback performance in After Effects and C4D), so if anyone would like to do that, I'd love to see.
 

joachimnb

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2008
51
0
Could you try streaming full screen silverlight/flash content in high quality for 1 hour? I find that my Air is totally quiet while making anything intensive, except from silverlight/flash content. No matter what, the fan will just kick in making noise, even though it is asymmetrical. Though this is only the case when MBA is connected with a 27" Thunderbolt Display (which it has to drive in a very high resolution), it is still annoying when you use this setup as your television.
 

davidgnomo

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2012
597
17
Imola (BO) - Italy
I just heard the whoosh noise for the first time ... it was a bit scaring, then I read this post and realized it's normal : I'am downloading my music from iTunes match to an external disk since this morning (20+ Gb), while importing all my pictures to iPhoto (almost 16 Gb) and downloading a couple of huge files from the internet ! The air sound just lasted just a couple of minutes and now it's gone : nothing compared to the terrible noise of my old laptop running ...
 

inwe

macrumors newbie
Nov 27, 2008
26
0
Spain
Today I test my iMac (i7, 680mx) playing Guild Wars 2, and my max GPU Temp got to about 83ºC (181F)... but checking iStats Menu I saw that one senor temp is missing... Any advice?

Thank you
 

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edry.hilario

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2010
816
1
got a fan or harddrive faint ratteling sound heres a sample: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mtju7pdky3p0s64/Memo.m4a

its not a as loud but definitely noticeable I was wondering if this is normal ??? an easy way to tell is if you put your ear right against the back on the left side of your imac
my imac is a 27 inch 1tb fusion drive
3.4 i7

Please help me i dont think this is normal.
 

rw3

macrumors 6502a
May 13, 2008
679
41
DFW, TX
got a fan or harddrive faint ratteling sound heres a sample: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mtju7pdky3p0s64/Memo.m4a

its not a as loud but definitely noticeable I was wondering if this is normal ??? an easy way to tell is if you put your ear right against the back on the left side of your imac
my imac is a 27 inch 1tb fusion drive
3.4 i7

Please help me i dont think this is normal.

iStat Menus developer bjango will just need to update the app to see the sensor readout from SMC. I'm more than sure the will get that fixed in an update.

The same thing happened on some rMBPs when they were first released.
 

WrrN

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2012
143
6
got a fan or harddrive faint ratteling sound heres a sample: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mtju7pdky3p0s64/Memo.m4a

its not a as loud but definitely noticeable I was wondering if this is normal ??? an easy way to tell is if you put your ear right against the back on the left side of your imac
my imac is a 27 inch 1tb fusion drive
3.4 i7

Please help me i dont think this is normal.

This does not seem right to me. I can hear the fast rattle/vibration. I have the same config as you and my system is almost silent. I have to put my ear up to the screen to hear the faintest fan sound.
 
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12dylan34

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
884
15
Today I test my iMac (i7, 680mx) playing Guild Wars 2, and my max GPU Temp got to about 83ºC (181F)... but checking iStats Menu I saw that one senor temp is missing... Any advice?

Thank you


Did you look at the temp while you were gaming, or a bit of time after?

From my experience, I think it just means that it's below the threshold of what that sensor is able to read. After a period of sleep or very light use, some of the sensors in mine, namely the GPU diode and HDD sensor look like that. After letting the machine heat up doing something, they then register with a temperature.

--------------

On another note, I did some gaming for a few hours with Left 4 Dead 2 (3 years old, I know) and the machine didn't get hot at all, and the fans never spun up to a point where they could be heard. I realize that it's because it's an old game, but it still ran it on max settings at 2560x1440 and it didn't seem to break a sweat.
 

torana355

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
I played Far Cry 3 on my i7 with 680mx on basically Max settings at 1440p for 2 hours today and the back only got luke warm with plenty of hot air pouring out of the back, very very impressive. The fan was not very loud either, you can hear it but the game sound more then drowned it out :) At idle (1200rpm) the fan is dead silent. My 2008 iMac got really hot at the top just sitting at the desktop in OSX lol.
 

