So how silent is the M2 Pro Mac Mini?

[pappl]

It there a more demanding benchmark than cinebench?

MaxTech ran two benchmarks at the same time to make the fans ramp up over 4000rpm and CPU cores over 100C.

The trick is to run one GPU benchmark (Aztec, unigine heaven, Video export,..) and one CPU benchmark (Geekbench) at the same time.

Then all units of M2 will be at full throttle. 🥵

 

[Ethosik]

Could be unfortunate random sampling, like some Studios having the 2kHz whine more than others. Guess I'll find out when mine arrives in a couple weeks. If it's on the whole quieter than my existing i7 version (which BTW idles at the same 1700 RPM and at roughly 48 dB) I'll probably just keep it.

I’m disappointed with my Studio’s whine. I would rather have a louder computer than a faint annoying whine.

 

[jmpage2]

Yeah, I‘m kind of confused about the temperature readings of the fan control app. The FLIR cam shows the heat spots in the middle of the case - where the cpu sits. The psu is at the side of the case. Will investigate further and make a nearer FLIR view from above.

It there a more demanding benchmark than cinebench?

With my M1 MacBook Pro I can get the fan to finally kick on to audible levels after Handbrake abuses it doing video encoding for about 30 minutes.

Even then the fan is not bothersome at all, compared to my 2017 i7 iMac doing the same work. The M1 is also nearly 2X the speed of the i7 machine, all of these things are what prompted me to finally pull the trigger on a new M2 Mini.

I will sell the iMac on the secondary market while it's still worth something.

 

[Fishrrman]

js wrote:
"Why does the fan noise vary so much from person to person?"

It's called "hearing".
An "individual" characteristic.

Did you ever sit next to a PowerMac mirror-doored g4?

 

[Think77]

js wrote:
"Why does the fan noise vary so much from person to person?"

It's called "hearing".
An "individual" characteristic.

Did you ever sit next to a PowerMac mirror-doored g4?

While individual hearing is certainly part of what we perceive, there is – outside of certain philosophical schools – not much reason to believe that different individuals will perceive (hear) everything differently. But yes, there are thresholds as to what our individual senses allow us to hear or see, and those thresholds are probably mostly defined by biology (for instance, the inability to hear anything above a certain frequency). But most people within a certain age range have FAIRLY similar hearing abilities, and I would believe that most (most) people would be able to hear the 2kHz whine from the Mac Studio for instance. Or the fan noise from most computers. Whether it bothers you is, of course, a different question.

 

[MuckSavage70]

Encoding a 4K MKV on my mini pro, and while it's gotten hot (115 F) it's still silent. Been running full bore for over an hour.

Edited - temp was wrong sensor Not 115, closer to 190.

 

[eelpout]

You must be old like me Steve Austin

yep. in middle school we nicknamed a local dog who often ran around the grounds "Steve Austin." Even ended up in the yearbook.

 

[eelpout]

MaxTech ran two benchmarks at the same time to make the fans ramp up over 4000rpm and CPU cores over 100C.

it was interesting that at one point he said that the fan could get a lot louder than previous Mini's but didn't specify which and how many dB louder (referring to the new max spin rate of 5000 RPM).

I'm guessing he could be referring to both the M1's and Intel since their max RPM was the same.

 

[NeonNights]

Encoding a 4K MKV on my mini pro, and while it's gotten hot (115 F) it's still silent. Been running full bore for over an hour.

That is pretty toasty. I am surprised the M2 Pro SoC is specc'ed to operate at that sustained temperature. I am still going with an M2 Pro over a base Mac Studio but in the back of my mind the high core temps over many years makes me wonder about longterm reliability. The M1 Max in the Mac Studio sits around only 60-70 C under load.

 

[MuckSavage70]

That is pretty toasty. I am surprised the M2 Pro SoC is specc'ed to operate at that sustained temperature. I am still going with an M2 Pro over a base Mac Studio but in the back of my mind the high core temps over many years makes me wonder about longterm reliability. The M1 Max in the Mac Studio sits around only 60-70 F under load.

Actually, correction - running about 196F (91C) (was looking at the wrong sensor.) Fans are still at about 2500 RPM. Without handbrake, idles around 115F (67C) with fans around 1700.

