1200 rpm is too loud.

[akMusic]

I received an i9 1TB SSD iMac yesterday and I too am a little disappointed to be able to hear the fans even when idling at 1196rpm 45 degrees C.

I work in music with the computer directly in front of me between my speakers in a relatively quiet almost silent room, so the fans are noticeable. Having bought the iMac to replace my 2013 MacBook Pro (which I'd had down under my desk to hide the fan noise) it worries me that they'll only get louder when the iMac gets put to work more let alone in a few years time.

I've tested it running a few Pro Tools sessions that the MacBook Pro was being pushed to its limits with and while the fans only slightly ramped up and the processor finding it easy..again it was disappointingly noticeable.

Does anyone know how much quieter the iMac Pro is? Idling or otherwise. I know it has 2 fans rather than 1 and different cooling architecture etc.

Am I dreaming to think that in this day and age there is such a thing as a silent Mac?

 

[Bohemien]

Am I dreaming to think that in this day and age there is such a thing as a silent Mac?

In the 2017 line, the idea was to go with the mid-tier i5-7500 or i5-7600 models if you wanted a quiet machine, as the top-spec i7-7700K model was/is said to be very loud. In the 2019 line, the i9-9900K and i5-9600K processors have a TDP rating of 95W, so they will probably become hotter under load than e.g. the 3.0 GHz i5-8500 used in the lowest spec 27" iMac (TDP of 65W).

 

[spiderpumpkin]

The 1200rpm idle fan noise on my new i9 iMac is noticeable but I think I can live with it. If I sit there and focus on the noise it bothers me but I'd rather have that slight annoyance keeping my powerful computer machine cooled. Usually when I'm working on my computer I play music or tv going on another monitor.

 

[_Skyfire_]

I received an i9 1TB SSD iMac yesterday and I too am a little disappointed to be able to hear the fans even when idling at 1196rpm 45 degrees C.

I work in music with the computer directly in front of me between my speakers in a relatively quiet almost silent room, so the fans are noticeable. Having bought the iMac to replace my 2013 MacBook Pro (which I'd had down under my desk to hide the fan noise) it worries me that they'll only get louder when the iMac gets put to work more let alone in a few years time.

I've tested it running a few Pro Tools sessions that the MacBook Pro was being pushed to its limits with and while the fans only slightly ramped up and the processor finding it easy..again it was disappointingly noticeable.

Does anyone know how much quieter the iMac Pro is? Idling or otherwise. I know it has 2 fans rather than 1 and different cooling architecture etc.

Am I dreaming to think that in this day and age there is such a thing as a silent Mac?

Am I wrong in assuming music production doesn't require high utilization of CPU/GPU?
If so you can easily "silence" your iMac, methods of how were discussed on the previous page..

 

[Benz63amg]

Am I wrong in assuming music production doesn't require high utilization of CPU/GPU?
If so you can easily "silence" your iMac, methods of how were discussed on the previous page..

Apps such as logic utilize the CPU quite heavily depending on what type of work you do, samples loaded, Plugins used etc. RAM is very important when music production is concerned as well. (The more the better for smooth workflow)

 

[peterlthomas]

To add to this, I have an 8 core iMac Pro and can also hear the fan at idle. It’s quiet but definitely there. I haven’t heard a 2019 iMac in a quiet environment, but sounds like they’re similar at idle.

In contrast my 2012 iMac was completely silent once I swapped the fusion drive for an SSD.

 

[akMusic]

Am I wrong in assuming music production doesn't require high utilization of CPU/GPU?
If so you can easily "silence" your iMac, methods of how were discussed on the previous page..

Apps such as logic utilize the CPU quite heavily depending on what type of work you do, samples loaded, Plugins used etc. RAM is very important when music production is concerned as well. (The more the better for smooth workflow)

I’m running Pro Tools and mostly for mixing so I think it’s mostly CPU processing. I’m not loading big sample library/instruments into RAM so the 40gb I’ve got is probably overkill most of the time.
Thank you, I’ll investigate those methods to reduce minimum fan speed to 1000/1100 rpm. So far running sessions the cpu doesn’t seem to have got too hot at 1200 so perhaps a lower speed I’d be fine...

