harriska2
macrumors 68020
Isn’t that called a Mac Studio?
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Cooling solutions for the Mac minis?
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harriska2
macrumors 68020
My home office is in the basement and it's relatively cool down there and that could have some effect. We're air conditioned in the summer. My M1 Pro MacBook Pro is currently at 38 degrees and I'm in the living room.
George Dawes
Suspended
I'm currently using a late 2014 2.8 ghz i5 , it not only gets very hot but the hd spins and makes a right racket even when it's sleeping !!
One of the many reasons I'm upgrading to a M2 pro asap
One of the many reasons I'm upgrading to a M2 pro asap
My Mac mini fan connector is ripped off. Does anyone use only an external fan for Mac mini 2018 with removed an internal fan and without both the antenna plate and the bottom cover?
It's written on Svalt site, S/RxM cooling stands are the best for Mac Mini 2005-23+ no bottom.
But I'm afraid a strong airflow can blow or rip off anything else inside Mac mini. Svalt has several fans: G07, G09, G12, G14, B14 for their S/RxM cooling stands, and I don't know which one will be the best to substitute for the internal fan, especially to do long and intensive calculations. Maybe the best solution will be the fan which produce the CFM airflow at max RPM about the same as the internal Mac mini fan at maximum RPM.
What CFM airflow does the internal fan of Mac mini 2018 i7 produce at max RPM (about 4400 rpm ?), and what is its noise level at max RPM?
It's written on Svalt site, S/RxM cooling stands are the best for Mac Mini 2005-23+ no bottom.
But I'm afraid a strong airflow can blow or rip off anything else inside Mac mini. Svalt has several fans: G07, G09, G12, G14, B14 for their S/RxM cooling stands, and I don't know which one will be the best to substitute for the internal fan, especially to do long and intensive calculations. Maybe the best solution will be the fan which produce the CFM airflow at max RPM about the same as the internal Mac mini fan at maximum RPM.
What CFM airflow does the internal fan of Mac mini 2018 i7 produce at max RPM (about 4400 rpm ?), and what is its noise level at max RPM?
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Can anyone advise me what quiet cooling stand (not Svalt, please) can substitute the internal fan?
Last days I have tried to buy Svalt SxM overpriced cooling stand. They got money, then they wrote to me:
"Thank you for your order! I am reaching out to you because the fraud system flagged this order for fraud. Could you please answer the following questions,..." etc... I have answered on their questions. Then 3 of 6 their emails were not delivered to me at all. I wrote them several times. At last now I have got: "Your order has been canceled
Order #**** was canceled because of unforeseen circumstances and your payment has been voided."
Fortunately, I got my payment back.
But I still have a problem with my Mac mini, which has a non-repairable ripped fan connector. By the way, does anyone know how it's possible to run Mac mini without cooling stands and without internal fan? Always open bottom is not a solution, but I use it now.
Last days I have tried to buy Svalt SxM overpriced cooling stand. They got money, then they wrote to me:
"Thank you for your order! I am reaching out to you because the fraud system flagged this order for fraud. Could you please answer the following questions,..." etc... I have answered on their questions. Then 3 of 6 their emails were not delivered to me at all. I wrote them several times. At last now I have got: "Your order has been canceled
Order #**** was canceled because of unforeseen circumstances and your payment has been voided."
Fortunately, I got my payment back.
But I still have a problem with my Mac mini, which has a non-repairable ripped fan connector. By the way, does anyone know how it's possible to run Mac mini without cooling stands and without internal fan? Always open bottom is not a solution, but I use it now.
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Perhaps, you mean to apply liquid metal between the CPU die and the integrated heat spreader (IHS) or to use liquid metal between CPU's IHS and cooler.
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sauria
macrumors 6502
skodises
Contributor
Resurrecting an ancient thread with another data point, for those following along at home. I’m currently investigating the possibility of replacing (sigh) Ol’ Paint, the venerable 5,1 Pro described in my signature, with my wife’s now-retired 2018 8,1 i7 Mini 64Gb/256Gb. The rationale is simple: her old machine is here, it is paid for, it can run Sequoia without requiring OpenCore, it can run my Intel-based Windows VMs without the hassle of migrating to ARM, and most of all it dissipates about 1/10th of the energy needed to keep those 5,1 dual processors and all that memory (and all those spinners!) going.
