2
I have a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5 27" iMac. It is two years old. It feels very hot. I have downloaded iStat nano and the temperatures (degrees Celsius) are:
HD: Macintosh HD 54 °C
CPU A 55 °C
GPU Diode 63 °C
GPU Heatsink 57 °C
Ambient 23 °C
Memory Controller 53 °C
Optical Drive 52 °C
Is this normal? I am a little concerned. Please advise.
Rebecca Browne
Posted 2012-09-03T12:07:44.073
Reputation: 21
2
If a CPU temperature of 55 ºC and a GPU temperature of 63 °C is normal or not depends on the exact model (fan control) and if the processors are under load or not.
What's worrisome is the fact that the hard disk and optical drive almost match the temperature of your CPU. Again, this depends on the exact model, but more often than not, it means that the exhaust vents of the laptop are clogged up with accumulated dust. As a result, the CPU can't be properly cooled, and the heat it generates spreads through the entire laptop.
Dennis
Posted 2012-09-03T12:07:44.073
Reputation: 42 934
1
Those are all normal. Since your iMac has thermal throttling, the temperatures don't tell you much. Your cooling could be excellent and your computer running at full speed or your cooling could be terrible and your components are throttling to stay at those temperatures.
David Schwartz
Posted 2012-09-03T12:07:44.073
Reputation: 58 310
2I disagree. 54 °C is a bit high for the hard drive, and 63 °C is also high for the GPU (assuming those are idle temps). – Indrek – 2012-09-03T12:25:09.053
@Indrek: Idle temps just measure how much the fans can slow down. They don't measure anything particularly useful. – David Schwartz – 2012-09-03T12:26:52.133
That may be, but my point was that, until the OP has specified whether he got those temps while idle or under load, there's little point in trying to assess whether they're normal or not. If he's getting those temps while idle, then most of them are definitely not normal, even for a Mac. – Indrek – 2012-09-03T12:30:31.340
They're normal either idle or under load. Under idle, you're just measuring how much the fans can slow down. The typical spec for thermal management on a laptop HD is 55C, so 54C is consistent with properly-functioning thermal management. – David Schwartz – 2012-09-03T12:46:28.567
1
Your Hard Drive temperature looks a bit high.
Your Optical Drive temperature also seems high.
Rest looks good.
Attaching a screenshot of the iMac at my office. And these are the temperatures of a machine which is NOT idle.
aliasgar
Posted 2012-09-03T12:07:44.073
Reputation: 3 608
@aliasgar - FYI, any edits on questions that are closed or on hold are supposed to first solve the hold/close issue. Editing a closed/on-hold question throws it into the reopen queue and wastes people's time if the original issue is still there. – fixer1234 – 2015-02-18T16:08:38.243
@fixer1234 removed the tag – aliasgar – 2015-02-19T06:57:03.623
Did you measure those temperatures when the computer was idle or under load? If the latter, what kind of load? – Indrek – 2012-09-03T12:23:30.773