Might save me spending another £2k to get quieter fans...

 

[akMusic]

It's still possible thanks to a trick explained here :

https://ekartco.com/2018/06/silencing-your-imac-decrease-minimum-fan-speed-to-1000rpm/

Forgive me but this was how you've managed to reduce your fans to 1000?

I had SMCFanControl installed and entered:
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0fa0
into terminal...but it doesn't seem to make a difference? 1200 is still the lowest option in smcFanControl. Am I missing something?

I'm on the same 2019 i9 iMac I believe you are.

Many thanks.

 

[WillemSleegers]

Forgive me but this was how you've managed to reduce your fans to 1000?

I had SMCFanControl installed and entered:
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0fa0
into terminal...but it doesn't seem to make a difference? 1200 is still the lowest option in smcFanControl. Am I missing something?

I'm on the same 2019 i9 iMac I believe you are.

Many thanks.

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0fa0

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k "FS! " -w 0001

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Tg -w 0fa0

This should lower the RPM to 1000, but then it will stay there and not automatically ramp up when needed so I absolutely do not recommend doing this.

Someone else in this topic apparently found a way to also have it increase as the temperature increases.

 

[Plx32]

I even successfully lowered fan speed to 850 with this command line :

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0d48

The iMac is now dead silent and temperatures stay very cool. When I put back the fan to 1200, I notice almost no difference in CPU temperatures, maybe 3-4 degrees less but nothing significant.

Of course I put a setting that triggers the fan as soon as the temperature raises above a certain temperature (I chose CPU Proximity of 57C), which only happens when I do something intensive on the Mac.

In Macs Fan Control, you just have to make sure you choose a setting where the fan chooses speed based on temperature sensors and not a constant value. You can choose whichever sensor seems adequate for you (I chose CPU Proximity for the moment maybe there's a better choice).

Here's a screenshot (sorry it's in French)

 

[henry72]

I hate fan noises myself too but wouldn't it better to leave it to automatic rather than manual? Otherwise, the iMac might get too hot?

I am happy with my 2019 iMac, very quiet so far... Although it is Autumn in NZ (typically between 6 - 17 degrees)

 

[upthetoffees]

Mine is also making some noise, it sounds like a rotisserie in the oven, something turning around or a heater, whirr/mashing noise, not very loud but now that I have noticed, it's bugging me.
i9/ssd

I'm not sure I am prepared to put up with it at this price, sold my pc to buy this and that made much less noise idling. I've had it for a month but have applecare. Have spent days installing sample libraries, really dont want to send it in.

 

[WillemSleegers]

I am getting more used to it now. It's only at night (when everything is quiet) that I get annoyed by it.

I am staying with Mac, which means I wouldn't even know what to get as an alternative. The iMac Pro is a bit quieter, based on the fan speed, but not worth the extra money just for a reduction in noise. Maybe the upcoming Mac Pro will be interesting!

 

[Bohemien]

I am getting more used to it now. It's only at night (when everything is quiet) that I get annoyed by it.

Same here-during the daytime, I rarely hear the fan at all because other environmental noises will be much louder than the fan. E.g. yesterday, I connected a spinning hard drive to backup some stuff, and it was MUCH louder than the fan. Or right now, my window is open, and birds and planes outside completely drown out the fan.

Sometimes when I'm working late at night, I notice the fan and wish it was quieter, but it's really not much of a bother.

One thing that is important though: during anything I threw at the iMac so far, including photo exporting sessions of several minutes, the iMac stays at the base fan speed 99% of the time. I've heard the fans ramp up slightly during one longer rendering session and go to their max once while updating the OS to 10.14.5, but that's it.

And besides that, during things like typing this post, or office work, CPU power draw is around 1W-3W, clock speeds between 1.4GHz and 2GHz, CPU temp around 40°C, so the machine is using all that processing power pretty efficiently.

