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Isn't Apple ashamed of their HD temps in iMacs?

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10k300

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2010
27
0
Hello

I have an iMac 17" G5 that I can't throw away, I bought it years ago and it's now relegated as a guest bedroom computer. Generally it's a pleasant machine, with good speakers, and makes an excellent DVD movie watching station or music appliance.

The PROBLEM however, is that no matter what you do, the hard disk temps are always between 47-60C, most usually at 50-52C. Obviously this is very high, and I've already replaced the hard disk a few times since I bought the unit.

My QUESTION here is this;

* Did anyone else notice, that as CPU temps increase, and therefore CPU Fans RPM increases, that HD temps go DOWN, as air is flowing over the disk and/or exhausting the hot air better?

* Did anyone ever figure out a way to mod the chassis and/or fan control, to increase HD fan speed, without cutting a hole in the back of the chassis for a PC-style fan?

* I'm using a single platter Seagate 7200.7 40GB disk, which is the coolest hard disk that you could probably buy, and still, it's >50C all the time. Forget about using something faster, like a 7200.11 or a WDC, it would be 60C+ nonstop - this is absolutely shameful

All of this, in a fully air-conditioned room with ambient temps of 22-24C, and please consider that ALL dust has been blown out, I've completely disassembled the machine and removed the lower fan's air shroud in an attempt to ease air flow. BTW, I will add that removing that shroud around the lower fan made a MAJOR improvement as it took away that horrible pitch that the lower fan would make.

At any rate, I know this is probably not a relevant topic as now it's been years since this machine was produced, but maybe someone has any ideas about how to mod the fan controller to increase RPM speed on the HD fan, or ny other ideas.

I will ALSO add, that I tried using a 2.5" laptop hard disk, one of those 5400.3 Seagates (120GB) in an attempt to run a cooler system, and YET STILL, it ran that 2.5" hard disk at >50C which is absolutely unbelievable, obviously the system is blowing all the hot air out of the CPU directly onto the hard disk. What a horrible design.

Any ideas, please let me know, this could be interesting for the people still using these systems as "daily drivers"

Take care & regards
Vasili

btw this is about a 17" RevA iMac G5 1.8

ps2- if you change "Energy Saver" settings and set it to "Low speed" on CPU, sure it won't get so hot, but... is that really a solution, the machine is slow as molasses as it is..
 
How is this shameful? It's a 6-year-old computer. Compared to its contemporaries (P4s & K7s), it wasn't all that hot...
 
I know. I see people complaining now about how their computers get to a maximum of 140 degrees on the GPU. My PowerBook, and several older non-Apple computers as well (ThinkPad T43 comes to mind) all hit around 170.
 
Its no secret the G5 was/is a very hot chip. Look at the cooling that was placed in the Powermac and consider there was no room for that in the iMac. iMac was also very thin for its time, so its going to limit where exhaust air can escape. Could it have been better designed? Probably not without changing the entire design of the computer.
 
I bet over 90% of Mac owners have no idea how to see their Mac's internal temperatures. Even less know what temperatures are harmful.
 
they could have lowered the temperatures by cutting more holes in the back and add some more fans , but then everyone would complain about fan noise ,

but for HDD temperatures the main problem is the location of the harddrive
where Apple decided traditionally to place it right above the CPU and GPU in a hot spot ,
still 60 celsius is at the top end what manufacturers of HDD's recommend ,
you could easy move the heat sensor from its location on the harddrive cage (easy to remove ,only sticked on with some heat transfering double sided tape, with care it will come of without damage to the tape ) and then stick it direct on the HDD nearest to the chips , the cable is just about long enough , that will drop the temps a bit ,not a lot but a couple degree as the fan starts a bit earlier to increase speeds ,the downside will be you will hear a fan
 
Hellhammer said:
I bet over 90% of Mac owners have no idea how to see their Mac's internal temperatures. Even less know what temperatures are harmful.
Click to expand...

I have bought 5 Macs (2 PPC, 3 Intel) in the last 6 years, and never once bothered to do anything relative to temperature monitoring. As long as it works and doesn't set my pants or desk on fire I'm not going to worry too much about heat.
 
MacHamster68 said:
they could have lowered the temperatures by cutting more holes in the back and add some more fans , but then everyone would complain about fan noise
Click to expand...

You mean Jobs would complain about fan noise. If you look at his track record with cooling, this shouldn't be a surprise (nudge nudge Apple III, cough original iMac cough).

I'm going to blame this one on the chip. Most Macs I've ever used (I've never actually sat in front of a G5 iMac) have an HD temp around 30-40 degrees, tops. This includes the wife's new plastic unibody MacBook and my G4 iMac. The G5 ran stupid hot, and probably wasn't the best choice for the iMac design, but what was Apple to do? Their 1.42Ghz G4 chips were being laughed out of the room by 3Ghz P4s at the time. Despite the PPC being a more efficient chip (the P4, by contrast, was a disaster), buyers were only looking as far as the number. So Apple had to do something, thus the G5 iMac.

I don't think "ashamed" is the correct term. The G5 iMac created the template for all iMacs thus far, all of them better machines than the G5. If we sent you into a new job tomorrow, would you get all the details right your first day?
 
old-wiz said:
I have bought 5 Macs (2 PPC, 3 Intel) in the last 6 years, and never once bothered to do anything relative to temperature monitoring. As long as it works and doesn't set my pants or desk on fire I'm not going to worry too much about heat.
Click to expand...

On another note, what this guy said. :) You made my day good sir.
 
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