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Mac Mini Overheating Problem

Hello everyone!

I have a Mac Mini that I bought in October 2009 and it's suffering from overheating. I am using Temperature Monitor to see the temperatures reached by different components. For example, the temperatures that the Mac reaches under normal load (browser, messaging and mail) are:
CPU A heatsink: 51 C
CPU A Temperature Diode: 53 C
CPU Core 1: 38 - 40 C
CPU Core 2: 38 - 40 C
HDD Bay 1: 45 C
Northbridge Position One: 54 C
Smart HDD Hitachi (Fujitsu at work): 48 - 56 C
Wireless module: 54 - 60 C

Now my biggest concern is the temperature of the HDD which is way too big (even when using the Mac on normal load doing nothing fancy)!!! I've tested today the Mac Mini that I have at work and it's the same story. Running the HDD at this temperature will cause it to fail very quickly. I've tested the temperature that the HDD from my laptop gets and it is 38 - 40 C.
What to do about this? What temperature readings do you guys get? How to cool down the HDD?

Thank you for your help.
Cocan Lucian.

Intel Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Intel Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, 2 Gb DDR3, 320 GB Hitachi HDD

Posted on Jan 4, 2010 12:57 AM

Reply
16 replies

Jan 6, 2010 8:52 AM in response to Cocan Lucian

These are the temps in C on my early 2009 Mini as reported by iStat Pro:

Internal HD: 52
CPU: 56
CPU Heatsink: 57
Airport card: 62
HD Bay: 52
Northbridge: 65

Mini is running 10.6.2, 4GB RAM, and is on 24hrs on the desktop, in a non-airconditioned room, in Hawaii, with a atmospheric temp high of about 25C. The Mini does not go to sleep, just spin down HDs. I have no crashing and no other issues. So this is about as good of an indicator of normal idle temperatures of the Mini.

In fact, the Mini is also sitting on top of an external CD-RW drive, so that should in theory add additional heat to the Mini. But 50 degree temps do not appear to be an issue.

So in your case, if you have multiple machine experiencing the same behavior, you may want to see what else in common they have. (i.e.: same software on both, both on same electrical circuit, etc.) On one of the machines, remove the program(s) or move it to a different outlet in a different room, etc.

Feb 19, 2010 7:44 PM in response to Cocan Lucian

Based on other posts, my CPU and CPU Heatsink are very hight, 20-30-degrees C higher than others (other parameters the same)

This is a late 2009 model, purchased three months ago.

But it gives me no problems at all.

!?


Internal HD: 52 C
CPU: 87 C
CPU Heatsink 78 C
Airport card: 61 C
HD Bay: 52 C
Northbridge: 64 C


Should I be worried?
(I don't feel like being worried but, like, am I suppose to return it or something?)

Mar 1, 2010 8:54 AM in response to Dakota

Re: Big temperature drop.

I worried my temp was too high, based on what I've read here and elsewhere -- although there were no problems with the computer. I'm just using the widget "Stat Pro." Fan readings are running at around 1500± rpm.

But now my CPU and CPU heatsink are ±50-degrees C.

They were routinely 20-degress or more higher.

What did I do. I had put a small regular fan behind the Mac mini but i re-arranged it so it was blowing more directly onto the Mini and turned it up a notch (I was trying to avoid fan noise)

I also had previously tried to 'raise up,' the Mac Mini so some air could blow under it, but that was poorly done and in fact it was just resting on crumpled cardboard.

With these two rearrangements and the fan at a higher setting, my temps now seem in the normal range.

Mar 1, 2010 11:43 PM in response to 60wpm

I am in Northern Thailand and the day temp's have been running at high's of 37º C (hot winter). Still have not been running the air, so inside temp's maybe high of 31º C.

I have a ceiling fan running but nothing else and the Mini sits on a desk table a few inches from the wall. Its 2PM here and all temps on Mini are 55 to 61 fan at 1502 rpm.

Mar 3, 2010 12:27 PM in response to Cocan Lucian

You shouldn't worry about these temps.
Keeping the CPU cool isn't necessary. If the CPU is operated within the temperature spec it will generally last longer than other parts in the system. If you manually increase the fan speed to keep the CPU cooler then the the fan will probably fail first. Do you hear a lot about Apple computers with dead CPUs? I don't. We generally discard systems before the CPU fails.
As for the disk, it seems to be a myth that operating modern disks at higher temperatures is bad for them. A case study done at Google, and they have a LOT of disks, says that high temps are not a problem:
labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf
A friend in the disk drive industry says that manufacturers agree.

But, if it makes you feel better to keep your stuff cooler -- then by all means do it.
Keeping it cool won't hurt it.

So what are the temperature limits?
First if you are using smcFanControl, the temp it reports is not good for deciding if you are in trouble. It reports an on-CPU diode which is always a LOT higher than the actual CPU core temp. At the moment my Mini is cranking and the diode temp is 15 C. higher than the core temp.
To get a better picture of your temps you can download:
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html

The CPU in my early-2009 Mini, a P7350, has a Tcase spec of 90 degrees C. That is the maximum operating temperature of the CPU case at the geometric center. The core temp limit will generally be a fair bit higher than that, I hear at least 5 C, but I can't find that a core temp (which is probably Tjunction Max) in the Intel specs. The default fan control algorithm for my Mini seems to try to keep the CPU core temperatures at or below 80 C. It doesn't speed the fan up from the default 1500 RPM until the temp gets nearly that high.

The late-2009 2.53 GHz CPU is supposedly a P8700 which has a Tcase spec of 105.

The disk in my Mini, a 320 GB WD Caviar Black , has an operating temp range of 0° C to 60° C.

Mar 10, 2010 9:10 AM in response to charlie_price

charlie_price -- I appreciated your info and the link to what appears to be a nice freebie tool to monitor temps.

I always wonders if perhaps the IStat widget wasn't so accurate -- but as far as startup, today, I get the same readings; and it's nice to have them confirmed.

My startup readings are exactly like the post immediately above (thank you, too for your info).

With my rearranged Mini and regular fan no temps now get over the 60's.

I do leave the computer all all day; got two monitors; but from what I've read hear I don't think there is anything to worry about.

Just stay cool.

Apr 16, 2010 10:08 PM in response to 60wpm

I got the freebie program (mentioned above).

One big piece of significant info was this software indicated the upper limit for heat of CPU's was 105-degrees C.

Pretty hot.

My CPU temp now stays in the 50's -- I keep the fan on. Only when I left a chess game on 'Anaylsis,' did it really heat up, up to 84-degrees C.

So...I control that 'Anaylsis,' now, not leaving it on for hours and hours.

Mac Mini Overheating Problem

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