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drsox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 29, 2011
1,697
197
Xhystos
Just received a new Mini so I thought I would stress test it.

I loaded up four instances of the "yes" test and the CPU maxed out, so fine.
Then I see that after 10mins or so, the CPU is still at 65C and the fan hasn't moved from 1900rpm. Meanwhile I can still run Geekbench (score 4000+), download a 6GB file at 90MBps and run Safari with almost no lag.

Does this seem right to all of you ?

It's a new 2012 base Mini that I have modded with a 120GB Samsung 840.

If I had "broken" the fan or anything else, then it would be obvious, yes ?

I tried the same approach on my 2011 MBA and after only 3mins it was running at 95C with the fan at 4000rpm - so exactly as expected.
 
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opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
Just received a new Mini so I thought I would stress test it.

I loaded up four instances of the "yes" test and the CPU maxed out, so fine.
Then I see that after 10mins or so, the CPU is still at 65C and the fan hasn't moved from 1900rpm. Meanwhile I can still run Geekbench (score 4000+), download a 6GB file at 90MBps and run Safari with almost no lag.

Does this seem right to all of you ?

It's a new 2012 base Mini that I have modded with a 120GB Samsung 840.

If I had "broken" the fan or anything else, then it would be obvious, yes ?

I tried the same approach on my 2011 MBA and after only 3mins it was running at 95C with the fan at 4000rpm - so exactly as expected.

That sounds fine to me. The fan on a 2012 is different to 2011. The 2012 fan runs at 1800rpm until about 80'c. The fan doesn't hit really high revs (4500-5500) until it is around 90-95'c+

The 2011 is different, the fan speeds up as the temp gets higher. The 2012 has more of a larger window for the fan to run low before it kicks in. '

I am only guessing but it has to do with the ivy bridge handling 105'c so the 2012 has a higher tolerance to heat before the fan really kicks in. Once again, this is only my view but I think Apple has gone for trying to have an all-round quieter machine under normal operating conditions so the OS hold off on when to start cooling it down.

There are many posts on 'heat' & 'Fans' etc in the Mini forum that cover this.

My 2012 i7 2.6GHz sits on 1800 rpm until about 80'c when the fan then goes to around 2200rpm or so. At around 85-90'c the rpm gets stronger and will hover around 5500rpm from the mid 90's onwards to its max 101'c that it hits.

Get used to high temps with your Mac mini. It is the way they are designed. I let the OS control everything, even though some use SMC or iStat to keep the fan RPM higher.

I have run a 2011 i7 Quad 2.0GHz mini permanently for over a year or two (when it just came out?). It is still absolutely fine even though I use it regularly to code video for days on end at peak temp. Although my 2012 has largely taken over that job now because it is quicker.

As to whether 65'c is a high idle temp, my 2.6GHz idles around 45-65'c (always at 1800rpm) with a few basic apps running in the background like iTunes. So for me, your temp seems ok - but not low. It depends a lot on your ambient room temp and ventilation. I also have Tuniq TX-4 thermal paste on mine.

Most Mac mini users go through the initial 'Holy crap!' look at those temps. But then you get used to it. As I said, they are designed that way. The OS looks after it very well from my point. A few members have suggested a larger body to accommodate a bigger fan would be good. I can't see Apple making the mini any bigger. I think they will just push/test the tolerance of what the CPU is capable of.

If you want to know more about your temps try iStat Menus (small price but excellent App), otherwise try SMC Fan Control for free, but that is basic. They both let you set a higher idle RPM for your fan if you want.

Anyway, I'm rattling on...
 

drsox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 29, 2011
1,697
197
Xhystos
That sounds fine to me. The fan on a 2012 is different to 2011. The 2012 fan runs at 1800rpm until about 80'c. The fan doesn't hit really high revs (4500-5500) until it is around 90-95'c+

The 2011 is different, the fan speeds up as the temp gets higher. The 2012 has more of a larger window for the fan to run low before it kicks in. '

I am only guessing but it has to do with the ivy bridge handling 105'c so the 2012 has a higher tolerance to heat before the fan really kicks in. Once again, this is only my view but I think Apple has gone for trying to have an all-round quieter machine under normal operating conditions so the OS hold off on when to start cooling it down.

There are many posts on 'heat' & 'Fans' etc in the Mini forum that cover this.

My 2012 i7 2.6GHz sits on 1800 rpm until about 80'c when the fan then goes to around 2200rpm or so. At around 85-90'c the rpm gets stronger and will hover around 5500rpm from the mid 90's onwards to its max 101'c that it hits.

Get used to high temps with your Mac mini. It is the way they are designed. I let the OS control everything, even though some use SMC or iStat to keep the fan RPM higher.

