What can I do about games on imac and the damn noise? Wow for example

[upthetoffees]

Sorry to say...seems like bad news. I won't defend Apple here, but I would expect they would point any of us (running 100% loads for anything) at a "Pro" machine.

I hope knowing all this helps you (and others) decide on hardware.

If it were me, I would consider selling the iMac while it holds good value to a typical 2D user (Photoshop, etc) who would not face the heat/fan/noise issue...and rethink hardware needs.

The M1s crunch the hell out of things with virtually no fans spooling up. Time to switch? We may very well see M series 27" iMacs very soon, and the 24" units are pretty darn solid for general work. I can't speak specifically to gaming, but they have been out long enough for there to be a lot of feedback now.

I was planning on switching to an M imac anyway (or a high qual LG + mac mini) - it's mainly for Logic Pro this machine and no probs there with noise so far.. the gaming is just for late at night. Waiting to see what is released in next few months.

 

[upthetoffees]

Yeah temperatures actually look fairly low I'd say. One thing I'd recommend to try is also the program Turbo-Boost Switcher to disable turbo boost on your CPU.
VSync is not the same as frame rate limiting per se. The game is probably still trying to draw as many frames per second as it possibly can, it just doesn't set one to be displayed until the display is ready for one but still keeps drawing as fast as it can behind the scenes. So no matter the graphics quality you keep seeing the same fan speed cause it just draws more frames faster instead of higher quality ones. WoW might not have other frame limiting options though, I dunno.

Will check that, thanks

 

[leifp]

I've got a 27" iMac right next to an Alienware PC. Both have huge fan noise playing the same game. It's possible you can get a PC that will play WoW with not much fan noise, but I very very much doubt it based on my real life observations:

For example Crusader Kings 3. I'm playing right now and the fans kick on with the Alienware (Windows 10). I've played Crusader Kings 3 in the recent past on the iMac and the fans also kick on.

I haven't played WoW for several years, but these games I can run on both PC and Mac and the both have fan noise:
- Hearts of Iron IV
- Crusader Kings II
- Civilization VI

I've played these on both PC and Mac but don't remember the fan noise situation:
- Europa Universalis IV
- Humankind
- Rome Total War

The odd thing is, the fan noise on the PC doesn't bother me. While the same level of fan noise on the iMac bothers me a great deal. I think it's because I don't expect anything special from the PC, while I expect a good experience from the iMac.

I will corroborate: my Win11 PC with AMD 5800X and RTX3070 absolutely sings when I start adding bells and whistles to my graphical settings in games. Even older games. A computer has fans because it needs fans; that’s what makes the M1 MBAir pretty special (I totally get my M1MAX to sing when I game or start pushing it with editing).

 

[leifp]

Oh! Sorry to not answer your question directly: you need to drop effects settings in-game to reduce/remove fan use. Big hitters:

resolution: 1080p on a 4K is 4x easier on the system than 4K on a 4K
draw distance: if “pop in” doesn’t bother you, reduce it until it almost does…
compression tech: higher = better but lower = less fan noise (I’m referring to anti-aliasing and similar tech)

 

[upthetoffees]

Turbo Boost is showing low cpu usage, whilst in the game in a populated area (ok old Legion dalaran but still people about)

 

[Nermal]

Kinda curious if you saw/measured the load on CPU/GPU

"Incredibly non-scientific", I say again

All I did was set the frame rate limit and wait a few minutes to see whether the fans got any quieter.

 

[casperes1996]

Turbo Boost is showing low cpu usage, whilst in the game in a populated area (ok old Legion dalaran but still people about)

View attachment 1959448

Your fan speed here is only 2115. But try actually disabling turbo. It doesn't matter what the CPU load is - In fact the temp/fan speed difference is greatest if it's mostly one core being utilised rather than the full CPU because at 100% utilisation turbo isn't really in play any more anyway.

 

[throAU]

You won't like it, but moving forward, apple silicon is the answer.

Intel CPUs for the past few years have been hot and loud. Discrete GPUs in that form factor are going to be hot and loud when worked hard. :-\

 

[leifp]

You won't like it, but moving forward, apple silicon is the answer.

Intel CPUs for the past few years have been hot and loud. Discrete GPUs in that form factor are going to be hot and loud when worked hard. :-\

YMMV immensely. I have the 32GB MAX 16” and the fans start to wail mere minutes in when I play Divinity 2…

Aside: I still miss the 10.5” Pro, one of my favourite iPad form factors
Aside aside: what made you choose the 6900XT and how do you like it?

 

[throAU]

YMMV immensely. I have the 32GB MAX 16” and the fans start to wail mere minutes in when I play Divinity 2…

Aside: I still miss the 10.5” Pro, one of my favourite iPad form factors
Aside aside: what made you choose the 6900XT and how do you like it?

Tip: turn on low power mode for gaming and the machine is basically silent with little performance drop

6900XT? It was available, like half the price of a 3090 and runs things fast. Also, open source drivers.