Should my new Mac Mini be this quiet?

Sir Ruben said:

Ive had the mini for a day or so and its incredibly quiet and cool.

Then I started to wonder should it be THIS quiet?

I havent really heard any fan noises at all. If I listen carefully I can hear the clicking of the HDD and a very very quiet whir which may be the HDD or the fan.

I put my hand at the rear of the mini and I *think* i MAY be able to feel some gentle cool air but im not entirely sure!

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Don't you use something like iStat menus?

Download the program smcFanControl. It measures your temperature and fan speed. When the temperature under normal use is under 80 degrees and your fan spins at more than 1400 rpm (don't know the exact base speed of the new Minis), everything is okay.

Btw, nice to hear it's THAT quiet!!

Sir Ruben said:

Ive had the mini for a day or so and its incredibly quiet and cool.

Then I started to wonder should it be THIS quiet?

I havent really heard any fan noises at all. If I listen carefully I can hear the clicking of the HDD and a very very quiet whir which may be the HDD or the fan.

I put my hand at the rear of the mini and I *think* i MAY be able to feel some gentle cool air but im not entirely sure!

Click to expand...

BTW, which one did you get? Dual core, quad core (2.3 or 2.6), or server?

Sir Ruben said:

I havent really heard any fan noises at all. If I listen carefully I can hear the clicking of the HDD and a very very quiet whir which may be the HDD or the fan.

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Use iStat Pro (free) or iStat Menus ($16) to get accurate readings of your battery, temps, fan speeds and much more.

turn the mini upside down remove the black cover and boot.

cost $0 to make sure the fan spins. the 2011 minis had fans that did not spin 2 maybe 3 posters found that their mini's fan had been shipped unplugged.

Most new computers, mac's and PC's, are very quiet these days.

Under normal loads my 2.3GHz i7 is silent. iStat indicates that the fan is going about 1800rpm. The Mini is also very cool to the touch...

If the fan isn't working the computer won't be very

What happens when CPU is at 100%? Try running Handbrake encode and see if it's still silent.

Sir Ruben said:

Soooo much to learn!

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This may be useful:

Helpful Information for Any Mac User
Mac Pro & Mac mini Fast Start: The new user's guide to the Mac

ctyrider said:

What happens when CPU is at 100%? Try running Handbrake encode and see if it's still silent.

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I assumed that the OP wasn't doing anything intensive. If the OP was doing video encoding or some other CPU-intensive process I doubt that he would be wondering if the fan is running...

Mojo1 said:

I assumed that the OP wasn't doing anything intensive. If the OP was doing video encoding or some other CPU-intensive process I doubt that he would be wondering if the fan is running...

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Actually I really wonder what happens at that loads. This will be my main driver to upgrade or not. What happens to fan speed or noise at %60-70 constant CPU usage. Use case: Realtime Live TV encoding/streaming (1080i DVB-S2) and Plex trancoding for 1080p.

2011 i5 with Radeon can easily handle the job but it's sounds like Boing Rolls Royce engine (Noise or 4250+rpm starts @%25 total CPU load). Even my 2010 version was better (noise wise) but it was not capable enough for above tasks (stuttering @1080p transcoding)

Sir Ruben said:

I got the dual core 2.3.

Granted I havent put it under any load yet either. All I have done is install programs and browse the web etc.

I take it the fan is similar to a PC/PS3 whereby the fan speeds up after a length of time or under heavier load?

Thanks for the advice, I will download one of the programs mentioned as it will be handy to have. Until it they were mentioned in this thread I didnt even know they existed for the mac. Soooo much to learn!

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Sorry if I'm incorrect on this, but isn't the dual core 2.5Ghz? I think the 2.3Ghz is only the quad. I'm just curious because if I update it'll probably be to the quad and wanted to know how bad the fan noise is... If any. My early 2009 is silent. Even when it is under heavy load I can barely hear it from 10 ft away.

