Im just curious whether or not im crazy or if my Imac actually got louder. I could have sworn It was dead silent when I first booted it up a few weeks ago. Now i can here a constant fan sound when I'm a few inches from it. It's quiet and you can only hear it in a dead silent room if ur close. So put ur head near ur new imac and let me know if u can hear anything....
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Is your Alum Imac Completely Silent?
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maestrokev
macrumors 6502a
wazgilbert
macrumors regular
The odd thing I find, is that I had to install smc fancontrol and up all the minimums to 2000rpm to hear it, I noticed that the maximum speeds are like nearly 6000! at that speed it practically howls, but I cannot do enough intensive tasks on it at once to even get off teh minimum speeds unless I force them with SMCfanthing.
Compared to my old 'F1-11' pc it's bliss....
Compared to my old 'F1-11' pc it's bliss....
mavis
macrumors 601
Same here. I'm boosting my fan speeds with SMCFanControl2, as well (1500/2000/1600) and I still can't hear a thing. Then again, my old wind tunnel Windows rig probably caused partial hearing loss, so ... 😉
Yuppi
Cancelled
I think this question is kind of stupid as everyones iMac makes some noises. It really depends on many factors where you place it to be able to hear them or not. If you have a cheap IKEA desk like I do, you can hear it more than on a solid wooden table. At least that is what I noticed. And if you do not have wall behind your iMac there is really no chance to hear anything.
mavis
macrumors 601
Well, that explains it - a heavy wood desk and no wall behind the iMac. Guess my office re-organization paid off 😀
craig1410
macrumors 65816
I don't agree - I've got a £75 IKEA "Mikael" desk and a wall behind and yet the only time I can hear my iMac is at power on when it seems to rev up the fans for a moment. Other than that I can only hear it if I place my ear on top of the machine.
I do agree though that it all depends on ambient noise levels. It's impossible that it be completely silent but it is certainly the quietest computer I have ever owned since the advent of hard disks and cooling fans!
Cheers,
Craig.
🙂
jordygreen
macrumors 6502
RevToTheRedline
macrumors 6502a
Mine came whisper quiet, but it also came running insanely hot so I run smcFanControl 2 on it all the time now until Apple does something about the problem and YES this is a problem.
It still is pretty quiet, I run the fans at 60% speed when gaming, and about 15% faster than normal when doing regular stuff.
It still is pretty quiet, I run the fans at 60% speed when gaming, and about 15% faster than normal when doing regular stuff.
It's amazing how quiet it is 🙂 I can't hear it during the day, sometimes I've had to put my ear next to it to make sure its on if I forgot it went into sleep mode.
Exactly. My 2.8Ghz was located near the back of my desk. Couldn't hear a thing. I moved it ALL the way back to almost against the wall and now I can hear the hard drive ONLY, and nothing else. The room has to be completely silent to hear it.
Have any of you guys noticed that the fan speed goes up when you're not using your computer? When I get down here in the morning to view the progress in whatever my Mac has been doing overnight, it seem that the fans are running - which they're not when I work with it, not even when importing 300 folders with 9000 photos to iPhoto.
Is your Alum Imac Completely Silent?
I have a 20" 2.4ghz and I can only hear a slight noise from the drive and that's only if I move my ear withing a few inches of the computer. This is by far, the quietest computer I have ever owned. My 17" G5 imac was quite noisey in comparison.
I have a 20" 2.4ghz and I can only hear a slight noise from the drive and that's only if I move my ear withing a few inches of the computer. This is by far, the quietest computer I have ever owned. My 17" G5 imac was quite noisey in comparison.
Thanks for all the feedback. I can hear a fan all the time now.....where before I could only hear the HD. I am going to call apple and see what they say. How long is the warranty on new apple desktops? Would it be worth waiting a month or two and see if a revision comes out before switching it? How does this usually work? Will they send me a new one before I send this one in? I can't really be without a computer as I need it for school....
craig1410
macrumors 65816
Can you check the RPM of your fans? I downloaded a widget called iStat Pro to allow me to check various temperatures and fan RPMS. Both my CPU and Hard Drive fan run at 1200 RPM. I'm not loading my machine heavily but the RPM never seems to go up. If your temps are getting high and your fan is just compensating then this may provide a clue. If your fans are running at 1200 RPM but you are hearing them then maybe the fans are out of balance or damaged.
Craig.
Very very quiet
Mine is extremely quiet - sometimes can hear the hard drive and the fans but not very often. My external hard drive is louder and the fans on my work Toshiba laptop are much much louder.
Mine is extremely quiet - sometimes can hear the hard drive and the fans but not very often. My external hard drive is louder and the fans on my work Toshiba laptop are much much louder.
maestrokev
macrumors 6502a
According to iStat my iMac's HD and fan are running at 1200RPM as well.
I wouldn't wait before complaining even though you have 1yr warranty and 90days tech phone support. Your case will have more weight with a recent purchase.
I don't think loud fans are common in the iMacs whether you use a solid desk or place against the wall. Do you have bionic ears? 🙂
I wouldn't wait before complaining even though you have 1yr warranty and 90days tech phone support. Your case will have more weight with a recent purchase.
I don't think loud fans are common in the iMacs whether you use a solid desk or place against the wall. Do you have bionic ears? 🙂
BlakTornado
Guest
Not silent but not loud 🙂
iStat says my fans are at 1200rpm and when I'm not listening to music (Which has been almost never with my iMac since I can actually have iTunes open and do stuff! Hoorah!) but when I don't, there's a very quiet, unobtrusive hum that I don't mind. A bit of Hard Drive Clicking here and there, but it's VERY VERY quiet compared to my old PC which was probably as loud as a car.
And I'm serious. It was INCREDIBLY loud. I used to be able to hear it through the floor down stairs... but not with my iMac! 😀 I love it. In fact, I actually prefer not to put my PC on now because it disrupts the peace, haha.
iStat says my fans are at 1200rpm and when I'm not listening to music (Which has been almost never with my iMac since I can actually have iTunes open and do stuff! Hoorah!) but when I don't, there's a very quiet, unobtrusive hum that I don't mind. A bit of Hard Drive Clicking here and there, but it's VERY VERY quiet compared to my old PC which was probably as loud as a car.
And I'm serious. It was INCREDIBLY loud. I used to be able to hear it through the floor down stairs... but not with my iMac! 😀 I love it. In fact, I actually prefer not to put my PC on now because it disrupts the peace, haha.
Another problem is perception. If you have convinced yourself it's noisy it will be noisy.
My 24 inch is not completely silent so either it's faulty or others have background noise which drowns out the hum of the fans. I don't think it's possible to have a silent computer. My
is quieter than any other piece of AV gear I own. My Dell PC, Xbox 360 and even PS3 are like jet engines in comparison.
My 24 inch is not completely silent so either it's faulty or others have background noise which drowns out the hum of the fans. I don't think it's possible to have a silent computer. My
is quieter than any other piece of AV gear I own. My Dell PC, Xbox 360 and even PS3 are like jet engines in comparison.