I asked this at the Apple forum without success. I'm using DeskTop Monitor to checkr temperatures on my iMac. I have temps on the CPU, the GPU diode, the GPU heatsink, the mem controller and the power supply. Which of these is the most sensitive to heat (i.e., should I be focusing on) and how hot is "too hot" in terms of temperature (F)?
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How hot is "too hot?"
- Thread starter gangof4
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It varies. Unless you are hitting +100°C when idling, nothing is too hot. There will be more heat when doing something intensive too. You should post a picture of your temps so we can see how hot it is but most likely it's fine.
Frankly, do we not get countless users asking about temperatures? Suddenly someone starts using the iStat widget and it is time to freak out. Why is that?
Because we dont want our £1000+ computers overheating. my 27 inch runs at around 45 - 60 degrees
The lack of user serviceable parts is the major killer there. You might as well keep it mint in box. The world is a dangerous place but the hardware is designed for it. Otherwise I begin to question the reasoning in purchasing said expensive hardware.
It appears to be much more prevalent with Apple's notebooks.
A 1540 pounds computer is alot of money, and a very expensive computer, the least i can do is take care of it, sure the hardware is designed for it, but when you touch the back of it its feels very hot after its been on for a while, which leads you to believe it might be too hot, but apparently its just right, i still want to keep it cool though.
The enclosure is made out of aluminum, which is a conductor. Basically, the iMac is just a giant heat sink so it is supposed to feel hot when you touch it. That means the aluminum and cooling system in general is doing its job.
The only way to determine the real temps is to use an app like iStat. Touching it is useless. Even then, it's very unlikely that your iMac would be overheating.
if you are really concerned purchase istatmenus 3 for 16 bucks.
it gives all the key readings and give you 5 speed settings for your fans.
http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
your cpu should not go past 95 to 100 c for prolonged time.
your hdd should not go past 60 c for long time periods
your gpu should not go past 95 to 100 c ( not sure about this )
Hellhammer is right here as usual.
To put things in perspective, before late 2009 EVERY iMac ever sold was mostly plastic for over a decade. They ran hotter than any of newer aluminium models and even then 99.9% of them never had any issues with overheating.
I have the istat widget which is good enough, surprisingly the imacs running at 45 degrees for a while, but im not to worried about it being 60,.
CPU will die at that heat, 55-65c under load is great (~34c idle is great), 70-80c under load is hot, over 80c is bad news!
HDD - manufacturers give the range of 35-50c as ideal operating temp with 55c being max temp you should run at. Higher HD temp will shorter the life however. Aim for ~40c and you're good.
GPUs run hotter than CPU's, normal temp is around 83-93c under load.
All these vary depending on your hardware, what application/game you are running, but checking those components (the i7 2600k, 2TB WD HDD, and the 6970 GPU, the figures stated above are what good temps look like).
+80°C is completely normal when under heavy load. MBPs usually get over 90°C when doing something CPU intensive. The Tjunction of i7-2600 is 130°C, which is where it will shut itself down to avoid damages.
http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/324641.pdf
WD says 60°C
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-701276.pdf
People overclocking the 2600k to 4.7-5Ghz, on Air cooling, don't even reach 80c. I guess when talking about laptops and all in ones though the temps will be crazy hot, my post above was more impartial and about what good temps from just a component point of view look like.
HDD - some say 60c, some say 55c... either way, i would not want to run any component near the highest suggested temp. Especially the most unreliable thing in your system, the Hard drive...
If you only want your components to last a few years, then of course it doesn't matter.
So Basically,
1.Dont use handbreak to convert video (Runs my CPU around 105c for the duration of the encode with fans maxed out, ive fried a CPU doing a conversion of my Stargate DVDs to apple TV format in a que overnight) I now use a CPUthrottaling script that limits handbreak to 75% of one core, my encodes take 30% longer, but my CPU stays around 86c after 4 hrs + of encoding
2.Dont do anything that is HDD access intensive, install as much ram as you can and ask the drive to spin down as often as it can, better yet, run any HDD access intensive software of an SSD drive, or external HDD.
