R Tweaky
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Bumping RPMs question

Hello everyone and happy new year and happy holidays

So yes I am using smcFan i know its not all that good and people don't really recommend it but even so i use it at my own risk.

I just have a question about the fans in my 21.5" iMac the 2010 model to be precise. So constantly monitoring the temperature of my HDD and i reed about the HDD and how that piece of hardware is the most temperature sensitive. So my hdd under load goes up to 45 - 48 that is kinda the max with smcFan on of course.

I usually run smc fan a lot may not be the right word but mostly 70% of the time fans are at a higher RPM than usual.

Now can someone with some knolage please tell me how to set the RPM's for the fans and for how long to run them. If needed i will provide temperatures and other data.

 

Thank you very much.

Posted on Jan 1, 2012 12:07 PM

by WZZZ,Solvedanswer
WZZZ WZZZ
Level 6 (13,112 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Sorry, wrong link.

 

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3219643?start=0&tstart=0

 

I have iStat Menus with the Drive and CPU temps, along with the fan rpms from smcFan, right in the menubar always visible. I use several different settings accordingly. During the winter I generally run at the setting "minimum minus" and, if needed, I turn on a small clip-on fan mounted to the wall behind the computer, aimed at the upper left (as you face the screen) of the back, which is where it gets the hottest. In the summer, I keep that fan running almost all the time. It really helps to dissipate the case heat and keep things cooler inside. But if I'm running that fan a lot, I will dust the back of the computer and the area around the computer frequently. And if it's really hot, as it was last summer with the indoor temp here in the low to mid 90s and high humidity, I just let the computer sleep much more often, or I just shut it down. Like that it's too hot to sit in front of a computer anway.

 

You really have to experiment with what works best for you. But, to avoid burning up the fan motors, stay in the range of + 200 - 500 rpms. Also den.thed's suggestion to vacuum periodically the lower intakes (along the center bottom and behind the stand) is great advice.

Posted on Jan 1, 2012 1:30 PM

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Q: Bumping RPMs question

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  • by den.thed,

    den.thed den.thed Jan 2, 2012 9:01 AM in response to R Tweaky
    Level 7 (27,733 points)
    Jan 2, 2012 9:01 AM in response to R Tweaky

    May your hardware "live long and prosper" 

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Jan 2, 2012 9:28 AM in response to den.thed
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 2, 2012 9:28 AM in response to den.thed

    den.thed wrote:

     

    May your hardware "live long and prosper" 

     

  • by R Tweaky,

    R Tweaky R Tweaky Jan 10, 2012 2:14 PM in response to R Tweaky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2012 2:14 PM in response to R Tweaky

    Hello again.

    So i took all the great advice and information and compiled myshelf a few fan settings. I'm just back to make shure that the settings that I'm going to use will not burn out or damage my fans. And again thanks for all the help.

     

    So the iMac Defaults are the following: ODD:1000 HDD:1100 CPU:1200.

    Now the settings that i made myshelf are the following:

    1. Minim -

    ODD 1150

    HDD 1250

    CPU 1350

     

    2. Minim

    ODD 1210

    HDD 1345

    CPU 1410

     

    3.Hotter

    ODD 1310

    HDD 1450

    CPU 1492

     

    4.Hotter +

    ODD 1425

    HDD 1525

    CPU 1555

     

    5. Intensive

    ODD 1520

    HDD 1650

    CPU 1750

     

    Just as Wzzz sed info about smcFan is hard to find glad i had this thread to help me out so I'm requesting help one more time.

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Jan 10, 2012 2:19 PM in response to R Tweaky
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 10, 2012 2:19 PM in response to R Tweaky

    Those look like nice small steps. Just run the fans at the minimum needed to keep things reasonably cool. Sometimes in the winter I run at the defaults, then after a while I might or might not bump them up a little. You'll see. It's trial and error. This isn't all that critical.

  • by R Tweaky,

    R Tweaky R Tweaky Jan 18, 2012 9:44 AM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2012 9:44 AM in response to WZZZ

    Hey WZZZ i noticed that after a while of using these settings the Hotter+ one and the Hotter keeps the temps low and i would like to use those mostly what do you think about that should i worry about my fans motor ?

