{"slug": "macs-fan-control", "name": "Macs Fan Control", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.547, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2025-12-28", "latest": "2026-08-22", "why": "I've been using Macs-Fan-Control since I picked up a Mac M1 a few years back and it works great.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I've been using Macs-Fan-Control since I picked up a Mac M1 a few years back and it works great.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "crystalidea.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Macs Fan Control"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 790480257, "item_id": 49405016, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49405016", "by": "akg_67", "date": "2026-08-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "With Macs fan control at full blast and MBP off table, temp usually hover around 85\u00b0C.", "excerpt": "Macs fan control set to full blast and lifting the Mac above table for air circulation across bottom. I use M1 Max with qwen3.8 27b mlx. The gpu temp can reach easily to 95\u00b0C as fan doesn\u2019t kick in automatically until 90\u00b0C. With Macs fan control at full blast and MBP off table, temp usually hover around 85\u00b0C.", "context": "", "use_case": "cooling during local LLM runs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why your local LLM feels dumber than it is"}, {"id": 778308005, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "fan control", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 750945456, "item_id": 46934091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46934091", "by": "nerdsniper", "date": "2026-02-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I even use Macs Fan Control[0], a 3rd party utility", "excerpt": "I looked into this for the M1 MBA and it had the exact same performance at full load as the MBP...for 7 minutes. Then the thermal throttling hits and it slows down. I'm not sure what the time limit is for newer models. Regardless, the MBA's aren't offered with Pro/Ultra chips, which I desire (and would thermally throttle much sooner than 7 minutes). My recommendation to friends asking about MBP / MBA is entirely base", "context": "", "use_case": "Manual fan control", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why E cores make Apple Silicon fast"}, {"id": 742595888, "item_id": 46412243, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46412243", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2025-12-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using Macs-Fan-Control since I picked up a Mac M1 a few years back and it works great.", "excerpt": "I've been using Macs-Fan-Control since I picked up a Mac M1 a few years back and it works great. It lets you control the fan RPM based on CPU Core values. I adjusted it to ramp the fans up at more conservative values because otherwise during intense usage periods it would hit 90C+. https://github.com/crystalidea/macs-fan-control", "context": "", "use_case": "manual fan control on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building a macOS app to know when my Mac is thermal throttling"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["cooling during local llm runs", "fan control", "manual fan control", "manual fan control on mac"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49402232", "title": "Why your local LLM feels dumber than it is", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643848", "title": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46933365", "title": "Why E cores make Apple Silicon fast", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410402", "title": "Building a macOS app to know when my Mac is thermal throttling", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 790480257, "item_id": 49405016, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49405016", "by": "akg_67", "date": "2026-08-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "With Macs fan control at full blast and MBP off table, temp usually hover around 85\u00b0C.", "excerpt": "Macs fan control set to full blast and lifting the Mac above table for air circulation across bottom. I use M1 Max with qwen3.8 27b mlx. The gpu temp can reach easily to 95\u00b0C as fan doesn\u2019t kick in automatically until 90\u00b0C. With Macs fan control at full blast and MBP off table, temp usually hover around 85\u00b0C.", "context": "", "use_case": "cooling during local LLM runs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why your local LLM feels dumber than it is"}, {"id": 778308005, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "fan control", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 750945456, "item_id": 46934091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46934091", "by": "nerdsniper", "date": "2026-02-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I even use Macs Fan Control[0], a 3rd party utility", "excerpt": "I looked into this for the M1 MBA and it had the exact same performance at full load as the MBP...for 7 minutes. Then the thermal throttling hits and it slows down. I'm not sure what the time limit is for newer models. Regardless, the MBA's aren't offered with Pro/Ultra chips, which I desire (and would thermally throttle much sooner than 7 minutes). My recommendation to friends asking about MBP / MBA is entirely base", "context": "", "use_case": "Manual fan control", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why E cores make Apple Silicon fast"}, {"id": 742595888, "item_id": 46412243, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46412243", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2025-12-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using Macs-Fan-Control since I picked up a Mac M1 a few years back and it works great.", "excerpt": "I've been using Macs-Fan-Control since I picked up a Mac M1 a few years back and it works great. It lets you control the fan RPM based on CPU Core values. I adjusted it to ramp the fans up at more conservative values because otherwise during intense usage periods it would hit 90C+. https://github.com/crystalidea/macs-fan-control", "context": "", "use_case": "manual fan control on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building a macOS app to know when my Mac is thermal throttling"}]}