Silent fan mode?

[Baumlol]

Hey there,

I just wanted to ask if there is a silent fan mode on the MacBook. I'm using the Retina MacBook Pro from Early 2015. I don't want to force disable the fan. I just thought there might be a mode to limit the CPU/GPU to a cetain amount of power, so the fan won't get active at all (only in emergencies).

I need a solution for both OS X and Windows 10.

Thanks in advance!

 

[v3nom]

Do you want to turn the fan off or let run at the lowest speed?

 

[lowendlinux]

Hey there,

I just wanted to ask if there is a silent fan mode on the MacBook. I'm using the Retina MacBook Pro from Early 2015. I don't want to force disable the fan. I just thought there might be a mode to limit the CPU/GPU to a cetain amount of power, so the fan won't get active at all (only in emergencies).

I need a solution for both OS X and Windows 10.

Thanks in advance!

I don't think there is one

 

[throAU]

Not that i've seen, however the fan on mine spends most of its time OFF anyway, only really starts up when doing a TM backup or running something intensive on the GPU.

 

[Baumlol]

I think the lowest speed would be also okay. The problem is, the fan gets loud even when I'm watching Twitch on source quality or YouTube videos with 720p or 1080p.

 

[lowendlinux]

I think the lowest speed would be also okay. The problem is, the fan gets loud even when I'm watching Twitch on source quality or YouTube videos with 720p or 1080p.

That's something you'll have to get used to.

 

[maflynn]

The fans spinning is there for a reason and apple doesn't provide a way to fully turn them off. You can try smcFanControl but I don't know if that will allow you to turn off the fans, as that will effectively cook the CPU. If you want a truly silent computer, take a look at the retina MacBook, as it uses passive cooling.

 

[Baumlol]

Yeah, I know that I can't disable the fans. That's why I aksed if there is a possibility to throttle the CPU/GPU so the fans don't even have a reason to start rotating.

I'll take a look at smcFanControl, thank you.

 

[Strider64]

My advice is to leave the fan speed alone, I used to build my own computers when I was a devoted Windows person and there's a reason the fan speeds up. I personally would get some nice noise-cancelling headphones and be down with it.

 

[Blujelly]

My advice is to leave the fan speed alone, I used to build my own computers when I was a devoted Windows person and there's a reason the fan speeds up. I personally would get some nice noise-cancelling headphones and be down with it.

I've got a mid 2012 MBP which I sometimes run pretty hard every now and again, I can't honestly say the fan noise is to much for me. Although I agree with the above I would tamper with it, it's there for a reason let it do its job.

 

[throAU]

I think the lowest speed would be also okay. The problem is, the fan gets loud even when I'm watching Twitch on source quality or YouTube videos with 720p or 1080p.

Hmm. Can't say i've noticed that on mine? I can't even really hear the fan is on until it gets above 2500 rpm, which is rare. I do watch a heap of youtube with it.

The retina fans are definitely way, way better than the fans in my 2011 MBP. So much quieter.
[doublepost=1453895661][/doublepost]

My advice is to leave the fan speed alone, I used to build my own computers when I was a devoted Windows person and there's a reason the fan speeds up. I personally would get some nice noise-cancelling headphones and be down with it.

What can sometimes help, which may be worth the OP trying, is to have the fans run at a low speed (instead of "off") before they're required to prevent the CPU/GPU getting hot in the first place. with something like iStat menus.

The default fan behaviour on apple gear seems to be to try to keep the fan OFF as long as possible, then crank up way high when it gets too hot. Having the fan run at say 2500-3000 rpm may be enough to stop the chip getting hot in the first place, and remain quieter than cranking up to 5000 or whatever it is doing now. This used to help a little on my old 2011" 15" machine.


edit:
OP: do you have a 15" with discrete GPU, or 13/15 with integrated? Given my 13" rMBP with integrated doesn't seem to do this, you could also maybe try disabling the discrete GPU to save heat. Apple's GPU switching is a little retarded at times; it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but it often turns the GPU on simply based on what an application is trying to do (e.g., flash), when it would quite easily run just fine on the integrated GPU, consuming far less power and generating far less heat.

In Windows, you can save a lot of heat by setting your power profile to "balanced" or "low power" (or whatever its called) rather than "performance". Windows then limits clock speed (and thus heat generation) on your CPU/GPU. I used to do this when playing Borderlands 2 on the above 15" machine and it made a huge difference to fan noise.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

That's due to terrible coding and flash and if you use chrome it will be worse basically if you turn off the fans the computer will heat until it shuts down.

The fans are on because your computer is getting hot due to the websites and/or browser and/or the coding on the files and/or flash using resources unnecessarily or being badly coded for OSX.

Turning off the fans is not the answer hats just asking to damage your computer changing you browser and using non flash video plugins Adblock etc may well help though.

 

[throAU]

That's due to terrible coding and flash and if you use chrome it will be worse basically if you turn off the fans the computer will heat until it shuts down.

The fans are on because your computer is getting hot due to the websites and/or browser and/or the coding on the files and/or flash using resources unnecessarily or being badly coded for OSX.

Turning off the fans is not the answer hats just asking to damage your computer changing you browser and using non flash video plugins Adblock etc may well help though.

Yup, trying to turn the fans OFF = definitely bad. They're on for a reason. You may be able to try some of the stuff i mention above though, some of which may be counter-intuitive, but i have found it helps... basically more about attempting to limit heat generation and pro-actively cool things BEFORE they get hot in an effort to hold the heat generation off...


edit:
yeah i'm a safari user so maybe the OP can also try that if he/she is using Chrome...

Also, it's not necessarily due to terrible coding in flash (though it is terrible); plenty of stuff, especially in Lion and ML from memory would kick the discrete GPU into gear when the program would run just FINE on integrated. Anything that used to use core animation would do it. E.g., TWITTER would cause my discrete GPU to come on. TWITTER! Ridiculous. No need for it, and newer OS X versions seem to be a lot better.

In any case, unless you need high performance, 90+ percent of stuff out there runs fine on integrated. Turning the discrete GPU off has zero impact on the majority of stuff and saves a HEAP of heat and fan activity.

 

[TylerL]

What can sometimes help, which may be worth the OP trying, is to have the fans run at a low speed (instead of "off") before they're required to prevent the CPU/GPU getting hot in the first place. with something like iStat menus.

The default fan behaviour on apple gear seems to be to try to keep the fan OFF as long as possible, then crank up way high when it gets too hot. Having the fan run at say 2500-3000 rpm may be enough to stop the chip getting hot in the first place, and remain quieter than cranking up to 5000 or whatever it is doing now.

This is the best option. Using iStat Menus or smcFanControl in a quietish room, tweak the fan speed from its lowest level up little by little. You want to find the highest RPM value that's under your threshold of "annoying".

Once you find it, you'll find that your Mac is able to withstand longer bouts of high CPU activity before the fans really kick in to high gear. Temperatures also recover quicker afterwards. It's worked wonders for me on two generations of MacBooks.

As for Windows, I'm not sure what options are out there. I've actually told Windows users of my fan strategy and they're slightly jealous.

 

[v3nom]

can use this tool http://www.rugarciap.com/turbo-boost-switcher-for-os-x/
to turn off the CPUs turbo and reduce heat!