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Level 1

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iMac 27 - Temperatures Hardware

Hi,

I'm a bit concerned about the temperatures inside my new iMac 27" i5. Especially my hard drive (WD Caviar Black 1TB). After about 2 hours of normal computing it is 52 degrees celsius. Last night I imported 30-40 minutes of video to my iMac and the temperatures after that are

HD Macintosh 56
CPU 53
Ambient 22
GPU Diode 68
GPU Heatsink 67
Mem Controller 55
Optical drive 50
Power Supply 2 67

56 degrees Celisus on a HD is very much. According to WD the maximum working temperature for the harddrive is 60 degrees. I am uncomfortble close to that limit without even pushing the computer.

WDs own info:
Operating -0° C to 60° C
Non-operating -40° C to 70° C

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=488

And according to http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000748.html

"Hard drive temperature is arguably the most important temperature to monitor in your computer. If you regularly see temperatures of 45C or higher on your drive, consider improving airflow in your case. If you don't, you've substantially increased your risk of hard drive failure or data loss."

Should I be concerned?

iMac 27" i5, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Nov 18, 2009 10:55 PM

Best reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,976 points

Posted on Nov 18, 2009 11:42 PM

johanlindman,

Welcome to Apple Discussions.

Your temperatures should be OK, if your machine was in danger of overheating it will let you know and shut down.

If you are still concerned call Apple (the number is in your manual) and ask for advice.

Regards,

Roger

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33 replies

Dec 29, 2009 10:11 AM in response to HellFira

You should look in the System Profiler under Applications>Utilities...that is one way to get the info you are looking for.

Shimodax

Level 1

60 points

Dec 29, 2009 10:12 AM in response to Dave_Allen

Dave_Allen wrote:
Thanks for posting the link to the SMCFanControl Shimodax...I was looking for a link to this. I have noticed these high temperatures as well after running some heavy graphics games for a few hours, but everything seems to be working just fine. As temps rise, fan speed does as well, and I have experience no shutdowns. Nonetheless, for me it gives peace of mind to be able to monitor temps and adjust fan speed manually during period of intensive use, as I have seen HD temps plateau around 60-61 Celsius and my Power Supply 2 has been up around 160 Fahrenheit (wow, I could use my iMac as a slow cooker!)

I think the fact that it plateaus near the upper specs is an indication that the system works as designed. The SMC will be monitoring the HD temp and rev up the fans to keep it within the specs. The only worrysome event in my opinion would be if the max speed of the fans would not be sufficient to maintain a temp within the specs, but I can't remember ever having seen a fan running more than over 30% within the fan speed range.

I'm rather sure Apple is able to maintain spec temps for the other parts of the computer too.

myhighway

Level 5

7,270 points

Dec 29, 2009 10:23 AM in response to Shimodax

+The only worrysome event in my opinion would be if the max speed of the fans would not be sufficient to maintain a temp within the specs...+

Your iMac would then ditch half its processing power. If that didn't help to reduce temps, it'd shut down.

Shimodax

Level 1

60 points

Dec 29, 2009 10:26 AM in response to sparkie1984

sparkie1984 wrote:
my point though is, if its sitting close to its max temperature then that cant be good for it?

Each drive wears out eventually. They are inexpensive, easy to replace and backups are needed anyway, so personally I'm not worrying, but I've seen many failed hard drives, even in well cooled PCs, so I may have a different view.

Personally I see HDs like tyres in a car, a resource which is consumed by using it.

Shimodax

Level 1

60 points

Dec 29, 2009 10:31 AM in response to myhighway

myhighway wrote:
+The only worrysome event in my opinion would be if the max speed of the fans would not be sufficient to maintain a temp within the specs...+

Your iMac would then ditch half its processing power. If that didn't help to reduce temps, it'd shut down.

Yeah I know, but that would mean that the cooling management was not up to the task at hand (I mean generally, not in cases like a broken fan), which I would find worrysome.

myhighway

Level 5

7,270 points

Dec 29, 2009 10:47 AM in response to Shimodax

Yes, for our own sakes, we all hope that Apple avoids garbage in, garbage out.

