24" 2.8 vs new 2.93 questions

[Mike in Kansas]

Are you sure about those? I've never had a computer run that cool. Both my Dell and this new iMac run around 40C (104F) just doing general stuff, and 70C (160F!) when they are pushed. I don't like that the fans didn't kick up, what app do you run to tweak your fans?

I'll need to watch mine closer (I've only had it 2 days) but I think the fans have always been at the numbers I posted a few posts up. Idle or 100%, I think they stayed the same.

Well, I'm only sure that those are the temperatures that iStat is reporting!

Right now my HDD has crept up to 108, my GPU 104, my optical drive 93 and my CPU is 90. Ambient temp at the computer reads 66, which sounds right as my thermostat at home is set on 67.

When I render in iMovie the CPU sometimes gets to 105 degF.

I use Fan Control for iMac to control my fans. It allows you to set minimum fan speed for each fan, the lowest temperature you want the fans to go faster than their minimum speed, and the highest temperature you would ever want to see. It will never allow them to go SLOWER than what the system is calling for. So in your case, you may not be able to make them go slower.

In the previous version of the iMac, most users were concerned that their machine ran too HOT and the fans turned too SLOW, so folks started installing these fan controls to speed them up. Perhaps Apple saw more component failures due to temps than they would have liked, so they upped the fan speeds. Or maybe the new processors, GPUs and DDR3 memory runs hotter. I don't know.

 

[randy98mtu]

Well, I'm only sure that those are the temperatures that iStat is reporting!

I use Fan Control for iMac to control my fans. It allows you to set minimum fan speed for each fan, the lowest temperature you want the fans to go faster than their minimum speed, and the highest temperature you would ever want to see. It will never allow them to go SLOWER than what the system is calling for. So in your case, you may not be able to make them go slower.

Thanks. I'll check out Fan Control. I don't mind my fans where they are (1200, 1600, 800) because I can't hear them. But I'd like them to step it up when my temps are increasing like they are.

 

[patricem]

not that it is horrible or anything. Sure isnt anywhere near as loud as my old pc, but not silent like my 2.8 was. I called the apple store, and both apple support. store said due to the larger processor, and other things the fans run differently, and said theirs at the store arent as quiet as previous models. Apple support guy really didnt have an answer either just noted the complaint and gave me a case number. Hmmm, you'd think I would've gotten a good explanation from one of the two..
I don't think I would let that make your decision for you. I may have gotten a bad one, or extra special edition lol. Or they may just have beefed up the fans in these newer ones with the 2.93 or 3.06. If they are supposed to be this way I won't complain, It's just that my powerbook, other imac's, have always been so silent. Only my old powermac g4 made fan noise.

I definitely definitely do not want fan noise. I have been suffering for years with this Emac G4 , the fans are atrocious. I am thinking of waiting a few more days to see if the previous generation 3.06 goes into clearance...seems likely that it will...or I will just pull the trigger on the 2.8. Thanks for reporting this and please update if you find out anything more. I wonder if there is a way to control the fans in this ol' emac? It's really awful.

 

[randy98mtu]

Having a full day at home finally to "play" on my new computer, I have a few more comments for those curious about the fans. I installed iMac Fan Control and have a few observations.

1 - It doesn't seem to be able to control the CPU fan. I dragged the slider for the fans and they all changed except the CPU fan.

2 - The optical drive fan used to run at 800. The lowest I can take it now is 1000.

Speed/Temp observations - I've been running at 100% for about 30 minutes now and here are the temps and fans:

CPU temp is at 63C, the fan is up to 1460 (it started at 1330)
The HD is at 47C and the fan is at 2400. I set the baseline at 1800.
The optical drive is at 42C and the fan is at 1200.

Even with the HD fan at 2400 I wouldn't call it loud. I can hear it, but it's not objectionable at all. Just a very soft hum. My old PC built with quality fans (although 5 years old) is considerably louder. I decided to push the HD fan just a bit to hopefully prolong the life.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

Speed/Temp observations - I've been running at 100% for about 30 minutes now and here are the temps and fans:

CPU temp is at 63C, the fan is up to 1460 (it started at 1330)
The HD is at 47C and the fan is at 2400. I set the baseline at 1800.
The optical drive is at 42C and the fan is at 1200.

Even with the HD fan at 2400 I wouldn't call it loud. I can hear it, but it's not objectionable at all. Just a very soft hum. My old PC built with quality fans (although 5 years old) is considerably louder. I decided to push the HD fan just a bit to hopefully prolong the life.

Wow, the new 2.93 runs a lot hotter than the old 2.8. My CPU runs around 35 degC - 40degC. My other temps are similar to yours.