Dropping macbook temperature

I have heard there is software that drops temperature on Mac OS X without sacrificing performance...

Is that true and if yes can somebody name it?

rabidmachine9

Posted 2010-07-26T11:43:38.890

Reputation: 302

1Search for a program that adjusts fan speed for the cpu. Otherwise the only way to cool it is by reducing power to the cpu. – jer.salamon – 2010-07-26T11:52:45.717

@jer.salamon While your comment is correct in general, it could be that there is some program which can change the processor's frequency based on load so well that user doesn't notice performance difference. – AndrejaKo – 2010-07-26T11:55:35.943

That is true, but it generally wont reduce the temperature more then a couple degrees without changing the power to the processor. – jer.salamon – 2010-07-26T12:04:46.373

Answers

Personally I use smcFanControl to control the speeds of the fans on my Macs when necessary. You can set them to run at a higher than normal value if you find the computer runs too hot for your taste.

Chealion

Posted 2010-07-26T11:43:38.890

Reputation: 22 932

Instructions are here.

Basically you need to edit some config files. You could shorten the life of your fan by doing it though.

JNK

Posted 2010-07-26T11:43:38.890

Reputation: 7 642

2Summary: This change increases the fan speed, apparently without adding much noise. Potential downsides are fan power consumption and more wear on the fan, but that sounds quite acceptable. – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun – 2010-07-26T12:14:40.547

Can somebody post the instructions? They are in a pdf and you need to be logged in.There is also a post in this page...http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=238961 but the explanation is not so straight forward...thanks!

– rabidmachine9 – 2010-07-26T15:45:40.507

Fans are cheap, HDs and other components expensive. It's worth sacrificing a fan for a HD. – alimack – 2010-09-02T10:52:00.890

Good point, @alimack. – JNK – 2010-09-02T12:02:41.593

CoolBookController, $10 http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.html

It lowers the voltage without effecting performance and, optionally, throttles. My 2007 White Macbook was overheating to point of shutting off (about 90C), and CoolBookController was a big help. Throttling is intelligent and transparent.

The only two gotchas are: Don't crank up throttling all the way and play large HD movie files -- it will stutter.

The interface is clunky and not intuitive, but the defaults work just fine. You shouldn't have to change the voltages by hand.

autodidakto

Posted 2010-07-26T11:43:38.890

Reputation: 151

this also sounds good...I wish it was free but I would consider it if my macbook was shutting off – rabidmachine9 – 2010-07-27T11:11:47.017