Treq said:

Sorry if I'm incorrect on this, but isn't the dual core 2.5Ghz? I think the 2.3Ghz is only the quad ...

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That is accurate.

Bierboy said:

That is accurate.

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Thank you. I'm assuming the OP was talking about the 2.5Ghz dual core and just mixed up the numbers.

Anyway, has anyone gotten the quad core? Either the 2.3 or the 2.6? Not sure if I would go for the bto upgrade or not, but if its louder than the stock ill probably skip it.

Sir Ruben said:

Sorry yes I meant 2.5Ghz.

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Thanks for the clarification. Hope you are enjoying your new machine!

But the Mac Mini IS ridiclously quiet.

At the moment it's my fav. mac.
Screw the iMac. A MAc Mini and a nice matte screen is all you need.

Treq said:

Thank you. I'm assuming the OP was talking about the 2.5Ghz dual core and just mixed up the numbers.

Anyway, has anyone gotten the quad core? Either the 2.3 or the 2.6? Not sure if I would go for the bto upgrade or not, but if its louder than the stock ill probably skip it.

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I really would like to know this too!!
I hated my 2011 server due to the fact that the fan during idle was around 2200 rpm, instead of the nice 1800 of the base model, which I had before. I was just about to order the middle model now, but it would be great to get info from someone about the idle noise level of the quad core(s).
BTW this is from the apple website:
"Typical acoustical performance, sound pressure level (operator position):
Dual-core model: 12 dBA at idle
Quad-core model: 15 dBA at idle"

I use a 15 inch rMBP at the moment with a TBD, but I really loved my mini as a desktop, and I want it back!!!

Whackman said:

But the Mac Mini IS ridiclously quiet.

At the moment it's my fav. mac.

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May I ask at what conditions? This also mine fav. mac since the first Intel version till to mid 2011 model

Open a Terminal window and type "yes > /dev/null" without quotes. And open and other one type it again and again and again. Watch your CPU load, temp and fan speeds at each iterations with iStats and tell us when your fans gone crazy?
I really wonder the results and will really appreciated if you could do the test. For example rMBR (i7 2.7 Quad) starts screaming at 3rd iteration @%38 CPU load.

thanks already.

I love how quiet my mini is

thedenethor said:

May I ask at what conditions? This also mine fav. mac since the first Intel version till to mid 2011 model

Open a Terminal window and type "yes > /dev/null" without quotes. And open and other one type it again and again and again. Watch your CPU load, temp and fan speeds at each iterations with iStats and tell us when your fans gone crazy?
I really wonder the results and will really appreciated if you could do the test. For example rMBR (i7 2.7 Quad) starts screaming at 3rd iteration @%38 CPU load.

thanks already.

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How does one stop the process once you get it going? I wouldn't want the Mini to self-destruct...

As far as normal use goes the 2.3GHz quad-core is silent with fan rpm around 1800. It will be a couple of days before I start pushing the CPU very much.

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thedenethor said:

Actually I really wonder what happens at that loads. This will be my main driver to upgrade or not. What happens to fan speed or noise at %60-70 constant CPU usage. Use case: Realtime Live TV encoding/streaming (1080i DVB-S2) and Plex trancoding for 1080p.

2011 i5 with Radeon can easily handle the job but it's sounds like Boing Rolls Royce engine (Noise or 4250+rpm starts @%25 total CPU load). Even my 2010 version was better (noise wise) but it was not capable enough for above tasks (stuttering @1080p transcoding)

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Sorry... I thought that you were being a smart-ass. There's a lot of that going on around here!

Mojo1 said:

How does one stop the process once you get it going? I wouldn't want the Mini to self-destruct...

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Just close the terminal windows you have opened. One by one

Mojo1 said:

Sorry... I thought that you were being a smart-ass. There's a lot of that going on around here!

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I can feel the pain. The reason why I am asking constantly about the noise is friend of mine in States for a week and I have a limited time to ship that Mini to his address from Amazon.