Constant fan noise on 2017 iMac even at rest

Hi Everyone..

this issues has plagued me for weeks and i've finally swapped and upgraded my machine.

I'll cut to the chase.

If you want a quiet 2017 imac you need the following

SSD Hard drive (fusion drive was like going back 1998 for me - 7200rpm drilling through my desk)

Maximum Ram no less : 64GB

ANY model will do. It's not about the Processor speed.

Forget fusion drives, forget trying to run it even in idle with 8gb of RAM, the machine runs fan to cope with added processing and file swapping.

Unless its running like a vacuum cleaner.. SSD reset will do nothing.

Cheers

99.9% of the users out there need no-where near 64GB of RAM. In most cases 8-12GB is fine and 16GB great. 64 GB of RAM would only be used by professionaly that are using their iMacs for professional video production or music production or some other VERY heavy duty graphics app. They would also need to be working with VERY VERY large files to need that much RAM, I'm talking 100GB +at a time.

In addition for many typical users a Fusion drive is fine if they are doing the basics such as e-mail, surfing the web, some home photographs, maybe a little fun with Garageband etc... For those that insist on the fastest and most reliable then use a SSD is necessary.

Good clarification. Don't go out and spend a fortune if you don't need to. But if you need silent, (like me in a studio) it seems the more ram you stick in, the less the fan spins. I can only theorise why, but it certainly was the case for me even though i dont need 64gb it was worth it for the noise floor payoff. 🙂

So you popped in 64GB RAM but running a Fusion Drive?

Also what are the specs to your computer?

I have tried 32gb and 16gb with Fusion and exporting Photographs in lightroom was a Disaster (The Fan was SUPER loud).

onlyse wrote:

So you popped in 64GB RAM but running a Fusion Drive?

Also what are the specs to your computer?

I have tried 32gb and 16gb with Fusion and exporting Photographs in lightroom was a Disaster (The Fan was SUPER loud).

You almost certainly have other issue, an iMac with 32GB of RAM should run quickly. Please follow the directions below.

Please post an EtreCheck report of your system and we can look for any obvious issues. Please click the link, download and run the app and then post the complete report it produces as your reply to this message.

No, replaced it with iMac with ssd. Fusion drive was noisiest component by far, also seemed to heat up computer so fan kicked in earlier when rendering. In my humble opinion, fusion drive all round bad.

I originally bought the 2017 iMac with the core i5 3.8 Mghz 2 Tb fusion drive, had no issues worked great for video rendering and editing photos. 3 days in of owning this, I got greedy and I decided to return the iMac to upgrade to the core i7 iMac thinking this will last me much longer and render even faster than i5. The core i7 Mac took 10 days to make because of special order. Long story short, the i7 ran slower, had issues rendering and editing photos, random glitches on screen. I even went ahead and upgraded to 32gb of ram. My 2013 MacBook edited photos better and smoother than the 2017 i7 4.2 mghz imac. Just took it into the Apple store for an appointment I had. Issues could not be fixed, many people agreed this machine has had many issues and not worth purchasing due to all the issues. Even the workers believe apple messed up somewhere with the i7 iMac. I wish mine worked because I have so much work to do and now I’m behind scheduled because I relied on the machine that it would work. And that’s my horror store :(

Also wanted to add, i added 1 photo to the photos app in the iMac to edit, the fan came on and was very loud for just a simple retouch of a small line in the picture. My older iMac (2013) was able to do the editing job better and faster and with no fans to come on loud.

Apple messed up the i7 core iMAC. Probably release a new line next year to make up for their mistake. Rest assured i wont be purchasing an iMAC again. I am looking at purchasing a 2013 MAC PRO, 6core, 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, D500 - $4k

@Burgerb: Was watching a short video when the exhaust fan kicked-on and stayed on for a good 15 minutes. Only went off after I quit watching the movie. Makes no sense that a basic movie should trigger exhaust fan. Also, SSD made no difference for me on this configuration: 1TB SSD/4.2/16RAM/i7/580. Was wondering if I should return it. Don't really trust Apple explanations anymore after the whole forced slow down of iPhones: I went to the store at least 4 times and they tried convincing me that the crashing and slow down were from my apps and not the phone battery.

