Hard Drive Temperature in 50-53C range?

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Level 1

149 points

Hard Drive Temperature in 50-53C range?

Hello everyone!

I've been monitoring my iMac's HD temps using Temperature Monitor. When my iMac is busy (by busy, I mean browsing the internet, typing Word documents/making Keynote presentations or watching a DVD), HD temps can get into the 50-53 degrees Celsius range. The average would be around 51.5 C. I'm a little worried since my HD's maximum operating temperature is rated at 55 C. Are other users getting the same temperature?

20" iMac G5 (iSight) ; 14" iBook G4 1.2 GHz (with OS 10.3.9), Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Dec 15, 2005 6:45 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 15, 2005 7:27 AM in response to hihlordjp

yeah! me too. is make me worry too. anyone know it is normal or sthg wrong?

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Answer 2

Dec 15, 2005 7:31 AM in response to hihlordjp

Make sure that you are using the latest version temperature monitor. They had to be updated for the iSight.

20 iMac iSight G5, G4 and G3 iBooks, G4 MDD, 4th Gen iPod Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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Answer 3

hihlordjp Author

Level 1

149 points

Dec 15, 2005 7:58 AM in response to Computer Arts

Make sure that you are using the latest version
temperature monitor. They had to be updated for the
iSight.

20 iMac iSight
G5, G4 and G3 iBooks, G4 MDD, 4th Gen iPod Mac
OS X (10.4.3)

I'm using the new version of Temperature Monitor, v. 3.2 with support for the iMac (iSight) model.

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Answer 4

Dec 15, 2005 8:41 AM in response to hihlordjp

It might help if you mention which drive you have in your machine (160, 250 or 500G).

I find these temperatures interesting, however. I chose to have the 250G drive swapped out for a Western Digital Caviar 400 which is smaller and cooler and runs on less power. It is also very fast and has a 16 Mb buffer. My temperatures stay around 43 to 44°C range, never above 45°.

It is the Graphics Processor (50°+) and Memory Controller (70°+) that have me more concerned...

Griff

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Answer 5

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Dec 15, 2005 12:52 PM in response to hihlordjp

Low 50's C is actually pretty much standard for the HD temp in the iMac G5 Rev B (not sure about the iSight).

Many of the HD's used in the iMac G5's are actually rated to 60 degrees C (Maxtors etc). Which drive do you have? You can check using System Profiler.

Cheers

Rod

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Answer 6

Dec 15, 2005 4:44 PM in response to Merged Content 1

Griff:

I have the WDC-WD2500JC which is probably what you changed on yours. Using Hardware Monitor with the processor at the highest and the screen at its brightest, my HD temperature stays at about 46C. With mine, the NB temp. stays at about 74-75C. under normal operation. I don't know what NB means let alone NB Ambient which is at about 62C. I don't know if these values are normal or high. 75 seems high to me. Do you know what ODD temp., NB Ambient, NB Temp., GPU Ambient refers to and the temperature range for these sensors?

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Answer 7

Dec 15, 2005 5:49 PM in response to hihlordjp

My isight HD temp usually is around 47 to 48. At the moment CPU is 65.8. Highest is the NB Temp - 81 (not sure what the NB is??? or its "safe temp" range. Anyone know?

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Answer 8

Dave Stowe

Level 5

5,180 points

Dec 15, 2005 5:58 PM in response to Hawaiian_Starman

Did a little Googling and found one reference to NB standing for 'Northbridge chipset'

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/Northbridge.html

dave

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Answer 9

Dec 15, 2005 7:06 PM in response to Dave Stowe

I am wondering what you are using to read the temperatures in your iMac. I use Hardware Monitor and it doesn't have NB in my list. It lists:

CPU Temp
Graphics Processor Ambient Air
Graphics Processor Temp
Hard Disk Temp
Incoming Air Temp
Memory Controller Ambient Air
Memory Controller Temp
Optical Drive Temp
SMART Disk Temp
CPU 12 V Supply
CPU 12 V Current
CPU Fan Speed
Hard Drive Fan
Optical Drive Fan

No mention of NB Temp.

Griff

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Answer 10

Dave Stowe

Level 5

5,180 points

Dec 15, 2005 7:42 PM in response to Merged Content 1

Griff..I was just looking up some of the stuff Edward B. & Hawaiian_Starman were wondering about

I only have 3 values... CPU>HD>SMART..1st Gen iMac G5 here...Temp Monitor 2.3

dave

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Answer 11

Dec 15, 2005 9:17 PM in response to hihlordjp

T is perfectly normal!

I am presently ripping CDs downloading , and surfing the web. CPU temps are betwee 61 and 80C, hd between 52 and 53.5C, and smart status hd between 58 and 64C.

Jurgen

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Answer 12

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Dec 16, 2005 12:29 AM in response to Edward Boghosian

Edward, the "GPU Ambient" sounds like the local area temp for the Graphic Processor Unit. The others aren't familiar to me. Is this an English language system?

Cheers

Rod

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Answer 13

hihlordjp Author

Level 1

149 points

Dec 16, 2005 4:10 AM in response to hihlordjp

My iMac is equipped with a Western Digital Drive (250GB). I'm a little worried that the temps are within the range I mentioned...

As for NB/A, GP/A, those were what were displayed for the older version of Temperature Monitor, I believe. Those would be the Ambient temperatures of the Memory Controller and Graphics Processor, respectively. Another program called X Resource Graph still uses those name assignments.

Just for reference, my temperatures right now are:

CPU: 54.4 C
Graphics Processor Ambient Air: 58.8 C
Graphics Processor: 58.9 C
Hard Disk: 47.5 C (just got online and the value still hasn't refreshed...)
Incoming Air: 39.5 C
Memory Controller Ambient Air: 65.8 C
Memory Controller Temperature: 80.5 C
Optical Drive: 42.5 C

I set Temperature Monitor to probe the HD SMART sensors every 20 minutes...

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Answer 14

hihlordjp Author

Level 1

149 points

Dec 16, 2005 5:01 AM in response to hihlordjp

OK, after a few minutes of use, here's an updated list...

CPU Temperature: 58.3℃/136.9℉
Graphics Processor Ambient Air: 61.9℃/143.4℉
Graphics Processor Temperature: 61.8℃/143.2℉
Hard Disk Temperature: 51.5℃/124.7℉
Incoming Air Temperature: 41.0℃/105.8℉
Memory Controller Ambient Air: 68.2℃/154.8℉
Memory Controller Temperature: 83.0℃/181.4℉
Optical Drive Temperature: 46.0℃/114.8℉

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Answer 15

Dec 16, 2005 6:01 AM in response to Merged Content 1

I am wondering what you are using to read the
temperatures in your iMac. I use Hardware Monitor and
it doesn't have NB in my list. It lists:

Memory Controller Ambient Air
Memory Controller Temp

I believe the NB Ambient and Temp indicators (how they show up on my screen) are descriptions for the Memory Controller. Not sure why they are different.

The temp. of the memory controller is my highest reading. At this moment it's 73.1C - I've seen it as high as 84C. Perhaps having 2.5 gb of RAM produces the extra heat? I wonder what the "safe" temperature range is for the Controller? All of the other sensor temps are well within norm - at the moment my HD is 39.5 and CPU at 51 Incoming air is 25.5 My machine has been on for about 1 hour.

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