Is is wrong to cool my iMac down like this? (Pic included)

There's no song and dance you have to do to keep a machine alive. Just use common sense. Are you blowing hot air directly back into the machine? No. You're fine.

MadMacxxx said:

I know that the heat being given off of the casing of a laptop or desktop is just the result of it's own internal cooling system expelling the extra heat, however, is it bad to blow a current of air across the length of the device to help channel the hot air away from it? I've read you shouldn't directly blow air at a computers fan (for obvious reasons), so I figured this approach might work...at least a little. Anyway, I'd like some insight on this. I know about various custom ways to really cool your computer down, like installing liquid cooling systems and such...but thats not practical for an iMac.

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I'm sure it's fine, if it makes you feel better. It's just that I don't see the point of it. iMacs are designed to cool themselves as needed.

Use SMC fan control to adjust the fan speed of the fans inside your iMac.

I use my iMac pretty much all day and only ever put it to sleep at night, so if the PSU gets above 60 degrees celsius I put on a custom setting on SMC I labelled "Cool Down" which has the following settings:

Optical Disk Drive: 1500rpm (up from 1000rpm)
Hard Disk Drive: 2000rpm (up from 1200rpm)
CPUL 2000rpm (up from 1200rpm)

Within minutes, and checking the iStat Pro widget, the temperature begins to slowly but gradually decline. I know the iMac itself can detect when temperatures reach limits it deems damaging, but I prefer to take action myself before the system has to actually worry and thinks it's in "danger".

Seems utterly pointless. I'd say there was a risk of blowing dust into the machine as well.

mreg376 said:

I'm sure it's fine, if it makes you feel better. It's just that I don't see the point of it. iMacs are designed to cool themselves as needed.

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All machines are, but to varying degrees of effectiveness. Since the iMac is a relatively small enclosure, I wouldn't be surprised if it's not as effective as tower desktops at dissipating heat.

Funnily, I used the same trick as the OP just this very morning. I closed my MBP and put it in my case, but it didn't sleep. When I opened the case at the office, there was a burning smell and the bottom of the LCD was discoloured from the heat. I quickly put a fan blowing across the keyboard to improve convection. Don't know how much it helped, but at least it's still working!

How hot is too hot?

I have iStat and it currently says that CPU A and the airport card are 145ºF and the power supply is 180ºF. The ambient temp is given as 88ºF. Should I have a room fan to improve circulation or what?

I once used a small dust fan to blow away from the computer, to get the hot air out. I can't say it had any effect on anything, but it made me feel better about wasting electricity.

SMC Fan Control. It’s good.

wfoster said:

SMC Fan Control. It’s good.

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Does this work on iMacs? I have a Core2 Duo iMac, but I figured it wouldn't work from the description of 2.2.2.

My iMac overheats when I play games. I get weird graphical glitches and sometimes freezes. So I'm happy with any solution which keeps my iStats down.

The iMac should cool itself fine... If it is overheating though you should clean the dust out of it and see how it goes. The Machine is designed to cool itself

mrsir2009 said:

The iMac should cool itself fine... If it is overheating though you should clean the dust out of it and see how it goes. The Machine is designed to cool itself

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I did clean a little dust bunny off of the intake fan area, and it does seem to be running cooler. Still gets a bit hot, though. I tried blowing dusk out with some canned air and also vacuuming the vents, but nothing much came of that.

Guess I'll just bring it regular iced teas...