My old Powerbook g4 would get pretty toasty back in college. I could've probably cooked a grilled cheese on the bottom! Great machine though.
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PowerPC Mac temps
- Thread starter jrsx
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Alrighty, got home for juhannus (Finnish midsummer celebration) and to my Power Mac G5, these are the temps I'm seeing with the machine mostly idle and light browsing. Temps in °C.
I've been dealing with Intel Macs for most of my Mac life so I know a thing or two about their temperatures, but PPC is a bit of an uncharted territory for me. One thing I noticed is that the CPU B temperature seems to be constantly about 10 degrees higher than that of CPU A. Is this normal?
I've been dealing with Intel Macs for most of my Mac life so I know a thing or two about their temperatures, but PPC is a bit of an uncharted territory for me. One thing I noticed is that the CPU B temperature seems to be constantly about 10 degrees higher than that of CPU A. Is this normal?
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Is yours a dual core or dual CPU?
My dual core (2.3) does the same thing and always has done - once it gets stressed they tend to even out more but 'Core B' never goes into the danger zone so i don't worry about it.
If it was a dual CPU I'd be checking thermal paste/fans on that second CPU.
This is one of the 2 GHz dual-processor models from 2003 so no dual-core. I'll be looking into this matter.
I have both a dual-core and a quad core, with quads the difference in between the two processors will not reach as high as 4ºC.
With that, I don't even check the temps anymore.
With that, I don't even check the temps anymore.
Yeah it's generally not a concern of mine unless the Mac is freezing or going into thermal shutdowns.
Again, Apple has designed it's Macs to shutdown when an unsafe temp has been reached. If the Mac is operating, the temp (whatever it is) is safe.
I removed the CPUs from the G5 and applied new thermal paste to both of them. The process was quite straightforward, nowhere near as complex as doing the same to an Early 2008 MacBook Pro (which I had done before).
The old paste was hard and flaky and it was "all over the place", quite typical to an Apple computer. CPU B still has higher temperatures than A so it is something else that's causing it, rather than insufficient heat transfer. I'll have to experiment some more.
BTW, anyone using iStat Pro or nano on Tiger? I'm having a problem with those, the widget turns invisible as soon as I add it (the X to delete it is the only thing that remains). I've used these for years on my other Macs just fine and never had a problem like that.
The old paste was hard and flaky and it was "all over the place", quite typical to an Apple computer. CPU B still has higher temperatures than A so it is something else that's causing it, rather than insufficient heat transfer. I'll have to experiment some more.
BTW, anyone using iStat Pro or nano on Tiger? I'm having a problem with those, the widget turns invisible as soon as I add it (the X to delete it is the only thing that remains). I've used these for years on my other Macs just fine and never had a problem like that.
Recently bought "new" PowerBook 12", noticed that the fan is much more active than one generation older 12" PowerBook I still own. Installed Leopard updates and noticed that the fan runs like crazy. Installed Temperature Monitor and looks like I need to get that heatsink off and re-apply thermal paste or something.
http://aijaa.com/McJJhC
CPU runs something like 20C hotter than the other PowerBook, this can't be normal? 133Mhz more speed than in that another machine, also I think this machine should have newer version of G4 which should run cooler... is it GeForceFX 5200 which heats it or just dust and dried paste? Well, I guess I have disassemble this horrible machine to find out...
http://aijaa.com/McJJhC
CPU runs something like 20C hotter than the other PowerBook, this can't be normal? 133Mhz more speed than in that another machine, also I think this machine should have newer version of G4 which should run cooler... is it GeForceFX 5200 which heats it or just dust and dried paste? Well, I guess I have disassemble this horrible machine to find out...
My 15" doesn't get above 145 when I am pushing it hard. Your CPU is at 165. There is a major problem with that variation.
Took the heatsink off, there is no dust so I wonder why this gets so hot. I don't know if this machine has been opened before (it might have been since it had black tape instead of yellow) but I tried to be as careful as I can but still the left captive screw thing came off.
![13357884.jpg]()
EDIT: Now after applying thermal paste, it seems that Geekbench cannot get the CPU much warmer than 65C, the fan is not even running at full speed. I have to test with the ultimate PPC killer, Flash Player, after this
EDIT: Now after applying thermal paste, it seems that Geekbench cannot get the CPU much warmer than 65C, the fan is not even running at full speed. I have to test with the ultimate PPC killer, Flash Player, after this
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On my Quad G5, CPU A tends to idle around 100-115°F, CPU B at 95-110°F. Under moderate load they'll hit the 130s, and under heavy sustained load they get to the 160s and 170s.
For fun, the Quadro is normally around 135°F during normal use. Used to be around 145°F, but I tore down the heat sink, cleaned the original pads, and replaced the long worn-out thermal paste with some fresh AC MX-4 back in I think January. Instant 10 degree drop!
![Quad%20G5%20Temps.jpg]()
^ From just a moment ago. Running Safari (Leopard WebKit version), Mail, Server Admin, and iTunes ripping a CD in ALAC.
