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Does Your New iMac Run as HOT as mine?

mines been on for hours, it gets a little warm at the top, but not too bad.
 

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I noticed the top of the new models gets very hot. The GPU diode gets really toasty from using a lot of CPU power too. Oops?
 
MikeLeatardo said:
24" and I feel like I need sunscreen and a pitcher of water to survive surfing the web.

The top of the machine is HOT to the touch.

Is this normal?
Click to expand...

You say its hot to touch the top of the iMac, (Middle of the top?)
If its not the processor that is running hot it could be the built-in iSight Camara, if your using it...

I noticed that when I use the Built in iSight the top of the iMac definitely increases in temperature.
 
My iMac came today (First Mac!) and I've very impressed.

The whole thing is amazing and I love it... and the screen is just, well, fantastic!

On the heat issue, mine has been on (despite several restarts (One was for updates, one was for messing up Skype (Newbie to Mac- don't know how to work things)) so, Anyway, I've checked my iMac's case (Top right is worst) and it's very warm. I would even say "Hot"... Hot enough to make me want to remove my hand... but if I don't, it doesn't burn me or anything. It's just overly warm.

I'm not worried, though, as I know that the aluminum is just conducting heat. The reason people are complaining is because the old iMacs were plastic and didn't get hot like this.

And if something happens, I'm covered by Apple Care (not that I particularly want to be away from this precious and amazing computer for more than I have to!)
 
BlakTornado said:
My iMac came today (First Mac!) and I've very impressed.

The whole thing is amazing and I love it... and the screen is just, well, fantastic!

On the heat issue, mine has been on (despite several restarts (One was for updates, one was for messing up Skype (Newbie to Mac- don't know how to work things)) so, Anyway, I've checked my iMac's case (Top right is worst) and it's very warm. I would even say "Hot"... Hot enough to make me want to remove my hand... but if I don't, it doesn't burn me or anything. It's just overly warm.

I'm not worried, though, as I know that the aluminum is just conducting heat. The reason people are complaining is because the old iMacs were plastic and didn't get hot like this.

And if something happens, I'm covered by Apple Care (not that I particularly want to be away from this precious and amazing computer for more than I have to!)
Click to expand...

grab istat pro (google it) install that widget, hit :apple: + Shift + 3 (to take a screen shot) and post ur temps. would b interesting to see what temps you are getting.

DoFoT9 🙂
 
Just picked up a 24" aluminum iMac last night, 2.4Ghz. It's been running ever since -- I rarely ever turn my desktop off since I like to be able to access it from work via SSH and use it as a squid proxy, etc. Fortunately I found a nice widget to sleep the display on demand, because the first problem I noticed with it was that, unlike a separate monitor, I was unable to turn just the display off!

That being said, temps are normal. iStat reports a CPU temp of 40-42C at idle and during most tasks. It breaks into the upper 50's if I start straining the CPU and the fans kick up a little, but nothing drastic.

The case is warm because from looking at the aluminum iMac dissection photos, the heatsink blocks and heatpipes from things like the CPU/Northbridge/GPU make contact with the case. The aluminum on the case then acts like a giant heatsink and provides more surface area for this heat to escape.

Of course it's going to get warm. To those worried about components "slowly cooking over time", electronic components have a safe operating temperature range. I don't know about the Intel Core2Duo processors specifically, but I remember a few years ago that some AMD Athlon64 chips had an upper SAFE operating range of about 68C. That means that you can run this processor at 68C constantly (70C will burn your hand) and it will not put undue stress on the component. I would imagine that it's a similar number for current Intel processors -- they're running in the low-mid 40's at idle, that's just fine, and at extreme load they probably don't even begin to approach what would be considered the maximum.

If it does cause any longevity issues, you're probably looking at a measurable period of years over decades, likely a span which you won't even have the machine anymore, anyways, and which things with moving parts like harddrives or fans have long exceeded their life span.
 
DoFoT9 said:
grab istat pro (google it) install that widget, hit :apple: + Shift + 3 (to take a screen shot) and post ur temps. would b interesting to see what temps you are getting.

DoFoT9 🙂
Click to expand...
I'm still learning my way around my Mac, but do tell me, after you hit :apple:+Shift+3 how do you paste it?
 
Hot is what u want. On the outside any way. Betterthan letting the internals heat up and then blowing on them to cool it off.
 
astewart said:
You say its hot to touch the top of the iMac, (Middle of the top?)
If its not the processor that is running hot it could be the built-in iSight Camara, if your using it...

