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Run your MacBook Pro cooler with a simple application.

post #1 of 34
11/3/06 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 
Hello!
I bet many people here have been very frustrated with the fact that their MacBook Pro runs very hot and that there is no simple, straightforward solution. Well, there is now.
If you haven't heard of it as yet, smcFanControl is a small application that allows you to define the minimum speed your fans should rotate at. You can set it to execute on system startup and stay hidden. And if you want to go back to your hot notebook, simple restore the sliders to the defaults. The results are instantaneous. My MacBook Pro used to run at an average of 72-78 ˚C and now it runs at a cool 45 ˚C - such is the difference!



Here is the description from the developer:
Quote:
• Let's you set the minimum speed for each fan individually.

• Adjust fan speed until the Macbook(Pro) is finally comfortable on your legs again

• Auto apply mode to set the new fan-speeds after a restart

• Sourcecode included! Extend it and change it to your needs

Approach of the program:
FanControl lets the user set the minimum speed of the build in fans. So you can increase your minimum fan speed to make your macbook run cooler. However in order not to damage your machine FanControl let's you not set minimum speed to a rate under Apple's defaults. To change fan-speeds you need to authenticate with valid credentials of an user-account with admin privileges.

DOWNLOAD!

Visit the Website

Just give it a try and you'll love it!
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #2 of 34
11/11/06 at 2:13pm
Does it affect battery life much?

Anyone else tried this?
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post #3 of 34
11/12/06 at 5:25am
Thread Starter 
Didn't affect mine and I have read hundreds of reports on the net confirming this.

I am surprised people are not interested in this application when so many MacBook Pro users are complaining about the heat.

Plus, if you find that it is consuming too much battery, you can restore the normal speed when your notebook is running on batteries.
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #4 of 34
11/12/06 at 10:10pm
Hey man thanks for this I just downloaded it, looking forward to a cooler mbp!
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post #5 of 34
11/13/06 at 12:20am
Be sure to also have a look at this: Fan Control

Fan Control is a prefpane than goes into your System Preferences and requires a restart after installation whereas smcFanControl is a standalone application.

Instead of only setting a fan RPM speed (like with smcFanControl) Fan Control 1.1 allows you to set an upper and lower fan threshold in degrees for your MacBook Pro.

The software then dynamically adjusts the fans speeds to keep your MBP the temperature that you want it. Plus it uses a nice GUI with a graph to show you what is happening.
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post #6 of 34
11/14/06 at 2:16am
Thread Starter 
I hate installing things into my System Preferences because they are generally very dificult to get rid of. But I'll give this a try. Thanks for the link!
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #7 of 34
11/14/06 at 2:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aryayush

I hate installing things into my System Preferences because they are generally very dificult to get rid of.

Secondary mouse button, a particular item, contextual menu, "Remove [..] Preference Pane" is hard?
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post #8 of 34
11/14/06 at 3:06am
Thread Starter 
No, it isn't but I did not know I could do that. Thanks a bunch!
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #9 of 34
11/14/06 at 3:08am
I agree it's not the most obvious feature (and it wasn't added until 10.3 Panther, as far as I recall).
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post #10 of 34
11/14/06 at 7:30am
Does this work well on the new Core2 Duos?

I'm thinking it should, but I just wanted to check from those of you who know best
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post #11 of 34
11/14/06 at 8:31am
Thread Starter 
It was released after Apple released some sort of speed controller for the fans with the Core 2 Duos. It is designed for them and works well.
But now that I have used Fan Control, I would recommend it over smcFanControl.
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #12 of 34
11/14/06 at 10:33am
I jut got the 13.3" 80gb Macbook. I installed this program but this message came up. "You are running FanControl on an unsupported machine!"

Can anybody help me with this?

Thanks!!
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post #13 of 34
11/14/06 at 11:34am
Thread Starter 
Did you try smcFanControl or Fan Control?
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #14 of 34
11/14/06 at 1:21pm
smcFanControl
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post #15 of 34
11/14/06 at 3:24pm
45 C is hardly a "cool" temperature IMHO.
I would not call it a "solution", but rather a bandaid.

Quote:
Originally Posted by aryayush

Hello!
I bet many people here have been very frustrated with the fact that their MacBook Pro runs very hot and that there is no simple, straightforward solution. Well, there is now.
If you haven't heard of it as yet, smcFanControl is a small application that allows you to define the minimum speed your fans should rotate at. You can set it to execute on system startup and stay hidden. And if you want to go back to your hot notebook, simple restore the sliders to the defaults. The results are instantaneous. My MacBook Pro used to run at an average of 72-78 ˚C and now it runs at a cool 45 ˚C - such is the difference!
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post #16 of 34
11/14/06 at 3:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skatman

45 C is hardly a "cool" temperature IMHO.
I would not call it a "solution", but rather a bandaid.

That's the CPU temperature, not the surface one.
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post #17 of 34
11/14/06 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skatman

45 C is hardly a "cool" temperature IMHO.
I would not call it a "solution", but rather a bandaid.

It's not too bad a solution or temperature. I used to be at 54C and now I'm at 45C because of fan control with no audible change. So I'm pretty happy, but I just don't know why apple keeps the original speed of my mbp at a painful 1000rpm.
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post #18 of 34
11/14/06 at 10:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoeorDie

smcFanControl

Well, I don't know what's the problem then. It works pretty well for me. Try out Fan Control once, I found it to be better than smcFanControl. Follow the link given by macanoid.
-Aayush Arya
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post #19 of 34
11/14/06 at 11:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skatman

45 C is hardly a "cool" temperature IMHO.
I would not call it a "solution", but rather a bandaid.

HELLOOO?!? You have one of the most modern two-core processors in a notebook - that's at least as powerful as the 2 GHz Dual-Core G5 introduced only one year ago - and you think 45 degrees C is too much?

