MacBook Pro fans make high pitched noise at high RPM

[fenjen]

Hi guys,

I play games often on my Macbook which makes the fans kick in, but if this happens besides the obvious noise from the fans seem to make a high pitched noise, which is pretty annoying. (can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTHjykcjRlk).
Is this normal?

 

[pnyc]

Honestly, it's hard to say from the video. The fans can get loud, on my older mbp they were very loud and would kick in quite often when in windows, there would also be a very slight high pitched noise when spinning on what seemed like max rpm. If you think it's too loud have apple look at it.

 

[Nermal]

Is it coming from the fans or the power supply? I've found that the power supply whines a bit when the system's under heavy load.

 

[fenjen]

Is it coming from the fans or the power supply? I've found that the power supply whines a bit when the system's under heavy load.

It's the fans. If I turn them up via iStat Menus you can hear the high pitched sound get higher. Could maybe someone try to turn up the fans (with iStat Menus or with smcfancontrol) and listen if they hear this sound too?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fenjen]

Shouldn't they only make the turbine noise? And not the high pitched whistle? Or is this really normal.

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The reason I wan't to know is because I might buy replacement fans if this is not normal. If it is, replacement fans won't help either of course.

 

[204353]

The high-pitched whine is normal. My early-2011 15" MacBook Pro would make the noise all the time when gaming; it's just the sound of the fans at full (or high) RPM.

With the MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has tried to alleviate the issue by asymmetrically spacing the fan blades, which spreads the sound over multiple frequencies (making it sound like rushing air, rather than a whining single pitch). As well as that, the cooling system is more efficient (and so usually doesn't require such a high rpm under load).

Essentially, it's not something to worry about.

 

[fenjen]

The high-pitched whine is normal. My early-2011 15" MacBook Pro would make the noise all the time when gaming; it's just the sound of the fans at full (or high) RPM.

With the MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has tried to alleviate the issue by asymmetrically spacing the fan blades, which spreads the sound over multiple frequencies (making it sound like rushing air, rather than a whining single pitch). As well as that, the cooling system is more efficient (and so usually doesn't require such a high rpm under load).

Essentially, it's not something to worry about.

Ah saw the video about the fan but somehow the fact that that was specifically for the Retina display didn't get trough to me (pretty stupid as the whole vid was about the macbook Retina xD). So I thought if the fans spread the energy over different frequencies, why do I hear this one so loud. So I figured there would be something wrong. But yeah thanks for posting this

 

[204353]

But yeah thanks for posting this

You're welcome. If, however, you hear any kind of rattling coming from the fans, that's usually a sign of the bearings failing! Very unlikely, but that's really the only fan sound to be worried about.