MP 6,1 Extending life / Better cooling for the 6,1

[adam9c1]

I have recently purchased 8-core 6,1 Mac Pro and this is my only 6,1 I've worked with. During my RAM upgrade, I've noticed the external cylinder chassis as well as the internal frame is fairly hot.

Has anyone made modes to extend the cooling parameters?

cooling base

cooling base PWM Mac Mini

TG PRo app
I've used this app on my 5,1 years ago

 

[Energybutton]

My 6,1 is also warm to the touch when in use but TG pro doesn't show any temperatures that I should be worried about.

I can't say I've had any problems cooling the 6,1 with TG pro, I often have both the GPU's (D500's in my case) at 100% utilisation and anywhere from 30-50% on the CPU (8 core) and as long as I have the fan set to 1900RPM, temps stay in the mid 60's Celsius.

 

[th0masp]

Fans at 1900 RPM tho - doesn't it sound like a vacuum cleaner if you run it like that?

I have mine set up with Macs Fan Control monitoring the PCIE switch diode - seems to be the hottest running part of the computer - and adjusting the fans to keep that under 65 degrees Celsius. That leads to a machine that in my climate runs the fans at about 1000 RPM and up to about 1250 or so under load while keeping the innards somewhere between 35 and 45 degrees Celsius temperature (GPU and CPU run hotter under load, obviously). Ranges from barely audible to less than your typical desktop PC.

Worth pointing out that I also mostly use it as a desktop PC, not some workstaton running full tilt all the time.

 

[Energybutton]

Fans at 1900 RPM tho - doesn't it sound like a vacuum cleaner if you run it like that?

Sure it's audible but it's not that bad. I understand some people are more sensitive to noise than others but I can live with it.

Unfortunately you've got to make sacrifices somewhere in a machine this size (from 2013), you can't have full utilisation, cool temps AND quiet running.

You make a good point about the PCIE switch diode, it's usually the hottest part of my nMP too.

 

[h9826790]

Fans at 1900 RPM tho - doesn't it sound like a vacuum cleaner if you run it like that?

I have mine set up with Macs Fan Control monitoring the PCIE switch diode - seems to be the hottest running part of the computer - and adjusting the fans to keep that under 65 degrees Celsius. That leads to a machine that in my climate runs the fans at about 1000 RPM and up to about 1250 or so under load while keeping the innards somewhere between 35 and 45 degrees Celsius temperature (GPU and CPU run hotter under load, obviously). Ranges from barely audible to less than your typical desktop PC.

Worth pointing out that I also mostly use it as a desktop PC, not some workstaton running full tilt all the time.

I don't have a 6,1, but I doubt if the PCIe switch is always the hottest part WHEN UNDER STRESS. Especially if just 65°C.

AFAIK, MFC override the native SMC overheat protection, and alter the fan speed by directly assigning a target fan speed (most other fan software spin up the fan by modifing the minimum fan speed, which keep the overheat protection).

If you make a single fan system base on only one sensor, and pick the wrong one. Some other components can overheat. So, please be careful.

When you have time, you may try to run Prime95 + Luxmark + Furmark at the same time. So that all CPU and GPU should be stressed to limit. Of course, monitor it carefullly when you do that. And make sure the CPU and GPU temperatures are always below the PCIe switch's temperature.

If not, may be you better use some other software to just increase the minimum fan speed a bit, but not make it completely base on one senor.

Of the 5,1, MFC works well because there are multiple fans. On the 6,1, that's another story.

 

[th0masp]

I don't have a 6,1, but I doubt if the PCIe switch is always the hottest part WHEN UNDER STRESS. Especially if just 65°C.

AFAIK, MFC override the native SMC overheat protection, and alter the fan speed by directly assigning a target fan speed (most other fan software spin up the fan by modifing the minimum fan speed, which keep the overheat protection).

If you make a single fan system base on only one sensor, and pick the wrong one. Some other components can overheat. So, please be careful.

