Mac studio v1 fan noise - it's going to be one of the loudest Macs at idle.

[jmho]

Mac Studio is not loud, but it is audible. IMHO the more you listen to the noise the more you hear. Its crazy! But… covering the air out area with hand reduces noticeably (practically completely) the sound that everyone is talking about here.

Yes, simply resting a book against the back vent makes it completely inaudible to me.

Cold air seem to still make it out of the sides too, and it doesn't appear to affect the temperatures that much even under heavy loads.

I think the studio would probably be fine inside a cupboard tbh for those of us who don't want to hear the fans.

 

[h43m]

Just unboxed my Mac Studio with M1max (64GB RAM, 32 Cores GPU, 1TB SSD). There is definitely an annoying noise at exactly 2120hz (I compared it using a sinus wave generator). I am pretty sure this comes from the fan and is not a coil whine, since the frequency changes when the fan speed changes. Definitely not acceptable for a product with this price tag...

 

[bobcomer]

Yes, simply resting a book against the back vent makes it completely inaudible to me.

Can you describe that a little better, just how do you have the book resting there? I tried putting a piece of cardstock there, but I don't think it covered enough.

 

[Crispe]

I thought the fan speed didn't really change in these machines no matter how hard you push it? I've run CPU and GPU renders in Cinema 4D on my base max and haven't noticed a change in fan speed, still whisper quiet, but it's only a 24 core model. My Razer Blade while rendering meanwhile sounds like a 747 taking off.

 

[jmho]

Can you describe that a little better, just how do you have the book resting there? I tried putting a piece of cardstock there, but I don't think it covered enough.

I’m just using a small hardback notebook open in the middle, so the back half is completely covering the vent, resting on the connected cables, and the front half of the book is resting on top of the Studio making sure it doesn’t fall off.

Literally anything that just slows down the air passing through the tiny metal holes seems to remove all noise for me. It does need to cover the entire vent though. I can also stop all the noise with just my hand too, so it doesn’t need to be airtight.

 

[sunsetblvd]

Hi, I‘ve been following this thread and wanted to share my experience with the Mac Studio. I ordered the M1 Max version with 32 Core GPU and 64 GB Ram. After a week or two I started noticing a high pitched whining sound. The ordinary fan noise was audible but not disturbingly so. The high pitched sound was sth I couldn‘t ignore. I have a relatively quite working space and the sound kept being distractive. I decided to take my studio to the apple store after contacting apple support and trying a bunch of software fixes like reinstalling the os. After a day of inspection the tech guy at the apple store claimed it was just normal fan noise within the expected range of noises and said they couldn‘t do anything about it. Disappointed I called apple support again and they agreed to send me a replacement, which I am currently waiting for. Hopefully the new unit doesn‘t have the same issue. I also recorded the sound if anyone is interested in hearing it: https://voca.ro/1eDhzjh0NnDw

I would also be curious on your opinion on the noise. Would you consider it within normal fan noise range?

And does anybody know if the 14 day return period gets reset for the replacement unit if it turns out to have the same issue?

 

[mardragon]

The lead time on these machines is now stretching into August which is crazy, so especially if you have or had a machine that was fine and then over a week or three 'went bad' please be specific about it and, if you still have it, make a clip for us. These are so expensive this could really save a lot of people time and money, or ensure we get a better quality product soon. A firmware update can fix fan speeds but it damn sure can't fix coil whine.

I will try to put microphone next to both of them in same environment as soon as I get replacement unit (expected 12 weeks). Annoying "coil whine" I hear is not something you would notice without very quiet room. It might be that I am paranoic and sensitive to such noises.

I don't understand why this machine is blowing constantly fans when idle. Any theories? It's not something I am used to going from MacBook Pro.

 

[Jrshelby]

Shutting everything down would be a major pita and time consuming. I'll try to think of another way.

I will try to put microphone next to both of them in same environment as soon as I get replacement unit (expected 12 weeks). Annoying "coil whine" I hear is not something you would notice without very quiet room. It might be that I am paranoic and sensitive to such noises.