Do you know that AMD desktop processors work perfectly at up to 85 C and that even notebook processors still work well at that temperature? In the average desktop PC, processor temperature of 45 C is perfectly normal, in a modern notebook, however, this is a phenomenally low temperature. Almost every other mobile processor gets hotter than 45C.


ecking, Apple decided to have the fans turning at 1000 rpm all the time to reduce the heat at the bottom of the case to an acceptable level. So yes, MacBooks (or Pros) are a bit noisier than before, but at least they're now usable as laptops again...
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post #20 of 34
11/14/06 at 11:51pm
No that's not what I was saying...I was saying that 1000rpm wasn't fast enough to begin with.
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post #21 of 34
11/15/06 at 12:06am
Oh, I thougt by "painful" you meant it is too loud. Well, then smcFanControl is also a good thing for you!
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post #22 of 34
11/15/06 at 4:17am
45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) is a great temperature for a MacBook Pro in my opinion. My 1.25Ghz PowerBook G4 was always running at 56 Celsius (133 Fahrenheit) under light loads and would top out at 62 Celsius (144 Fahrenheit) under load.
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post #23 of 34
11/15/06 at 7:17am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, at 45 degrees, the fans do produce a bit of noise but the notebook is exceptionally cool. I love these apps.
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #24 of 34
11/15/06 at 8:27am
I just downloaded "Fan Control" and now I'd like some advice on best settings to keep my MBP cool. I never it without it being plugged in so power isn't an issue.

For instance, what's the "Upper Threshold", and why is it set at 80 C?

Thanks in advance.
MacPro2,1 2 x 3GHz Quad Core Intel Xeons, 13GB RAM, 1.5TB Storage, 30" Apple Cinema Display pushed by an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500
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post #25 of 34
11/15/06 at 9:06am
I downloaded smc awhile ago, and just recently one of my fans has been making a bad rattling noise when it speeds up past its normal 1000rpms. Theres still a rattling noise at 1000rpms but its really low so I can't tell unless I put my ear next to it... But its probably that they're unrelated, unless someone knows more about it than me
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post #26 of 34
11/15/06 at 3:23pm
I'm using fan control now and have it set to 1800rpm because that's what I heard the C2D mbps are set to and right now I'm at 41C and the notebook is silent. Beautiful.
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post #27 of 34
11/16/06 at 4:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Green

I just downloaded "Fan Control" and now I'd like some advice on best settings to keep my MBP cool. I never it without it being plugged in so power isn't an issue.

For instance, what's the "Upper Threshold", and why is it set at 80 C?

Thanks in advance.

The upper threshold is the maximum temperature the software will allow your notebook to heat upto and the lower threshold is the lowest. I set them to 70 degrees and 40 degrees respectively.
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #28 of 34
11/16/06 at 6:44am
My C2D was set to either 1400 or 1500 standard I think. I bumped it to 1800 and it's pretty comfortable all the time now...
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post #29 of 34
11/20/06 at 10:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoeorDie

I jut got the 13.3" 80gb Macbook. I installed this program but this message came up. "You are running FanControl on an unsupported machine!"

Can anybody help me with this?

Thanks!!

I had the exact same problem as you. Were you able to solve it? I just sent an email to the guy who developed the application... let's see what he answer me (if he answer)...

What MPB do you have? I have a 17'' MPB C2D... it's brand new... I just got it from a local store today.. it's not running hot at all... but I just wanted to run the application to see how it's like.. and what's the temperature...
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post #30 of 34
11/20/06 at 11:10pm
Thread Starter 
You could also try CoolBook. It is a paid applications and it does not change the speed of the fans. Instead, it undervolts the CPU and is reported to have no negetive effects and respectable reduction in temperature without any additional noise.
-Aayush Arya
Macworld and Apple Matters Author

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post #31 of 34
11/21/06 at 1:10am
Fan Control has made a huge difference in the amount of heat my MBP emits. I haven't noticed an increase in fan noise as a result of the slightly higher RPM's the right and left fans are doing. As for the CoolBook app, I'd be somewhat hesitant to run any app specifically designed to handicap my CPU. I think the best solution here is fan management, not limiting the components IMHO.
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post #32 of 34
11/21/06 at 8:07am
Guys, maybe SMCFanControl will only work on machines with Core Duo and not on those newest MB(P) models with Core 2 Duo?

And by the way, the new Core 2 Duo models' fans run now at 2000 rpm standard instead of 1000 or 1500. So that helps cooling better, too. (see http://www.hardmac.com/news/2006-11-21/#6148 for more infos).
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post #33 of 34
11/22/06 at 11:25am
Macbook Pro's Core 2 Duo significantly cooler than their core dup versions:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=338
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post #34 of 34
12/25/06 at 12:03pm
i just got my new MBP and i also got the smcFanControl. It is a great tool but i how can change the default setting of my fan speed on my Mac?. Right now both fans running on 5990 mph and it is pretty loud. With smcFanControl you can set the Minimum speed but how can you change the default speed set by apple?

I also read that apple set their MBP's to 1000mphs but as you can see, it is not in my case.

can someone answer me that question?

thanks
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