Click the “Macs Fan Control” icon in your Mac’s menu bar.If you’re happy with your changes, and want to continue using them even after rebooting your Mac, then: In the Macs Control app, select the fan in question.If at any point you’re concerned about your Mac’s internal temperature, then you should immediately restore the default fan settings: In particular, you should keep a close eye on the CPU Core temperatures, as these are most likely to be affected by changes to your fan settings. While testing your changes, you can use the Macs Fan Control app to monitor the temperature of various components, to make sure you’re not causing any damage to your system. Spend some time performing various tasks, to see whether your changes have the desired effect – and to check whether you can put up with the extra noise or heat coming from your machine! You should immediately hear a change in your fan speed. When you’re happy with your changes, click “OK.”.You can also set the temperature where the fan will hit its maximum speed. Set a specific temperature, at which point the fan will start to run faster.Manually set a constant fan speed, by selecting “Constant RPM value” and then using the accompanying slider to increase or decrease the RPM.To override a fan’s settings, select its accompanying “Custom” button. This allows you to set a specific target temperature or RPM (revolutions per minute) which is the number of revolutions your Mac’s hard drive will complete in a single minute. This application will now list all of your Mac’s fans and their current temperatures, and will display two buttons for each fan:
In this tutorial we’ll be using the free, third party Macs Fan Control app, so the first step is getting this application setup: Manually increase, or decrease your fan settings
When adjusting your fan settings, it’s best to err on the side of caution and perhaps consider making small changes, slowly, just to make sure there’s no negative side effects.
Running your fans at maximum speed for a significant period of time can damage your Mac, and if you push the CPU too hard then it’s possible your Mac may start to overheat, even with the fans at full blast.Īt the other end of the scale, if you tell macOS to wait too long before activating the fans, then your Mac may be nice and quiet but it may also be internally burning up!
Regardless of whether you’re cranking your fans up or down, it’s important to monitor the temperature of your CPU and other components, to make sure your manual tweaks aren’t damaging your system.
In this article, I’ll show you how to manually configure your fan settings, using the free Macs Fan Control application. As ever, there’s a downside: your system will get hotter, quicker, so macOS is more likely to throttle your CPU and make your Mac run noticeably slower, even when you’re not doing anything particularly strenuous. This performance boost comes at a cost, as your fans will be noticeably louder, which may be difficult for some users to deal with, or could even be embarrassing if you’re using your Mac around other people, such as in an office or cafe.Īlternatively, if you find the sound of the fans grating, then you can turn them down a notch. By configuring your fans to kick in at lower temperatures you can push your Mac harder, without macOS stepping in and throttling your CPU. Whenever your Mac’s temperature starts to rise, macOS automatically throttles your CPU to give the temperature a chance to return to normal. However, there are some benefits to manually adjusting your fan settings. Your laptop’s built-in fans will go faster when your Mac starts to get hot, and slow down once the temperature returns to normal, all with zero interference from you. Most of the time, you don’t need to worry about your Mac’s temperature.