I’m semi-retired as well, and my previous professional needs to maintain a completely insane compute environment for large EE-nerd simulations and the like are much relaxed from the past decades. My wife and I share a home office, and while it was nice to have all that waste heat for the frozen winter months, summer *is* coming. So, the question becomes: can I possibly live with an elderly Intel laptop processor, and more importantly, laptop cooling?
Dragged it out of storage, fired it up, updated to Sequoia- and found that it was consistently running over 95degC, with the fan screaming, when doing anything at all: it was throttling when drooling on the floor. It still had the factory thermal paste job, though, because she never really stressed it. So, today, I field-stripped it and replaced the factory goop with my Noctua TIM- and immediately got an 18-to-20degC improvement, now idling at 60degC. So, this could actually work for me: and the canonical advice to repaste the cooler periodically remains demonstrably correct.
I’m going to hack together an external cooling setup, and try that out for when I need to actually stress it. Something like a (140-200mm) Noctua low-speed fan, perhaps a 3D-printed fan mount/base, ditch the WiFi antenna and its mount plate since I’m hardwired, and force-feed that absurdly teensy squirrel-cage laptop blower externally.
At this point, this is a labor of lust, not a professional requirement, and I’m grateful for that. It’ll be better than sitting on the porch whittling figurines from barnwood, as a source of near-retirement amusement. But, as with all things vintage, it’ll also be *fun*.
Sorry, Ol’ Paint- but at long, long last, it may be time to limp into the 2020s with a slightly less obsolete processor rig (and perhaps sweat a little less). I’ll report back.
I’m semi-retired as well, and my previous professional needs to maintain a completely insane compute environment for large EE-nerd simulations and the like are much relaxed from the past decades. My wife and I share a home office, and while it was nice to have all that waste heat for the frozen winter months, summer *is* coming. So, the question becomes: can I possibly live with an elderly Intel laptop processor, and more importantly, laptop cooling?
Dragged it out of storage, fired it up, updated to Sequoia- and found that it was consistently running over 95degC, with the fan screaming, when doing anything at all: it was throttling when drooling on the floor. It still had the factory thermal paste job, though, because she never really stressed it. So, today, I field-stripped it and replaced the factory goop with my Noctua TIM- and immediately got an 18-to-20degC improvement, now idling at 60degC. So, this could actually work for me: and the canonical advice to repaste the cooler periodically remains demonstrably correct.
I’m going to hack together an external cooling setup, and try that out for when I need to actually stress it. Something like a (140-200mm) Noctua low-speed fan, perhaps a 3D-printed fan mount/base, ditch the WiFi antenna and its mount plate since I’m hardwired, and force-feed that absurdly teensy squirrel-cage laptop blower externally.
At this point, this is a labor of lust, not a professional requirement, and I’m grateful for that. It’ll be better than sitting on the porch whittling figurines from barnwood, as a source of near-retirement amusement. But, as with all things vintage, it’ll also be *fun*.
Sorry, Ol’ Paint- but at long, long last, it may be time to limp into the 2020s with a slightly less obsolete processor rig (and perhaps sweat a little less). I’ll report back.
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skodises
Contributor
Replying to my own post: this is amusing. I had always had Ol' Paint set up to never sleep, so I had no idea what sort of silliness Apple had been doing with their screensavers. The i7 Mini was still set up for defaults, so I realized this morning that it had gone to sleep with the default Sequoia animated redwood forest scene on my two 4K displays.
I was downright gobsmacked at how much power that wastes. Idling-but-awake, the machine dissipates ~8W on average. When that silly "screensaver" fires up, it burns ~45W average, all in the gfx hardware and RAM, and the fan must run at 3400rpm (using Macs Fan Control with a span of 65degC-99degC, on the PECI sensor)! This is madness: the CPU temp goes back up into the upper 80s, all while accomplishing nothing whatsoever. That is approximately one-third of its wide-open-loaded dissipation. The screen grab here from the Intel Power Gadget tells the tale: this is what happens to the power dissipation when you wake it up from its "sleep". Easy fix: no more sleep.
