The fan

[jwolf6589]

I have the 2nd Generation AppleTV 4K and I have never noticed the fan being used. Does it turn on for some of you? I believe the latest AppleTV does not have a fan.

 

[cateye]

It’s always running when the ATV is on. You don’t hear it because it spins at a very low rate. Fast enough to create gentle airflow through the case but that’s about it.

The latest AppleTV eschews a fan likely through a combination of greater power efficiency, down-clocking, and limiting the use of the performance cores (only allowing the performance cores to “burst” on and off as needed for select workflows—not for power savings like on a phone, but to limit heat generation).

Fans needn’t be loud, even for high-heat scenarios. it all depends on the quality of the fan mechanism and how much air you need to move across an area in a given amount of time.

 

[jwolf6589]

It’s always running when the ATV is on. You don’t hear it because it spins at a very low rate. Fast enough to create gentle airflow through the case but that’s about it.

The latest AppleTV eschews a fan likely through a combination of greater power efficiency, down-clocking, and limiting the use of the performance cores (only allowing the performance cores to “burst” on and off as needed for select workflows—not for power savings like on a phone, but to limit heat generation).

Fans needn’t be loud, even for high-heat scenarios. it all depends on the quality of the fan mechanism and how much air you need to move across an area in a given amount of time.

Oh I see. Like the old laptops where the fan ran all the time.

 

[cateye]

Sure. again, it’s mostly just physics. There’s lots of ways to deal with heat in electronics. different metals, software-based limits, fans, fluid cooling, whatever. The ATV doesn’t actually do all that much, so managing its heat is not that complex.

 

[jwolf6589]

Sure. again, it’s mostly just physics. There’s lots of ways to deal with heat in electronics. different metals, software-based limits, fans, fluid cooling, whatever. The ATV doesn’t actually do all that much, so managing its heat is not that complex.

Also TVOS may not take as much power as MacOS.

 

[Juicy Box]

The first gen from 16 years ago had a fan, but still ran really hot. Like you could use it as a coffee mug warmer, and I am not exaggerating about that.

The 2nd gen from 2010 did not have a fan. That also true for the 2012 ATV3 and 2015 ATV4 (HD).

The increased power and heat from the A10X in the 2017 ATV4K1 led to Apple bringing back the cooling fan. The 2021 ATV4K2 also had a fan.

The latest 2022 ATV4K3 with the A15 does not have a fan, although, maybe it should.

There has been some people (including myself) reporting really high temps on the top of the case of the newest ATV when playing games.

Check out this thread, someone had crazy high temps on their 2022 ATV4K3 while playing games that they decided to add a heatsink to it. Even with the heatsink, the temps of the top of the case was still reaching 116 degrees, Fahrenheit:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cooling-the-atv-4k-2022.2371260/

 

[jwolf6589]

The first gen from 16 years ago had a fan, but still ran really hot. Like you could use it as a coffee mug warmer, and I am not exaggerating about that.

The 2nd gen from 2010 did not have a fan. That also true for the 2012 ATV3 and 2015 ATV4 (HD).

The increased power and heat from the A10X in the 2017 ATV4K1 led to Apple bringing back the cooling fan. The 2021 ATV4K2 also had a fan.

The latest 2022 ATV4K3 with the A15 does not have a fan, although, maybe it should.

There has been some people (including myself) reporting really high temps on the top of the case of the newest ATV when playing games.

Check out this thread, someone had crazy high temps on their 2022 ATV4K3 while playing games that they decided to add a heatsink to it. Even with the heatsink, the temps of the top of the case was still reaching 116 degrees, Fahrenheit:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cooling-the-atv-4k-2022.2371260/

Does the ATV get super slow or power off while playing games? Perhaps not so maybe it does not need the fan since the majority of people do not touch their ATV while using it. I'll bet it does not get super hot watching movies or TV shows.

 

[Juicy Box]

Does the ATV get super slow or power off while playing games?

Not that I experienced, at least so far.

erhaps not so maybe it does not need the fan since the majority of people do not touch their ATV while using it.

Maybe not. But the amount of heat that the newest ATV produces seems excessive, especially compared to every other model. If it it reaching temps of above 120F on the case with plenty of ventilation, I could imagine dangerous temp levels for people that keep their ATVs in an inclosed cabinet.

There could also be long term negative effects from the excessive heat.

It appears that this ATV has had multiple issues so far when it comes to quality control testing, I wonder how much testing was done when it comes to the heat.

I'll bet it does not get super hot watching movies or TV shows.

Most likely not, as it doesn't take much energy for streaming compared to gaming.

 

[jwolf6589]

Not that I experienced, at least so far.



Maybe not. But the amount of heat that the newest ATV produces seems excessive, especially compared to every other model. If it it reaching temps of above 120F on the case with plenty of ventilation, I could imagine dangerous temp levels for people that keep their ATVs in an inclosed cabinet.

There could also be long term negative effects from the excessive heat.

It appears that this ATV has had multiple issues so far when it comes to quality control testing, I wonder how much testing was done when it comes to the heat.


Most likely not, as it doesn't take much energy for streaming compared to gaming.

My guess is that apple did not test the newer ATV with games since MOST do not use their ATV for games. If i bought the new ATV or my parents bought it they wont be concerned about the heat since we dont game. But yes apple should have included the fan since the device can game. Perhaps not all games make the unit get super hot.

 

[Juicy Box]

My guess is that apple did not test the newer ATV with games since MOST do not use their ATV for games.

While you could be correct (Apple seemed to have failed to test the tvOS SW with 128GB Models), let's hope that Apple's engineering, testing, and QC teams are not that incompetent.

Perhaps not all games make the unit get super hot.

I think this is true.

Seems like it is only the games that push the GPU are the ones causing the excessive heat. Time also seems to be a big factor. For example, playing Oceanhorn 2 from Apple Arcade for an hour would cause the heat to build, but playing SongPop Party for 20 minutes is fine.

 

[jwolf6589]

While you could be correct (Apple seemed to have failed to test the tvOS SW with 128GB Models), let's hope that Apple's engineering, testing, and QC teams are not that incompetent.


I think this is true.

Seems like it is only the games that push the GPU are the ones causing the excessive heat. Time also seems to be a big factor. For example, playing Oceanhorn 2 from Apple Arcade for an hour would cause the heat to build, but playing SongPop Party for 20 minutes is fine.

As far as I understand the 128GB bug got fixed.

 

[Juicy Box]

As far as I understand the 128GB bug got fixed.

Yeah, I think it was fixed, but the fact that a bug like that even made it to the released version of tvOS is pretty amazing (not in a good way).

I am still waiting for Apple to fix the tvOS App Store Top Free and Top Paid bug. Not going to hold my breath.

 

[jwolf6589]

Yeah, I think it was fixed, but the fact that a bug like that even made it to the released version of tvOS is pretty amazing (not in a good way).

I am still waiting for Apple to fix the tvOS App Store Top Free and Top Paid bug. Not going to hold my breath.

True.