Okay into the breach again new quad 2.3 arrives RAM tests and more.

[philipma1957]

This is the replacement for the 'bad' mid range mini 2012. My thanks to jr.com for fast replacement.

Okay I am running this with 16gb crucial ram.

so far the test is 9 hours plus.

here is a shot of the ram test.


I will run it until fri morning.

then try prime95.

then try hand brake. so far so good.

My thanks to snowcake for pushing me onto ripping the memtest86+ dvd .


after a few attempts at trying to make one. i now have a good software dvd for ram testing.


my room temps are 78 f or about 25.5 c

[Snowcake]

I am very interested if you still have problems with running cputest under osx running from the usb3.

Looks good so far!

[philipma1957]

Okay real fast. no photos for now but I ran the ram test with 16gb ram for 20 hours it passed. I am booting with a samsung model 830 256gb ssd in the oyen usb3 case. my house temps are 76 f. cpu test has a bug and failed but I am sure it is the test. I am now running prime95 net and it is passing.

[dasx]

Let's see that new CPU.

I received today my spare Mini bottom cover. Got a lot of work right now so I don't know when I'll be able to mod it, but as soon as I do it I'll start some tests too.

[philipma1957]

here are the quad 2.3 stacked on the base 2.5 and the 20 plus hour result for the test of the 16gb of ram in the quad. house temp is 78f

[motrek]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

here are the quad 2.3 stacked on the base 2.5 and the 20 plus hour result for the test of the 16gb of ram in the quad. house temp is 78f

How are CPU temps and fan speeds?

[dasx]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

here are the quad 2.3 stacked on the base 2.5 and the 20 plus hour result for the test of the 16gb of ram in the quad. house temp is 78f

Wasn't your first quad a 2.6?

[philipma1957]

here are some hand brake results this machine is a bit cooler. the first machine was also a 2.3

[motrek]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

here are some hand brake results this machine is a bit cooler. the first machine was also a 2.3

Compared to the 100+C temperatures and 5000+ RPM fan speeds this one seems massively cooler and better, although I notice many of your CPU utilization percentages (?) are very low.

Can you ballpark your Prime95 temperatures and fan speeds? No screen shots necessary.

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by motrek

Compared to the 100+C temperatures and 5000+ RPM fan speeds this one seems massively cooler and better, although I notice many of your CPU utilization percentages (?) are very low.

Can you ballpark your Prime95 temperatures and fan speeds? No screen shots necessary.

yeah prime95 run at 3100 rpm 100% all 8 cores and 216f , but the old one had to have 5500rpm to be 216 f and it downclocked to 70%. no question the first machine was bad . to be honest if you have a quad and push it watch your temps.

it is 25 to 35 f hotter then the dual 2.5 when maxxed.

[motrek]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

yeah prime95 run at 3100 rpm 100% all 8 cores and 216f , but the old one had to have 5500rpm to be 216 f and it downclocked to 70%. no question the first machine was bad . to be honest if you have a quad and push it watch your temps.

it is 25 to 35 f hotter then the dual 2.5 when maxxed.

I don't think these chips can downclock themselves to 70%. How are you finding out the clock speeds?

I don't think there's any need to watch temps and presumably back off your workload if the temps are high. If the fan is only spinning at 3100 RPM then it has plenty of cooling headroom, so the temps must be what Apple designed for.

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by motrek

I don't think these chips can downclock themselves to 70%. How are you finding out the clock speeds?

I don't think there's any need to watch temps and presumably back off your workload if the temps are high. If the fan is only spinning at 3100 RPM then it has plenty of cooling headroom, so the temps must be what Apple designed for.

you are entitled to think that. you may be correct. i know i won't run my quad at 216f for any long time. these new cpus have 5c higher rating then last years. but i would fear damage for long runs over 100c. more to the mobo 1155 socket

since my work does not call for extended high use runs. i feel i will be fine.

[MJL]

Originally Posted by dasx

Let's see that new CPU.

I received today my spare Mini bottom cover. Got a lot of work right now so I don't know when I'll be able to mod it, but as soon as I do it I'll start some tests too.

Like this?

Using an air filter normally used for a motorbike intake (finest mesh)? It's amazing how clean the innards stay when using a filter.

[dasx]

Originally Posted by MJL

Like this?

Using an air filter normally used for a motorbike intake (finest mesh)? It's amazing how clean the innards stay when using a filter.

I was planning to go for a bigger hole, lol But yeah, that's the idea.
What difference did you notice? Better temps? Lower fans speeds while at same temps?

I'm gonna pass on the foam base though. I'll stick 3 rubber pads to the bottom. That base you got there seems to be blocking a lot of air.

