smcFanControl or?

[Maurier]

Is smcFanControl still the best to use to increase rpm's on fans for macs? Or is there anything new out?
This iMac get EXTREMELY HOT on the top left corner it can burn your hand how bad it is.
The atual temps are within limits with istat but that excessive heat on the back left top corner is concerning me. If i keep my hand on it for more then 5 seconds it will actually burn my hand.
I think that applecare is a must on imacs.
Also the HD idling at 50C it's a little to high.
I am seriously contemplating if I should just return the iMac and get the 27 inc cinema display instead for my Mac Pro. I bought the iMac for web browsing , watching movies onlien etc.. and this use should not get the machine this hot.
Sure my CPU idles at around 45C wich is acceptable I guess , although on my PC anything that idles at over 38C is unacceptable to me, and I understand that the iMac is a unique design and heat is to be expected but wow.
And it's winter time here I can only immagine in the summer time if I keep my ac off this thing will melt on me lol.
I see a lot of complaints on the iMac screen etc... but I think that this is the most serious issue with this machine atm. Anithyng that get so hot to actually burn your hand it's pretty serious.

 

[TEG]

I've been using it for about 2 months, and smcFanControl keeps my parents' iMac from freezing or scrambling video. I think it still works great, you just need to tweak the settings to get more air moving over the parts you are worried about. I've set it for a minimum of 1500 RPM on the optical drive, and 2500 for the CPU and Hard Drive, and now the computer always cool to the touch.

TEG

 

[Maurier]

Downloading smc now and will test out and make my decision later on tonight.
Don't get me wrong I love the iMac but just the idea of having a computer that gets this hot bothers me.
I am not joking it actually burned my hand last night. I kept it on it for like 10 seconds and I felt the side effects of it for like 30 minutes
The temps are within range except the HD idling at 48/50 c is way to high. I predict in about 8 months of heavy use I will have to replace the HD and PSU on the iMac from those temperatures.
Sorry to say but if your parents iMac is freezing or scrambling videos because of the heat that is unacceptable on a $2300 machine. You should not resort to 3rd party applications to control overheating on a brand new machine.

 

[DanielCoffey]

I have the mid-2007 2.8GHz c2d and have never had heat-related issues. The top left corner on my iMac never gets much above "warm to slightly hot" and even after a heavy WoW session the fans are barely above 1200/1200/700. Just right now at idle with an Ambient of 18C, I am being told CPU 30C, GPU 39C and HDD 30C by iStat.

I have improved the situation recently by replacing the internal 500Gb HDD with a 120Gb 3.5" SSD and taking the opportunity to clean all the accessible fans and vents (CPU fan in particular was fairly dusty). After reassembly, the iMac was noticeably quieter though I suspect a large part of that would be removing the WD Caviar Blue drive.

I'd say that my iMac is certainly performing well to design spec.

 

[Maurier]

I am not sure about the 2007 models but all 2010 models get VERY hot to the touch on the top left corner.
I saw many threads on apple forum about this issue and everyone has it.
They say not to worry about it since the temps are within limits. But 50C to 58C on an hard drive is not good and 40 to 50C on the cpu under load is acceptable but still a bit high.
When I first start my iMac the temps are really low of course CPU idling at 26C ambient was at 14C GPU 40C HDD 34C but I just let it sit there for a good 20 minutes and they get up fairly fast.
Having 39C at idle on the gpu in an iMac makes you a lucky guy.
Maybe the 2007 models are better at cooling then the 2010 ? in this case apple is going backwards.
I have been told on the apple forum to clean the dust but since the machine is 2 days old there is no dust to clean.
Like i said the temps are acceptable it's just the case in the back get way to HOT. The front is actually ok not hot at all thank god but the top left corner? I could make eggs back there.
All I need to do to get it that hot is watch a few movies or HD videos online for about 40 minutes.
I bought this iMac at futureshop and in about 9 months I will buy apple care for this boy.
Also some monitors tend to get hot. I have my old 24 inch 2407WFP and it get hot after a wile , hell even my sony bravia TV gets extremely hot after a wile on the top part. But strangely my 21 inch samsung barely gets hot.
I don't know about Apple monitors since the iMac ironically is my first Apple monitor. I think that on one side you have the heat being generated by the monitor on the other the internal components getting hot and there you have a furnace.
I trust Apple and I am sure they have tested this over and over and are well aware of the heat that is being generated and the design is able to handle it. But it still is a little scarry.