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2016 15" fan noise ?

2013 15" rMBP with Iris Pro here. Fans are always spinning, and they always were even back when I had a 15" MBP with dGPU around 2009-2010.

0 RPM reading sounds like a different hardware configuration in the new MacBooks that prevents current software from reading it.
 
Could be my mistake, maybe they do go to 0rpm on a 13". But for sure on a 15" it runs permanently.
 
keviig said:
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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Two different thermal environments. In a case a graphics card mounted in a PCIe slot has a lot of air passively circulating around it because of big vents in the case. Also, the card likely has a large heat sink.

In a laptop the small space with limited intakes and exhausts provides much less passive airflow. Therefore the airflow must be channeled to heat sinks of the CPU and GPU. And the smaller cases means then need to doing this constantly spinning the fans at a low rate you can avoid having to spin up the fans to high rpm. Because in a lot of conditions that low airflow is enough to keep thing cool enough.
 
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jerryk said:
Two different thermal environments. In a case a graphics card mounted in a PCIe slot has a lot of air passively circulating around it because of big vents in the case. Also, the card likely has a large heat sink.

In a laptop the small space with limited intakes and exhausts provides much less passive airflow. Therefore the airflow must be channeled to heat sinks of the CPU and GPU. And the smaller cases means then need to doing this constantly spinning the fans at a low rate you can avoid having to spin up the fans to high rpm. Because in a lot of conditions that low airflow is enough to keep thing cool enough.
Click to expand...
While the environments are vastly different, so are is the power consumption. A modern high end GPU pulls at least 20W at idle and upwards to 200W under load. A 13" MBP however will use less than 5W at idle and less than 30W during full load. I have no doubt that the heatsinks are capable of keeping the 13" MBP processors cool at idle and during light usage. Just look at the 12" rMB, which is able to passively cool up to 8W with a smaller heatsink and no fan.
 
I wonder if the istat program is reporting 0 because that is what the fans or logic are reporting, but the fans are actually turning. My ASUS Motherboard on my desktop reports 0 rpm whenever the case fans slow below 200 rpm or so. But, when you open the case they are spinning.
 
At no point does any Macbook Pro run at 0rpm. That is a defect in the software reporting the fan speed. If you pay attention to that number as the fans begin to run faster, it will continue to show 0rpm until the fan is spinning higher than the default speed. On my 2015 13", depending on what program I monitor the fan with it will show 0, then immediately 1299 and will climb from there. When using iStat Menus the fan never under ANY circumstances will fall below 1280. If your mac shows 0rpm, it is lying to you.
 
Thanks everyone for the info :) Is it okay if can hear the fans spin at 2000 rpm in a quiet room though ? I can not hear the 1300 rpm on the 13" and the 2000rpm on the 2015 15" in the same scenario...Could this worsen over time?
 
GeorgeVes said:
Thanks everyone for the info :) Is it okay if can hear the fans spin at 2000 rpm in a quiet room though ? I can not hear the 1300 rpm on the 13" and the 2000rpm on the 2015 15" in the same scenario...Could this worsen over time?
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Nope, had my 2013 rMBP 15" now and the left fan spins at 2000rpm at idle and right at 2100rpm. It has been this way since day 1.
 
Can't speak to the '15 15 inch, but my '15 13" fans are usually off until I start doing something intensive. Then they stay on, they don't turn back off whenever intensive tasks finish and the computer cools down.

For my '16 15", the fans are on all the time, even during a cold boot. They don't stop, though they're not loud enough to cause a fuss.
 
Greene said:
Can't speak to the '15 15 inch, but my '15 13" fans are usually off until I start doing something intensive. Then they stay on, they don't turn back off whenever intensive tasks finish and the computer cools down.

For my '16 15", the fans are on all the time, even during a cold boot. They don't stop, though they're not loud enough to cause a fuss.
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Yep, the fans are pretty much totally silent, even in a quiet room. You can barely discern the sound from the fans.
 
GeorgeVes said:
Thanks everyone for the info :) Is it okay if can hear the fans spin at 2000 rpm in a quiet room though ? I can not hear the 1300 rpm on the 13" and the 2000rpm on the 2015 15" in the same scenario...Could this worsen over time?
Click to expand...

I have the 15" 2016 MBP and I can confirm that the fans always idle at 2000 RPM with light usage. That being said, I cannot hear the fans running unless I put my ear up the exhaust ports on the back. You either have 1) Super great hearing, or 2) some unusually loud fans.

For the sake of being positive in a forum full of negativity, I'm going to say you have above average hearing.
 
I have a 15" 2016 tbMBP and on both iStat Menus and smcFanControl, I have ~2160rpm in the left fan and ~2000rpm in the right fan when idling. On my 13" 2012 MBA, the minimum fan speed is usually also ~2000rpm. I wouldn't worry too much about your fans.
 
It's super weird that I can hear the fans spin on 15" but not on the 2015 13"...

washikanto said:
I have a 15" 2016 tbMBP and on both iStat Menus and smcFanControl, I have ~2160rpm in the left fan and ~2000rpm in the right fan when idling. On my 13" 2012 MBA, the minimum fan speed is usually also ~2000rpm. I wouldn't worry too much about your fans.
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Can you hear the fans in idle in a quiet environment if you put your year close to the laptop?
 
I have a 2015 max and 2016 with me right now, will check but certain both spin their fans even at idle
 
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okay, update.

Both the 2016 and 2015 spin at about 2100rpm , even at idle .

The 2016 is slightly louder , though you need a really quite room to hear it....not a problem here is London lol.
 
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I can confirm that the fan on the late 2016 ntbMBP doesn't spin under light use. istatmenu's says it's at 0rpm most of the time.
 
Tuslareb said:
I can confirm that the fan on the late 2016 ntbMBP doesn't spin under light use. istatmenu's says it's at 0rpm most of the time.
Click to expand...

That's seems strange. Wonder if its monitoring it correctly. If you put your ear to the keyboard , do you hear anything
 
my fans are idling at 3300rpm, 53c
I was doing some gaming, but its still hot after 30 minutes of doing nothing...
 
MH01 said:
That's seems strange. Wonder if its monitoring it correctly. If you put your ear to the keyboard , do you hear anything
Click to expand...

No, I don't hear anything. The thing is dead silent. Why would it be strange? It runs very cool. CPU temp sensor doesn't exceed 40 degrees Celsius under light use. Fan is not broken by the way, I have seen it spinning up under heavier load.
 
This is getting really weird - can anyone else with a 2016 MBP tell us if they hear the fans at all in idle please ?
edit : I've changed the name of the thread to reflect the new discussion
 
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