MBP heat and fan speed

[macgrl]

Hi I have istat installed and the default set to a min speed of 2000.

But when the heat gets up to 70/80 C (after using skype for about 10 mins) around 160F the fans still are around 2000, the speed they are at when the machine is around 45C. At what temps to the fans get faster to cool it down?


should they not be going faster than that at that speed?

I have a late 2008 mbp

 

[rkheyfets]

yea i would think the fans should be on at that temp i have noticed the fans kick in around 60c with about 3000-4000rpm...

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The fan speed is normal. If the MBP gets really hot (and 70°C is not that hot for a CPU), the fans will spin up.

 

[macgrl]

Thanks, I just would have expected that the fans would be faster at a a temp of around 80c. I just wanted to check that by using istat i wasn't preventing the mbp from sorting itself out with its own heat / fan management system.


I know that I can turn the fans up with istat is that advisable or should i let it sort itself out.

What is a safe temp to let it go up to before i have to turn fans up if they haven't already?

 

[snaky69]

Thanks, I just would have expected that the fans would be faster at a a temp of around 80c. I just wanted to check that by using istat i wasn't preventing the mbp from sorting itself out with its own heat / fan management system.


I know that I can turn the fans up with istat is that advisable or should i let it sort itself out.

What is a safe temp to let it go up to before i have to turn fans up if they haven't already?

iStat is only a monitoring app, it cannot change your fan speeds nor does it interfere with the MBP's heat management.

With that said, you do not need to play around with your fan speeds, your computer is a big boy and can take care of itself.

If your machine truly overheats, it will shut itself down to prevent damage, and unless this is occuring, you have nothing to worry about.

If you still feel the need to use some kind of fan management, I recommend FanControl which allow you to set minimum speed and lower and uppper tresholds for the fan speed.

 

[macgrl]

Thank you very much. Will fancontrol interfere with the mbp looking after itself? I don't want to mess with the mbp's own system for managing heat and fans or do any harm by having the fans running higher than the mac would have done itself

 

[snaky69]

Thank you very much. Will fancontrol interfere with the mbp looking after itself? I don't want to mess with the mbp's own system for managing heat and fans or do any harm by having the fans running higher than the mac would have done itself

FanControl will override the current settings with the ones of your choosing. The MBP will still be fully able to shut itself down should it overheat, as that is hardware, not software controlled.

For example, on my older MBP(pre unibody), my minimum fan speed is set to 1000RPM, which makes the computer slightly quieter(even though it is already very quiet). The fan starts ramping up at 50C, reaching its maximum speed of 6000RPM at 85C.

Right now the computer is sitting idle at 52.6C and the fans are chugging along at 1450rpm.


Edit: Apple likes to keep the fan at their minimum speed as much as they possibly can, since they pride themselves on making quiet computers. Their defaults settings are safe for the hardware.

 

[macgrl]

How come my mbp is now at 70 c and the fan speed is 2000 and when the temp is 80 it is still 2000

Just played a couple of flash videos and got it up to 87 and the fans stayed at 2k. maybe it wasn't at that temp for long enough for fans to ramp up