Cranked the fans to 5k RPM and temps dropped to about 160.

 

[Freida]

Actually, correction - running about 196F (91C) (was looking at the wrong sensor.) Fans are still at about 2500 RPM. Without handbrake, idles around 115F (67C) with fans around 1700.

Cranked the fans to 5k RPM and temps dropped to about 160.

And noise?

 

[MuckSavage70]

Anything below about 2500 RPM is silent, anything above that can get noisy. However the only way I got them to crank up was to use an app (TG Pro) - not using it the fans never went above 2500. So unless I manually try to cool the thing down, it is silent even under max CPU load.

 

[NeonNights]

Actually, correction - running about 196F (91C) (was looking at the wrong sensor.) Fans are still at about 2500 RPM. Without handbrake, idles around 115F (67C) with fans around 1700.

Cranked the fans to 5k RPM and temps dropped to about 160.

Ah, thanks! I got my units mixed up too. That's not too bad if the M2 Pro was 67 C. I think MaxTech has measured cores up to 108-109 C so I initially thought you managed to push it to 115 C!

 

[Truben]

I was having doubts between Mac Studio and Mini M2 Pro 12c. Consider we're in winter and these numbers are for cold rooms. What about when summer comes? A chip at 196 F (91 C) at one arm from me for €2,600 --European prices-- no, thanks. I shall wait for Mac Studio M2 Max. By then, I guess the high-pitched noise will disappear.

 

[Cham2000]

So M2 Pro users, what are your mini's temperature at idle, when your Mac doesn't do anything heavy?

 

[IngerMan]

just for comparison on temp's, my 2018 i7 sitting gets down to 38 C, web surfing and office runs in the mid 45's C. Heavy file transfers is in the upper 70's. Stress from bench marking takes it to a instant 100C then the fans bring it down to the mid 90's.

I have a eGPU RX 5500 XT so that probably helps for GPU usage taking the heat out of the mini box and into the eGPU.

 

[dotnet]

My M1 mini idles at around 27C, which is about 3 degrees above ambient. By “idling” I mean playing music through Audirvana and Dirac Live. I’ll see what the M2 Pro mini does when it arrives in a couple of weeks’ time.

 

[Fenderborn]

I’m disappointed with my Studio’s whine. I would rather have a louder computer than a faint annoying whine.

Yet. No youtuber makes a video about that. Its a shame. Imagine a channel like max tech doing a video on the whine. Pretty apple would react.

 

[Sowelu]

For anyone who is looking to monitor fan speeds/status and internal temperatures, iStat Menus was just updated and is now compatible with the M2 mini.

 

[magphotos]

So M2 Pro users, what are your mini's temperature at idle, when your Mac doesn't do anything heavy?

Always around 27-28C. Same when executing low performance tasks (safari, mail, pages, etc...)

 

[Sowelu]

Always around 27-28C. Same when executing low performance tasks (safari, mail, pages, etc...)

Those are pretty good numbers since my non-pro hovers around 30-34C at idle or with light usage (I am using the 'CPU Core Average' sensor with iStat Menus to get this number). My 1TB SSD is usually around 26/27C.

 

[magphotos]

For anyone who is looking to monitor fan speeds/status and internal temperatures, iStat Menus was just updated and is now compatible with the M2 mini.

Aaaah thanks! My version was not updated and was showing SSD temperature only.

Those are pretty good numbers since my non-pro hovers around 30-34C at idle or with light usage (I am using the 'CPU Core Average' sensor with iStat Menus to get this number). My 1TB SSD is usually around 26/27C.

So, now when in idle I see the temperatures in the image attached, is it possibile? 6° C average ??

 

[Freida]

That seems off unless your room is around 10C

Aaaah thanks! My version was not updated and was showing SSD temperature only.

So, now when in idle I see the temperatures in the image attached, is it possibile? 6° C average ??

 

[Fenderborn]

Those are pretty good numbers since my non-pro hovers around 30-34C at idle or with light usage (I am using the 'CPU Core Average' sensor with iStat Menus to get this number). My 1TB SSD is usually around 26/27C.

What rpm are you fans at idle?

 

[Freida]

Just transferring from TM backup and so far its dead silent. Once all done I'll test it with Dota 2 (fairly intensive) to see how noisy it is.