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Cooling solutions for the Mac minis?
- Thread starter GoodGuy12345
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I bought the Speed Designs Base for my 18-i7/32/500. My Mini was regularly pushing over 100c. Because I can't leave anything alone. I replaced the fan on the base with a Noctua NF-A8 5V PVW. Control it with a NA-FC1 and new filter. Had to cut a hole in my cabinet to accommodate thicker fan and filter.
Ran some tests. Post some Screen shots of System Idol, Test and Rig
Macs Fan Control set to "Auto". Intel Power Gadget CPU set to "All Tread Frequency" and Intel Graphics Tests set to "Maximum Frequency". Ran this for 30 minutes then a screen shot below. IPG test mode pushes the Mini pretty hard. I hovers around 90c. Pushing Macs Fan Control to a custom setting like 4000rpm will cut 3 or 5 more degrees off the test.
More info for the discourse
rig
View attachment 892968
Idle
View attachment 892969
test
View attachment 892970
Ran some tests. Post some Screen shots of System Idol, Test and Rig
Macs Fan Control set to "Auto". Intel Power Gadget CPU set to "All Tread Frequency" and Intel Graphics Tests set to "Maximum Frequency". Ran this for 30 minutes then a screen shot below. IPG test mode pushes the Mini pretty hard. I hovers around 90c. Pushing Macs Fan Control to a custom setting like 4000rpm will cut 3 or 5 more degrees off the test.
More info for the discourse
rig
View attachment 892968
Idle
View attachment 892969
test
View attachment 892970
Thanks for this.
It's got me thinking of a project to build a case / housing for the fan and controller but keeping the unit on its side so as to take up less room. I'll be using the Noctua 5v 4pin 80mm fan that has a USB adapter.
I am impressed that your system is running at 100% CPU without the internal fan at max!
May I ask what the fan speed is on that speed system? The AC infinity fan I tried just didn't seem to move enough air for it to work well enough.
I've built a case that uses a large silent fan to draw in air to the open base. On the other side there is a large slab of aluminium. I used heatsink tape on the aluminium so it has a good contact to the top of the mini but can easily be reversed without damage. There's also a rail and stopper to slide it in and stop it from going out the other side. There's a switch to increase the speed of the fan that plus into one of the USB ports. I shaped the wood so it was easy to access the on switch on the Mac mini as well. The fan is rarely on full speed.
Originally I was going to add a heatsink fan to the aluminium but as the item rarely goes over 50-60c even when using large photoshop files... and maxes out at 90c when exporting large 4k motion graphics I've Neve bothered. The normal running temp in winter is 29-31c and in summer it's been 35-38c under normal use.
The pics are a bit rushed as I just snapped them now to give you and idea of what I've done. Hope there useful.
Attachments
Wow thats creative! I wouldn't be as much, so was just thinking that if I bought a piece of lets say 1cm thick aluminium plate in 30x30 or 50x50 to just put on top, then it would end up in lower fan-noise?
I'd imagine, if the mini is standing free (level not on end) and elevated off the floor and with a nice large heatsink fan attached to it with heatsink tape for good contact then it should help. The top of the mini does get warm so any active cooling will help. The fan on the open base (with no cover) just helps to remove the build up of warm air. The combination of course works best. Try just adding the heatsink first and run benchmarking software to see how quickly the temperatures rise etc and whether the mini maintains max power using Intels free power gadget app. If it handles that well then it should handle most things.
Edit - The heatsink fan would attach to the aluminium plate and I think you can get adapters to convert the power cord to usb so the mini can power it itself.
Has anyone tried removing the innards from the mac mini case completely, and maybe adding a different heatsink/fan assembly? Could one replace the current heat sink with a liquid cooler for example, or would it just not work if dismantled due to sensors etc?
Here is another option.
www.speed-designs.com
SPEED Mini Cooling Base | SPEED Designs
The ultimate cooling solution for your Mac mini. Keep your Mac mini cool with your heaviest video editing and business demands.
www.speed-designs.com
Is it available in Space Grey, yet?Here is another option.
SPEED Mini Cooling Base | SPEED Designs
The ultimate cooling solution for your Mac mini. Keep your Mac mini cool with your heaviest video editing and business demands.
Been awhile since I posted here.
The Speed cooling base has been working well for me. Small price to pay for a good investment. Keeps the Mac mini cool (not even warm) and doesn't look out of place on my desk compared to DIY solutions.
I don't know if you guys are willing to stomach the price, but it's worth it if you want something professionally made.
The Speed cooling base has been working well for me. Small price to pay for a good investment. Keeps the Mac mini cool (not even warm) and doesn't look out of place on my desk compared to DIY solutions.
I don't know if you guys are willing to stomach the price, but it's worth it if you want something professionally made.
re: fan control
We do not purchase Macs that can not run El Capitan or Sierra for our office since we have so many 32 bit programs which would be cost prohibitive to re-purchase OR are no longer supported by the developer in 64 bit.
We also find Apple seems to want users to buy new machines with great frequency since one can not easily replace a failed drive that is soldered in, batteries that are glued in or may need a new machine as the old one overheated.
One such case in point is SMC Fan Control (32 bit only) which users say has saved their Mac by being able to set the temp at which the internal fan comes on. Other users too have complained as such program does not work w/ the latest 64bit Operating Systems.
Perhaps for those whom want the latest greatest machine that only runs 64 bit programs there is a similar fan control program out there. If not, then placing the Mini on its side in a well ventilated location should give it some relief.
We do not purchase Macs that can not run El Capitan or Sierra for our office since we have so many 32 bit programs which would be cost prohibitive to re-purchase OR are no longer supported by the developer in 64 bit.
We also find Apple seems to want users to buy new machines with great frequency since one can not easily replace a failed drive that is soldered in, batteries that are glued in or may need a new machine as the old one overheated.
One such case in point is SMC Fan Control (32 bit only) which users say has saved their Mac by being able to set the temp at which the internal fan comes on. Other users too have complained as such program does not work w/ the latest 64bit Operating Systems.
Perhaps for those whom want the latest greatest machine that only runs 64 bit programs there is a similar fan control program out there. If not, then placing the Mini on its side in a well ventilated location should give it some relief.
Do you have to remove the plastic cover from the bottom of the mini to use this SPEED Base?
I also have thousands of dollars worth of legacy software that I can't afford to replace in one shot. However, my plan is to upgrade to a fully-loaded i7 Mini and try running Sierra in Parallels to continue using the old software. No idea how well that will work, but I'm going to give it a try. Worst case, I still have my 2012 quad Mini, 2013 MacBook Air, two 2014 Mini's and even a 2008 MacBook Pro, so I'm pretty well covered if I need to use my old software.
From everything I have seen and read, yes, the product is designed to have the bottom of the mini removed. I will let you know for sure, since I bought two on Friday. I plan to add some sort of filtering material to the outside of the fan to keep the dust intake down.
I have mine sitting on it's side with bottom cover removed, also re-pasted with MX-4. My Cinebench R20 average score is 2989 (4 tests, 2 minutes between each test). I did not look at temps or fan speeds.
ETA: 6-core i7, 64GB RAM
ETA: 6-core i7, 64GB RAM
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