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New mac - 5770 fan making too much noice!!

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gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
Just got my mac pro delivered.

What a racket, the fan from the 5770 sounds like it's a dud.

It sounds like it's got an issue with the bearing or something, making a slight knocking sound on each revolution.

Are yours dead silent?

I can hear the HD obviously and the front facing fan opposite the GPU (low humming sound) ...

Just on the phone to apple.
 
johnnymg

johnnymg

macrumors 65816
Nov 16, 2008
1,318
7
gabicava83 said:
Just got my mac pro delivered.

What a racket, the fan from the 5770 sounds like it's a dud.

It sounds like it's got an issue with the bearing or something, making a slight knocking sound on each revolution.

Are yours dead silent?

I can hear the HD obviously and the front facing fan opposite the GPU (low humming sound) ...

Just on the phone to apple.
Click to expand...

Are you absolutely sure it's the 5770 fan? Take the cover off and stop the fan to be sure.

Everyone is reporting the 5770 fan is dead silent............. including me. Call Apple and schedule an appointment.

OTOH, the processor fan in these MP's can have a "knocking/rattling" noise. Mine does occasionally.

regards
JohnG
 
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gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
Defo the 5770, not silent, it has got better though, I wonder if it just needs bedding in.

The whole unit is louder than I was expecting.

I'll mess around for a bit and see how I get on, but the fan noise from the 5770 plus the other fan next to it will drive me nuts.

Damn.

johnnymg said:
Are you absolutely sure it's the 5770 fan? Take the cover off and stop the fan to be sure.

Everyone is reporting the 5770 fan is dead silent............. including me. Call Apple and schedule an appointment.

OTOH, the processor fan in these MP's can have a "knocking/rattling" noise. Mine does occasionally.

regards
JohnG
Click to expand...
 
johnnymg

johnnymg

macrumors 65816
Nov 16, 2008
1,318
7
gabicava83 said:
Defo the 5770, not silent, it has got better though, I wonder if it just needs bedding in.

The whole unit is louder than I was expecting.

I'll mess around for a bit and see how I get on, but the fan noise from the 5770 plus the other fan next to it will drive me nuts.

Damn.
Click to expand...

The fan absolutely does NOT need "bedding in". By all accounts (except yours ;)) the 5770 fan is dead silent.

FWIW, the processor fan on my MP makes a slight rattling sound once in a while. My local Apple store biz rep emailed me that they would take care of it pronto............... if I pursue getting it serviced.

cheers
JohnG
 
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gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
I've requested for a replacement.

Let's see what they bring.

I've asked the old one to be collected the following day, so I can test it and make sure it's all Ok.

Thanks for the replies.

G.
 
G

gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
Thought I would update this.

Got a replacement pretty much straight away.

The 5770 on this is silent, so there was defo an issue with the previous one.

However, the unit as a whole is far from silent.

This one has a noticeable humming noise which kind of pulsates.

It would appear that the dual 2.4 CPU ones have some kind of noise issues, there are other threads on the apple site that I had not seen before.

Looks like I will have to abandon the MacPro area as this is doing my nut in.
 
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brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
There's no reason to believe that whatever PC you replace the MP with will be silent. I just replaced my PC which used Noctua fans (only). These are specifically designed to be silent, and I was really happy with it.

Well the MP, of identical specs is orders of magnitude more silent than my PC was.

I'd take the time to figure out where your noises are coming from and address them directly. If you have to replace a fan, do so. If there's a hard drive droning and you don't like it.. get rid of it.

Noisy things are very subjective. I've had friends who ran away screaming from hard drives with "loud" seeking sounds. They could replace them with quiet seeking drives that made a constant high-pitched noise and be happy. Meanwhile I thought they were nuts on both fronts.
 
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Transporteur

macrumors 68030
Nov 30, 2008
2,729
3
UK
brentsg said:
Noisy things are very subjective. I've had friends who ran away screaming from hard drives with "loud" seeking sounds. They could replace them with quiet seeking drives that made a constant high-pitched noise and be happy. Meanwhile I thought they were nuts on both fronts.
Click to expand...


Although I completely agree with you, the 2010 Mac Pro really does seem to have noise issues previous models did not.

There are several users complaining about humming fans in the 2010 models and in fact Apple changed the fans from the 2009 to 2010 model. Apparently, they replaced good fans with crap.
 
Garen

Garen

macrumors regular
Apr 9, 2010
143
35
Los Angeles Area
In the absence of actual defective fan all MP that I have owned were as silent or better than all my PC that includes G5 dual 2, 07 2.1 8c 3.0 (5770) and 2010 6c (5870), I also understand it could be a subjective call. All my computers were tower and placed under my desk.

Garen
 
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gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
I can't deal with this noise, it's winding me up.

Played with the fan settings using SMC control, changing the default of 600 on some to say 650 and still, this oscillating noise is concurrently noticeable.

My MacPro, is silent, mac mini's I have used and other macs all been quiet, imac I use is silent, this is far from it.

I dont have super sensitive hearing, but even my brother has asked if that noise is doing my nut in.

:)

Looks like UPS will be picking up two mac pro's in the next couple of days.

Gutted as I have 32gb and 3 SSD's on their way to me.

We'll see.

I will play around more and see if changing the desk will make a difference in the oscillation, however, the fan I will still hear it.

It's a shame really, as I have waited and really done my research to get this and I was far from expecting this.