Buskins

macrumors member
Feb 14, 2012
33
0
I played Far Cry 3 on my i7 with 680mx on basically Max settings at 1440p for 2 hours today and the back only got luke warm with plenty of hot air pouring out of the back, very very impressive. The fan was not very loud either, you can hear it but the game sound more then drowned it out :) At idle (1200rpm) the fan is dead silent. My 2008 iMac got really hot at the top just sitting at the desktop in OSX lol.

Same with me, only with Star Wars: The Old Republic. I cackled like a green witch when everything was on full, at highest resolution, with 49FPS on fleet and 50-70 while questing.

Odd though, when I turn rapidly left or right there is a slight hiccup and the FPS drops to 30 (so I notice the hiccup). But still, 2-3 hours PVPing and questing on a lowbie and the fans weren't louder than the volume and every time i touched the back to feel how hot it MUST be, it just wasn't, lol

Such a very good machine
 

inwe

macrumors newbie
Nov 27, 2008
26
0
Spain
Did you look at the temp while you were gaming, or a bit of time after?

GPU reached 82ºC during the play, I don't know if it would raised much more, perhaps above X temp each grade are slower to rise...

For the record, Im using iStats 3.27. I don't know if this version is fully compatible with late iMacs.. perhaps I'll try version 4 if this version can handle all my sensors..

Thank you
 

LucSkywalker

macrumors newbie
Dec 11, 2012
8
0
Played games all day without problem

I got iMac wednesday. I have i7/680/Fusion1Tb.

I played Battlestar Galactica for tons of hours. The air coming out near the back support is warm but that's it. Touch seems normal. This game use only 20% top of the CPU with an average of 10%. No noticeable noise from the fan either. To ear it, you need to really pay attention.

I tried also Starcraft 2 with 1440p with highest settings. I got at least 30FPS on busy screen.

Colors are very nice. Gameplay seems fluid. When things are working nicely, there is not much to say.

I had only one problem with unity player (for Galactica) freezing/crashing the computer. Reverting from version 4 to 3 seems to solve it.

When backup are made with Time Machine, I don't notice it.
 
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joe-h2o

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2012
997
445
i5, 680MX

Played Planetside 2 for about 3 hours today. Settings all on "High" (but am going to experiment with more settings), with Ambient Occlusion on, running at 2650x1440 res.

Fluid, beautiful gameplay with no roaring fan noise - you can certainly hear it, but the game sounds cover it easily.

Back of the iMac is barely even warm, but lots of hot air at the exhaust vent.

It's fantastic.
 

edry.hilario

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2010
816
1
This does not seem right to me. I can hear the fast rattle/vibration. I have the same config as you and my system is almost silent. I have to put my ear up to the screen to hear the faintest fan sound.

so wait ?? yours does sound like that or not ?
 

sjz88

macrumors member
Nov 30, 2012
70
0
Like I posted in another thread my fan is not silent at 1200rpm. Otters have reported the same. Not sure what to do now...
 

Minimalisten

macrumors newbie
Dec 23, 2012
1
0
My iMac late 2012 - 27" with 3 TB - is NOT silent at 1200 rpm. It is not loud, but it is annoying.
I think I will contact Apple.
 

sjz88

macrumors member
Nov 30, 2012
70
0
My iMac late 2012 - 27" with 3 TB - is NOT silent at 1200 rpm. It is not loud, but it is annoying.
I think I will contact Apple.

Please report they tell you! Because I think they'll do nothing because there is nothing wrong with the fan. Does people not hearing it probably don't sit in a silent room. Right now there's an airplane flying somewhere 15000 ft above and I can't hear the fan anymore because of that sound.
 

torana355

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
Please report they tell you! Because I think they'll do nothing because there is nothing wrong with the fan. Does people not hearing it probably don't sit in a silent room. Right now there's an airplane flying somewhere 15000 ft above and I can't hear the fan anymore because of that sound.

My iMac 2012 27" fan is silent in a dead silent room.
 

MisterKeeks

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2012
1,833
28
Try a render with Cinebench- that way everyone can try it, and we can see if there are differences between the 21.5 and 27 cooling systems.
 

gazzazh

macrumors member
Oct 9, 2012
52
0
hi guys, iam using istat version 4.03 and i cant find ambient temp.. which versions are you using.. and how do i get ambient temp. Thanks
 
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