Love my new iMac, but should it get so hot?

CoffeeMonkey said:

Last weekend I bought the new 24"iMac, and I haven't had any problems aside from a weird software bug related to my idisk file. No freezing, nice screen, and none of the issues that I've read about.

One thing that I'm a little worried about is the fact that the top of it gets really hot. Is it designed to get that hot?

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How hot? Too hot to touch?

Mine can at worst be described as warm (I have a white mac though), I could probably leave my hand on there for an hour and not be bothered.

Maybe you can use the iStat widget to see what the temperatures are like.

CoffeeMonkey said:

Last weekend I bought the new 24"iMac, and I haven't had any problems aside from a weird software bug related to my idisk file. No freezing, nice screen, and none of the issues that I've read about.

One thing that I'm a little worried about is the fact that the top of it gets really hot. Is it designed to get that hot?

Click to expand...

The case is designed to help cool the system. Aluminum is a great way to remove heat away from critical components.

My question is do you compute on a daily basis with one hand on top of your machine at all times?

Download and install smcFanControl 2.0 and spin the fans under normal operation at 1500/2500/2000rpm instead of 700/1200/1200rpm it makes a world of difference for temps, and doesn't make it any louder.

I've got a 20" Alu-iMac running 10.5.

My temperature monitor widget reveals that the graphics processor sensor diode regularly hits 65-70 C (when playing WoW) with the CPU itself usually around 10 degrees cooler.

So it get pretty toasty in there (fortunately no freezing problems though).

I don't have any fan mods installed (I'm worried about shortening the life of the fan motors with such things).

nickf said:

I've got a 20" Alu-iMac running 10.5.

My temperature monitor widget reveals that the graphics processor sensor diode regularly hits 65-70 C (when playing WoW) with the CPU itself usually around 10 degrees cooler.

So it get pretty toasty in there (fortunately no freezing problems though).

I don't have any fan mods installed (I'm worried about shortening the life of the fan motors with such things).

Click to expand...

Maybe you ought to be more worried about component failure due to heat. Generally high temperatures reduce life of components more drastically than if they were cooler. Worrying about 3 20 dollar ball bearing fans is silly and inconsequential IMHO.

Another 1000 RPM per fan won't reduce their overall lifespan by much, they're rated to spin much faster.

Mindflux said:

Maybe you ought to be more worried about component failure due to heat. Generally high temperatures reduce life of components more drastically than if they were cooler. Worrying about 3 20 dollar ball bearing fans is silly and inconsequential IMHO.

Another 1000 RPM per fan won't reduce their overall lifespan by much, they're rated to spin much faster.

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Yep they are ball bearing blower fans, rated at 4400 optical drive, 5500 hard drive, and 3300 cpu. running them 1000 over default won't even make the fans think twice.

Speaking of crazy fans, I still have 2 fans I regret buying from previous PC builds, a 220cfm (blew up 2 pots because the wattage and amp draw, trying to slow it down) 120mm Delta and a 80mm Delta fan, as loud as a freaking vacuum. But I kept them around in case I wanted to use them for some sort of project.

Mindflux said:

Maybe you ought to be more worried about component failure due to heat. Generally high temperatures reduce life of components more drastically than if they were cooler. Worrying about 3 20 dollar ball bearing fans is silly and inconsequential IMHO.

Click to expand...

We have 4 year old off-the-shelf PCs controlling lab instruments that run 24/7 with CPU temps in the 85 C range with absolutely no problems at all, so i'm not worried about the temperature in my Mac Modern electronics are pretty robust in that respect. $20 fans are far less robust in my experience.

CoffeeMonkey said:

Last weekend I bought the new 24"iMac, and I haven't had any problems aside from a weird software bug related to my idisk file. No freezing, nice screen, and none of the issues that I've read about.

One thing that I'm a little worried about is the fact that the top of it gets really hot. Is it designed to get that hot?

Click to expand...

leave it on, yes, the top shuould be very hot, in the store, the top of the imacs are burning, but leave it on for a casual use, no heating should happen. also, this should only happen on the TOP of it!

CoffeeMonkey said:

Last weekend I bought the new 24"iMac, and I haven't had any problems aside from a weird software bug related to my idisk file. No freezing, nice screen, and none of the issues that I've read about.

One thing that I'm a little worried about is the fact that the top of it gets really hot. Is it designed to get that hot?

Click to expand...

Think of it this way:- with winter coming you can use your Mac to heat your house - now that's what I call innovation!

