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Should I be worried about these temps 4,1 power supply

Ih8reno

Ih8reno

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 10, 2012
1,383
207
I installed and ran temperature monitor for my Mac Pro 4,1 base model and most things seem normal. However after basic use I notice my macs power supply temps are 37 and 55 degrees Celsius. I have tried blowing it out with air and haven't noticed any difference. Also, I should tell you all that it runs just fine and I haven't had any issues with it. Is this simply a case of overthinking it?
 
I am sorry to bring up this old thread but today I once again did some service on my pro, blew out the dust etc... After about 30 min I noticed my power supply temps in location 2 went down from 54c to 38c. It lasted a few minutes but now went back to 54. The supply location 1 stays at 36c all the time. I cannot believe that there is any more dust. Would things like this (plus the current temp of 54c) mean the power supply is on its way out?
 
Room temp is 18C and according to smc fan control the PSU fan is running at 685 RPM
 
IMO, the temperature doesn't match. If room temperature is 18, your system ambient should be below 30, and your PSU ambient (PSU 1) should be very very close to system ambient. (in my case, the PSU 1 = system ambient = about room temperature + 5 at idle)

The PSU 2 temperature should be around PSU 1 + 5C at idle.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/22435544/

I assume you are talking about the 4,1 in this post. The front and back looks very clear, nothing block the air flow.

The Mac Pro is on the ground, so all the coolest air avail at there.

It doesn't looks like you have a delicate PSU at the optical bay for the 5770 (which will block air and generate more heat).

When you clean the PSU, did you clean the PSU fan as well?

Even though those temperature looks a bit high to me. But if you have lots of loading (e.g. Dual CPU, + dual GPU). That temperature is still possible under full load.

I've already modify my fan profile, so can't compare to yours (under full load). You may manually setup your PSU fan profile to see if it works better. In my observation, an extra 100 RPM may make the PSU run few degrees cooler.
 
h9826790 said:
IMO, the temperature doesn't match. If room temperature is 18, your system ambient should be below 30, and your PSU ambient (PSU 1) should be very very close to system ambient. (in my case, the PSU 1 = system ambient = about room temperature + 5 at idle)

The PSU 2 temperature should be around PSU 1 + 5C at idle.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/22435544/

I assume you are talking about the 4,1 in this post. The front and back looks very clear, nothing block the air flow.

The Mac Pro is on the ground, so all the coolest air avail at there.

It doesn't looks like you have a delicate PSU at the optical bay for the 5770 (which will block air and generate more heat).

When you clean the PSU, did you clean the PSU fan as well?

Even though those temperature looks a bit high to me. But if you have lots of loading (e.g. Dual CPU, + dual GPU). That temperature is still possible under full load.

I've already modify my fan profile, so can't compare to yours (under full load). You may manually setup your PSU fan profile to see if it works better. In my observation, an extra 100 RPM may make the PSU run few degrees cooler.
Click to expand...

I had a 2nd graphics card in there at one point but no longer. The ps1 always is 36C and like I said the ps2 ramps up slowly. Currently ps2 is at 54C. Room temp here is 19C currently. Ambient temp is currently 25C. I just changed the fan speed and ramped it up 100 but am worried this will lessen the lifespan of the fan in the psu. Odd thing is When I moved the machine yesterday from some other electronics the system stayed at 36/36 at the 2 power supply locations.
 
It stay at 36/36 for how long? The PSU temp may be much lower than usual after a cold boot.

Anyway, I just post my temp in another post, you may go to have a look.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/do-classic-mac-pros-last-durability.1949344/#post-22453718

My room temperature is 25, system ambient is 30. So it's around 5C difference (same as yours). But my PSU temp is significantly lower than yours even under full load.

My PCIe compartment is full, and I don't think you can get any worse than my setup.
 
My PCIe only has the gt 120 in slot 1, nothing else inside. It was running dual 20 inch cinema displays but now I left just one to see if that made a difference...it did not. Maybe mine just has higher temps and I should get used to it. Odd though as last time I moved it and the temps dropped it wasn't from a cold boot, it was just moved out of the way of the electronics and suddenly dropped in temps for about 10-15 min.
 
The Mac Pro's fan is very durable. Apple keep it at very low RPM is mainly for reducing noise. An extra few hundred shouldn't significantly shorten it's life. And TBH, I prefer the fan die more than PSU (if I am forced to choose one).
 
I think I just discovered the reason for the lowering temps. Put on some youtube videos and the temps lowered to 38C. The fans showed on istat that they ramped up as the video went on.

Edit


I tried the experiment again, and youtube on 1080p withe the gt120 eventually lowers the temp. I took a pic of the temps on istat and the cpu/ram all go up while the video plays. While that happens the power supply cools down. am I missing something?
 
Last edited:
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