I realize that this is relatively trivial, in the cosmic scheme of things. But, part of the goal of this exercise was controlling power dissipation, and managing the resulting cooling needs. Going from burning ~750W with the 5,1 at idle to ~8W with the i7 was a large part of my intention, and I'm not inclined to give any of those gains back.
Without the fresh thermal paste job, the machine would have been running with the fan at max speed, CPU temp at 99degC, and serious throttling- with the screensaver. Good grief.
I was downright gobsmacked at how much power that wastes. Idling-but-awake, the machine dissipates ~8W on average. When that silly "screensaver" fires up, it burns ~45W average, all in the gfx hardware and RAM, and the fan must run at 3400rpm (using Macs Fan Control with a span of 65degC-99degC, on the PECI sensor)! This is madness: the CPU temp goes back up into the upper 80s, all while accomplishing nothing whatsoever. That is approximately one-third of its wide-open-loaded dissipation. The screen grab here from the Intel Power Gadget tells the tale: this is what happens to the power dissipation when you wake it up from its "sleep". Easy fix: no more sleep.
I realize that this is relatively trivial, in the cosmic scheme of things. But, part of the goal of this exercise was controlling power dissipation, and managing the resulting cooling needs. Going from burning ~750W with the 5,1 at idle to ~8W with the i7 was a large part of my intention, and I'm not inclined to give any of those gains back.
Without the fresh thermal paste job, the machine would have been running with the fan at max speed, CPU temp at 99degC, and serious throttling- with the screensaver. Good grief.
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sauria
macrumors 6502
skodises
Contributor
Speaking strictly for myself, that would be no. I have a few asynchronous, randomly occurring tasks that I want my primary machine to be awake to do, 24/7 (as a lightweight data collection/instrumentation server for my domain). Those things it can do now and again, as needed, while essentially (and really!) idling the rest of the time. This damned silly screensaver business is not what I had in mind. That, I suppose, is my point.
I’m old enough that I want idle to be idle. Wasting that much power to make the screens look cool, when there’s nobody in the room to see them? Madness, to my way of thinking. Blank the damned screens and call it done (which is easily done through the UI, of course, but is not the default). I simply did not realize how much effort and energy had been put into *nothing of value*.
I shouldn’t be surprised. It seems that every day, I find new ways to learn how utterly naive I have been for the last 60 years or so. And I want my office to be cool when I walk into it in the summer, without paying an oversized HVAC bill to keep my machine happy while it twiddles its thumbs and awaits my return… If that makes me a Luddite, then so be it.
I’m old enough that I want idle to be idle. Wasting that much power to make the screens look cool, when there’s nobody in the room to see them? Madness, to my way of thinking. Blank the damned screens and call it done (which is easily done through the UI, of course, but is not the default). I simply did not realize how much effort and energy had been put into *nothing of value*.
I shouldn’t be surprised. It seems that every day, I find new ways to learn how utterly naive I have been for the last 60 years or so. And I want my office to be cool when I walk into it in the summer, without paying an oversized HVAC bill to keep my machine happy while it twiddles its thumbs and awaits my return… If that makes me a Luddite, then so be it.
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sauria
macrumors 6502
Well, most tech is certainly about appearances. What did you do to just blank the screen?
You might also try turning the Mac Mini on its side -- like a plate in the dishwasher. I got that tip from someone on this forum and it cut the temperature at least 10 deg C. My i3 idles (not even 100% idle but a few almost 0% CPU apps running) <45 deg C as measured by CPU PECI. My guess is that the i7 will run hotter than an i3 despite their similar TDP rating but you will still see a relative temperature drop. Then if you find advantage to this you might want to put it in a vertical stand or at least push some cushions or whatnot on either side of it to break its fall rather than let it belly flop on the table if it tips.
P.S.All in with you on idle means idle means close to 0% CPU and sleep means sleep and no process should run at all. My impression is that the concept of the latter is also getting lost in more recent macOS. In the meantime FYI I find little system load from the Flurry screensaver among others.
watakoola
macrumors 6502
Heh. I'm the same age group and wryly smiling at what you are saying... it's very familiar.😉
skodises
Contributor
skodises
Contributor
Just another datapoint for the consideration of those following along at home. Doing my normal work mix of tasks using both my always-present Windows10 VM under Parallels (for the Altium and Solidworks CAD tools, as well as those Microsoft Office tools required by my employer, such as Outlook and the execrable Teams), and the appropriate Mac tools like my data, DNS and mail servers, the i7 perks along at a rough average of ~25-30W, with a largely-inaudible fan speed of ~2500rpm. This is a nice change from Ol' Paint- my 5,1 that, while perhaps a bit faster, dissipated ~750W performing the same tasks. Axemurdering all of the ancient spinner hard drives has been a big win, of course. However, I do think that I could get used to the peace and quiet (as well as not cooking my feet in the exhaust flow).