Fortunately, there is some history to this, and we can see how close they operate to the edge - remember the G5 iMacs and how the backs were removable so we could swap out parts ourselves (because we would eventually need to do so)?

Close enough that they then ditched the Power PC line and replaced with Intel's willingness to design and provide "cooler" alongside "faster."

Message was edited by: myhighway

Dec 29, 2009 10:47 AM in response to Shimodax

i see your point mate 🙂

as ive said before im no expert was just thinking that maybe it wasnt that good for it, but as everyone seems to agree that its not really a problem so thats good enough for me

Shimodax

Level 1

60 points

Dec 29, 2009 10:59 AM in response to sparkie1984

sparkie1984 wrote:
i see your point mate 🙂

as ive said before im no expert was just thinking that maybe it wasnt that good for it, but as everyone seems to agree that its not really a problem so thats good enough for me

I'm not really an expert either, I'd rather see myself as merely being pragmatic.

Worrying takes the fun out of things. Maybe the temps in a compact machine like an iMac will shorten the lifetime of the HD a bit, but do does driving a Porsche with regards to tyres.

But seeing and using an iMac (or Macbook) is soo much nicer 🙂

Dec 29, 2009 11:04 AM in response to Shimodax

very true!!! maybe i should just enjoy this beast.......

if it packs up it packs up apple will look after me

Dec 29, 2009 11:20 AM in response to johanlindman

I may be wrong, but I think the temperature range stated in the specs, are for ambient temperatures that the drive is operating in, the actual temperature of the drive is not stated.
If your room is 60C, then you would probably be suffering just as much as your hard drive.

HellFira

Level 1

0 points

Dec 29, 2009 12:31 PM in response to Shimodax

Shimodax wrote:
@HellFira

The HD is in About this Mac, Details, Serial-ATA.

Northbridge is an Intel controller that manages parts of the mainboard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge_%28computing%29

Thanks,

I have found out it is a Seagate Barracuda® 7200.12 Desktop Hard Drives with same max temp of 60C as OP.

I am a little concerned with every new computer with temp since i have had one hard drive fail a number of years ago. But that was a philips pc and very badly design case when the CPU was hitting temps of 70C and hard drive around same.

Imac has been on for a number of hours now and it hasn't gone above 46C, will report back when i do some more labour intensive stuff.

HellFira

Level 1

0 points

Jan 1, 2010 10:55 AM in response to HellFira

48C has been my highest temp so far, that was after a heavy day of transferring 300+gb of stuff to HD and a room ambient temp of 22C.

Im feeling a bit reassured now, dont think it will run often above 50C on normal use. My next big test is when i spend a day on fm 2010.

Jan 1, 2010 8:39 PM in response to HellFira

Can someone tell me how to check the temp in the iMac 27. Thanks.

Whoooops! Should have searched first, but this will add to this post anyways! iStat Pro can be downloaded at this site:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html

Message was edited by: whiskey sour

Banzai88

Level 1

0 points

Jan 23, 2010 1:42 PM in response to Shimodax

Thanks for posting this about iStat. It set my mind at ease.

rwross

Level 1

5 points

Jan 23, 2010 8:28 PM in response to Banzai88

iMac's run hot when compared to component recommended specs.

Heck, the HDD fan doesn't even spool up at 55º and really doesn't get interested until both the bay and drive are above 60º.

I used to worry about this alot, so here's my advice for what it's worth.

Step 1: AppleCare
Step 2: Time Machine
Step 3: SuperDuper External Clone

If your drive fails, step one allows you to call Apple and have them come to your house to fix stuff. Many people don't realize this, but yes, AppleCare includes in-house repairs so long as their is an Apple authorized repair center w/in 50 mi

Step 2: Provides peace of mind that every file you might possibly need is still around somewhere

Step 3: Lets you keep on trucking, albeit at USB or Firewire speeds, until that Apple tech gets to your house.

so ends my two cents 😉

pax,
rwr

iMac 27 - Temperatures Hardware