Any downsides to fans spinning fast?

[aevan]

Other than noise? I don't mind the noise - the fans on the new MBP are relatively quiet and I can't hear them even at maximum speed when I play music. But I always get this bad feeling that the computer is straining itself and that dust is getting acumulated faster and stuff like that. But when the fans are silent, they are still working at around 2000rpm, so it's not like they are standing still.

My question is - do you have an issue when fans are working for a long time - like, when you're doing something intensive? For example, when I work in Zbrush, the fans work almost constantly, and if I work 5 hours in Zbrush, that means the fans are hard at work, 3-4k rpm for 5 hours. So, is that something that should bother me?

Of course, I don't have a choice and it never broke my old MBP. Also, my old Cintiq Companion almost constantly had audible fans working at high speeds, even when idling - and it was designed that way, so I'm guessing it's ok.

Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[matram]

Interesting question. I googled around a bit. Seems a quality fan with ballbearings may have a lifetime L10 (10% of parts failed) of 70.000 - 90.000 hours.

Assuming lifetime relates to number of rotations of the bearing, even if you half the lifetimeby doubling the speed it is still a lot of hours.

 

[aevan]

Interesting question. I googled around a bit. Seems a quality fan with ballbearings may have a lifetime L10 (10% of parts failed) of 70.000 - 90.000 hours.

Assuming lifetime relates to number of rotations of the bearing, even if you half the lifetimeby doubling the speed it is still a lot of hours.

Yes, thanks for that. Though, I didn't even think about fans failing. I was thinking more about dust - more airflow, more dust inside. Or am I wrong?

 

[maflynn]

There seems to be an assumption that if you run the fans near full speed most of the time, they may wear out sooner then later. Whether that's the case, or whether it will fail within a couple of years, I have no idea. Being mechanical they will at some part wear out.

 

[throAU]

For the fans, no real problem - but bear in mind that heat kills batteries.

And if your fans are running flat out all day its likely because your machine is hot.
And if your machine is hot, it will be hurting your battery.

That said, if its because it is doing the work you bought the machine for, then it's a cost of doing the job...

If you don't mind the noise, you may even want to run the fans higher than the auto fan curve to try keep the heat down a bit more to save wear and tear on the battery...



edit:
replacement fans are cheap. dust can be removed. batteries are more expensive....

 

[aevan]

Thanks for the answers.

I think, for me, it's just best to ignore it. I payed a ton of money for this and I have AppleCare for the next three years. I'm going to wear this thing down And after three years, I hope I'll be able to get something new, so - no mercy If I need to work in Zbrush for 10 hours straight, then I'm going to do it - and I don't care about the fans or the heat, I'm hoping the computer can stand it.

Thanks everyone.

 

[throAU]

Thanks for the answers.

I think, for me, it's just best to ignore it. I payed a ton of money for this and I have AppleCare for the next three years. I'm going to wear this thing down And after three years, I hope I'll be able to get something new, so - no mercy If I need to work in Zbrush for 10 hours straight, then I'm going to do it - and I don't care about the fans or the heat, I'm hoping the computer can stand it.

Thanks everyone.

Good stuff. If it's a work machine then yeah, depreciate over 3 years, sell/replace, move on.

 

[ZapNZs]

Over about 2.5 years, the fans on my main MBP have spent about a third of their life at 6200 RPM. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two or three...