That's when the fan kicks in and takes care of the heat. I'm sure they could keep the GPU cooler while idle but that would result in a noisier computer.
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iMac Retina Heat management
- Thread starter misho73
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I'm replacing a 2009 with an RImac, but no way I would even debate replacing any machine that was 1-2 years old.
I have a bowl of Halloween candy that says you never owner the retina Mac in the first place.
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Same but everyone's situation is different!
Pretty much agreed. All day use of me compiling things, using a 4k monitor and being in a google hangout hitting 100c on the gpu die is alarming but probably expected. The 2010 iMacs ran hot too, they seemed to last long enough.
1. I asked you to provide me with proof, you NEVER did
2. I bought an iMac because there is no Windows alternative that even comes close to suiting my needs. I bought a Windows Surface Pro 3 because the iPad doesn't suite my needs (infact I have almost nothing nice to say about the newest iteration of the iPad, I think it's fairly useless now).
3. Most people who can afford a $4,000 mostly luxury computer can afford the $130 apple care for guaranteed protection over the next 3 years, and I'd assume beyond that they can afford to replace anything else they need to out of pocket. If the latter is unpleasant then sue or buy a pc.
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1. I never owed you any proof and I mentioned in the FIRST TWO POSTS THAT I MADE ON THIS FORUM that (a) I was incredibly concerned about the heat being at 107C which everyone has said is a dangerous temperature and (b) I returned the damn machine the morning after to the Apple Store. I know what I saw and I had no interest in lying. You are not owed proof for anything. I know what I saw and experienced.
2. I don't care what your uses are, since you have been so unbelievably rude to me.
3. I bought Applecare with it because I'm a long-time Mac owner so stop patronizing me. I made it perfectly clear that I did not want to own an iMac with massive heat issues that would practically ensure it would go to the Apple Store for a fix, because I'd rather it work instead of have a week or more away from me having Applecare fix it.
And incidentally, YOU HAVE BEEN REPORTING THE EXACT SAME EXCESSIVE HEAT TEMPERATURE ISSUES FROM SIMPLY BEING ON GOOGLE HANGOUTS, so what the heck is your problem? You already know that what I said IS HAPPENING.
So would you please leave me alone? You're incredibly rude and very annoying.
1. You keep advertising the fact that the iMac is "overheating" but you've never posted videos or even images of this. My point is that you can say it's overheating until the cows come home, but if you don't provide metrics other useful figures then it's pretty meaningless. You were beginning to sound like a broken record I think, which is why other forum users are unhappy with you. What's more, you were incredibly vague with your description of "overheating". You dodged a question about if it was shutting off from overheating a few times, and your replies were quite vague in general. For all we know, you're singing about overheating when what really happened was you touched it and it felt warm. You can tell us it overheated many times, but we wont take just anyones word as gospel.
2. You were pretty rude to us first, saying things like how we're apple fanboys who would obliviously follow Apple. So as far as being "unbelievably rude" goes, I think you might of started this one
3. Yes, I have been experiencing high temperatures on my GPU diode when conferencing over Google Hangout for extended periods of time. But I've been posting images and have been looking into replicating the scenario on other user's machines to identify if this is a flaw with my device, a flaw with product design itself, or if it's expected behaviour and not detrimental to the health of my device. This is in complete contrast to your posts, which were largely just criticizing the product in general, and then vaguely claiming to of suffered "overheating" problems yourself.
So you returned a perfectly functional computer, under a warranty, based on something that "might" be a problem down the road? And a covered problem at that?
That makes sense.
Please troll someone else and let us enjoy our computers.
I returned a computer that I was deeply concerned about, until such time as I felt better about keeping it, because the amount I use it, I cannot afford to be without a working machine. I have had issues with computer heat in the past and the GPU temperatures are too much of an issue for me to ignore. I guarantee others will have the same problem in the weeks and months to come.
Please kindly stop calling me names. I have as much right to voice my concerns as you do.
Then don't call us names, and don't have a problem when we voice our concerns, thanks.
Mine definitely runs hotter or at least kicks in the fan into high gear more easily compared to my non-Retina 27-inch iMac.
