The fan in your Mac provides optimal airflow to keep components cool and maintain performance. If the fan fails, your Mac will likely overheat, leading to performance issues and even unexpected shutdowns.
When your Mac starts to overheat, the fan speed will increase, making a loud sound than usual. Note that the fan speed is automatic, and there’s a reason why it gets unexpectedly louder. Most people will assume they need to adjust the fan settings for it to run quieter.
Here is what you need to do.
Before Changing Your Fan Settings
If your primary concern is noise and heat, there are several things you need to do before considering changing your fan speed. Here are the steps you need to take:
- Clean your fan vents: It’s possible that your Mac vents have been blocked by debris and dirt, leading to poor cooling. When your Mac is not cooling fast enough, the fan will increase speed to disperse heat faster. So, cleaning can help to ensure efficient airflow.
- Check your charger: Have you recently replaced your charger or changed how to charge your Mac? Your Mac can overheat due to charging problems, forcing the fan speed to increase. Make sure you’re using an original charger.
- Reboot your Mac: Newly installed apps and incomplete processes can overwork your CPU, RAM, and GPU. Rebooting your computer can help improve processes and complete installations to minimize heating.
- Inspect your activity: If you are running heavy tasks, they could cause your Mac to overheat, pushing the fan speed up. Inspect for processes that are taking up much resources and close them if needed. Open Finder, go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.
Getting a cooling pad for your Mac can be helpful, especially when running resource-intensive applications. A cooling pad provides extra cooling support to help your Mac maintain the right temperature, thus preventing high fan speeds. Be sure to get the right pad for your Mac.
Adjust Your Mac Fan Settings
Adjusting your fan settings is not recommended, and it’s something you should do only if you know your way around computers. As noted, the fan speed is usually automatic, and it only increases if your Mac’s temperature increases.
If you opt to adjust your fan settings, you can only use third-party apps. macOS doesn’t provide options for changing the fan settings. So, you’ll need to find an app that allows you to monitor your fan speeds and adjust them accordingly.
There are free and paid options. They can allow you to configure manual values for your fan modules or pick from two presets, such as full blast and automatic. Paid versions let you set custom presets that suit heavy applications and activities, such as rendering video or gaming.
Keep Your Mac Running Smoothly
Your Mac’s fan speed can increase unexpectedly due to overheating. When it does, you should aim to determine the cause of overheating instead of changing the fan settings. Your Mac can overheat due to clogged fan vents, an overworked CPU, poor charging, etc. Be sure to pinpoint the cause before installing an app to adjust the fan speed.
Keep in mind that a Mac that is overheating may crash or freeze without displaying a temperature warning like an iPhone. Instead, it may simply become unresponsive and the cursor may stop moving. Overheating can cause harm to electronic devices, so it’s crucial to avoid situations where the Mac is operating in a hot environment or unable to cool down properly.