3.dont play games (GPU temp often goes over 100c if playing a modern 3D shooter or RPG)
and remember an increase in temp of one of the components will add to the temp of the others within that tiny confined space
Apple macs are desgined to sit right on the knife edge of the thermal limits, and are assembled by people who are effectvly treated like slaves in a labour camp, Apples gear looks pretty, costs lots, but that does not mean its better quality than a home built PC , in fact that home built PC will probably out last the apple by several decades of use. Apple doesnt care that running at the thermal limits all the time shortens life, they want you to buy a new one in three years when your applecare runs out anyway.
Newer macs are worse offenders of this than older macs, if something gets hot enough to fail, its should be easily user replaceable down the line, and if something is just a component that IS GOING TO FAIL anyway, even without the heat, it should be user replaceable, iMac HDD for instance !!!
I would point out im going to be buying an iMac shortly, despite this, because it fits my need of a low power, all in one, that runs Mac OSX. first thing ill be doing is a watercooling mod for the GPU and CPU.
I have an i7 2010 iMac. When playing StarCraft 2 with plenty of eye candy on I routinely get to 84C. I have my warning set at 78C and in about 30 minutes that pops up.
I have played for another hour or so at 84 and then stopped. It does cool nearly immediately. And yes, the back gets rather hot to the touch.
Only when encoding a long HD video did it ever get 80+ when using it for something less intensive as a game.
I try to keep it well under 80 when I can.
It idles at about 31C.
I have played for another hour or so at 84 and then stopped. It does cool nearly immediately. And yes, the back gets rather hot to the touch.
Only when encoding a long HD video did it ever get 80+ when using it for something less intensive as a game.
I try to keep it well under 80 when I can.
It idles at about 31C.
Yesterday, after 2.5 hours of Starcraft II, I leave the game on in the background and start surfing the web, I get the GRAY SCREEN OF DEATH... asking me to power down and power back up. I touch the back of my 2011 iMac and it is burning hot.
I was sad.
I repaired permissions in disk utilities and obviously don't let SC2 idle in the background anymore. =T Kind of disappointing my Mac can't handle graphics. (this is the culprit, right?)
EDIT: If anyone's curious, I'm on the baseline 21" iMac, with 8 GB RAM.
I was sad.
I repaired permissions in disk utilities and obviously don't let SC2 idle in the background anymore. =T Kind of disappointing my Mac can't handle graphics. (this is the culprit, right?)
EDIT: If anyone's curious, I'm on the baseline 21" iMac, with 8 GB RAM.
How hot is "too hot"
@eidorian. Yes. I did just purchase the istat widget but that app doesn't provide the "normal" or "safe" operating range of the components. Neither did the Apple literature when I bought the computer last May afaik. My heat sink felt "hot" but it didn't seem inordinarily hot to me. And I can tell from these posts that there is no absolute consensus among you guys on precisely what is safe or not. But a least now I have some sort of range to shoot for. So thank you everyone for that!
I do have Apple care but there is no truly convenient way to repair or even replace a unit. It is such a bother. So while the insurance may save me some money down the road, I hope to do whatever possible to avoid a malfunction. Knowing the "normal" operative temperature is one way to do it.
@eidorian. Yes. I did just purchase the istat widget but that app doesn't provide the "normal" or "safe" operating range of the components. Neither did the Apple literature when I bought the computer last May afaik. My heat sink felt "hot" but it didn't seem inordinarily hot to me. And I can tell from these posts that there is no absolute consensus among you guys on precisely what is safe or not. But a least now I have some sort of range to shoot for. So thank you everyone for that!
I do have Apple care but there is no truly convenient way to repair or even replace a unit. It is such a bother. So while the insurance may save me some money down the road, I hope to do whatever possible to avoid a malfunction. Knowing the "normal" operative temperature is one way to do it.
There's something wrong with your iMac. If it "couldn't handle it", it would just run poorly, not crash. You shouldn't have to deal with workarounds if you're on warranty.
SC2 shouldn't hog too many resources when idling in the menus.