 

[goldbuffalo]

I9 580x 1tb ssd 40gb ram

My Imac is very quiet.



If the refrigerator isn’t running and I shutdown my work laptop, and I don’t move, and listen a couple inches away, then yes I can hear a fan, or air moving, that’s about it.

it looks like maybe I got lucky....so far.

 

[kaykay2610]

I even successfully lowered fan speed to 850 with this command line :

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0d48

The iMac is now dead silent and temperatures stay very cool. When I put back the fan to 1200, I notice almost no difference in CPU temperatures, maybe 3-4 degrees less but nothing significant.

Of course I put a setting that triggers the fan as soon as the temperature raises above a certain temperature (I chose CPU Proximity of 57C), which only happens when I do something intensive on the Mac.

In Macs Fan Control, you just have to make sure you choose a setting where the fan chooses speed based on temperature sensors and not a constant value. You can choose whichever sensor seems adequate for you (I chose CPU Proximity for the moment maybe there's a better choice).

Here's a screenshot (sorry it's in French)

View attachment 837717

Is there a way to make these settings permanent? Every time I reboot my Mac (iMac 5k 2017) the minimum rpm are back to 1200.

 

[Shivetya]

I9 V48, playing just world of warcraft will peg it to 2700rpm and the spikes aren't even that warm. I have an Asus GRII with 1060 next to it that is quieter

 

[Andrey84]

I've just done all the manipulations described above and it works on iMac 27" 2017!

It's such a great relief to have a near-silent iMac. There is a world of difference in noise at 1200 and 1000 RPM. Our iMac is a silent killer now with 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD, but this is beside the point

I've set Macs Fan Control to ramp-up the fans after Average Core Temp reaches 60 degrees Celsius with Max at 85 degrees. This gives very good results in CPU Stress Test, as Macs Fan Control ramps up the fan really slowly.

Fixing fan resetting to 1200 RPM on restart
I'm running the shell script on start-up using Automator.
Automator > New Document > Application > search for 'Run Shell Script' and double-click, then paste the below script and save the automation somewhere.

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0fa0
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k "FS! " -w 0003
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Tg -w 0fa0

Then open System Preferences > Users and Groups > your user > Login Items and add your automation.

Now after re-start the Mac automatically spins down to 1000 RPM and I still have the Macs fan control ramping-up functionality.

Thank you so much people in this forum and especially Grischa Ekart for his article on how to use sic fan's command line interface!

 

[Andrey84]

Update: changed Macs Fan Control settings from 60-85 to 73-93 CPU Core (average), as the fans was revving up quite often. Max temperature for intel i5-7500 is 100C, so having maximum fan speed at 90 is safe.

 

[harrywood2]

Update: changed Macs Fan Control settings from 60-85 to 73-93 CPU Core (average), as the fans was revving up quite often. Max temperature for intel i5-7500 is 100C, so having maximum fan speed at 90 is safe.

Hey Andrey, great to hear that you seem too have found the perfect solution to this problem. I have a new iMac 2020 3.8 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i7 however the fan is still too noisy for my liking at 1200 rpm..

Sorry to be a pain but i've never adjusted this stuff before on any of my macs.. are you able to walk me through your process of getting your mac to run at 1000 rpm at its lowest but so that it'll still adjust the fan level according to the mac temperature? AND so that this won't change when I reboot?

Also are you able to provide any reassurance that this is definitely safe to do? the last thing I want to do is damage my new mac in anyway, you seem to have done this fairly recently too so I just wanted to check if your mac was still running perfectly having done all this?

Any help on all this would be amazing, thanks very much.

 

[Andrey84]

Hey Andrey, great to hear that you seem too have found the perfect solution to this problem. I have a new iMac 2020 3.8 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i7 however the fan is still too noisy for my liking at 1200 rpm..

Sorry to be a pain but i've never adjusted this stuff before on any of my macs.. are you able to walk me through your process of getting your mac to run at 1000 rpm at its lowest but so that it'll still adjust the fan level according to the mac temperature? AND so that this won't change when I reboot?

