this is silly. you will just end up producing far more total heat so you can feel better about your Mac being cooler.
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Mac Mini getting too hot
- Thread starter crashwarez
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- heating up mac mini m4
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you should not be at 27% cpu if you only have safari open.
but 82º is nothing to worry about. it's a micro-desktop PC, it generates heat which has to go somewhere, and it isn't meant to be touched all the time.
Are you talking about the room Temp? PC Gamers have been cooling their machines with any number of cooling moods for years. Why not MAC's?
This is not a cooling mod, it’s a refrigeration mod. Cooling mods are about moving heat, but i am saying it’s silly to use a compressor and refrigerant because this process costs a lot of additional energy. The machine is already engineered to handle its own thermal output. Putting it in a fridge is just a waste.
You are right! And the reason PC people do this is for overclocking. We are not overclocking our Mac minis.
Additionally, I don't believe one would see any performance improvement by putting a Mac mini in a refrigerator and I say that because it wasn't throttling in the first place. It's performing just as it was designed, which is to warm during use and ramp the fan speed when necessary. The machine has fan curve programming so unless one also takes over the fan performance with an app like Macs Fan Control to run the fan at higher than normal speeds, you'd see the heat continue to match performance because the Mac would just delay running up the fans until much later when it actually builds operating temperature inside a refrigerator.
Really, I love building machines and investigating cooling solutions. But this is a Mac, whose components are not designed for modularity or modification, and whose thermal design is already settled. There is no design failure in the cooling of the Mac mini, and no problem to be solved by doing this. It's just adding complexity and even more heat from your room--the heat from the mini doesn't disappear, it just gets moved from inside the refrigeration chamber into your room ALONG WITH the heat generated by the refrigerator itself, leading to a noisier and warmerroom, along with condensation that has to collect somewhere.
Just know that if you want to tinker, which I do frequently, you aren't served in the furtherance of performance or longevity by taking this path with this machine.
You all do understand what a Data Center is: A temperature controlled room with computers. (A refrigerator with a computer in it.) Even having rack after rack of MAC Mini's. Do you need this Mod? or even want to play with it? that is your choice. It's a suggestion. just like all the other ideas for keeping the MAC cool. (Positions, Fans and filters, thermal paste, etc.) PS: if you had looked the refrigerator (Just like the big ones) are temperature controlled. I think having a cold one within reach would be good on those long Facebook rants LOL
The logical leap you just made to equate a temperature controlled data center to a fridge is massive.
You too can make that "LEAP" if you start thinking about it. Just what is a data center, how is it built / laid out and cooled. Just like a fridge. designed to maintain a certian temp.
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Power Nap refers to your computers ability to perform minor tasks while asleep, like Time Machine backups. Doesn’t make your computer hot, just makes it computer a bit more by interrupting its own sleep for minor tasks and then go back to sleep.
For those wanting to refrigerate your Mac mini I sure hope you do. Please take lots of pictures, and while it’s in the refrigerator please show us the fridge temp, the processor die average under sustained load, and benchmark results from geekbench and cinebench’s 10-min loop. Then we can all render this fever dream into facts and real results, which I strongly suspect will make ZERO difference.
if any of you disagree, show me some evidence. I’ve done thermal mods to MacBook airs, and tested the performance before and after, and found there really are results to be gained—in a passively cooled system programmed to throttle after absorbing its own heat. That’s not how a mini works, but let’s see if you can squeeze out more benchmark numbers.
For those wanting to refrigerate your Mac mini I sure hope you do. Please take lots of pictures, and while it’s in the refrigerator please show us the fridge temp, the processor die average under sustained load, and benchmark results from geekbench and cinebench’s 10-min loop. Then we can all render this fever dream into facts and real results, which I strongly suspect will make ZERO difference.
if any of you disagree, show me some evidence. I’ve done thermal mods to MacBook airs, and tested the performance before and after, and found there really are results to be gained—in a passively cooled system programmed to throttle after absorbing its own heat. That’s not how a mini works, but let’s see if you can squeeze out more benchmark numbers.
How many computers are you putting in this refrigerator? I ask, since having hundreds of hot machines with their bodies stacked right next to each other is the reason those data centers have such cooling systems.
Do you have any idea of the math calculations that are needed to answer your question if it were legit instead of just something to poke at.
I dont have a Mac at the moment so must ask, are there any free tools that would allow us to increase the fan speed manually?
Free "Macs Fan Control" or Stats.
The OP revealed in post #7 that iStat reports during "use" his machine is 50 degrees, which is actually pretty low. His machine has no issue with excess heat. Raising the fan speed will only reduce the fan's lifespan and use excess electricity while creating noise.
118 C is otherworldly. Early 2000s AMD chips are going “Whoa, dude, relax”.
I am having same issue, I also am running MacOs 26 public beta on my Mac Mini M4. I am running one monitor and activity monitor is showing nothing out of the ordinary, this is new unit, just rived last week.
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the image you sent reports temperatures that are in normal operating range. i know they may seem higher than you’re used to but it’s nothing to be alarmed about.
If I had just restarted an M4 and let it sit idle 10 minutes doing nothing (and it has been a whole day since installing beta of 26 so re-indexing and media analysis are complete) then those temperatures might be perplexing but still not a malfunction.
What exactly was the state of the machine when you took that reading in the image, and what do you typically do with a machine that would stress it enough to raise the fan speeds?
I have no experience in microprocessor engineering and done little research on the topic, but I’ll leave these here:
Basically, there are a lot of factors. Additionally the designated operating limits aren’t pushing against the physical failure threshold per se, rather are primarily performance reliability, stability, and efficiency limits.
In other words, Apple’s design and selected materials can, in their determination, tolerate five to ten degrees celsius higher operating temperatures than comparable microprocessors.
Some topic related examples:
When enthusiasts overclock GPUs and the VRAM operating temperature exceeds the manufacturer’s/designer’s set limit, often there’s graphical artifacting. Are the components at imminent failure? In most instances, evidently not, as the problem is correctable/recoverable. However, it is a point where the output is blatantly unacceptable (i.e., significant amount of errors). Also on this subject, OCs that are supposedly “stable” in gaming are nowhere near tolerable for far more sensitive (i.e., accuracy) workloads like data science (e.g., folding@home).
The internal space of automobiles has reportedly reached ~50ºC. That’s an ambient temperature typically more than twice what most people allow in their homes. With the electronics heating during normal operation, I’d be comfortable in assuming the microprocessors in the ECU, audio head unit (i.e., “stereo”), and other components often press against and probably exceed 100ºC operating temperatures. And I’m also confident assuming they’re similar or even less efficient designs than a desktop computer system.
With that said… If you want to put effort, whether that’s system adjustments (e.g., fan control override), physical adjustments (e.g., placement and orientation of your Mac), or something else, to maintain operating temperature at a more optimal level, that’s fine. Although, I do recommend a “PC” for that enthusiasm.
However, let’s not ridiculously try to mix, merge, or exchange desirable with necessary.
Your Mac is extremely unlikely to melt, catch fire, breath fire, stop functioning, glow red, etc if the processing cores are at 120ºC/240ºF.