Fan Control Software

Traffic_Warden · 18 Jul 2012 at 01:17

Is there a application/software i can download/buy to change my fan speeds manualy and when they activate/deactivate on my macbook air?

I've tried a few on google but they are not working.

Many thanks.

Rameses · 18 Jul 2012 at 02:17

I tried this on my 2009 Mac Mini, nothing out of the ordinary but it seemed to work at the set limit, can't really say more but to give it a try, there is also smcFanControl (on same site)

uniQ · 18 Jul 2012 at 08:02

smcFanControl is the most popular solution, was last updated in 2011 and confirmed to work with Lion compared to the above which was in 2007.

However tread carefully as OS X does a pretty good job of regulating the fans on it's own, turning the fans down when they kick in etc could reduce the life of your Air considerably.

PaulyD · 18 Jul 2012 at 09:21

Another vote for SMC fan control here too. Though I found I very rarely actually used it when I did it worked perfectly

FreeStream · 18 Jul 2012 at 10:01

SMC Fan control is second to this:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23137/fan-control

or

http://www.derman.com/MacBook-Pro-Fan-Control

You set it how you would like, and then forget about it.

I've been running the same fan profile since 2008 with my 2007 MBP and my 2010 MBP!

Edit: If they don't work they need their fan keys updating, which is easy to do if you would like me to.

Traffic_Warden · 18 Jul 2012 at 21:34

Downloaded SMC Fan Control, Just what I was looking for

Cheers

Donk · 19 Jul 2012 at 10:27

http://www.hddfancontrol.com/ is what I used when I replaced my HD with a SSD.

FreeStream · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:06

uniQ said:
smcFanControl is the most popular solution, was last updated in 2011 and confirmed to work with Lion compared to the above which was in 2007.

However tread carefully as OS X does a pretty good job of regulating the fans on it's own, turning the fans down when they kick in etc could reduce the life of your Air considerably.

Just to add to this, but if SMC Fan Control is done properly, then it only alters the *minimum* fan speed.

Using my fan app, the SMC still has complete control over the fan speed and hence even if you set your fan speed to 1000 RPM, the SMC will still keep it at what it thinks is ok.

Examples:

PCI-E fan on my Mac Pro sits at ~800RPM on most days when under full SMC control, setting it to 700 minimum results in an actual speed of around 780 on cold days to 850+ on hot days, i.e. the SMC is still doing its job.

2010 Macbook Pro fans will not go under 2000RPM even if I set the minimum to be 1000, i.e. still under the SMCs control.

SMC Fan Control *might* force fans speeds, which is bad!

uniQ · 20 Jul 2012 at 17:19

Thanks for the clarification.