I don't understand why this machine is blowing constantly fans when idle. Any theories? It's not something I am used to going from MacBook Pro.

I ran the fans at 3500 RPM and the CPU temps never got below 29° C. At 1350 They never get above 33°C. At 1,100 RPM they never get above 36° C. My MBP 16" would hit 50° C and the fans were still showing at 0 RPM (OFF). This make literally no sense.

 

[dunanos]

If you have a noisy Mac, try sealing the vents, always half. I wonder if the whistling or more noise will stop and on which side? If the result is different than the video, it will be clear evidence of faulty fans.

 

[lcubed]

I ran the fans at 3500 RPM and the CPU temps never got below 29° C. At 1350 They never get above 33°C. At 1,100 RPM they never get above 36° C. My MBP 16" would hit 50° C and the fans were still showing at 0 RPM (OFF). This make literally no sense.

maybe another component in the Studio with a lower heat threshold is driving the fan requirement.

 

[Jrshelby]

maybe another component in the Studio with a lower heat threshold is driving the fan requirement.

One of my original thoughts was its the power supply driving the need and is why the air gets drawn in from the bottom and washes over the power supply before moving on. But with everyone saying it draws such low power from the start this also makes no sense to me.

 

[bobcomer]

I’m just using a small hardback notebook open in the middle, so the back half is completely covering the vent, resting on the connected cables, and the front half of the book is resting on top of the Studio making sure it doesn’t fall off.

Literally anything that just slows down the air passing through the tiny metal holes seems to remove all noise for me. It does need to cover the entire vent though. I can also stop all the noise with just my hand too, so it doesn’t need to be airtight.

Cool, I'll try that.

 

[bobcomer]

Can you please, for the sake of being interested, just record the noise without any other background noise (windows shut, etc). You can use a simple dB meter app to check how loud something is. I think it would add interesting data to the discussion. I don't think anyone has any pro-level measuring equipment, nor is it required for this purpose.

With some of my stuff off, 41 DB at my desk chair, and 44 right in front of my Studio. (about 1 foot and a half distance between the 2 spots. When measuring from behind (actually just turning it around,) 49.

 

[bobcomer]

You claim it’s so loud you can’t bear it

I have NEVER said that, go back and read the whole thread again. I have said it's loud and annoying, but not loud enough to chance get something worse by putting in an applecare claim on it.

whilst also saying you have a lot of other stuff you have to shut down in order to take a measurement of just the max studio.

I do, but it's all lower pitched noise. I can clearly hear the Studio even with all that other stuff on. (and I posted more precise measurements just a few minutes ago, not that I haven't posted numbers before!)

Therefore, those other things also make audible noise that would impede the recording.

Yep.

Ergo, I question your requirement of the max studio having to be silent.

I also never said I required it to be silent! You really should read what I say, rather than what you think I said.

I wonder what you’d say if you’d actually put some stress on it during use and the fan kick in properly. I just really don’t follow your logic here.

Already been done, my normal workflow puts stress on it, though I haven't gotten the temp to go much over 70C. (VM's, especially UTM VM's.). The fan never went over 1400 though, and that's part of why I question the fan curve!

Okay, for you to remember, I said it's loud and higher pitched than a normal computer fan. I do have lots of background noise, but I can still hear the Studio when it's at idle and when I'm sitting at my desk, and it's annoying, but it's not annoying enough to send it back and I don't want to play the applecare lottery by even trying to send it back for this, okay?

And the noise levels from the other message.

With some of my stuff off, 41 DB at my desk chair, and 44 right in front of my Studio. (about 1 foot and a half distance between the 2 spots. When measuring from behind (actually just turning it around,) 49.

 

[bobcomer]

I thought the fan speed didn't really change in these machines no matter how hard you push it? I've run CPU and GPU renders in Cinema 4D on my base max and haven't noticed a change in fan speed, still whisper quiet, but it's only a 24 core model. My Razer Blade while rendering meanwhile sounds like a 747 taking off.