My 20" iMac sometimes gets almost too hot for touching. You get that slight burning feeling in the hand if you push gentle at the top left side. :/
Right now it's pretty cool (=just warm), but when you are running the X-plane application.. damn!

mojopixel said:

Think of it this way:- with winter coming you can use your Mac to heat your house - now that's what I call innovation!

Click to expand...

That actually worked with my iBook the last winter.

RevToTheRedline said:

Download and install smcFanControl 2.0 and spin the fans under normal operation at 1500/2500/2000rpm instead of 700/1200/1200rpm it makes a world of difference for temps, and doesn't make it any louder.

Click to expand...

I assume those speeds are :

Opital Drive....1500
CPU...............2500
HD................2000

Washac said:

I assume those speeds are :

Opital Drive....1500
HD...............2500
CPU................2000

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Edited your message, use that. HD fan is a 5500 rpm fan (max) so it will be faster.

RevToTheRedline said:

Edited your message, use that. HD fan is a 5500 rpm fan (max) so it will be faster.

Click to expand...

Thanks

RevToTheRedline said:

Edited your message, use that. HD fan is a 5500 rpm fan (max) so it will be faster.

Click to expand...

I changed my fan settings, called the set Nov11 (date of test) and immediately noticed louder "whoosh" noise.

It's also 5am and very quiet in my house now.......

I changed back to default and watched as the fans spun slower I could tell when they were around 1000/2000/1800 ish it came to what I'd call acceptable background "whoosh" level, so I'm setting mine at 1000/2000/1800 for now.

Here's my "Better cooling" fan speeds, which I use instead of the default settings. Almost quiet and with good cooling.

Man I can't believe some of you people think these fans can be loud in the iMac.

I guess I'm just used to all my previously built windows machines, with the fastest, loudest, craziest fans on the market that sound like a vacuum and are capable of cooling an insanely overclocked CPU. But dang the iMac is quiet to me at half fan speeds.

Ehrm.. Does anybody know if smcFanControl prevents the fans from increasing the RPM? I remember that before I installed it the fan noise increased when I used heavy applications such as flight simulators etc. Now I can't notice any difference :/

SmcFanControl can be used for Power Pc's???

23am said:

Ehrm.. Does anybody know if smcFanControl prevents the fans from increasing the RPM? I remember that before I installed it the fan noise increased when I used heavy applications such as flight simulators etc. Now I can't notice any difference :/

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It probably does prevent it, which is why there are profiles in SMCFan control. Set them to something higher and save that profile as "Gaming" or whatever requires more fan boost.

Mindflux said:

It probably does prevent it, which is why there are profiles in SMCFan control. Set them to something higher and save that profile as "Gaming" or whatever requires more fan boost.

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I understood it only changed the base/default setting and did not FIX the fan speeds, if so then I'd recommend that nobody use this program.

I checking the smc online FAQ right now.

ok, good news:
http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/smcfancontrol2/faq.html
When I run smcFanControl and set a new minimum speed, will my fan speed still increase if the CPU load gets higher?
Yes, fan speed will increase as defined by Apple. smcFanControl lets the fans stay in automatic mode and just sets the minimum fan speed. However, the higher you set the minimum fan speed, the longer it will take for the fan speed to increase.

As mentioned previously, you have to understand that Aluminum is MEANT to dissipate heat. As a result, it will feel much warmer than, say, the white iMacs. Aluminum dissipates much better than plastic. Think of it this way...instead of having the plastic trap all of that heat in the computer, the metal is pulling it out of the box and dissipating it into the air...creating a warmer surface.

Ultimately, the Aluminum iMacs are better off being warmer than their plastic cousins. Unless it is too hot to place your hand on, it's normal.

RevToTheRedline said:

Download and install smcFanControl 2.0 and spin the fans under normal operation at 1500/2500/2000rpm instead of 700/1200/1200rpm it makes a world of difference for temps, and doesn't make it any louder.

Click to expand...

I went this way too, just to be safe. I chose 1500/2500/1500 and didn't notice much sound difference.

CBAviator said:

As mentioned previously, you have to understand that Aluminum is MEANT to dissipate heat. As a result, it will feel much warmer than, say, the white iMacs. Aluminum dissipates much better than plastic. Think of it this way...instead of having the plastic trap all of that heat in the computer, the metal is pulling it out of the box and dissipating it into the air...creating a warmer surface.

Ultimately, the Aluminum iMacs are better off being warmer than their plastic cousins. Unless it is too hot to place your hand on, it's normal.

Click to expand...

Exactly, the same goes for the MacBook and the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Pro is likely to last longer because heat is dissipated better through the aluminium body, making it feel warmer as a bi-product. The MacBook tends to trap heat inside it, so while it feels quite cool on the outside, it's pretty toasty inside.