I have run a 2011 i7 Quad 2.0GHz mini permanently for over a year or two (when it just came out?). It is still absolutely fine even though I use it regularly to code video for days on end at peak temp. Although my 2012 has largely taken over that job now because it is quicker.

As to whether 65'c is a high idle temp, my 2.6GHz idles around 45-65'c (always at 1800rpm) with a few basic apps running in the background like iTunes. So for me, your temp seems ok - but not low. It depends a lot on your ambient room temp and ventilation. I also have Tuniq TX-4 thermal paste on mine.

Most Mac mini users go through the initial 'Holy crap!' look at those temps. But then you get used to it. As I said, they are designed that way. The OS looks after it very well from my point. A few members have suggested a larger body to accommodate a bigger fan would be good. I can't see Apple making the mini any bigger. I think they will just push/test the tolerance of what the CPU is capable of.

If you want to know more about your temps try iStat Menus (small price but excellent App), otherwise try SMC Fan Control for free, but that is basic. They both let you set a higher idle RPM for your fan if you want.

Anyway, I'm rattling on...

Thanks for the info. I'm not worried about the temps, more about why the fan wasn't running faster. I still would have expected the 100% CPU usage to heat up the CPU faster. It seemed to sit at 60C and not move. Apart from 100% CPU usage I suppose there's not much else I can do to stress the unit.

I already have iStat Pro running so I can see what's going on.
 

opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
Thanks for the info. I'm not worried about the temps, more about why the fan wasn't running faster. I still would have expected the 100% CPU usage to heat up the CPU faster. It seemed to sit at 60C and not move. Apart from 100% CPU usage I suppose there's not much else I can do to stress the unit.

I already have iStat Pro running so I can see what's going on.

Are you saying at 100% CPU your temp is 60'c? Or it sits on 60'c after the stress test? The latter I am suggesting is normal. But the former (100% CPU at 60'c) would be strange?
 

drsox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 29, 2011
1,697
197
Xhystos
Are you saying at 100% CPU your temp is 60'c? Or it sits on 60'c after the stress test? The latter I am suggesting is normal. But the former (100% CPU at 60'c) would be strange?

Sort of. The CPU was at 35C at the start, moved slowly up to 50C, inched to 60C and then I gave up waiting after 10mins. It even went down a few times by 1C or so. Maybe I should look at running some videos as well to stress the GPU.
 

opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
Sort of. The CPU was at 35C at the start, moved slowly up to 50C, inched to 60C and then I gave up waiting after 10mins. It even went down a few times by 1C or so. Maybe I should look at running some videos as well to stress the GPU.

Those temps seem very cool for me for a loaded CPU, although I am used to the i7 quad 2.6GHz.

Maybe you have a really good CPU that runs that cool?

Perhaps some of the i5 2012 mini owners can shed light on whether it is normal.

I have two MacBook Airs with i5's and they hit 90'c or so on stress testing or video coding.

You would the the first person who ever took a Mac back and said you want to return it because it is running too cool! :D

I just wonder if the sensor is correct?
 

drsox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 29, 2011
1,697
197
Xhystos
Those temps seem very cool for me for a loaded CPU, although I am used to the i7 quad 2.6GHz.

Maybe you have a really good CPU that runs that cool?

Perhaps some of the i5 2012 mini owners can shed light on whether it is normal.

I have two MacBook Airs with i5's and they hit 90'c or so on stress testing or video coding.

You would the the first person who ever took a Mac back and said you want to return it because it is running too cool! :D

I just wonder if the sensor is correct?

Yes, that's what I thought. Since I took it to bits to install a new SSD, I just wanted to check that I didn't damage anything. (Last time I did this on a 2011 Mini I broke the fan leads !).

It's running again with a video playing. I'll leave it for an hour or so.



Well it's been running for an hour. Max temp 76C but no change from 1803rpm. I think the fan is over-spec'd for this CPU (probably OK for the i7s) as the cooling was sudden once the CPU dropped from 100%. So I'll leave it alone as nothing seems to be awry.
 
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borostef

macrumors 6502
Feb 10, 2012
328
40
Zagreb, Croatia
"Most Mac mini users go through the initial 'Holy crap!' look at those temps. But then you get used to it."

My experience exactly... When I got my 2011 Mini and looked at the temperatures I thought to myself: "There is something wrong with this machine..."
But then I did some reading about it and found that it is totally normal...
 

drsox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 29, 2011
1,697
197
Xhystos
I found a way to test that my fan actually works OK. Download iStat Menus and manually run the fan at full speed.
 

blanka

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2012
1,551
4
What is a YES test?
Did you see in Activity monitor that all cores and threads max out?
Maybe try something like Furmark. That is a real pain in the butt for a CPU+GPU.
 
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