Oh well :)
 
M

minifridge1138

macrumors 65816
Jun 26, 2010
1,175
197
I have a 2009.
With the original 640 apple/hitachi HD and GT 120 it was silent until doing a lot of graphics intensive tasks and i could hear the GPU fan.

I upgraded to a 5870. At boot, I hear the fan spool up until the boot sound, then it quiets down (not silent, but close). It still gets louder when doing graphics intensive tasks, but on par with the GT 120.
 
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brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
gabicava83 said:
It's a shame really, as I have waited and really done my research to get this and I was far from expecting this.
Click to expand...

Well it's certainly not a universal issue so I'd try again, or let them fix this one.

My 2010 Mac Pro is as quiet as my Mini and certainly quieter than my Macbook Pro if I'm actually doing something with it. Mine's actually too quiet. I've got mild tinnitus and the MP is so silent that I have to turn on some background noise to mask it. Never had that issue with my PC.
 
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gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
Update.

Just spoke to Apple customer support, they do not accept that there is a fault on the MacPro's as they are professional equipment.

They are happy to send a third one to my house, and collect the other two which I have at home.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford for the third one to be wrong and then be lumbered with it.

I've asked for a full refund, collection will occur in the next couple of days and refund following that.

Gutted to say the least, but at £2800 + RAM + 3 SSD's that's £4000 and I can't be having that.

Shame really, absolute shame.

G.
 
R

rossagrant

macrumors member
Mar 3, 2009
79
0
Such a shame to hear you are having noise issues. I just bought a 2.8ghz 2010 mac pro with the 5770 and although I couldn't call it silent, I can hear just a slight amount of hum from a fan (the psu I presume).

Saying that it is SO much quieter than my PC which sounds like a tank!

What are other people's experiences on the 2010's?
 
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gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
What CPU is yours?

Fancy a swap if you are in the Uk :rolleyes: :)

I think as stated before, noice is relative, however, if you can really hear the fans going, then not good.

Some people are saying the macbook pro is loud, well, I can't hear mine what so ever.

I really, really don't want an iMac as I already have a 30" ACD and an external Raid enclosure, but looks like no choice for the time being.

Shame :(



brentsg said:
I have to get down on my knees to hear if my 2010 is on.
Click to expand...
 
B

brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
Mine is the hex 3.33 model.

If I were to play a game or encode a video on the MacBook Pro then it is definitely louder than anything the MP ever does (aside from the optical drive).

Otherwise they are both silent.
 
Mac Hammer Fan

Mac Hammer Fan

macrumors 65816
Jul 13, 2004
1,254
456
I upgraded my MacPro 2009 (GT120) with an ATI 5770. The fan of the card was silent. The PCI expansion bay fan however was really noisy (2000 rpm!). I don't know what caused this, but I placed the old GT 120 back in my MacPro and he is silent now. I have returned the ATI 5770 to Apple.
I am not sure if another 5770 or 5780 will solve the problem.
Any ideas?
 
johnnymg

johnnymg

macrumors 65816
Nov 16, 2008
1,318
7
gabicava83 said:
What CPU is yours?

Fancy a swap if you are in the Uk :rolleyes: :)

I think as stated before, noice is relative, however, if you can really hear the fans going, then not good.

Some people are saying the macbook pro is loud, well, I can't hear mine what so ever.

I really, really don't want an iMac as I already have a 30" ACD and an external Raid enclosure, but looks like no choice for the time being.

Shame :(
Click to expand...

All MP's make some noise. The real question is how much! ~50 dB is about normal. If you want a dead-silent computer the MP is NOT for you.

I'm wondering if you're hearing the processor fan. The 5770 fan should be silent.

regards
JohnG
 
N

nasabaer

macrumors member
Apr 2, 2009
79
0
My new Mac Pro hexcore also had a rattling cpu fan.
so i called apple today and they will exchange my mac pro for a new one.
hopefully more luck next time :)

we will see.

a rattling cpu fan is not acceptable.
 
G

gabicava83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2010
243
10
I know it's cheeky, but any chance of a recording of the noise?

:)

nasabaer said:
My new Mac Pro hexcore also had a rattling cpu fan.
so i called apple today and they will exchange my mac pro for a new one.
hopefully more luck next time :)

we will see.

a rattling cpu fan is not acceptable.
Click to expand...
 
T

T u r b o

macrumors newbie
Jul 27, 2009
6
0
johnnymg said:
All MP's make some noise. The real question is how much! ~50 dB is about normal. If you want a dead-silent computer the MP is NOT for you.

I'm wondering if you're hearing the processor fan. The 5770 fan should be silent.

regards
JohnG
Click to expand...

I disagree with this statement. My Mac Pro (2008) is so quiet I can't tell it's on unless my ear is within a foot of the case.

I have an 8800GT video card that I tried swapping for a 5770, and I found the 5770 was unacceptably loud. I ended up sending it back and sticking with the 8800GT.

Before swapping out the drives for SSDs, the hard drives were the loudest thing in the computer (and they were not really that loud).

My UPS makes more noise than my MP. It's below 40db @ 1 ft, it doesn't register on my SPL meter at all.

- Turbo
 
U

unimoog

macrumors newbie
Sep 19, 2010
3
0
Cheap Fans in Mac Pro 2010?

>>Transporteur wrote:
...the 2010 Mac Pro really does seem to have noise issues previous models did not.
There are several users complaining about humming fans in the 2010 models and in fact Apple changed the fans from the 2009 to 2010 model. Apparently, they replaced good fans with crap<<


Is this really true? Who can it confirm? Or is it just "apparently"?



unimoog
 
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