Use a fan control program to force the speed change. It's definitely louder the faster you have it going.

 

[bobcomer]

maybe another component in the Studio with a lower heat threshold is driving the fan requirement.

Some say it may be for the power supply, but I don't think that's it, but it is possible.

 

[5883662]

Mac Studio is not loud, but it is audible. IMHO the more you listen to the noise the more you hear. Its crazy! But… covering the air out area with hand reduces noticeably (practically completely) the sound that everyone is talking about here.

That’s an interesting observation. Mine is placed at a 45° angle towards a corner on the desk, which might make a difference.

 

[5883662]

Hi, I‘ve been following this thread and wanted to share my experience with the Mac Studio. I ordered the M1 Max version with 32 Core GPU and 64 GB Ram. After a week or two I started noticing a high pitched whining sound. The ordinary fan noise was audible but not disturbingly so. The high pitched sound was sth I couldn‘t ignore. I have a relatively quite working space and the sound kept being distractive. I decided to take my studio to the apple store after contacting apple support and trying a bunch of software fixes like reinstalling the os. After a day of inspection the tech guy at the apple store claimed it was just normal fan noise within the expected range of noises and said they couldn‘t do anything about it. Disappointed I called apple support again and they agreed to send me a replacement, which I am currently waiting for. Hopefully the new unit doesn‘t have the same issue. I also recorded the sound if anyone is interested in hearing it: https://voca.ro/1eDhzjh0NnDw

I would also be curious on your opinion on the noise. Would you consider it within normal fan noise range?

And does anybody know if the 14 day return period gets reset for the replacement unit if it turns out to have the same issue?

Is that the noise at idle? I can definitely hear that whiny pitch and mine categorically doesn’t sound like that at all.

 

[sunsetblvd]

Is that the noise at idle? I can definitely hear that whiny pitch and mine categorically doesn’t sound like that at all.

Yes, this is the noise at idle. Good to know that not all units seem to have that high pitch sound.

 

[AlphaCentauri]

With some of my stuff off, 41 DB at my desk chair, and 44 right in front of my Studio. (about 1 foot and a half distance between the 2 spots. When measuring from behind (actually just turning it around,) 49.

This is well above Apple’s specs. In my opinion, your Studio is faulty and should be returned.

 

[jmho]

Hopefully the new unit doesn‘t have the same issue. I also recorded the sound if anyone is interested in hearing it: https://voca.ro/1eDhzjh0NnDw

Yours sounds even worse than mine: https://vocaroo.com/1mipljFszHhz

Although looking at the spectrogram (yours left, mine right) it seems like we both have that whine at 2.6 kHZ - which makes sense because that's exactly double the ~1330 rpm the fans spin at.

 

[sunsetblvd]

Yours sounds even worse than mine: https://vocaroo.com/1mipljFszHhz

Although looking at the spectrogram (yours left, mine right) it seems like we both have that whine at 2.6 kHZ - which makes sense because that's exactly double the ~1330 rpm the fans spin at.

View attachment 1997769View attachment 1997768

Intersting, the high pitch is very simillar but the air sound is a bit different. Thanks for posting this. At first I thought I was imagining this.

Did you keep your unit?

 

[Dom.S]

Mine has the same whining sound as those recordings (and I'm waiting on a replacement). Obviously it's impossible to read anything into the overall volume, but if people with quiet Studios are saying they can't hear a similar sound at any distance then that would suggest there is a batch of dodgy hardware (fans?) out there.

 

[Kakirman]

I hope this will be your only problem...

 

[jmho]

Did you keep your unit?

Annoyingly in the process of trying to find a position where I wouldn't hear the fans I seem to have scratched the bottom plate.

I'm still well within the 14 day window, but now I have the extra worry that if I return it they might reject the return completely instead of just deducting a damage fee.

Also I'm very happy with the computer otherwise, so I'm hoping eventually my brain will just get used to the noise and filter it out.