I've ordered a fan base for the machine, and I intend to play with that a bit. The good news is that this particular fan base appears to be quite amenable to being run up on its side with the Mini in a vertical position, as well as horizontally down flat, and I have a 140mm Noctua low-speed fan that has been looking for a job. Between getting that dialed in, and then relocating the machine from the desktop to down under my desk onto the shelf with the UPS and all the wall-warts, I think that this might provide a very nice combination of acceptable cooling and a much less intrusive noise figure. Anyway, fooling with it will keep me off the streets for a few days... (;-)
I've ordered a fan base for the machine, and I intend to play with that a bit. The good news is that this particular fan base appears to be quite amenable to being run up on its side with the Mini in a vertical position, as well as horizontally down flat, and I have a 140mm Noctua low-speed fan that has been looking for a job. Between getting that dialed in, and then relocating the machine from the desktop to down under my desk onto the shelf with the UPS and all the wall-warts, I think that this might provide a very nice combination of acceptable cooling and a much less intrusive noise figure. Anyway, fooling with it will keep me off the streets for a few days... (;-)
Mac mini Mount,Mini Cooling Fan Design,Super Strong Wind Modification Chassis,Equipped with a 5.5 Inches Silent Fan for Heat Sink,USB Power Supply(Transparent)
Mac mini Mount,Mini Cooling Fan Design,Super Strong Wind Modification Chassis,Equipped with a 5.5 Inches Silent Fan for Heat Sink,USB Power Supply(Transparent)
www.amazon.com
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sauria
macrumors 6502
skodises
Contributor
Final followup. I'm using that acrylic base mentioned above with a Noctua NF-A14x25 G2 LS fan force-feeding the intake, running at about 800 rpm full-time, and the machine now runs vastly cooler. It idles at well under 60degC, and even at normal working loads dissipating around 25-30W, it runs in the 80s with the internal fan at ~2500rpm, which is quiet enough for me. And the SDRAM never gets over 50degC.
When really hammered, the internal fan will ramp up into the audible range, but it doesn't remain there for long with my normal use cases, and the max clock speed very seldom needs to throttle back under 4GHz for thermal reasons. I ditched the baseplate entirely and installed a separate U.fl patch antenna for the WiFi, and I think I now have my final configuration. I think that the cooling exercise has been a success.
When really hammered, the internal fan will ramp up into the audible range, but it doesn't remain there for long with my normal use cases, and the max clock speed very seldom needs to throttle back under 4GHz for thermal reasons. I ditched the baseplate entirely and installed a separate U.fl patch antenna for the WiFi, and I think I now have my final configuration. I think that the cooling exercise has been a success.
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sauria
macrumors 6502
Excellent news thank you for the detailed information. I wonder if the new M5 minis will be as hot? The M1 mini can never get hot because it use the old cooling system from the Intel CPU.
skodises
Contributor
Actually, one more final final image. This is with the machine doing a heavy-normal workload: not a benchmarking test, but my actual daily work, with the W10 VM running Altium, Teams, and whatever other Windows dreck needs doing, and the Mini running the necessary Apple and open source S/W that I need. It is perking along at ~35W, with the CPU PECI temp averaging in the 80s and the internal fan at ~3000rpm: barely audible, not screaming. No thermal throttling to speak of, and the SDRAM is stable at 51degC (memory in use is ~58GB of the available 64GB). The machine is certainly busy, but not sweating.
This really was the overall goal of the exercise, and I am indeed happy with the result. I can live with this, and Ol' Paint can now be retired to its dotage.
Your mileage may vary...
This really was the overall goal of the exercise, and I am indeed happy with the result. I can live with this, and Ol' Paint can now be retired to its dotage.
Your mileage may vary...