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Making fan faster?

S

Sir SpemzR

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 9, 2009
251
0
Inland Empire
Is there any way to make my fan run faster/stronger?

my macbook gets very hot. to the point it feels like a mug with hot coffee in it
my geektools script reads cpu temp at 85 degrees and i think celcius

and i think ive herd that their is a 3rd party app that lets u control the fan speed, but by making it go faster are their any downsides?
 
Sir SpemzR said:
Is there any way to make my fan run faster/stronger?

my macbook gets very hot. to the point it feels like a mug with hot coffee in it
my geektools script reads cpu temp at 85 degrees and i think celcius

and i think ive herd that their is a 3rd party app that lets u control the fan speed, but by making it go faster are their any downsides?
Click to expand...

Use smcFanControl. There really are not to many downsides except that the fan might become too loud if you make the RPM to high.
 
I don't like smcFanControl much. All it does is raise the minimum fan speed, and leaves the rest of Apple's fan speed controlling algorithm intact. It also adds (yet another) menu bar item.

Fan Control lets you set a new minimum speed, lower threshold, and upper threshold and shows you the graph, i.e. when your CPU temp is x, fan speed is y. Much more control. Once again, the original apple algorithm remains in place as a failsafe. This is all out of the way in a pref pane (which I like better).

smcFanControl has one advantage-- if you need to keep the fans at 6000rpm while you switch to windows and play a game, the setting will survive a restart, but not a shut down.
 
What does activity monitor say your processor % usage is? If it's solid 100%, there's definately something making your computer think really hard. Activity monitor is also where you'll find out what that thing might be (sort by percentage).

Out of intrest, can you hear the fan? If your fan is spinning at max speed it'll sound like a tiny jet taking off.
 
yes i can hear my fan :D
and i took some screen shots
picture1osb.png


picture2rax.png
 
So you're sitting at about 60%, which will definately keep things hot, but 180º is a little high. Is the vent area clear? Is the computer on a flat surface? (a millimeter between surface and the underside of the computer makes a big difference)

Are you sure the fan is actually spinning full speed? When you use smcFC to go up to 6000 do you immediately hear the difference?

BTW, I just tested my uMBP15 without the fan control software on my flat desk at about 80% CPU, and it hovered around 165-170º.
 
well even putting it to default settings it still reads at 6000+ RPMS
and when i put 6000 as the minimum RPM it still reads 6000+

doesnt sound any different....

and im using it on my bed...does that affect it?
 
Sir SpemzR said:
well even putting it to default settings it still reads at 6000+ RPMS
and when i put 6000 as the minimum RPM it still reads 6000+

doesnt sound any different....

and im using it on my bed...does that affect it?
Click to expand...

Yeah dude, Having it on the bed will definately make a difference. You might as well wrap it in a winter sweater. Put it on a table for 5 minutes and see what happens.

If you must use it on the bed put it on a hard cover book, a tray of some sort, or any hard flat surface. Lots of heat is released through the bottom of the aluminum case, so there needs to be a small gap between it and whatever it's on.
 
Sir SpemzR said:
speaking of aluminum....
does it make a difference if i have the Version 1 Black Macbook?
or it still shouldn't be this way?
Click to expand...

When I want to hang on the bed, I put two books under the sides of my laptop and make sure there are at least several centimetres of space underneath. Or I'm sitting with my legs crossed and the macbook supported on three points on my legs and foot.
With my MBP15" Core Duo (1.1), Macbook or also a bit with the 2008 MBP17" it was really necessary to do so, with the new unibody macbook it isn't as much, if I keep just to light surfing (no big java scripts, just some reading) and itunes playing a song it isn't a big deal. But when parallel needs to be run and/or some movies, it is over with laying flat.
At this moment I'm using the uMB at 50%CPU, not much GPU and heavy HDD use and the temp stays at ±62 Celsius ~ 3179 rpm (143 F) when sitting on my wooden desk.
The same amount of usage with the MBP15" 1.1 would have the fan running at least around 73C ~4500 rpm when sitting on a aluminium laptop rest with plenty of space beneath the thick slab of aluminium.
So if you have a blackbook 1.1, think about getting a unibody or keep it lifted from the bed.

Just one question, how much RAM do you have?
 
Sir SpemzR said:
1gb...and im guessing that is also why my macbook is working hard...huh?
Click to expand...

Actually less ram would mean the CPU would spend more time waiting to get data from ram and the HD (virtual memory), which would mean the computer would work less hard but for longer on each task. The HD and ram create heat, but nothing compared to the CPU (or GPU).
 
so i should try using it on different surfaces.
with room under my macbook so it can "breathe"

and maybe get more RAM and it should help?
 
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