"New" Refurb Core i5 iMac Questions

[mikepas]

I just got my "new" refurbished Core i5 27 inch iMac this past week and so far I've been very, very happy with my choice to get this machine.

However, I do have a few questions about the new rig.

First up, how hot is this puppy supposed to run? Right now with only Safari open, iTunes playing some music in the background, and having just finished importing around 100 pictures into iPhoto my CPU is running at 49C/120F. Usually when I'm running some HD video in iTunes or videos using VLC I'll get a few degrees warmer. More importantly, how hot is too hot? When should I become concerned? I know I'm not using Firefox as that really got the CPU temps up there!

Next, I've already got Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit) installed via Boot Camp but I've not played with it much as I'm curious as if that might make it run too hot. Are there drivers in place to adequately keep my new baby running cool enough to not cook off anything important?

Overall I love this machine! Today is the first day I've really had to play with it for any length of time due to my work schedule so I'm looking forward to putting her through her paces!

 

[spinnerlys]

Those CPUs can stand up to 111°C, so 50°C is not really hot. If the CPU is heavily used it draws more power thus more heat is generated. You can install SMC Fan Control to control the fans if you really want to keep it cooler.

 

[Hellhammer]

My CPU gets over 70c when doing something CPU intensive. ~50c is completely normal, when it gets over 100c you should be worried. The case is aluminum which is good conductor and thus conducts the heat away from the innards so it's good if it gets little warm, it means everything is working

 

[TheBritishBloke]

50C seems to be the general running temperature on them. Even on my mbp just browsing runs it up to 50. Can get up to 90C in heavy graphic games.

 

[Vantage Point]

Those are about the same temps I get on mine, sometimes slightly higher. This is normal

 

[dlewis23]

50c is not a problem for that iMac.

What I do to get that temp down is I install smc fan control and run it at 50% above the default fan speed on all my computers.

Default fan speed on my iMac is about 1000 rpm and I run it at 1500 rpm. By doing that my iMac will run at 30 - 34c for most tasks unless im doing some heavy Photoshop.