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Zeebedy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2011
359
71
Scotland, UK
Hey guys,

Got my MP back the other day after I damaged the BT wire :mad:

My question is, what is considered good "idling" temps? I use my MP for Spotify, Safari, e-mail, messages etc..nothing hardcore, and today for a little my "Hardware Monitor" was at 43c-44c for a little then dropped back to average 36c-38c for the CPU diode temp. :(

Should I be worried or can these processors handle these kind of temps?



cheers guys, RTJ
 
Hey guys,

Got my MP back the other day after I damaged the BT wire :mad:

My question is, what is considered good "idling" temps? I use my MP for Spotify, Safari, e-mail, messages etc..nothing hardcore, and today for a little my "Hardware Monitor" was at 43c-44c for a little then dropped back to average 36c-38c for the CPU diode temp. :(

Should I be worried or can these processors handle these kind of temps?

cheers guys, RTJ
Hiberthreading in Nehalem/Westmere will jump temp 10*C just launching a Pages app and document will for a split second and then drop to normal (based on processor, ambient temp and other components, air flow, dust, etc)

Xeon can handle an all day load and stress and run @ 65*C for hours and up to 85*C for a shorter period. I would not want to run all day or expect it to at 85* which I came to feel was stress threshold.

PRIME95 use to be Windows only and a good stress test was ported to the Mac. There may be others.

A proper running processor should if it hits its thermal point, I think "TjMax" throttle down, but that would happen at 90*C likely or higher.

Short answer: you are more than safe and fine, and even 55-60*C is nothing to worry about.

If you want, and you know you are going to be stressing the cpu(s) then you could boost some of the fans ahead of time to 1500 rpm to improve air flow and cooling ahead of time.
 
Nothing to worry about. I run my Mac Pro 24/7 at almost 100% loading. Which will keep the CPU at around 80C all day long. I am not recommending anyone to do this, but I have zero issue so far. And your numbers are well below the official limit from Intel. So, it is very safe.
 
Normal temps. I see upper thirties to low/mid forties when surfing, etc. Seems flash sometimes causes a little spike, but not a big deal. When streaming or encoding audio/video I use iStat Menus for their fan control; defined presets make for an easy adjustment. Not really necessary, but living in Florida I like to keep temps under a certain threshold.
 
Hey guys,

yeah, I suspect that because I'm in Scotland which is always bloody cold will help with the temps hehe :D



RTJ
 
Hiberthreading in Nehalem/Westmere will jump temp 10*C just launching a Pages app and document will for a split second and then drop to normal (based on processor, ambient temp and other components, air flow, dust, etc)

Xeon can handle an all day load and stress and run @ 65*C for hours and up to 85*C for a shorter period. I would not want to run all day or expect it to at 85* which I came to feel was stress threshold.

PRIME95 use to be Windows only and a good stress test was ported to the Mac. There may be others.

A proper running processor should if it hits its thermal point, I think "TjMax" throttle down, but that would happen at 90*C likely or higher.

Short answer: you are more than safe and fine, and even 55-60*C is nothing to worry about.

If you want, and you know you are going to be stressing the cpu(s) then you could boost some of the fans ahead of time to 1500 rpm to improve air flow and cooling ahead of time.

Actually you can run 85C for days no problem. The fans (without help of any software) kick in around the 80C mark and they speed up as needed.
 
Actually you can run 85C for days no problem. The fans (without help of any software) kick in around the 80C mark and they speed up as needed.

ahhh right, my mac is so quiet i thought my fans were buggered but good to know they kick in at the real high temps!



RTJ
 
Actually you can run 85C for days no problem. The fans (without help of any software) kick in around the 80C mark and they speed up as needed.
I wouldn't believe those numbers unless I saw them. And I use to hang out on PC forum for a few years looking at custom rigs and stress testing, from lapping processors to water cooled and everything in between.
 
What additional features does it have over iStat Menus? Thanks

You realize that the tried and true and well respected hardware monitor and istatpro do the job, but anything that says it will "clean" or do other tasks is both needless and often will damage the system by altering its behavior, ie, all those CleanMyMac and MacKeeper and whatever other names they go by.

Onyx when used for a good reason and properly is probably okay.

I'd stay clear of this one.
 
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