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smc Fan Control - Any Risk in use?

H

hapeninhap

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2007
6
0
I have a brand new 15" and absolute love it except for the heat sometimes.

I was just wondering if by using smc fan control you risk damaging the fans or shortening their life by keeping them at higher level speeds.

thanks guys :)
 
I have 17" C2D MBP and they've always been where they need to. When rendering or other intensive tasks, they might get up to close to 6000RPM. Normally, they're at 2000. Even when it's been at max for hours, it's still usable and the keyboard and palmrest are cooler than my PB G4 1.67. I also keep it on a CoolPad or equivalent, so there is good air circulation underneath.

edit: they are totally silent at 2000 RPM. I usually can't even hear them until they're above ~3200. (and my hearing is excellent)
 
Personally I wouldn't recommend it. But I never saw someone saying it damaged his/her MBP.

You may as well give it a try and see of it helps you. I prefer a little heat than the noise of the fans.

But this comes from someone who rarely use his laptop in his lap. I do want to have children, you know?;)
 
There is no risk in use.

It only has the ability to make your fans run faster than expected, i.e. making your machine cooler.

It does not have the ability to make the fans run slower than Apple intended.
 
so you probably can't stress out the fans if you run it too fast? Does smc limit how much you can increase fan speeds?
 
hapeninhap said:
I have a brand new 15" and absolute love it except for the heat sometimes.

I was just wondering if by using smc fan control you risk damaging the fans or shortening their life by keeping them at higher level speeds.

thanks guys :)
Click to expand...

If you purchased applecare you have a 3 year warranty. If the fans fail within 3 years apple will fix it. I am using smc fan control on my 2.2ghz MBP and it helps to keep it alot cooler.
 
dex22 said:
It only has the ability to make your fans run faster than expected, i.e. making your machine cooler.
It does not have the ability to make the fans run slower than Apple intended.
Click to expand...

Thanks for answering! I think a lot of people doesn't know that. SMC Fan Control does not work as Fancontrol or Coolbook.
 
dooyou said:
Thanks for answering! I think a lot of people doesn't know that. SMC Fan Control does not work as Fancontrol or Coolbook.
Click to expand...

Isn't that particular concern not in regards to overheating components but rather stressing out fans and shortening life as a result by running them too fast for too long?
 
janey said:
Isn't that particular concern not in regards to overheating components but rather stressing out fans and shortening life as a result by running them too fast for too long?
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right. I only use SMC Fancontrol to see the temperatures and the fanspeed. i never used that program to run the fans faster as apple provided that.

it is better to run a program like fancontrol or coolbook for undervolting the cpu. it's also better for the fans, too. but i don't know their normal lifetime.
but another point is, that the macbook pro are computer for powerusers. these computeres are designed for using them under stressful work (i hope so :)).
 
I'm currently putting them at a minimum of 2250 rpm.. is that too high?.. that way I can actually hit about 48 - 52 celcius when I am running lil to no applications... would a constant 2250 rpm.. a 250 rpm increase from default be a lil too much on the fans?

Also what is a good stand for my MBP?... I don't have an external keyboard.. but if I was to put my MBP on a cooling stand I'd have to use an external keyboard?.. is there one that will allow me to still use the MBP keyboard AND put it on some sort of a external cooling device?..

thanks guys.. :D
 
FYI quick and dirty reference: running Safari and Mail, and a few other utilities

I have MBP sitting on a CoolPad. (17" C2D 3GB RAM) (it's just rubber bumpers - no cooling itself)

2007-06-19 02:00:51 -0700

SMART Disk Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 (SB2401SJGD6T3B): 82.4℉/28.0℃
Battery 0 Voltage: 12.4220 V
Battery 0 Current: 0.00 A
Battery 0 Current Capacity: 6266 mAh
Battery 0 Total Capacity: 6525 mAh
Graphics Processor: 0 %
Enclosure Bottomside: 78.8℉/26.0℃
CPU Core 1: 109.4℉/43.0℃
CPU Core 2: 113.0℉/45.0℃
CPU Clock Frequency: 1500 MHz
Ambient Air: 93.2℉/34.0℃
CPU A Temperature Diode: 122.0℉/50.0℃
Graphics Processor Chip 1: 109.4℉/43.0℃
Graphics Processor Heatsink 1: 116.6℉/47.0℃
Main Heatsink 1: 111.2℉/44.0℃
Main Heatsink 2: 96.8℉/36.0℃
Memory Controller: 104.0℉/40.0℃
Memory Riser Card A Position 1: 120.2℉/49.0℃
Left Fan: 1998 RPM
Right Fan: 1995 RPM
Battery Power: 12.6008 V
CPU A: 0.9664 V
Graphics Processor: 0.9483 V
Battery Power: 0.03 A
CPU A: 4.87 A
Graphics Processor: 1.51 A
Battery Power: 0.4 W
CPU A: 4.8 W
Graphics Processor: 1.4 W
Ambient Light 1: 88
Ambient Light 2: 73
 
Wow...this topic has become all wonky. All these things being said at once.
Anyway, I run smcFanControl and I run it all the way up to max (6000 RPM) when I'm doing some intense taxing on the MBP (games, movie editing, etc).
Running your fans and whatever speed is more preference. When it DOES keep your laptop running cool, it makes a lot of noise. And with all things, as a previous poster said, FANS do die...its just a matter of time. My best guess is the fans are sleeve-bearing, which means while that it would be a lot more quiet than ball bearing fans, they typically do not last as long. (From what I know about fans)
For stands, you can use the mStand (I use that now), even without the external keyboard. But you can use any old thing to elevate/circulate air underneath your laptop.

For the record, I opened up my MBP to replace the wireless Airport card to upgrade it to the Wireless N card (Mac Pro Airport Extreme) and I did not see significant amounts of dust in the notebook. Mostly around the speaker grille openings and fan blades. Everything else looks pretty clean.
 
Re: Dust and Fans...

After reading thru many answers on this post it really does matter when your environment is like... Coming from a Live Pro Audio background, I have thru past 20 years cleaned/ repaired many Audio Amplifiers (and now Digital Processors) which their Fans have generally been clogged by Smoke and Dust, if that is where they are used!!

The absolute #1 cause of "dust" trouble would be if you smoke near this device... the Fans will chop up the Smoke and it Will stick to everything inside after that... Smoke Molecules are much smaller and lighter than regular housedust or Dirt... A clean House is a Happy House... same goes for Computer Environment!!
 
if you want to increase your fan speed do it. Your fans are not going to wear out significantly quicker doing an extra 250-500rpm!

Can't believe there are so many people crying about their fans dieing quicker..... if your crying about that why have you not returned your laptop to Apple crying it is to hot?

Surely that is the bigger issue for you?
 
I installed SMCFan Control yesterday on my 2.4 SR MBP. Initially, fan speed and temperature showed for both the left and right side. Now, it is only showing for 1 side??

Anyone know how to get both sides showing again? Thanks.
 
martinmartin said:
I installed SMCFan Control yesterday on my 2.4 SR MBP. Initially, fan speed and temperature showed for both the left and right side. Now, it is only showing for 1 side??

Anyone know how to get both sides showing again? Thanks.
Click to expand...

It would show speed for both, but only 1 temp for ur cpu (as you only have 1)
 
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