Forums | MacLife

Anybody here try mounting an external fan on their iMac? Is this a stupid idea or a possible solution to the noise?

I'm coming to the realization that there may not be anything 'wrong' with my Mac. I've noticed quite a few people on the pages I've searched saying they have similar noise issues and the computer performs just fine.

I just feel like I'm piloting a small aircraft or running a weird power tool with all the noise my Mac makes.

I just realized I meant to post this in the Everyday Tech forum. Gah! What was I doing? I'd mod myself but oh well.

I turned my iMac off for a couple of hours. It was whisper quiet until I started Firefox up. But when I don't do anything with it, it backs down to quiet. I'm assuming resetting the SMU did help, I was just being paranoid and impatient. And absent minded, as I posted in the wrong forum! Heh.

Thanks for the software tip about fan controls, unfortunately I have a PPC G5, so I cannot take advantage of that particular application.

Opened my iMac back up and double checked everything. Cleaned out fans and intakes with canned air. Closed it back up and reset the SMU when i plugged the power back in.

My fan is quieter and not crazy now. Firefox is pretty much the only thing that makes it run loud. So I will look into making it less of a RAM pig.
Actually the fan noise itself is not loud - it's a soft whirring that's not too bad. It's that blasted loud whine that comes with it. This is an iMac for crying out loud not a space ship! If I find something about decreasing the fan whine I'll definitely post it here.

As for an external cooling fan, I reread that and realized it probably isn't necessary - my desk area almost never gets above 70 degrees, so I don't think my iMac runs the risk of overheating.

Aha! Found the problem I think.
Opened it back up and found that the metal clamp that holds down the plastic casing for the fan near the bottom (the one right under the G5 processor) wasn't pushed down all the way. I pushed on it and it clicked back in place. I also taped a 3 inch strip of paper under the left side of my iMac. It doesn't restrict air flow to the fan, and now the noise level is lighter and more bearable.
I was beginning to think I might have to take it back in to the Apple store, but everything is functioning normally, so i feel good to go. I'll just keep an ear out for any weirdness.

'K, the Mac is back.   Basically, the 'repair' from 2 weeks ago was faulty so the apple guys at the apple store fixed it again free of charge. It's purring along now and the fans are no longer crazy.

Interestingly, I asked them if they knew what normal cpu temp / fan speed ranges are for the iMac and they.....had no clue. So I will go to Apple's forum and see what the fine folks there say.