Are these normal temperatures and fan speeds for the Mac Mini i7 under load?

[Gary King]

I just bought my new Mac Mini i7 a few days ago. I noticed that the fan speeds and CPU temperature are much higher than my old iMac.

Right now, at pretty high loads, the fan speeds are about 3500 RPM and the CPU temperature is about 95 C, while all other temperatures are around 60 C.

Is the 3500 RPM and the 95 C in particular acceptable? Or is something wrong with my new Mac Mini?

 

[dan1eln1el5en]

sounds about right, idle at 2000, which is (for me) most common, the fans kicks in during gaming, rendering and some heavy AfterEffects use, otherwise around the 2.000 rpm.

 

[opinio]

I just bought my new Mac Mini i7 a few days ago. I noticed that the fan speeds and CPU temperature are much higher than my old iMac.

Right now, at pretty high loads, the fan speeds are about 3500 RPM and the CPU temperature is about 95 C, while all other temperatures are around 60 C.

Is the 3500 RPM and the 95 C in particular acceptable? Or is something wrong with my new Mac Mini?

That is all totally normal for the i7. They hit 100+ C when the CPU is under 100% load and the fan Max's at 5500rpm.

 

[Gary King]

That is all totally normal for the i7. They hit 100+ C when the CPU is under 100% load and the fan Max's at 5500rpm.

I heard that the i7 will automatically shut down when it hits 100 C. Is this true? And will my fans reach 5500 RPM one day then? They reached 3500 RPM and I already felt that it was pushing it to the max.

 

[opinio]

I heard that the i7 will automatically shut down when it hits 100 C. Is this true? And will my fans reach 5500 RPM one day then? They reached 3500 RPM and I already felt that it was pushing it to the max.

The i7 sandy bridge is 100 max but the ivy bridge in the 2012 is 105. Mine hit 105 once or twice when I had the original heat sink paste on and it never shut down. It has never had any problems at the temps around 100 C. It is the way they are designed.

I have run a 2011 server with a 2.0 quad (sandy) for almost two years now with regular 100% CPU usage at close to 100c. It's fine.

If minis start dropping dead from heat or CPU failure it would be a huge topic in the forum.

We all went through the initial 'OMG the temps!' thing with the 2012 quads. Then the heart rate decreases soon after when you realise the quads just deal fine with the temps.

The fan will max at 5500 around 98c. It drops a little to 4000 or so around 95. It is their design. It's fine.

 

[philipma1957]

The i7 sandy bridge is 100 max but the ivy bridge in the 2012 is 105. Mine hit 105 once or twice when I had the original heat sink paste on and it never shut down. It has never had any problems at the temps around 100 C. It is the way they are designed.

I have run a 2011 server with a 2.0 quad (sandy) for almost two years now with regular 100% CPU usage at close to 100c. It's fine.

If minis start dropping dead from heat or CPU failure it would be a huge topic in the forum.

We all went through the initial 'OMG the temps!' thing with the 2012 quads. Then the heart rate decreases soon after when you realise the quads just deal fine with the temps.

The fan will max at 5500 around 98c. It drops a little to 4000 or so around 95. It is their design. It's fine.

^this. ^

when the 2012 quad came out I tested it at 100% and I killed it. got it to run at 222f for a few days in a run then death.

Posted a long thread about it. Turned out to be a fluke the replacement quad passed the same test back in October or November 2012 and I still use it today.

 

[opinio]

^this. ^

when the 2012 quad came out I tested it at 100% and I killed it. got it to run at 222f for a few days in a run then death.

Posted a long thread about it. Turned out to be a fluke the replacement quad passed the same test back in October or November 2012 and I still use it today.

Yeah I read your thread (a few times). Nice work on the testing. Very valuable info.

But as you noted the CPU that died appears to have been faulty. Or even if it wasn't, it is only one. And you absolutely beat it to death.

 

[philipma1957]

Yeah I read your thread (a few times). Nice work on the testing. Very valuable info.

But as you noted the CPU that died appears to have been faulty. Or even if it wasn't, it is only one. And you absolutely beat it to death.

yeah my replacement is still running just fine.


It has the super diy fusion with 16gb ram. Build of the fusion

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1568313/

It is good enough for most everything I do.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I heard that the i7 will automatically shut down when it hits 100 C. Is this true?

The processor reduces the Turbo Boost speed automatically, before the processor has a chance to overheat. You can see this in the “Intel® Power Gadget”.

 

[philipma1957]

The processor reduces the Turbo Boost speed automatically, before the processor has a chance to overheat. You can see this in the “Intel® Power Gadget”.

supposed to do it and it does it with my current i7 but the first i7 it allowed 223 and 224 f. The cpu died. I returned it and within 2 days of my complaint apple did some patches to 10.8.

my guess is the cpu was good and maybe the os need to allow intel to throttle quicker. but like i said the replacement is fine

 

[Gary King]

Alright, thanks for all the information. There's a lot of useful technical stuff to go through!