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Jan 18, 2012 10:04 AM in response to R Tweaky
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 18, 2012 10:04 AM in response to R Tweaky

    How low is low? Might be overkill. You have to live with some heat.

  • by R Tweaky,

    R Tweaky R Tweaky Jan 18, 2012 10:42 AM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2012 10:42 AM in response to WZZZ

    Sorry for the late reply i was away. So my hdd sits at 44 wich im happy with and nothing goes above 52.

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Jan 18, 2012 11:58 AM in response to R Tweaky
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 18, 2012 11:58 AM in response to R Tweaky

    I really have no way to answer this with any certainty. Doing so would entail having statistics that correlate breadowns of fan motors with fan speeds, and at which point increased fan speeds reduce the longevity of the fan motors. (I have a window fan with a very basic shaft bearing I use in the summer that's over 40 years old and I think its longevity is due to having run it for a good deal of its life at reduced speeds, using a variable speed control to which it is plugged in. That and oiling it regularly. If it were easy to get in and lubricate and clean the iMac fans, that would be ideal. But it's not.) 

     

    I don't want to mislead you: I may appear to be the "resident expert" on using smcFan, but I'm really not. Although I'm fairly satisfied that one is better off using it than not, I have no real hard evidence even to  prove that one is better off using it than relying on the native fan program. As for which exact set of speeds will produce the best results, I'm in no better position to know that than you. The bottom line is to use the minimum fan speeds that will produce reasonable cooling. The drive at 44C is fine, but if it were to go several degrees higher, it wouldn't be the end of the world either.

     

    Running a small fan at the back of the case, as I suggested, can keep things cooler and reduce the need to speed up the internal fans.

  • by R Tweaky,

    R Tweaky R Tweaky Jan 18, 2012 11:59 AM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2012 11:59 AM in response to WZZZ

    Thanks a lot .

  • by somanna,

    somanna somanna Jul 7, 2012 4:18 PM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (114 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 7, 2012 4:18 PM in response to WZZZ

    How does one put the display to sleep in LION? I mean what are the shortcut keys to get this done?

     

    I have an USB powered cooling pad which has a fan at its center. It serves to cool down the laptop which is placed upon it. Is there any way by which the cooling function of this cooling pad be utilised for cooling my Mac...by keeping it against the top left [BTW thanks for giving this information as to where to expect higher temperatures] of the Mac?

     

    I have been greatly helped by the information which has been shared on this thread and many thanks for the same.

     

    DR.SOMANNA

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Jul 7, 2012 4:51 PM in response to somanna
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 7, 2012 4:51 PM in response to somanna

    I don't know about Lion, but on Snow Leopard, which is what I use, to sleep the display try Shift-Control-Eject. Should probably work in Lion also.

     

    I don't see a laptop cooling fan for this. I think you already saw what I use. The entire aluminum back of the iMac acts as a kind of heatsink, so keeping that cooled down as much as possible can help.

  • by somanna,

    somanna somanna Jul 8, 2012 5:28 PM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (114 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2012 5:28 PM in response to WZZZ

    Just checked out and found that Shift-Control-Eject works the same way in Lion as it does in Snow Leopard.

     

    By smcFan, do you mean the fan as shown in the pic you had sent?

     

    Thanks a lot for your help.

     

    Take care. Regards. Have a nice day.

     

    DR.SOMANNA

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Jul 8, 2012 5:35 PM in response to somanna
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2012 5:35 PM in response to somanna

    No, that's smcFanControl, which is a program that allows you to speed up the Mac's fans.

     

    http://www.eidac.de/

     

    Again, the threads I linked to in your original thread, including this one, have my posts on using it.

  • by somanna,

    somanna somanna Jul 8, 2012 9:39 PM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (114 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2012 9:39 PM in response to WZZZ

    Thanks for this information. Is this a free download?

     

    BTW is there a similar shortcut for putting the Mac to sleep?

     

    DR.SOMANNA

  • by somanna,

    somanna somanna Jul 8, 2012 9:51 PM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (114 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2012 9:51 PM in response to WZZZ

    Thanks for this information. Is this a free download?

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