Fan monitoring and control on m1 macs

[Queen6]

I would hope under all-CPU/all-GPU core it still wouldn't throttle but I don't think I've seen anyone test it. I was kind of fascinated watching the power management of the M1 MBA using powermetrics. It was fun to watch as the temperature rose, the performance cores started throttling down and then the GPU cores. At equilibrium the power management was giving just about 50-50 to CPU and GPU. Using both at the same time was also the only time I ever saw any throttling on the efficiency cores.

I can safely say that the M1 MBP doesn't throttle on the CPU side of the SOC add in the GPU at full load it might well do, just depends on the efficiency of the cooling system.

Q-6

 

[nquinn]

Someone reported running their 13" MacBook Pro at 100% CPU load for hours, the fan was barely audible, and the CPU was only at ~30 C.

My Mac Mini has been running 100% CPU load nonstop for a couple days now, it's inaudible, the exhaust is "kind of warm", and Stats says my fan is 1700 RPM, temp is 36 C, drawing 19 Watts.

Don't worry about monitoring temp/fan speed. Except *MAYBE* on the Air.

Oh I'm never really worried about the cpu getting too hot for how I use it, but occasionally when it's on my lap it's nice to bring the chassis temperature down a bit to be more comfortable. When it was sitting at 120f or so the bottom of the laptop was def. warming my lap a bit. (nothing like intel of course though)

Messing with iStats now to have fans spin up to something super mild like 1500-2000rpm > 60f

 

[pshufd]

Oh I'm never really worried about the cpu getting too hot for how I use it, but occasionally when it's on my lap it's nice to bring the chassis temperature down a bit to be more comfortable. When it was sitting at 120f or so the bottom of the laptop was def. warming my lap a bit. (nothing like intel of course though)

Messing with iStats now to have fans spin up to something super mild like 1500-2000rpm > 60f

My MacBook Pro 16 is sitting on my desk but typical CPU idle is around 95%. It's also quite chilly in my basement so I don't expect to hear the fan. I've never heard the fan on my Mac mini which is where I've done some video editing in the past. These M1 systems really sip power. My Windows desktop was running at about 22 degrees this morning but the CPU frequency often ran up to 4.6 Ghz on usually five cores. My desktop can make a little noise. It has a lot of large fans so it won't get loud but you can certainly hear the fans if you listen carefully and you can feel heat coming out at load. The CPU package runs from 15 Watts to 70 Watts but it really gets up there quickly.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

I have been using my M1 Pro since day 1 it came out and I never heard the fans once. When it's connected to dual 4K monitors I can see in TG Pro that the fans ramp up a bit but on the lower side.

Gotta say I'm hell impressed I was using a i9 16" before moving to a M1 Air because I was really tired of the fans and the hot VRM ruining my battery and experience using the computer.

This is how it is when I'm working at the sofa.