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by dasx

I was planning to go for a bigger hole, lol But yeah, that's the idea.
What difference did you notice? Better temps? Lower fans speeds while at same temps?

I'm gonna pass on the foam base though. I'll stick 3 rubber pads to the bottom. That base you got there seems to be blocking a lot of air.

that base is made up of air filter material.

[dasx]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

that base is made up of air filter material.

Sure but it looks a little thick.
I honestly think that's gotta be blocking some air.

[Mr. Retrofire]

@philipma1957:
Thanks for your new tests! Very useful!

:-) :-) :-)

[Snowcake]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

Okay real fast. no photos for now but I ran the ram test with 16gb ram for 20 hours it passed. I am booting with a samsung model 830 256gb ssd in the oyen usb3 case. my house temps are 76 f. cpu test has a bug and failed but I am sure it is the test. I am now running prime95 net and it is passing.

A bug? If i understand it correctly it happened when you booted from your usb3 SSD?

I don't think it is a bug. Because your dualcore was ok with it.

But it was an error, and you thought it was a bug? Or CPU test simply crashed?

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by Snowcake

A bug? If i understand it correctly it happened when you booted from your usb3 SSD?

I don't think it is a bug. Because your dualcore was ok with it.

But it was an error, and you thought it was a bug? Or CPU test simply crashed?

no the cputest is not the prime95 test. both the dual core and the new quad passed the prime95 test.

the cputest runs wacky on both the dual core i5 ivy bridge and the quad core i7 ivy bridge.

but the cputest does work on the dual core c2d 2010 mini.

[Snowcake]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

no the cputest is not the prime95 test. both the dual core and the new quad passed the prime95 test.

the cputest runs wacky on both the dual core i5 ivy bridge and the quad core i7 ivy bridge.

but the cputest does work on the dual core c2d 2010 mini.

Can you please explain precisely what you mean by "wacky"? Because the ui of cputest is another thread/program than the actual cpu-stressing-tread/program. (Afaik)

The bug should only affect the ui part, not the stress part. (If it is a bug)

[propower]

Originally Posted by MJL

Like this?

Using an air filter normally used for a motorbike intake (finest mesh)? It's amazing how clean the innards stay when using a filter.

I think this looks like a good idea! Do you have any temperature performance numbers for doing this mod - before and after --

Thanks!

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by Snowcake

Can you please explain precisely what you mean by "wacky"? Because the ui of cputest is another thread/program than the actual cpu-stressing-tread/program. (Afaik)

The bug should only affect the ui part, not the stress part. (If it is a bug)

it half crashes. lets say you have the dual core running all '4' cores at 100% lets say 75% into the tests with 750 tests done and 250 tests left. it will freeze up and the last 25% or 250 tests don't get done. the '4' cores may show 100% or better yet one of the '4' cores will show 100% and will shift from the first core to the second core to the third core to the fourth core.

the last 25% of the tests do not get done. the machine cools done get a bit since only one of the '4' cores is stressed. I was able to get this to happen on both all 2012 minis using this program

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23935/cputest

this did not happen when I tested the 2010 2.4 mac mini, but on the 2 quads and the one dual core 2012 it happened. I think it had trouble with the hyper threading or maybe the mountain lion osx.

the 2010 mini was using snow. the 2012 minis did this with the stock hdd the usb3 ssd and the t-bolt ssd. so for now I am not using cputest results on new minis. when I ran prime95 set on torture test small 1 2012 quad failed with rounding errors and 1 2012 quad did not get rounding errors the 1 2012 dual passed.

http://mersenne.org/freesoft/default.php

this is the link for prime95 set on torture test small

the 2012 mini does pass well one quad and one dual passes. I returned the quad that failed.

[Snowcake]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

it half crashes. lets say you have the dual core running all '4' cores at 100% lets say 75% into the tests with 750 tests done and 250 tests left. it will freeze up and the last 25% or 250 tests don't get done. the '4' cores may show 100% or better yet one of the '4' cores will show 100% and will shift from the first core to the second core to the third core to the fourth core.

the last 25% of the tests do not get done. the machine cools done get a bit since only one of the '4' cores is stressed. I was able to get this to happen on both all 2012 minis using this program

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23935/cputest

this did not happen when I tested the 2010 2.4 mac mini, but on the 2 quads and the one dual core 2012 it happened. I think it had trouble with the hyper threading or maybe the mountain lion osx.

the 2010 mini was using snow. the 2012 minis did this with the stock hdd the usb3 ssd and the t-bolt ssd. so for now I am not using cputest results on new minis. when I ran prime95 set on torture test small 1 2012 quad failed with rounding errors and 1 2012 quad did not get rounding errors the 1 2012 dual passed.

http://mersenne.org/freesoft/default.php

this is the link for prime95 set on torture test small

the 2012 mini does pass well one quad and one dual passes. I returned the quad that failed.

