is 2007 mac mini running 24/7 safe?

[thefriendshipmachine]

hello,

I have bought a 2007 mac mini for very cheap from a yard sale and I have been running it 24/7 for the past few days. It does very little other than rarely seeding torrents and its CPU usage always stays very low.

I have installed iStats and it reports the temperature between 60-70C at all times, which confuses me because it is mostly idle.

The fan is around 2000RPM at most times. The fan works but makes a rattling noise like a cd drive spinning but I dont think that is a problem since it spins.

I am okay with the mac dying after some time but I am not okay with fire happening from running at these temperatures 24/7. Is this a real concern? Am I bad to let it run 24/7 like this?

 

[Micky Do]

Sounds like it could do with a clean out, but do not worry about running your mac Mini 24/7. The handbook that came with my early 2009 Mini suggests shutting down only if you are going away for more than a few days. In sleep mode power consumption is only about 1 watt.

My Mini has mostly been running 24/7 since I got it 8 years ago, and it still has the original HDD. The only time it has been shut down is when I want to move it, or I have been away for several days. In an ambient temperature of 24 - 32ºC it usually runs at about 55 - 65ºC, with the fan spinning at 1,500 - 1,800 rpm. A couple of times, at about three year intervals, temperatures and fan speeds have risen, and the computer has slowed down. A clean out has put things right…… I guess it will be due another in a year or so!

 

[thefriendshipmachine]

Sounds like it could do with a clean out, but do not worry about running your mac Mini 24/7. The handbook that came with my early 2009 Mini suggests shutting down only if you are going away for more than a few days. In sleep mode power consumption is only about 1 watt.

My Mini has mostly been running 24/7 since I got it 8 years ago, and it still has the original HDD. The only time it has been shut down is when I want to move it, or I have been away for several days. In an ambient temperature of 24 - 32ºC it usually runs at about 55 - 65ºC, with the fan spinning at 1,500 - 1,800 rpm. A couple of times, at about three year intervals, temperatures and fan speeds have risen, and the computer has slowed down. A clean out has put things right…… I guess it will be due another in a year or so!

Thank you. Tomorrow I will try to take it apart and clean it with an air can. Maybe I am over paranoid of it catching fire after all.

 

[jpietrzak8]

I have installed iStats and it reports the temperature between 60-70C at all times, which confuses me because it is mostly idle.

I ran my 2007 Mini 24/7 for years without trouble. It did start acting funny this winter, though, and has been replaced. It did stay a bit warmer than I would have liked for the light load I had placed on it; I don't know what the exact temperature level was, though. The fans rarely spun up to an audible level unless I started putting a heavy workload on it, and the machine seemed to be fine with that.

I guess you might try to check if air is successfully flowing through the Mini from the fan's efforts. Most likely though, if it isn't overheating, the fan is doing its job...

 

[Stefan johansson]

Clean it up,remove dust. In fact,the computer itself could probably just die,but if the power supply is the wrong one or broken in any way,that might start a fire or cause electrical shock. To be safe,try cleaning up the Mac,and either replace or let proffessionals check up the power supply.

 

[thefriendshipmachine]

hi friends, I made the temperature go down to 56C and 1500RPM by turning off spotlight. It was trying to index my external drive with my torrents and time machine backup. It wouldn't let me hide the drive from spotlight in preferences because it said time machine needed it, but I ran a terminal command and turned spotlight completely off, and now the fan noise has gone down and the temperatures

 

[fricotin]

I've got the late 2012 mini and the fan speed never goes below 1800 rpm, I thought it was the minimum speed at which it was meant to run...

 

[Stefan johansson]

I've got the late 2012 mini and the fan speed never goes below 1800 rpm, I thought it was the minimum speed at which it was meant to run...

Ever tried to find some external cooler? Would reduce wear on moving fan parts.

 

[fricotin]

Ever tried to find some external cooler? Would reduce wear on moving fan parts.

I use it in southern Mexico, outside temp is 30 to 32C every day, running Parallels the CPU is at around 60C. no problems so far. Does anybody's mini fan run at less than 1800 rpm ?

 

[Micky Do]

I use it in southern Mexico, outside temp is 30 to 32C every day, running Parallels the CPU is at around 60C. no problems so far. Does anybody's mini fan run at less than 1800 rpm ?

The ambient temperature is about 27ºC, and the computer was woken from sleep mode about an hour ago.

 

[theunderseaclub]

my 2009 mac mini has been running continuously for the last 8 years as well, i've replaced the HD for more capacity. Nothing has failed yet, and most of the time it's running without a/c, and the summers in Hong Kong are very hot.