smcFanControl

Hello,

My MacBook Pro always gets really hot, like overheated, when I'm using Windows. I have no idea why and I asked about that, and some one told me to download and install any program that increases fan speed or do "CPU Throttling" which I don't understand so I just downloaded a bunch of applications to increase the Fans' speed. The applications require me to choose which fans I want to increase the speed of, but sadly, there application can't even detect any fans. However, on the Macintosh OS X, of course it detects the fans. I set the fans' RPM to 3125, is that okay or should I increase/decrease? Exactly what RPM amount should I set both fans to? Thank you very much.

i have the same problem. are u running windows on bootcamp or a program

I am running Windows through Boot Camp. I can't remember if it got overheated when I had Windows on Parallels, but I don't think so or I would have noticed.

Try not to control the fan speeds - doing so can be more detrimental than helpful. Let's start with the basics: what kinds of surfaces are you running your MBP on? What kinds of applications are you running in Windows?

On Macintosh - Firefox, Safari, Finder, Msn Messenger, AIM, sometimes (but not a lot) Skype, and the other normal Burn, Dictionary, Disk Utility applications whenever I need them in something. That's all.

On Windows - Firefox, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Sidebar, Boot Camp Manager, sometimes RealPlayer to watch or listen to stuff, and sometimes to play a game called CrossFire (which is an FPS game).

Why?

Because the type of applications you use ultimately (although indirectly) determines the temperature of certain parts of your CPU, RAM, GPU etc.

I have the same problem, windows 7 does not detect the fans, which means the fans don't get detected by any of the programs(windows). what seems to work though is, set the fan at the speed you want while you are on osx, set the speed with smc, then restart the computer while holding down the option key and boot to windows. This is a chore but seems to be the only way to fix it. Can't wait for something to come out so we can control it, or so it increase the fan speed by itself, like in osx, to keep up with the temperatures.

Tarek said:

Hello,

My MacBook Pro always gets really hot, like overheated, when I'm using Windows. I have no idea why and I asked about that, and some one told me to download and install any program that increases fan speed or do "CPU Throttling" which I don't understand so I just downloaded a bunch of applications to increase the Fans' speed. The applications require me to choose which fans I want to increase the speed of, but sadly, there application can't even detect any fans. However, on the Macintosh OS X, of course it detects the fans. I set the fans' RPM to 3125, is that okay or should I increase/decrease? Exactly what RPM amount should I set both fans to? Thank you very much.

Click to expand...

Tarek:

I'm the person who recommended a CPU throttling program to you. That's the only way (currently) you can effectively keep the CPU temperatures down when running in Windows. It works for both the MacBook and MacBook Pro machines.

The program is called "RMClock". It's a small Windows program which you can run while in Windows which will throttle the CPU thereby cooling it down. I have used it extensively while running games and it definitely works. The only drawback is that it will slow you down somewhat and it will diminish frame rates. If you can live with that, give it a try. The program is free and can be downloaded from here: Link

Remember - this is a Windows program and must be run in Windows. It's most effective of course if you have it in your startup folder or automatically start when you boot to Windows. Be sure to read all the documentation.

Regards.

There's a key map program that also controls fans in Windows. I had it installed but it was being a POS so I removed it. I'd like to find something though.

Right now I have my 15"MBP sitting open on an Antec 15" notebook cooler with the giant 200mm fan. I had EQ II running yesterday at 1900x1200 on a 30" HP monitor and the GPU was pushing about 81C while the CPU was at about 76C with both cores. I only was running this for about 5 minutes.

Some one posted a link to a forum that showed that Apple's application of thermal paste is painfully sub par and that by reapplying something like some Artic Silver, you could drop running temps by about 10C. Problem is, I'm not sure how I feel about disassembling a new MBP to fix something that shouldn't be a problem.

Yep, it's well known that some of the MacBook Pros had an issue with WAY too much thermal compound applied to several heat generating chips. I haven't experienced any excessive heat issues with my two MBPs, but I would imagine that this is the cause of many of the issues I see here. There should be just a wafer-thin coating of thermal compound (enough to fill in the microscopic gaps between the heat sink and the chip) and no more. Anything else is just inhibiting efficient thermal transfer.

The process isn't terribly difficult, but it would definitely void any warranty you have (assuming the tampering was detected).

Re-applied the thermal paste on my MacBook Pro... AMAZING results! - Mac Forums

Every time I see those pictures, I am just DUMBFOUNDED that this could have been done in a factory setting. Typically on mass-produced parts, the thermal compound is pre-applied directly to the heat sinks in an automated fashion. Clearly, in this case, someone just shot a clump of compound onto these chips and smooshed the heatsink down. Absolutely absurd.

WOW! I can't believe how much compund there is! I bet there is enough on there to do 3 mbp's perfectly!
So, cwa107, do you think that the majority of heating issues have something to do with the way the thermal compound was applied?

idrinorbarsaku said:

WOW! I can't believe how much compund there is! I bet there is enough on there to do 3 mbp's perfectly!
So, cwa107, do you think that the majority of heating issues have something to do with the way the thermal compound was applied?

Click to expand...

Yup. As I said, I've owned two MacBook Pros. One was an original (2006 vintage) Yonah-powered Core Duo machine, which were VERY well known to run warm, much warmer than the C2D machines.

Both of my MacBook Pros have run very cool, much cooler than the Dells that I've owned previously and certainly never even close to uncomfortable on my lap. My CD MBP was refurbished, so I always suspected that an Apple QA tech might have redone the compound on that machine. And my second one is a an early 2008 MBP, which has also run cool - about equal to the CD machine.

Honestly, I've never even heard the fans running - so either mine are unusually quiet or they don't run that often.