Thanks. I’ve begun the return process. I did not spot the issue in my research prior to buying. Apple has abused my trust with its surreptitious iPhone slowdown. I’ll try keeping Mac Mini SSD instead of selling it.

Yeah, I think I'm now reaching that conclusion too. My new iMac's fan is hardly under stress and obviously running at its nominal speed, always, whether I have 4 apps open or none. In fact the slight air rushing noise from the rear vent didn't really bother me - until I read that other users had totally silent iMacs.

Nick2Bob wrote:

I originally bought the 2017 iMac with the core i5 3.8 Mghz 2 Tb fusion drive, had no issues worked great for video rendering and editing photos. 3 days in of owning this, I got greedy and I decided to return the iMac to upgrade to the core i7 iMac thinking this will last me much longer and render even faster than i5. The core i7 Mac took 10 days to make because of special order. Long story short, the i7 ran slower, had issues rendering and editing photos, random glitches on screen. I even went ahead and upgraded to 32gb of ram. My 2013 MacBook edited photos better and smoother than the 2017 i7 4.2 mghz imac. Just took it into the Apple store for an appointment I had. Issues could not be fixed, many people agreed this machine has had many issues and not worth purchasing due to all the issues. Even the workers believe apple messed up somewhere with the i7 iMac. I wish mine worked because I have so much work to do and now I’m behind scheduled because I relied on the machine that it would work. And that’s my horror store 😟

Don't put up with it. Simple!

You pay top dollar for a Mac. Make Apple fix it. Do not take any excuses.

Escalate the issue until they fix it or replace it.

Most of these problems are due to (there is no other word for it) the stupid decision to make iMacs too thin and with no vent at the top of the case. This has been a long standing issue and was particularly bad in the white polycarbonate models. Apple never owned up to the problem and persisted with the same bad design, only I believe lately even worse.

You have a warranty. Exercise it and check your consumer rights. Even if you are in the USA, where consumers are mostly at the mercy of corporations, you still have rights. Apply them. If you are in the EEC, Australia or NZ your rights are clearly defined under law. Apple must make good your purchase, replace it or give you your money back.

Peter

I have a brand new, refurbished, 4.2ghz i7 with 2 TB SSD w/ 16G of Ram and yes the fan runs all the time. I have had Apple computers since the Apple 2+ and most have been great. I have to say I am disappointed in this model and to hear so many people have the same issue. Not a good thing for the "top of the line" iMac, excluding the new pro version.

Shame is I just ordered more RAM but may return the computer myself too!

Running Activity monitor shows only a small part of the RAM is being used and even 20% of the CPU is running but the fan is pretty loud. I did not have this with my 2015 model i7. I think I was better off with that one. It did have some occasional fan noise but nothing like this new 2017 version.

UPDATE--- Possible "fix"

So I went way above and way beyond an Apple Genius... I went to my 18 y.o. son! and I think he may have a solution or fix. There is a program called "Mac Fan Control."I did the SMC thing and it rebooted with the fan going right from the start. I was ready to return the unit, when my son walked by and I told him. Daniel.. get's the credit. This program running on "Based on Ambient" seems to prevent most of the fan noise. I ran the following programs: activity monitor showing "coreservicesd" at 48-94% of CPU as I had a lot of programs running: duplicates application running while Photoshop open, while messenger, keynote, iTunes, Canvas, iPhoto, Excel, Word, and about 2 more. My Ram used was only about 13 GB. On "Auto" mode the fan got up to about 2800 RPM immediately and was VERY loud. On the "Based on Ambient" setting with the 3 preferences checked off, the fan speed kept generally less than 1900RPM and minimally audible. Below 1600 it's barely audible to those trying to hear something you can but not much.

Try this app and I FULLY SUGGEST YOU PAY THE people who made the application THE $14. You would have spent 5 x's that amount in time and frustration and gas to return your iMac. Thanks Daniel for pointing me in the right direction!, love dad PS feel free to pay Daniel too (college $ ) lol