12" PB users help me out... temperature question

[TheT]

I own a 1.33 GHz 12" Powerbook SuperDrive model with the NVidia FX Go5200 chipset. The problem is that it gets hot really quick, even if I don't do anything special. Of course the fans are really annoying, so I checked what was causing the heat. Using Temperature Monitor (Freeware, Link takes you directly to the download), I figured out that the hottest part by far is my graphic processor. With a few standard apps running (Activity Monitor, Mail, Adium, Safari, iTunes), it's always about 60°C/140°F hot! And I don't do anything that would require great graphics, all the apps are most of the time hidden. Right now, that fans are going crazy, and I really don't know why the graphic card works hard (at 59,5°C) when I'm writing text to a browser window.
If you are the proud owner of a 12" PowerBook, please download this little app and share your temperatures and experiences with the fan behaviour!

 

[TheT]

Screenshot

The "special" things (Booting, iTunes Visualizer) are marked; the CPU worked hard once because I encoded some AACs. Besides that, I was just browsing the web and/or listening to music...

 

[TheT]

Anyone? Please? Even numbers from comparable 15" PowerBooks would help... I just don't want to get a new logic board for nothing!

 

[Gwendolyn]

I have the 1.5 GHz 12" PB. I downloaded the Temperature Monitor and ran the same apps you listed (except I don't have Adium, so I ran Fire instead). Safari and Mail have been running all morning, and the others have been running less than 5 minutes. Here are my numbers at the moment, all in degrees Celsius: Battery-33.0, Processor Topside-43.5, Graphics Processor Die-50.0, Hard Disk Drive Bottomside-44.5, SMART Disk Toshiba-40.0. My laptop generally feels warm on the bottom, but not hot--unless I'm charging from near-empty, in which case it does get hot quite fast. I hope this helps--let me know if there is anything else I can do.

Edit: You may also find this thread to be relevant.

 

[wwooden]

I had the same problem, I could leave my computer on with nothing going and the fans would turn on after 10 minutes. I tried my sisters new power adapter and now the fans never turn on, it amazed me every time.

 

[TDM21]

I've got a 12" PB Rev C, but I got the combo drive and upgraded the hard drive. I run the program ThermographX which works the same as Temperature Monitor. I let me PB set all night running and just checked the temps. My GPU is at 58° Celcius. I consider that number normal. Thermograph will tell you the theshold temperature of the device. The GPU is rated at 107°C. Of course you never want to get the temperature that high, but I have managed to reach 92°C with Doom3.

Prop the back of the PB on a thick book to allow air to get underneath. That's what I do. Also if you are not going to do anything very intensive, set the Processor Performance to Reduced. That setting is under System Prefrences, Enery Settings, Options.

 

[TheT]

I have the 1.5 GHz 12" PB. I downloaded the Temperature Monitor and ran the same apps you listed (except I don't have Adium, so I ran Fire instead). Safari and Mail have been running all morning, and the others have been running less than 5 minutes. Here are my numbers at the moment, all in degrees Celsius: Battery-33.0, Processor Topside-43.5, Graphics Processor Die-50.0, Hard Disk Drive Bottomside-44.5, SMART Disk Toshiba-40.0. My laptop generally feels warm on the bottom, but not hot--unless I'm charging from near-empty, in which case it does get hot quite fast. I hope this helps--let me know if there is anything else I can do.

Edit: You may also find this thread to be relevant.

Thanks for helping me out! Since you have a 15" PB, I assume your fans don't start up that often?

I actually use an iBreeze at home, that helps a lot... but those spinning fans at work always bug me...

 

[TheT]

I had the same problem, I could leave my computer on with nothing going and the fans would turn on after 10 minutes. I tried my sisters new power adapter and now the fans never turn on, it amazed me every time.

Which power adapter does she use? 45 or 65 watts (I think 45 is the ones that only come with 12" models and 65 are the ones that come with all the other ones and that you can buy seperately).
I use a 65 watt one at work, but I've never seen a difference at home... I'll pay closer attention to that

 

[TheT]

I've got a 12" PB Rev C, but I got the combo drive and upgraded the hard drive. I run the program ThermographX which works the same as Temperature Monitor. I let me PB set all night running and just checked the temps. My GPU is at 58° Celcius. I consider that number normal. Thermograph will tell you the theshold temperature of the device. The GPU is rated at 107°C. Of course you never want to get the temperature that high, but I have managed to reach 92°C with Doom3.