I noticed that when I use the Built in iSight the top of the iMac definitely increases in temperature.
Click to expand...

Hello! It's not the iSight camera itself that's causing an increase in temperature, it's the load it puts on the processor (especially high temps if you try the iSight in 1280x1024 movie mode)!
 
GTiPhone said:
Hot is what u want. On the outside any way. Betterthan letting the internals heat up and then blowing on them to cool it off.
Click to expand...

Sadly, many (new 2007) iMac owners are having big problems with excessive heat. Check out Apple's own (rather sterile) iMac forum 🙂

Temperature Monitor is a good (donationware) tool to reveal this.
I'd only had my (otherwise sweetheart) 24" 2.8GHz 4GB (crucial RAM £150.00 for 2x2GB modules - work a treat!) beauty for 2 hours when I accepted an automatic "Apple Software Update…" invitation (iMac Update 1.0 - which is a partially effective video card speed-up/bug-fix)...
I made a coffee and returned; my beloved had spontaneously shut down! -
when I thought She was merely sleeping after a satisfying update!

After booting anew I immediately Googled for info on such matters:

Many souls have suffered multiple unwanted shutdowns!

Excessive temperatures that cause unwanted shutdowns are NOT normal/within spec, whatever:

So, until Apple release a firmware update - to address fan control bugs, here's the way to survive:

1) Get "smcFanControl" (also donationware) and 2) "Temperature Monitor"
Install both. Run "Temperature Monitor" and check your (new) iMac's internal component temps...

Here's what I found with only Safari and TextEdit running : Power Supply = 87 Centigrade (nearly boiling point Farenheit!) ; CPU Core 2 = 76 C. - only 14 C. below Intel's shutdown CPU to avoid thermal runaway catastrophe!);(T.M. gives 8 other temps but I want to keep this post smallish).

After running F.C. and setting the fan sliders to about 30%, temps dropped dramatically, and I have had no further unwanted shutdowns.

My room temperature throughout has been below 23 C. and since T.M. & F.C. I've run tests that REALLY punish the CPU/RAM/HD etc, and have never approached the scorching temperatures some "experts" consider "normal/within spec".

Hope this helps.
IT WORKS...
 
gvg45 said:
I'm still learning my way around my Mac, but do tell me, after you hit :apple:+Shift+3 how do you paste it?
Click to expand...

:apple: + shift + 3 will allow you to select a shot on the screen. after pressing the key combination a cross-hair will appear and allow you to select the screen shot you want. go to dashboard and take a picture of the temps and whatnot, it will paste the image on the desktop, open that image on the desktop, File>Export>JPEG (NOT 2000) and then u can upload that image on MR 🙂

hope im not too confusing. 😕😕
 
AlanTheBrit said:
Sadly, many (new 2007) iMac owners are having big problems with excessive heat. Check out Apple's own (rather sterile) iMac forum 🙂

Temperature Monitor is a good (donationware) tool to reveal this.
I'd only had my (otherwise sweetheart) 24" 2.8GHz 4GB (crucial RAM £150.00 for 2x2GB modules - work a treat!) beauty for 2 hours when I accepted an automatic "Apple Software Update…" invitation (iMac Update 1.0 - which is a partially effective video card speed-up/bug-fix)...
I made a coffee and returned; my beloved had spontaneously shut down! -
when I thought She was merely sleeping after a satisfying update!

After booting anew I immediately Googled for info on such matters:

Many souls have suffered multiple unwanted shutdowns!

Excessive temperatures that cause unwanted shutdowns are NOT normal/within spec, whatever:

So, until Apple release a firmware update - to address fan control bugs, here's the way to survive:

1) Get "smcFanControl" (also donationware) and 2) "Temperature Monitor"
Install both. Run "Temperature Monitor" and check your (new) iMac's internal component temps...

Here's what I found with only Safari and TextEdit running : Power Supply = 87 Centigrade (nearly boiling point Farenheit!) ; CPU Core 2 = 76 C. - only 14 C. below Intel's shutdown CPU to avoid thermal runaway catastrophe!);(T.M. gives 8 other temps but I want to keep this post smallish).

After running F.C. and setting the fan sliders to about 30%, temps dropped dramatically, and I have had no further unwanted shutdowns.

My room temperature throughout has been below 23 C. and since T.M. & F.C. I've run tests that REALLY punish the CPU/RAM/HD etc, and have never approached the scorching temperatures some "experts" consider "normal/within spec".

