Mac Mini Fan Noise

[maghemi]

So I've just downgraded from my Mac Pro to my 09 Mac Mini, and whilst the transfer has been mainly painless there is one thing that is really irritating me.

I've got an SSD installed so the only noise the Mini makes is the fan, well what it's doing when I'm not doing much with the machine is the fan keeps spinning up for a fraction of a second then slowing back down.

Because it's the only noise it is really irritating. I wouldn't mind if it was spinning all the time, I'd get used to it then, but this constant up and down is really frustrating.

Anyone else noticed this issue? or have a solution?

 

[shwc]

SMC fan control

 

[MacHamster68]

So I've just downgraded from my Mac Pro to my 09 Mac Mini, and whilst the transfer has been mainly painless there is one thing that is really irritating me.

I've got an SSD installed so the only noise the Mini makes is the fan, well what it's doing when I'm not doing much with the machine is the fan keeps spinning up for a fraction of a second then slowing back down.

Because it's the only noise it is really irritating. I wouldn't mind if it was spinning all the time, I'd get used to it then, but this constant up and down is really frustrating.

Anyone else noticed this issue? or have a solution?

you cant just stop the fan ,the problem is in the mini itself , (as you know when installing the ssd) its very tight inside so ther is not much room for circulation so the fan has to do that job , and that means when parts get hotter when used it starts spinning and even on idle tha mac doesn`t sit there doing nothing there are always some tasks it does so you will always have a up and down in fan speed and fan noise , but cleaning and WD40 does make a fan quiet
had that problem with my ol dells , i know how annoying that is this up and down in fan speed but i cleaned it and soaked the fan in WD40 and it was quiet as the mechanical noise was reduced(still spinning but less noise )


my iMac g3 is quiet as a fanless computer can get , so no noise apart from the harddrive spin , but its so quiet cant really hear it
my eMac instead is making a constant noise as the fan is spinning at a constant speed at all time so after a while use you do not really notice the fan noise any more

you can get your fan to do the same with either software or manually , but i do not recommend to do so unless you measure exact what temp it has at all time and know what you are doing , because if you set it to low it could overheat and die, and thats the last thing you want

 

[ljonesj]

Plus ssd run hotter than a hard drive so the fan may be working harder to keep everything cool

 

[fa8362]

Don't have an SSD but my Mini is nearly silent.

 

[maghemi]

Ok, so I'm guessing most of you didn't actually read my post properly.

I said nothing about wanting to stop the fan. In fact I'd rather the fan were running all the time.

So what is actually happening is that most of the time the fan is spinning very low to the point where you need to feel if there is actually any air coming out the back.

But sometimes when just web browsing or doing very light cpu intensive work the fan has the habit of every 2-5 seconds giving a slight jab of power to spin up. This only lasts for a fraction of a second, so the effect is the fan going up, and coming down. Now because it is the only noise, after a while it gets irritating.

It is a very quiet noise, and took me a while to work out what it was.

So thank to shwc's response I've installed SMC Fan control and upped the lower fan limit slightly and now it's back to that low hum, but a constant low hum which you eventually tune out.

 

[ljonesj]

Well something may have broke in the sensor that is on the hd when u removed it for the ssd. Thats why the fan is acting eractic plus like i said ssd run hotter so the fan my be doing that for more cooling. Personally i feel ssd are not feasible in anything as the price to get one at the lowest hd size is still more expensive. i believe a 120 gig ssd is close to 150 dollars than getting a bigger hd that u can get at 120 for a 500 gig hd for the mini. once you can get ssd at the size of the hd and the same price i will buy one.

 

[maghemi]

Well something may have broke in the sensor that is on the hd when u removed it for the ssd.

Nope, that still works fine. Reads the temp no problem.

Thats why the fan is acting eractic plus like i said ssd run hotter so the fan my be doing that for more cooling. Personally i feel ssd are not feasible in anything as the price to get one at the lowest hd size is still more expensive. i believe a 120 gig ssd is close to 150 dollars than getting a bigger hd that u can get at 120 for a 500 gig hd for the mini. once you can get ssd at the size of the hd and the same price i will buy one.

Good for you, you have a bent against SSD drives. It has NOTHING to do with the SSD. You're still not paying attention are you?

The only reason I can now hear the fan, is because there is no spinning hdd to mask the noise. The machine is NOT running hotter, on the contrary, it's actually running cooler.

Anyway, that's all academic now anyway. I've sorted the problem thanks to SMC Fan control. The minimum fan speed is just a little higher than normal, and it still ramps up when needed.

So all sorted. Cheers shwc.