So how does that guarantee compare with Apple's? Can you guess which one we're going with?
And yet, you got rid of a perfectly working machine. Then carpet bombed threads everywhere about how the riMac has "heat issues" to try and spread your fear.
I say again, troll another forum and let us enjoy our machines. And troll is used as a verb here, not a noun. I didn't call you anything except in my mind!
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Thread won!!
Fully loaded. It's the GPU that easily gets too hot without doing any extremely intensive tasks.
How do we know what "too hot" means for this specific GPU?
I've tried to find spec sheets on it to determine the allowable tolerances and can't.
I am sure Apple took the tolerances into account when designing this machine.
While the heat may be alarming (to some) it is not necessarily cause for overreaction unless it's outside the published specs for the chip.
I haven't checked any temperatures but I find that the fan is much more aggressive/responsive than my previous iMac. The fan(s) in my old one would slowly ramp up while playing a game and then slowly ramp down afterwards. On my new (i5, M295X) the fan starts silent and then goes straight to 100% and then slows down a bit, and when the game is closed it goes silent in ~10sec.
It feels like the fan curve (temp/speed) is set up a bit different than before with the new one being much sharper
I'm only basing this off of my experience with my previous iMac which had an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX. The fan wouldn't kick in so quick and aggressively as it does on the Retina iMac doing the same exact tasks as I have using the non-Retina iMac.
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The cards should never be able to get "too hot" since they throttle themselves before they reach a specified temperature limit set by AMDs PowerTune (it can also throttle based on fan speed and power consumption), and looking at the temperatures people reach that limit seems to be around 105C. Hopefully that limit is good and won't hurt the cards in the long run but that's something only AMD knows.
Anandtechs year-old 290X review talking about PowerTune:
I am the OP and i am surprised it's still going till now. Obviously mac users (including myself now) suffer some sort of OCD. I wonder how i lasted all these years with pc platform.
It's clear to me now. Apple psychographics is targeting OCD perfectionists. They should be more carful with their buggy inventions
Well, this would seem to put the matter to rest once and for all!
- There is nothing to worry about
- Enjoy your computer
- Buy Applecare if you're still worried - any time within the first year
- Thread over!
Not worried at all. It's just annoying to suddenly hear the fan spinning so loudly. This is after all an all-in-one meaning the computer is right in front of you instead od running off to the side somewhere. Every little noise makes a difference when you're working.
I swear I have the opposite experience. I reach pretty high temps with low fan.
The irony to all this was when I bought the first edition of the uni-body and all the doom & gloom was about how terrible the nVidia was and why didn't they go with AMD!!?! People declared that these graphics cards were doomed & it was foolish to buy the first edition of any new computer. Ohh, we were going to be sorry and regret this purchase when all the flaws revealed themselves in the coming years.
...3 albums recorded and mixed, 1 film score, dozens of compositions, videos, music performances, hrs of gaming, hrs of software programming, travel to 4 countries, and 1 graduate degree later...it's still going strong!!! To date I've got over 6 years of steady use out of this machine!
So there goes the myth about first edition computers & always remember this is a tool. If your current machine does the job then resist the hype and don't upgrade...if you need a new machine, go for it. People tend to overthink this & buy too early or wait too long. I probably fall into the latter although I do get good value & mileage out of my machines. Whenever I upgrade it's a huge performance boost & quite exciting. If you're concerned, definitely get AppleCare. It's been a worthy investment for me, if for nothing else - peace of mind.
...3 albums recorded and mixed, 1 film score, dozens of compositions, videos, music performances, hrs of gaming, hrs of software programming, travel to 4 countries, and 1 graduate degree later...it's still going strong!!! To date I've got over 6 years of steady use out of this machine!
So there goes the myth about first edition computers & always remember this is a tool. If your current machine does the job then resist the hype and don't upgrade...if you need a new machine, go for it. People tend to overthink this & buy too early or wait too long. I probably fall into the latter although I do get good value & mileage out of my machines. Whenever I upgrade it's a huge performance boost & quite exciting. If you're concerned, definitely get AppleCare. It's been a worthy investment for me, if for nothing else - peace of mind.