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2016 15" fan noise ?

GeorgeVes

GeorgeVes

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2016
83
27
Hey guys can you check on your 15inch 2016 models if you can hear the fans slowly spinning even without the laptop actually doing anything ( on the desktop with no programs open ) ? I can only hear them in a quiet room but I wanna know if it's everybody's 15inch or just mine... I hear the fans from the left side of laptop near the USB-C ports
 
i see fan is taking off when i do some cpu intense operations : kick some docker instances , installing some software . but so far nothing unusual , stuff i would expect (2 hours of usage). always keep an eye on activity monitor and see what is sucking the cpu energy.
 
AFAIK, All of MacBooks fan/fans constantly run at about 2000 rpm... When cpu heat up fan/fans speed increase to 6000-6500 rpm depending cpu load...

But I'm not hearing anything even totally silent room any of my MacBooks past, recently... Only hearing slightly fan blade hiss when stick my ear to case (at cpu location)
 
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I can't hear anything from my base 2015 13" Pro though...That's why I am asking.
And there are no processes doing anything in the background...
BYY2AE2.png
 
GeorgeVes said:
I can't hear anything from my base 2015 13" Pro though...That's why I am asking.
And there are no processes doing anything in the background...
BYY2AE2.png
Click to expand...


just turned off all the sounds and , click installing .net mono and cinder at the same with 8-10 apps are running (twitter , slack..) . 2 mins installation and couldnt hear. So far in 2 hours of usage i heard only once . i would restart and i am sure nothing important. Sierra is still buggy
 
Macbook's one of the most important engineering success is cpu fans.. It's running but you can't hear anything without extreme effort (at least for me, and I don't have any hear deficit)

So, if you can hear fan noise at normal working situations, something's wrong with your new machine.. or your hearing level is above humanity...
 
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keysofanxiety said:
Always worth trying a PRAM reset. Please could you advise if this makes any difference?
Click to expand...
I think you mean SMC reset?

My MacBook randomly started ramping up the fans last night even though the CPU was at 44C and they were reaching 4000RPM. This made them audible and so I checked activity monitor and nothing was using significant CPU resources. I shutdown and performed an SMC reset. Problem fixed, for now at least.
 
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Yeah, probably will try a SMC reset and call it a day. But its weird cause I can feel the air coming out of the ventilation holes is not hot and activity monitor says the CPU is not under load...
 
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deadworlds said:
I think you mean SMC reset?

My MacBook randomly started ramping up the fans last night even though the CPU was at 44C and they were reaching 4000RPM. This made them audible and so I checked activity monitor and nothing was using significant CPU resources. I shutdown and performed an SMC reset. Problem fixed, for now at least.
Click to expand...

Sorry, one too many ales. SMC reset is what I meant :)
 
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Ok so I tried SMC reset and it didn't change a thing. I installed iStatMenus(https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/) to monitor the CPU temps and RPMs of the fans. Can anyone try this with their 2016 15" please ? Fans are spinning at 2000+ rpm when the processor is barely 30 degrees. For reference my old rMBP 13" is hitting 60 degrees before the fans start spinning.
dtT9gXV.png
 
GeorgeVes said:
Ok so I tried SMC reset and it didn't change a thing. I installed iStatMenus(https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/) to monitor the CPU temps and RPMs of the fans. Can anyone try this with their 2016 15" please ? Fans are spinning at 2000+ rpm when the processor is barely 30 degrees. For reference my old rMBP 13" is hitting 60 degrees before the fans start spinning.
dtT9gXV.png
Click to expand...
The fans are always spinning on all macs, no matter the cpu load. 2000rpm at 30 degrees is perfectly normal.
 
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My 13" rMBP 2015 doesn't spin the fans when doing nothing. A friend of mine has the maxed out 15" from 2015 and his doesn't spin the fans at idle too. Can someone with a 2016 check this and tell me about theirs please? I want to know if it's just mine or it's everybody's rMBP 15" 2016
 
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I did do the same procedure on a 13" and 15" 2015 rMBP and both are at 0 rpm in idle. It's the same as in recent nVidia desktop GPUs that don't spin the fans until they reach a certain temperature.
 
I can confirm the fans on tMBP13 spin down to <1200rpm -- inaudible even if right against my ear. I state this in the context of an initial run-in with a rabid process, which had them running ~3500rpm. Past experience with rMBP15 was that yes, minimum used to be 2000rpm.

Different fan blades for tMBP15 though.

EDIT Just tried iStat. Both fans at 0rpm at present.
 
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Wtf?? 0rpm?? So now, with skylake 15W cpu, we get 0 rpm at idle/light usage
 
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My 2015 13" reported 0 rpm when at idle. So does the 2016 13" non-Touch Bar. Both showed correct RPM when under load, so the sensors were working.
 
monkeydax said:
Highly doubt there ever is 0rpm fans.
Click to expand...
Basically all modern graphics cards have fans that stop when the GPU is under 60c. What would stop Apple from doing this with their Macs? The heatsinks are more than enough to keep the CPU's within normal temperature under low load without the fans running.

Having the fans running at all times even when not needed not only makes for worse battery life, but also generates more heat, noise and wear.
 
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