For fun, the Quadro is normally around 135°F during normal use. Used to be around 145°F, but I tore down the heat sink, cleaned the original pads, and replaced the long worn-out thermal paste with some fresh AC MX-4 back in I think January. Instant 10 degree drop!
^ From just a moment ago. Running Safari (Leopard WebKit version), Mail, Server Admin, and iTunes ripping a CD in ALAC.
I FINALLY got around to ordering some thermal pads for my iBook G4. I also ordered a 32 GB SSD just for fun 
This is gonna be one of the fastest and coolest 12" G4 iBooks out there hopefully...
This is gonna be one of the fastest and coolest 12" G4 iBooks out there hopefully...
I FINALLY got around to ordering some thermal pads for my iBook G4. I also ordered a 32 GB SSD just for fun
This is gonna be one of the fastest and coolest 12" G4 iBooks out there hopefully...
That should work well. The combination of a 32 GB Transcend and reapplying the thermal paste dropped my PowerBook's average temps by 4-5 C.
I ordered a KingSpec SSD, since it was a little cheaper than going the adapter and mSATA way. I've read tons of mixed reviews on them, but I'm praying nothing bad happens! Lol
I've read mixed reviews about Kingston SSDs too, but I have been using one for 4 years now and another for 2 years with no problems at all. The 2 year old one is currently in my MBP.
edit: Just noticed you said KingSpec.
I wouldn't be concerned about the slightly higher CPU temp. The way the system is designed, one CPU is cooled before the other before being returned to the radiator. My dual 2.5 processors idle about 5*C apart.
Using this PB 12" 1GHz (DVI) model seems to be way more uncomfortable than the previous gen model I just sold (867MHz). After some basic use fans are on constantly, at the moment CPU is at 54,5 celcius and GPU is over 62C (FX 5200). Are these temps normal for that GeForce? This machine should have more modern version of G4 so I would expect it to run cooler, but then I thought maybe the reason is the GPU? Fans run even though I am currently just typing this message, only additional app is Temperature Monitor, Spotlight is not doing indexation (atleast there is no dot in the magnifying glass).
EDIT: I have redone thermal paste on the CPU. The GPU has thermal pads which I did not replace.
EDIT: I have redone thermal paste on the CPU. The GPU has thermal pads which I did not replace.
When I reassembled the machine one thing which came mind was that are those pad pressed hard enough against the chip for the heat to be transferred. When disassembling, you are required to lift that heatsink off and you may accidentally bend the copper, probably causing pads not be pressed that good when reassembling.... Then again Google finds stuff about this GPU chip running pretty hot in general, here the owner has seen 78C temps:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/p/17222078/17345070.aspx#17345070
I haven't done anything video intensive, altough I now have Leopard and previously Tiger. As far as I know Leopard does use GPU to some general things whereas Tiger not so much... maybe I could start by disabling some of these effects, I have seen some threads here about those but never tried, like that Dock mirror effect etc?
EDIT: Okay, found a way to disable the 3D effect.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/p/17222078/17345070.aspx#17345070
I haven't done anything video intensive, altough I now have Leopard and previously Tiger. As far as I know Leopard does use GPU to some general things whereas Tiger not so much... maybe I could start by disabling some of these effects, I have seen some threads here about those but never tried, like that Dock mirror effect etc?
EDIT: Okay, found a way to disable the 3D effect.
My PowerBook's GPU gets pretty hot.. I didn't replace the thermal pad the first time I redid the paste, (bad idea) and it got to 155* F pretty fast. I replaced the pads the second time about a week ago, and temps have dropped 15* F! My CPU actually gets hotter than my GPU on a fairly heavy load. It rarely gets above 135* F, whereas my CPU gets to 152* F. That's the hottest I've seen it run, and that was after a stress test of about 10 minutes of flash usage, with background apps running, and then I used Adobe CS for another 10 minutes. That got it to around 150. Usually, my CPU runs lower than the GPU, on an easy load, for instance right now the CPU is at 115* F, and the GPU is at 128* F. It seems to hover around 120-35. I'm pretty happy with the PB, although I did break the two spring screws on either side of the heatsink. D:
If I hadn't, I'm sure it would hold another 5 degrees cooler.
If I hadn't, I'm sure it would hold another 5 degrees cooler.
Temperature Monitor also reports my hard disk bottomside to be quite hot, 46,5C.
You have the same GPU but newer revision of G4, I have 7447, you have 7447a, I dunno what exactly it means but it is newer. FSB is atleast higher on 7447a.
EDIT: Okay Wikipedia tells this:
With the 7447A, which introduced an integrated thermal diode as well as DFS (dynamic frequency scaling) Freescale was able to reach a slightly higher clock
You have the same GPU but newer revision of G4, I have 7447, you have 7447a, I dunno what exactly it means but it is newer. FSB is atleast higher on 7447a.
EDIT: Okay Wikipedia tells this:
With the 7447A, which introduced an integrated thermal diode as well as DFS (dynamic frequency scaling) Freescale was able to reach a slightly higher clock
My 17" doesn't see anything higher than 145 as well! My 2.3 G5 hovers around 140-155 with each processor being 1-3 degrees apart whereas my 2.7 is like 15 degrees apart.