Late 2011 MBP Fan Issues

[SGC2.0]

Hi all! First I'll describe my comp so everyone has an idea of what I'm working with.

Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15, 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (quad), 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ram, running El Capitan 10.11.6, 500 GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD.

The fans seem to spool up and stay at between 4000-5000 rpm when I'm running relatively few major applications. My usual set-up, as a designer/illustrator is this:

Running:
Photoshop CC 2017
PureRef
Chrome or Safari
Spotify

I also frequently quit apps I'm not using, and try to keep my usage to a couple apps at a time. However, honestly I was under the impression that with 16GB of ram, I should be plenty capable of running these apps and many more without this seemingly endless fan usage, and now with the new SSD, and even fewer moving parts under the hood, shouldn't I have seen a small decrease in the need for the fans as well? I also do not keep my laptop flat on my desk, it is on a stand like this one https://www.waldengoods.com/products/walnut-wood-laptop-stand-macbook-stand-notebook-riser

I'm at a bit of a loss and I'm not sure what my next step should be.

Thanks in advance for reading!

 

[Audit13]

The high spinning fans are due to the large amount of heat generated by the radeon gpu.

I highly recommend making regular backups as the gpu could fail at any time.

The 2011 15" Macbook Pro line is notorious for failed gpu chips. I have first hand knowledge as I had a late 2011 15" that would boot to a white screen and hang there.

 

[shadowrunnerth]

There are two things I would try.

First, pop the cover off and clean the fans, they're likely dusty if they've never been tended to. This won't void any warranty (there are no tamper evident seals or anything on MacBooks) provided you take all the normal precautions and whatnot. Personally, I do this every 6 months to a year or so.

The next thing I would do, is reset the SMC. There are plenty of guides all about telling you how to do this.

And for what it's worth, I'm a stats junkie, I dunno why, but I am. I am therefore, absolutely addicted to iStat Menus. It's the best money I've spent on any app ever. I absolutely love it.

Hope this helps, good luck!

P.S. Also keep regular backups. Buy yourself a 500GB or 1TB hard drive - cheap as chips, and make its only job a Time Machine drive. I promise you this will pay for itself if the day comes.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

The high spinning fans are due to the large amount of heat generated by the radeon gpu.

I highly recommend making regular backups as the gpu could fail at any time.

The 2011 15" Macbook Pro line is notorious for failed gpu chips. I have first hand knowledge as I had a late 2011 15" that would boot to a white screen and hang there.

This..... your computer will almost certainly fail due to the dGPU (google Radeon gate for details) it’s well out of the extended warranty make sure you back up regularly and start thinking about a new machine.

Your heat issues are possibly down to dust build up so a good clean may help but may disturb your dGPU bricking your computer, it could also be the thermal paste drying up and not working well anymore at 6-7 years old that’s a possible issue too and replacing it is a real risk with the dodgy solder on the gpu.