is your iMac Hotter than mine?

[Pistol Pete]

Apples Site says:

Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F

tempeture monitor says (currently):

170.6 F

ever since summer has started my fan have been on overload during the day, its like 89F outside and 82F inside.

do i have anything to fear? i know not but just checking.

in the image you can see the drop in temprature and the rise as i start it back up.

 

[ITASOR]

Dunno if this helps, buy my quicksilver's SMART temp was always around 140F when it was around 85 out (no a/c).

 

[Pistol Pete]

im more afraid of the cpu...it is the only one that gets crazy!

 

[AlmightyG5]

Mine goes from 170 to 195F!

 

[Pistol Pete]

well maybe that cause you have the 2 Ghz....mines the 1.6 Ghz. are your fans always on?

 

[Jaffa Cake]

im more afraid of the cpu...it is the only one that gets crazy!

I think I'm right in saying that your Mac is designed to shut itself down if the temperature reaches a certain point, in order to protect its components.

 

[Pistol Pete]

i talked to someone at the genious bar yesterday. he said its ok if it runs hot if i am not getting any kernal panics and big performance issues...

 

[Pistol Pete]

i just broke 180F !!! its 98F outside and i was watching a movie fullscreen.


surprised i havnt had kernal panics....

 

[4409723]

The operating temperature is for the environment around the computer; the internal components can get much hotter, as you are seeing.

It will shut itself down before damage is done. I don't think you need to worry about these temperatures.

 

[Pistol Pete]

well i was wrong it got up to 185F...and i have a question, is it better to leave it on with no applications open to let the fans coom itself down or is it ok to turn it off while it is still really hot inside?

 

[mrgreen4242]

If I recall, the fans should stay on for a little bit after you turn it off IF the temp is very high. So, in theory, you could do either. I personally would (and did when I had an iMac) leave it on with nothing running and had the power saver/sleep timer set for 20 or 30 minutes so it would shut down after a cooling off period.

The high temps and resultant high fan noise is what prompted me to switch the the less poweful mini.

 

[quagmire]

Fact: The fan in the iMac never turns off when on. They keep on spinning no matter how cold the CPU is.

Fact: The operating temps apple describes is for the surrounding environment of the computer. Having the CPU to go to 160 F+ is normal. I got my 20" iMac G5 2 Ghz to 188 F, but cooled to 185 F fairly quickly.

Fact: The computer will automatically shut down if the CPU temp stays around 190 F + for awhile.

Myth: All iMacs have the humming noise. Only some rev a imacs have the humming noise and some Rev B's

Myth: If you don't hear the fan, it is not on. This is true for the Powerbooks and ibooks and maybe the Mini, but the rest of the desktop line, the fan is always spinning.

Myth: All iMacs have no fans. Only the imac G3 have no fans.

Thank you for watching quagmire's myth busters. haha

 

[wPod]

ok, ok, slow down. . . there is a difference between the spec that says "opperating temp 50 - 90 deg F" and the temp monitor that says 170. for one thing the opperating tem is for the external operatying temperature. if your room temp is 73 deg F then you are fine b/c you are between the 50 and 90 reccomended temp. if you go outside in the middle of summer (somewhere hot like dallas, or anywhere in TX) then the outside temp will likely be above 90, if not above 100. if you try to run your mac at such a hot temperature then you are outside of the 'opperating temp' range. the temperature measured on the temp monitor is the temp OF the processor! what this all means is if your chip is running at 170 degrees and the outside temperature is over 90 degrees F then the heat wont be able to leave the chip fast enough and the chip will overheat to more than 190 or whatever. but if the outside temp is less than 90 then enough heat will be able to escape!

 

[mad jew]

Fact: The fan in the iMac never turns off when on. They keep on spinning no matter how cold the CPU is.

True but just to add to it a bit from Apple's own iMac page:

The speaker grill lets a trio of ultra-quiet blowers draw cool air into the system. These custom heat dissipaters can rotate at speeds as low as a few hundred RPM — advanced thermal software spins them as fast or slow as needed. A slit in the back of the case allows heat to rise out the top.

 

[Pistol Pete]

Fact: The fan in the iMac never turns off when on. They keep on spinning no matter how cold the CPU is.

Yes i know this but there are different speeds that it runs at...

thanks for helping but i have more questions...

1. for those of you who own a imac g5 when the fans are at full speed can you feel any air come out of the center of the top slit? i cant.

2. before i had heat like this my imac was silent, now after the constant fans during the day i think may have caused my imac to be louder when it is less under stress (when the fans are not on high it is now running loud)

im sorry if this does not make any sense...

i am going to try and cool it off for a while and turn it on, i miss my quite mac and i now officially hate summer!

If I recall, the fans should stay on for a little bit after you turn it off IF the temp is very high.

no they do not stay on, at least for me!

 

[devilot]

Myth: All iMacs have the humming noise. Only some rev a imacs have the humming noise and some Rev B's

Humming noise... not all Rev. B's. Care to describe the humming? My iMac does have a quite sort of a hum. I bet there's no way to get a quieter one from Apple, eh?