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Does smcfancontrol ruin your macbook pro
- Thread starter Thekolton
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No, as it only controls the fan or fans. If SMC Fan Control isn't able to control them anymore: Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
I apologize for posting here if I should have done so elsewhere, but I didn't think it was entirely necessary to start a new thread since my question is related. Anyways...
I just got my first Mac, the 2011 MBP 13". I've just started getting it set up and within the first 20-30 minutes of using it the temp shot up to the 70s celsius. This was with me doing nothing more than downloading and installing basic things such as firefox and chrome etc. The bottom was really hot so I shut it down and let it cool off while I did some research. I know about the overapplied paste and I acknowledge this could be my problem which sucks since I'm really not comfortable going into the machine to clean it out myself
. Anyways I found the program smcFanControl and ran it, even just as a temporary thing until I can figure it out. Anyways I cranked up the fans (running about 6000 rpm at the moment and has stabilized in around the 40s Celsius. I'm still not doing anything but web browsing, so I'm concerned that the fans should not have to run this hard. Can I break the fans (or something else) doing this? I realize the program may not be needed, I would expect the fans to kick in automatically when needed, but I checked and they never seemed to go about around 2000rpm no matter how hot it got.
Do you think this is a thermal paste issue, or something else?
Should I keep using smcFanControl since it seems to have stabilized the system?
Anything else I should consider? thanks
I just got my first Mac, the 2011 MBP 13". I've just started getting it set up and within the first 20-30 minutes of using it the temp shot up to the 70s celsius. This was with me doing nothing more than downloading and installing basic things such as firefox and chrome etc. The bottom was really hot so I shut it down and let it cool off while I did some research. I know about the overapplied paste and I acknowledge this could be my problem which sucks since I'm really not comfortable going into the machine to clean it out myself
. Anyways I found the program smcFanControl and ran it, even just as a temporary thing until I can figure it out. Anyways I cranked up the fans (running about 6000 rpm at the moment and has stabilized in around the 40s Celsius. I'm still not doing anything but web browsing, so I'm concerned that the fans should not have to run this hard. Can I break the fans (or something else) doing this? I realize the program may not be needed, I would expect the fans to kick in automatically when needed, but I checked and they never seemed to go about around 2000rpm no matter how hot it got.Do you think this is a thermal paste issue, or something else?
Should I keep using smcFanControl since it seems to have stabilized the system?
Anything else I should consider? thanks
Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios
Normally Spotlight indexes the HDD, which is CPU intensive and shows up as "mds" in Activity Monitor.
Have a look at that Activity Monitor ( Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.
image below uses sorting by CPU as an example
No need to shut it down, as 70°C is not hot for a CPU, 105°C is hot and if the CPU gets TOO hot, it will shut itself off.
Maybe this can help: http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/MacBook_ProI know about the overapplied paste and I acknowledge this could be my problem which sucks since I'm really not comfortable going into the machine to clean it out myself
If web browsing includes Flash (ads, YouTube, Vimeo, ...), then that will get your CPU working, though with the latest version of Flash not as much as it did before. ClickToFlash might help.
Also check what GPU is in use via http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus.
No.
How hot did it get? My 2009 MBP's (17") fans run at 2000RPM when at 70°C, they start to kick slowly in at 80-85°C. Sometimes I rev them up, sometimes I don't.
That I don't know. But the steps I showed you to check might point either into this direction or away from it.
In what way was your system unstable? A high CPU temperature is not a sign of instability per se.
The CPUs used in the 15" and 17" have a higher TDP (45W), thus they radiate more heat than their predecessors and run the battery down faster - that's why the battery times Apple shows on its website have gone down.
thank you for the quick reply. I was probably just overreacting since my last laptop died and overheating was a primary culprit. It got up to around 80c but I shut it down before waiting to see if it went higher. I guess I didn't know that was a normal range and it just felt extremely hot on the bottom. And yes, unstable was a poor choice of word since it was running just fine. I guess it was just more precautionary than anything.
I forgot to add, the bottom plate of the MBP also works as heat dissipator, due to it being metal. Therefore it will get hotter, but the heat gets radiated better.