Why aren't the iMac fans throttled?

[daneoni]

On the notebooks the fans are throttled, they speed up when the CPU is under heavy use and throttle down at idle speeds. However the iMac fans seem to remain at 1200rpm (CPU HDD) or 999(optical drive) regardless of usage

Anyone else notice this?

 

[0007776]

I would guess that since the case is so thin they have to be on all of the time to keep it from overheating.

 

[oduinnin]

The two fans in my MacBook Pro pretty much stay at 1000 RPM, give or take 10 RPM. The only time they run faster is when I'm compressing video or writing video to DVD. 😎

 

[Craiger]

I think that they are throttled, but it takes a lot for them increase their RPM's. I remember them increasing slightly when I was watching an HD show on-line while also playing with google earth and a few other apps.

 

[Dimwhit]

The fans on my MBP never go below 2000rpm. Even with a cooling stand blowing cool air on the bottom.

 

[daneoni]

So overall default fan speeds seem to have increased BUT won't having the fan at 1200rpm ALL the time wear out the bearings quicker?

 

[Santa Rosa]

So overall default fan speeds seem to have increased BUT won't having the fan at 1200rpm ALL the time wear out the bearings quicker?

That is sort of like saying you would rather they werent on at all?

Fans not on constantly = cooked Mac 🙂

 

[daneoni]

That is sort of like saying you would rather they werent on at all?

Fans not on constantly = cooked Mac 🙂

Yeah i know. Would havebeen nice if the fans throttled down to 999rpm or something when the machine was idle. Then again they're at 1200 for a reason so who am i to argue with Apple engineers.