Hope this helps.
IT WORKS...
Click to expand...

ok i dont get it. i have my new imac folding (see sig) and it chills at a nice 50-60°C.

btw 87°C isnt THAT hot...sure its toasty. my mbp chills at that most of the time. its only 188F. (haha only)
 
I get these temps and case has never been hot to the touch....only warm
 

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DoFoT9 said:
ok i dont get it. i have my new imac folding (see sig) and it chills at a nice 50-60°C.
Click to expand...

This may be helpful to you? From the Apple Al iMac forum:

[concerning unwanted shutdowns/freezes NOT heat based]:

I got 2.4 24" about three weeks ago and had the shutdown (as well as freezing) problem. I called applecare and they had me reduce the number of log in items in my preferences. The representative said that most of the time problems like these occur when migrating applications from an older platform (in my case, a powerpc) to the new computer. I was skeptical, but I have not had the problem happen again in the past two weeks, and it was happening frequently before.

I wouldn't let it keep you from getting a new imac.
 
My new iMac 24" was running quite hot. I noted that the brightness was set all the way to the max when I bought it; so I changed it to a medium brightness setting. That seems to have cooled the unit off somewhat.
 
DoFoT9 said:
:apple: + shift + 3 will allow you to select a shot on the screen. after pressing the key combination a cross-hair will appear and allow you to select the screen shot you want. go to dashboard and take a picture of the temps and whatnot, it will paste the image on the desktop, open that image on the desktop, File>Export>JPEG (NOT 2000) and then u can upload that image on MR 🙂

hope im not too confusing. 😕😕
Click to expand...

OK, your way didn't work for me. Seems like :apple:+shift+3 takes a full screen shot. :apple:+shift+4 gives me the cross-hair your talking about.

Thanks..🙂

BTW,
Picture1-1.png
 
Great thread.. .thanks for the pointers to smcFanControl and iStat pro, great apps.

I've been in the PC world for a long time usually running pretty high end rigs tweaked out (ie overclocked) since the good old Celeron 300A's. Heat, no matter if your stock or OC'd, is the enemy. It makes components fail sooner and is usually the culprit in instability. My motto: A cool PC is a happy PC. So that said, I'm working on trying to find a happy medium between best cooling and lowest noise. The iMac by default is nearly silent, I've actually never heard my fans speed up. There is some room there to up the cooling a bit without getting too noisy. IMHO, the temps that the iMac (24 in my case) runs at stock are on the high side for a machine at idle. With everything packed in such a tight space (and I've been in there, see my thread for HD replacement info/pics) I think a little more airflow would be a great thing and probably solve the locks/freezing that some have had. Nothing to lose by bumping the fans up to an acceptable level and cooling the machine down a bit. 😀
 
Tom Sawyer said:
Great thread.. .thanks for the pointers to smcFanControl and iStat pro, great apps.

I've been in the PC world for a long time usually running pretty high end rigs tweaked out (ie overclocked) since the good old Celeron 300A's. Heat, no matter if your stock or OC'd, is the enemy. It makes components fail sooner and is usually the culprit in instability. My motto: A cool PC is a happy PC. So that said, I'm working on trying to find a happy medium between best cooling and lowest noise. The iMac by default is nearly silent, I've actually never heard my fans speed up. There is some room there to up the cooling a bit without getting too noisy. IMHO, the temps that the iMac (24 in my case) runs at stock are on the high side for a machine at idle. With everything packed in such a tight space (and I've been in there, see my thread for HD replacement info/pics) I think a little more airflow would be a great thing and probably solve the locks/freezing that some have had. Nothing to lose by bumping the fans up to an acceptable level and cooling the machine down a bit. 😀
Click to expand...
I actually keep a fan running behind my MBP, speaking of OCD's🙄 sitting at 38-40C. at the moment. Components safe!!!😉
 
"Experiment" results...

Ok, here are my results... first shot is the machine sitting idle at stock fan speeds:

stock-fan.jpg


Here is with the fans bumped up slightly.. ODD: 1485 HDD: 2004 CPU: 1802 .... Still extremely quiet. Less noise than an external HD enclosure with a fan.

increased-fan.jpg


These temps are in celsius obviously, so the decrease in temp is truly significant. I'm sure Apple was going for silence but what I'm hearing is less than ANY PC I've ever owned. I would call it silent in comparison... 😀
 
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