FW800 vs. MDD - Noise

F

fluke

macrumors member

Original poster

• Jul 30, 2003

• #1

Yo

I've heard a lot about the MDD PowerMac's being loud.

Are the FW800 PowerMac's as bad, relative to the MDD and QuickSilver models? Specifically the 1GHz single processor FW800 model.

Thanks for any input...

 

RGunner

macrumors 6502a

• Jul 30, 2003

• #2

FW800=Good, MDD=Bad

Look for a Dual 1.25 or 1.42 which is OSX boot only, (or considered the Firewire 800 machines). In the past 4 months I have had;

1) Dual 867 - NOISY sounded like a freight train.
2) Dual 500 - Less Noisy than 867, but still too loud for a computer in the year 2003.
3) Dual 1.25 - Dual boot, NOISY sounded like a freight train in OS9 - Sounded like an osciliting fan in OSX - no thanks...
4) Dual 1.25 - OSX boot only, FW800, AP extreme.. PERFECT sound, no if ands or buts...this thing is just about silent, even after running for days, during gaming and even folding and gaming at same time...

Hope this helps.
Rob

 

F

fluke

macrumors member

Original poster

• Jul 30, 2003

• #3

ya.. i've read good things about the FW800 dual 1.25.

one more question...

what about the low end 1.25 dual boot that apple is selling right now? are they known to be just as loud as the original MDD?

 

F

fluke

macrumors member

Original poster

• Jul 30, 2003

• #4

hmmm..

problem with the FW800 dual 1.25 is that its $2500 CAD... i may as well pick up a g5 for an extra $200. i'm hoping to find a relatively quiet g4 for under $2000 CAD..

 

RGunner

macrumors 6502a

• Jul 30, 2003

• #5

Here is my understanding..

OS 9 and the fan control system still does not really work.. Folks on the Apple boards who are still receiving the 'new' OS9 machines are complaining about noise in X and 9.

Only other option is the verax kit, but this adds another $330 and who knows about warranty...

SO far, I really do like my FW800 machine, and this will suit me until this fall.

Rob

 

RGunner

macrumors 6502a

• Jul 30, 2003

• #6

www.smalldog.com ?

have you looked at retailers who still may have stock of FW800 machines?

 

crenz

macrumors 6502a

• Jul 30, 2003

• #7

How about the new MDDs?

Originally posted by fluke
what about the low end 1.25 dual boot that apple is selling right now? are they known to be just as loud as the original MDD?

Click to expand...

I'm wondering about the same thing. I might get a single 1.25 GHz dual boot for music making and wonder whether I'll drown in fan noise 😕 The only FW800 Mac I can get at this point (in Germany) seems to be a 1 GHz machine.

 

MoparShaha

Contributor

• Jul 30, 2003

• #8

I've got a FW800 dual 1.25 with 2 optical drives and 3 hard drives, and its pretty quiet. It's certainly louder than my iMac, so at first I thought it was loud. Now that I've had it a few weeks though, I think its remarkably quiet. Comparing it to my friends' PC's, its considerably quieter.

If you're thinking of getting a single processor, it will be quieter than a dual. It requires less cooling, thus the fans will run slower.

 

B

Blackstealth

macrumors regular

• Jul 31, 2003

• #9

I've got one of the original MDD Dual 867s and it was noisy as hell until I got the replacement fan kit. Now it's much quieter. If fan noise is the same or lower than mine currently is then it'll be perfectly bearable. It's far quieter than the various Windows boxes I use at work.

I've got samples of the noise levels before and after I installed the replacement fans on my site (Look on the right hand side about half way down for 'How loud is my G4')