Also are you able to provide any reassurance that this is definitely safe to do? the last thing I want to do is damage my new mac in anyway, you seem to have done this fairly recently too so I just wanted to check if your mac was still running perfectly having done all this?

Any help on all this would be amazing, thanks very much.

Hi Harry,

Yes it's been running like this for the last 2 months and all is good. The CPU temperature doesn't go above 85, averaging at 80 under good load, which is super-safe. Max temp is 100.

I'm confident this approach is safe, but we're dependent on 3rd party fan control software doing its job. So you won't get a 100% guarantee.

A full walkthrough would be quite long, I'll only be able to give an overview. If something doesn't work, please refer to other posts above. If something still doesn't work, please post your question below, we'll try to help.

1. Download SMC Fan Control and run the 3 commands from my post via Terminal.
2. Download Macs Fan Control and set it up with sensor-based value with "CPU Core (Average)" 73-93, see screenshots above.
3. Set up Automation as per my post.

With Macs fan control I recommend setting it up so that it shows you CPU Core (Average) temperature in your system bar on top. You will then be monitoring it for 2-3 months and get more relaxed about it, seeing that whenever temp goes up, the fan kicks it and cools the system right down.

 

[Nicole1980]

Disable turbo boost.

Negligible real world performance hit and dramatically lower temps. Done.

 

[Andrey84]

Disable turbo boost.

Negligible real world performance hit and dramatically lower temps. Done.

Disabling turbo boost will certainly help with temperatures but won't affect the minimum 1200 RPM speed of iMac's fan, which is the OP's main problem.

 

[harrywood2]

Hi Harry,

Yes it's been running like this for the last 2 months and all is good. The CPU temperature doesn't go above 85, averaging at 80 under good load, which is super-safe. Max temp is 100.

I'm confident this approach is safe, but we're dependent on 3rd party fan control software doing its job. So you won't get a 100% guarantee.

A full walkthrough would be quite long, I'll only be able to give an overview. If something doesn't work, please refer to other posts above. If something still doesn't work, please post your question below, we'll try to help.

1. Download SMC Fan Control and run the 3 commands from my post via Terminal.
2. Download Macs Fan Control and set it up with sensor-based value with "CPU Core (Average)" 73-93, see screenshots above.
3. Set up Automation as per my post.

With Macs fan control I recommend setting it up so that it shows you CPU Core (Average) temperature in your system bar on top. You will then be monitoring it for 2-3 months and get more relaxed about it, seeing that whenever temp goes up, the fan kicks it and cools the system right down.

Thank you very much for this Andrey!

So are these the correct 3 terminal commands?

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0fa0
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k "FS! " -w 0003
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Tg -w 0fa0

And this will have the minimum fan speed run at 1000 rpm not 850? I'd like to have mine at 1000.

Is there a way I can restore the fan settings back to default should anything go wrong with this? I guess if I don't set up the automation the fan setting should just reset by restarting the computer.

Apologies for all the questions... I appreciate the help

 

[Andrey84]

Thank you very much for this Andrey!

So are these the correct 3 terminal commands?

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mn -w 0fa0
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k "FS! " -w 0003
/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Tg -w 0fa0

And this will have the minimum fan speed run at 1000 rpm not 850? I'd like to have mine at 1000.

Is there a way I can restore the fan settings back to default should anything go wrong with this? I guess if I don't set up the automation the fan setting should just reset by restarting the computer.

Apologies for all the questions... I appreciate the help

Yes, they seem right - the exact commands are in my long post above.
Yes, it's for 1,000 RPM.
Please don't worry about these things. Install Macs Fan Control now and you will see in your notification area current CPU Core (Average) temp and fan RPMs. Then run the commands and you'll see RPMs drop from 1,200 to 1,000. I encourage you to spend some time with it and familiarize yourself.
Yes the settings will go back to default when you restart, unless you apply the Automation solution from my post.