Temperature readings

I'll answer the posting questions...

First you embed pictures in a post by using the camera tool in the posting toolbar. You png did not appear although your link was valid.

No there is no preview.

Those are on the high side. Short term probably not that harmful, but long term they will be killing. In an ideal world a drive shouldn't get much above 45C. Your CPU temps aren't great either. You could bring them down by using smcFan Control and running a small fan at the back of the computer.

Here's my setup using a $10 clip-on fan mounted to a bracket on the wall behind the computer, to avoid vibration. The fan blades are about 6" from the back, and the fan is aimed at the the upper left, in particular, but covers most of the area of the back. I turn it off and on using a power cord inline switch to avoid wearing out the cheap switch on the fan itself. Even in summer, while the back may get warm, it never gets really hot to the touch.

I periodically open the fan up, clean the blades and lubricate the front and rear shafts with a light oil.

Here's a link to a thread with some posts of mine on using smcFan.

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

And some temps running smcFan. Note: Power Supply Position 2 will read lower than Postion 1, which is nearer the PS.

Yes, SMART DISK WDC (Western Digital) is the drive.

Just keep the fans at the minimum needed to keep things reasonably cool. You don't want to go overboard and burn them up. The fan at the back can help quite a bit too.

53°C is rather high, it shortens life considerably. Crank the fan up until below 35°C.

Personally I am not fond of the Bresink Temperature Monitor, and I prefer iStatPro (a -free- widget in Dashboard).

When you uninstall Temperature Monitor use a -free- app called FindAnyFile to find the numerous entries that Monitor leaves behind.

First, to address LexSchellings, Marcel Bresink's Temperature Monitor and Hardware Monitor, among other programs he's developed, are highly respected. Do not uninstall it. It is accurate and causes no problems. I have no idea why he is recommending you uninstall it.

I think you want to keep the drive well below 53C. Running the HD fan at or above 2K is OK short term, but if you keep doing that, that will probably cause premature failure. (That said, fans are a lot cheaper than drives or logic boards.) You could go higher, maybe just not as high as that. I'd aim for something in the neighborhood of 45- 47C.

I note that your screenshot shows fan speeds fror CPU, HDD and ODD along with upper and lower limits. I guess that my slightly older machine doesn't have sensors on the fans.

No, you have sensors on all your fans. That screenshot was from Hardware Monitor, which includes those while Temp Monitor (free) does not. smcFan should show you all three fan speeds. (I also have iStat Menus, which allows me to keep an eye on things all the time right from the menubar.)

Try running a fan at the back. The aluminum back of the iMac acts as a kind of heat sink. Running a fan there will help dissipate that heat more quickly and keep the hardware cooler.

Here's my setup using a $10 clip-on fan mounted to a bracket on the wall behind the computer, to avoid vibration. The fan blades are about 6" from the back, and the fan is aimed at the the upper left, in particular, but covers most of the area of the back. I turn it off and on using a power cord inline switch to avoid wearing out the cheap switch on the fan itself. Even in summer, while the back may get warm, it never gets really hot to the touch.

I periodically open the fan up, clean the blades and lubricate the front and rear shafts with a light oil.

If you scroll through this thread, I have screenshots and directions for using smcFan. Bear in mind that the default miniimum fan speeds for your computer will probably be different. Take that into account when establishing smcFan pre-sets.

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

Wzzz, I said "Personally I am not fond of...": I am well aware that it is not crapware and I did not say that. In general I do not like apps that stray entries all over the place without having a clean uninstaller that's all.

Secondly there are free apps/widgets that do the same.

So there is no disagreement between us, I think.

As for the temps: I agree that a fan is much cheaper than a mainboard (sic) or a diskdrive. I have a central computer here that runs day and night controlling processes, in which I try to keep the disks below 40°C and they run consitently around 35°C (but you can hear the fans). Running windows and temp controllers.

I agree completely with your advice given here.😝

Lex

In your first post, you gave no particular reason why you weren't fond of Temperature Monitor. Simply because it doesn't come with an uninstalller shouldn't give anyone reason to be unhappy. Lots of decent apps don't come with an uninstaller.

Saying "...when you uninstall Temperature Monitor..." as you did, seemed a fairly explicit suggestion that it should be uninstalled. I was responding mostly to that.

It is a free program.

I have both Hardware Monitor and iStat Menus. Both paid programs. I actually prefer the latter, since it can be run continuously (in Hardware Monitor the SMARTdrive temp bogs down and stops giving read outs after maybe ten minutes) and show results in a drop-down from the menubar.

😎