MacBook Pro obscure fan curve

[AstonFox]

I bought a 16’’ MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) with the conviction that while performing light office work it would operate without a fan. While, for some time, it seemed to work that way (except during calls using Teams), now in the Summer it often spins up the fans (although never beyond an average of 1500 rpm).

So I bought TG Pro in order to create a custom fan curve that would activate the fans only when the SOC reaches higher temperatures (usually the fans kick in around 50º). I do not care that the SOC throttles, in fact I would have bought a 15' MBA if that was available.

Before I start messing with the fan curves, I would like to understand what criteria does the default Mac fan management use to activate the fans. It certainly isn't the SOC temperature alone because it sometimes goes near 60º and the fans do not spin up.

Can anyone shed any light on the default fan curve? Is anyone using a custom fan curve in order to keep the fans off more often?

 

[spiderman0616]

Would be more useful to look at processes and CPU usage when the fans are spinning up.

 

[AstonFox]

When the fans spin up, usually the CPU usage is somewhere between 10% and 15%.

I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with my specific unit, I just need some insight on how these 2021 Macs manage the fans in order to safely create a new fan curve allowing for a more silent usage.

 

[darngooddesign]

When the fans spin up, usually the CPU usage is somewhere between 10% and 15%.

I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with my specific unit, I just need some insight on how these 2021 Macs manage the fans in order to safely create a new fan curve allowing for a more silent usage.

FYI, my M1-Pro 16" does not turn on the fans until the the CPU is up around 90C.

 

[jav6454]

The fan curve is hidden from us. I have yet to see the setting location. However, you can use apps to control the fan speeds and curves which will override macOS's fan control.

 

[AstonFox]

“my M1-Pro 16" does not turn on the fans until the the CPU is up around 90C”


I would like my Mac to be more like that, instead of having the fans activated at low temperatures (usually around 50° C).

I created a custom fan curve with TG Pro, but to no avail. This app can force a low speed, but it’s unable to keep the fans totally off.

Any app out there that would be capable of keeping the fans off until a certain temperature?

 

[darngooddesign]

“my M1-Pro 16" does not turn on the fans until the the CPU is up around 90C”


I would like my Mac to be more like that, instead of having the fans activated at low temperatures (usually around 50° C).

I created a custom fan curve with TG Pro, but to no avail. This app can force a low speed, but it’s unable to keep the fans totally off.

Any app out there that would be capable of keeping the fans off until a certain temperature?

Weird. I just checked mine and quickly moving from photo to photo in Lightroom got the average temp up around 70 with fans off. I then started a render and it took until a little above 90, with a few of the performance cores in orange, for the fans to come on. I'm not doing anything custom with it.

 

[BanditoB]

I don't understand why you would think that a fan profile that you create would be superior and as safe or safer for the system than what the engineers at Apple have determined.

You mentioned that the fans didn't come on until summer arrived. That's an indication that your ambient temperature is higher, thus causing the fans to spin up where they didn't before. This sounds perfectly reasonable and logical, so why mess with this?

Are the fans that audible to you that they are causing issues? If so, you must be in an extremely quiet environment with a very low level of background noise unless the fans are spinning very fast, but according to your graph they are spinning at minimum speed. For comparison, my Mac Studio fans run whenever the system is on at around 2100-2300 rpm and are inaudible to me sitting right in front of the unit. If I put my ear right up to the exhaust vent on the back, I can hear a slight whooshing of air, but no actual fan noise.

Personally, I wouldn't second-guess Apple's engineers and let the fans do what they were designed to do. If you feel that they are coming on excessively, have the system examined by the Geniuses at the Apple store.

From your temperature listings above, it looks like with the fans on at minimum speed, you temps average about ten-degrees cooler than with them off. Isn't that a good thing? It's the heat that is generated by the components that over time tends to kill them, so less heat is usually better for the system.

I hope that my post doesn't come off as overly critical as that's not what I'm intending. I just want to understand your reasoning in this matter.