Prop the back of the PB on a thick book to allow air to get underneath. That's what I do. Also if you are not going to do anything very intensive, set the Processor Performance to Reduced. That setting is under System Prefrences, Enery Settings, Options.

Alright, so you're basically saying 58° is normal... at that temperature, do your fans start to spin up?

Oh, and I do use reduced processor mode, that doesn't help. It seems the CPU isn't the problem anyways, it's just the GPU getting way too hot.

 

[Gwendolyn]

Thanks for helping me out! Since you have a 15" PB, I assume your fans don't start up that often?

I actually use an iBreeze at home, that helps a lot... but those spinning fans at work always bug me...

It's a 12" PB, at 1.5 GHz, still running Panther. When the machine is running, I can slightly hear some air flowing in the back of it--but I'm not sure if it's the fans per se or just normal function noise. My only main point of comparison is an old Compaq laptop, and I am just pleased as punch that this is much quieter, and much cooler, than that was (not to mention lighter and smaller) I would say, though, that I don't find it being notably louder than my husband's 15" PB. Out of laziness, we regularly interchange power adapters, and have not noticed (or been watching for) any different behavior. The loudest component of my machine is the SuperDrive, when there's a disc in it, since it spins up on being awakened from sleep and on using the Finder, so I prefer not to leave a disc in it. I also try to avoid blocking the vents at the back of the machine, but I imagine that you would have started with that. Good luck!

 

[Balin64]

I have the same machine: with SuperDrive

Hey there. I downloaded temp monitor and ran it; I have my normal appa open: iTunes playing, Mail, Safari open, working in Illustartor with an image open in Photoshop. Here is the results in screenshot. The warmest is the graphics card. Teh processor is a cool (I think) 47 degrees. You mentioned that you had upgraded the HD. Could that be causing you problems? Is it a faster or just bigger drive?

 

[devilot]

I tried w/ my 12" pb

My pb is completely stock: 256 MB ram, 1.33 GHz... running safari, itunes, iPhoto, doodling in photoshop-- processor topside was around 40 deg. C, and the hottest area was the graphics processor at least 50 deg. C (I haven't been running ALL of those apps for very long though).

 

[TheT]

It's a 12" PB, at 1.5 GHz, still running Panther. When the machine is running, I can slightly hear some air flowing in the back of it--but I'm not sure if it's the fans per se or just normal function noise. My only main point of comparison is an old Compaq laptop, and I am just pleased as punch that this is much quieter, and much cooler, than that was (not to mention lighter and smaller) I would say, though, that I don't find it being notably louder than my husband's 15" PB. Out of laziness, we regularly interchange power adapters, and have not noticed (or been watching for) any different behavior. The loudest component of my machine is the SuperDrive, when there's a disc in it, since it spins up on being awakened from sleep and on using the Finder, so I prefer not to leave a disc in it. I also try to avoid blocking the vents at the back of the machine, but I imagine that you would have started with that. Good luck!

Oops, I misread your post... mixed up 1.5GHz with 15"

 

[TheT]

Hey there. I downloaded temp monitor and ran it; I have my normal appa open: iTunes playing, Mail, Safari open, working in Illustartor with an image open in Photoshop. Here is the results in screenshot. The warmest is the graphics card. Teh processor is a cool (I think) 47 degrees. You mentioned that you had upgraded the HD. Could that be causing you problems? Is it a faster or just bigger drive?

So no running fans for you? TDM21 has a HD-upgrade, I do not... But just for comparison: my co-worker has upgraded his stock 4200rpm drive with a 100GB 5400rmp one in his 17" PowerBook, and the fans start spinning more often now. But that's a different topic, since the 12" models suffer from a hot graphic card.

 

[wwooden]

I had a 45W power adapter that caused my fans to turn on all the time, now that i got a new 65W one, they never do, it's great.