When you have time, you may try to run Prime95 + Luxmark + Furmark at the same time. So that all CPU and GPU should be stressed to limit. Of course, monitor it carefullly when you do that. And make sure the CPU and GPU temperatures are always below the PCIe switch's temperature.

If not, may be you better use some other software to just increase the minimum fan speed a bit, but not make it completely base on one senor.

Of the 5,1, MFC works well because there are multiple fans. On the 6,1, that's another story.

As noted - I'm using it like a desktop, rather casual. Mine is not rendering for extended times or the like. I have a much more powerful PC to do the work I depend on. I'd rather not attempt to find out where the limit is - it has broken before after all.

The PCIE switch is by far the hottest part in normal operation and under load it's also a contender due to its placement in the machine. From the looks of it a lot of traffic going through a crucial chip that's not too well exposed to the cooling system. Seems to make sense to use that as a reference.

 

[adam9c1]

TG Pro https://www.tunabellysoftware.com/tgpro/
has means of scaling the fan speeds. You can have multiple triggers so your policy may be like this:

Since the 6,1 has one fan it would be like this:
Fan Main % 30 if sensor ABC is at 50*F
Fan Main % 45 if sensor ABC is at 55*F
Fan Main % 90 if ANY SENSOR is at 70*F
Fan Main % 60 if sensor EFG is at 40*F
Main Fan % 100 if sensor HIJ is at 85*F

etc.

 

[Xde]

One of the worst are Apple System installs because noone knows what happens. Neither the firmware updates are visible. A slow disk need much time and the 6.1 starts cooking, because in this case an 3rd party software does not work because of the restarts during install.
I use MFC and before doing a system install, y I set fan to 1200 or so. This usually holds during restarts.
BTW..
MFC can set a constant fan speed,
or can handle the speed from a sensor.
The start temp point for spinup an the full speed temp can be adjusted together.

The pcie switch temp is not load dependent, but depends from the air temp inside and outside of the Mac.
In north Europe we have usually 20 degres C room air.
But in hot summerdays we may have 26 C.
In this case the Pcie switch heats up very easy with no load.
Usually 65 can go up to around 80.
This is the reason, because this sensor is often used.

In case of much load, it may be good to set the fan speed up manually. And at least get eyes on temps.
I dont have such workloads and I like MFC more than others.
But everyone can try the options.

 

[th0masp]

Not sure the Trashcan is quite that fragile to be at risk from heat strokes during OS/firmware updates.

But yes I do think these updates are horribly done - you just never know what the machine is doing. Is it so hard to display progress percentage and status info about what's going? Instead you get a black screen or even your monitor losing signal and all too often it looks like its turned itself off for good before it suddenly comes to life again.

 

[Xde]

probably not, but what I wanted to say, the apple temp control does not work, at least maybe near dangerous temps.
Apple should change this behavior still today.
When you make a system install, it can spend an hour on a slow drive.
You already feel the hot air on top the 6.1.
but apple temp control does nothing. 790 rpm forever.
One summerday I was afraid, not knowing how long the procedure will last, or if system was frozen.
I shut down hoping not during a firmware update.
The bootup in my worksystem spinned up the fan quite high, depending on settings.
For this reason, before any system install, I set fan to higher speed manually.
(Not sure if setup holds during firmware updates.)

Specially on hot summerdays without aircon (what we dont have usually) this is noticable.
Related to this behavior I meant "cooking".

 

[drolson]

Sure it's audible but it's not that bad. I understand some people are more sensitive to noise than others but I can live with it.

Unfortunately you've got to make sacrifices somewhere in a machine this size (from 2013), you can't have full utilisation, cool temps AND quiet running.

You make a good point about the PCIE switch diode, it's usually the hottest part of my nMP too.

No it don't, Mine is a 1850 all the time, I can by another fan, Mac fan control says my video cards are 97 F and the PCIe switch diode is 125 F and it is 71 F in the house