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ibook_steve · Sep 22, 2009, 06:57 PM

I'm getting thoroughly discouraged by my fans running at full speed almost all the time on my 2 and a half year old 2.33 GHz MBP (fall 2007 model) with 3 GB of RAM. According to Temperature Monitor and smcfancontrol, my CPU cores are rarely going over 70 degrees C. But once they hit about 63 or 65, my fans seem to jump from their low of 2000 rpms up to their max of 6000! Rarely am I at any speed in the middle. Even just leaving the machine alone, just sitting there, doesn't always bring the fans back down to a tolerable level.

I can only blame Firefox and Parallels at this point because they're the apps that show up at the top of Activity Monitor all the time. Anybody have this model and have similar problems? I'm starting to seriously consider getting a new machine (not just because of this; I'm not getting the performance I need either with the 3GB RAM limit I have).

Steve

Simon · Sep 22, 2009, 07:05 PM

Are you sure it's a 2.33 GHz model? I have a fall 2007 model that's 2.4 GHz and supports 4GB RAM. IIRC the 2.33 GHz models were discontinued in June 2007.

Anyway, on the 2.4 GHz model it's similar. The fans will stay at 2k until the CPU goes beyond roughly 70C. Then they'll ramp up until the temps fall below 60C again.

If I'm running medium heavy stuff I usually use smcFanControl to adjust fan speed to 3k. That's still barely audible (at least at work) and prevents the fans from ramping up and down frequently as the CPU temp remains below the threshold.

Safari doesn't cause any CPU spikes here. But I too would be limited by 3GB of RAM. And it does seem like now's a good time to buy a new MBP.

ibook_steve · Sep 22, 2009, 07:12 PM

Whoops! I meant fall 2006 (MacBookPro2,2)! Sorry. I bought it in January 2007, so I keep thinking it's from 2007.

Steve

Simon · Sep 22, 2009, 07:14 PM

OK, yeah, makes perfect sense now.

amazing · Sep 23, 2009, 12:43 AM

How hot is the room you're in? That's a big contributing factor.

Whenever I run sheepshaver (to play Shanghai II) the laptop temps go berserk, so I run a laptop cooler, solely for when I'm playing the game. If you do decide to try a cooler, be sure and find a model that blows air directly at the aluminum bottom surface. Coolers that pull air away from the bottom are pretty ineffective. I put up with the cooler fan noise because in the long run, that's way better than running the laptop at high temps. The cooler fans are much more efficient at bringing the temps down than the internal fans.

msuper69 · Sep 23, 2009, 03:30 PM

Since updating to Snow Leopard (now at 10.6.1), my MBA fan(s) are on almost all the time. Wasn't like that under Leopard. Kind of annoying to say the least.

angela.adelle · Sep 24, 2009, 09:08 PM

Whoa, this doesn't sound good at all. Makes me wonder if MAC is the way to go...I have had IBM Thinkpads all my life and they stay cool, cool...

ibook_steve · Sep 24, 2009, 09:14 PM

My Mac (not "MAC") is over 2 years old. It still works perfectly fine. I'm just trying to figure out if I can do anything about the fans. The machine is still comfortable to the touch. I am not in a particularly warm environment.

Steve

Simon · Sep 25, 2009, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by angela.adelle

Whoa, this doesn't sound good at all. Makes me wonder if MAC is the way to go...I have had IBM Thinkpads all my life and they stay cool, cool...

Mac not MAC.

There's a price to pay when you put very fast components in a very slim metallic case. Heat is a potential problem.