So if i understand it correctly, the strange behavior of cputest is the bug, not the actual "failed tests"?
In the picture below you see a section which displays "Failed tests"

The number was always 0 during the bug? It has never showed a another number than 0 on your second/replacement Quad Mac Mini? Correctly said, it had no errors but your problem was something else? (A bug)



I ask this because it is to me not 100% clear what you mean't by this:

Originally Posted by philipma1957

Okay real fast. no photos for now but I ran the ram test with 16gb ram for 20 hours it passed. I am booting with a samsung model 830 256gb ssd in the oyen usb3 case. my house temps are 76 f. cpu test has a bug and failed but I am sure it is the test. I am now running prime95 net and it is passing.

[MoMacFan]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

yeah prime95 run at 3100 rpm 100% all 8 cores and 216f , but the old one had to have 5500rpm to be 216 f and it downclocked to 70%. no question the first machine was bad . to be honest if you have a quad and push it watch your temps.

Hi Philipma and all others - thanks for covering this topic so thoroughly!

I am a new Mac Mini owner (I have a Macbook Air since about one year and needed some more serious computing power for rendering, transcoding etc.) and a bit worried of the temps I am reading with my new 2012 2.3 Quadcore Mac Mini, Fusion drive and stock Apple 8 GB Ram.

When running handbrake or prime95 (stress test with 8 "cores" at 100%) my CPU temps (1/2/A read with iStat) go up to 221 F/105 C and the fan spins at 5500 rpm.

I have tried to elevated my Mini and other tips I found here, but have seen no change in temperature whatsoever.
Since so far prime95 did not show me any error (around 4 hours into the stress test when I stop that in order not to kill anything at those temperatures).
So I am a bit concerned, especially when I see that with your new 2.3 quad Mini you will have your fan go up only to 3100 rpm (if I understood correctly) - leaving you with enough headroom - but mine is already maxed out at 5500 rpm. And as well it is no fun working besides a mini that runs so loud with the fan blasting away when under load (but when only browsing, running Office, software development etc. is is very quit and nice).

Have you done anything else in order to achieve these low rpm/temperature ratios?
Should I bring my Mini to the Apple store - even though technically it seems to work ok so far?
Should I go ahead and have prime95 run for a couple of days in order to make sure it is stable or would this be in the contrary contra-productive because it will accelerate the aging of the components?
Or should I further try find the cause for this, e. g. bad contact of the heatsink with the CPU and exchanging the thermal paste with Arctic Silver etc.?

Thanks,
Alex

[Snowcake]

Originally Posted by MoMacFan

Hi Philipma and all others - thanks for covering this topic so thoroughly!

I am a new Mac Mini owner (I have a Macbook Air since about one year and needed some more serious computing power for rendering, transcoding etc.) and a bit worried of the temps I am reading with my new 2012 2.3 Quadcore Mac Mini, Fusion drive and stock Apple 8 GB Ram.

When running handbrake or prime95 (stress test with 8 "cores" at 100%) my CPU temps (1/2/A read with iStat) go up to 221 F/105 C and the fan spins at 5500 rpm.

I have tried to elevated my Mini and other tips I found here, but have seen no change in temperature whatsoever.
Since so far prime95 did not show me any error (around 4 hours into the stress test when I stop that in order not to kill anything at those temperatures).
So I am a bit concerned, especially when I see that with your new 2.3 quad Mini you will have your fan go up only to 3100 rpm (if I understood correctly) - leaving you with enough headroom - but mine is already maxed out at 5500 rpm. And as well it is no fun working besides a mini that runs so loud with the fan blasting away when under load (but when only browsing, running Office, software development etc. is is very quit and nice).

Have you done anything else in order to achieve these low rpm/temperature ratios?
Should I bring my Mini to the Apple store - even though technically it seems to work ok so far?
Should I go ahead and have prime95 run for a couple of days in order to make sure it is stable or would this be in the contrary contra-productive because it will accelerate the aging of the components?
Or should I further try find the cause for this, e. g. bad contact of the heatsink with the CPU and exchanging the thermal paste with Arctic Silver etc.?

Thanks,
Alex

What is your room temperature? Philipma's room temperature is 27C.
Your Mac Mini is also running as hot as the faulty Mac Mini from Philipma.

I this happened to me: 5500rmp and the temperature running at TJunction(105c) i simply would replace it because if it can 3100rmp it should be like that on all Mac Mini's. You also lose warranty if you replace thermal paste by yourself.

Edit: Did you also try to remove the black bottom and put the Mac Mini on its side? You should see a temperature drop if you do that.