I've seen a few posts with information about 10.5.7 creating fan problems with the ATI 3870 in 2006 first gen mac pro. There didn't seem to be enough complaints to be a definite problem. I would like to hear from anyone experiencing this problem and from those that upgraded and had no problems. I hope that I can upgrade my OS because 10.6 looks like it will be really great, and I assume any problem with the 3870 would persist through the next OS.
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10.5.7 and the ATI 3870 Fan issues, Consistent Info?
- Thread starter chocobavits
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I just pulled my 3870 out of my Mac Pro because it kept freezing up the computer - crazy graphical junk would pollute the screen and I'd have to do a hard shut down. I had installed the Accelero S1 rev. 2 passive cooler with the Turbo Module fans because the 3870's fan was always on. This was installed in Feb. this year and seemed to work fine. But as of the 10.5.7 update the fans were always on - and in the last few days it has frozen the system a half dozen times.
So I'm back to the stock card for the moment and have just started to browse the forums looking for a solution.
And for the record I have a MacPro 1,1 / 2.66
Bummer - anyone else having these issues?
So I'm back to the stock card for the moment and have just started to browse the forums looking for a solution.
And for the record I have a MacPro 1,1 / 2.66
Bummer - anyone else having these issues?
No, I never had the problem with my 3870 Mac & PC original in my 2,66 2006 Mac Pro. I fitted the card after I upgraded to 10.5.7. Prior to this I had another 3870 in a PC and did not like the noise with Windows XP32 and XP64. So I bought an AKASA Neo Vortexx (19€) with dual heat pipes and hot air extraction via 2nd slot. I fitted that cooler before I seriously did anything with my 3870 Mac&PC. The card is inaudible in OS X and Vista Business 64-Bit. The only issue I had when fitting the cooler was the fan connector. The card has a two wire (black and red) cable and the AKASA fan had a three wire (black, red, yellow) cable with a much bigger connector. I made an adaptor by cutting the connector from the old cooler and fitted that to a three pin fan extension cable. The AKASA cooler fits over the heat sink for the voltage regulators, so I left that on. I also had to re route the fan cable around one of the capacitors but that was child's play.
The voltage regulators are most likely to cause problems on this card. A compounding problem may be the opposite blowing direction of the card fan to the PCI-e fan of the Mac Pro. The air stagnates and the voltage regulators may age prematurely. For trial I would remover all slot covers from the back of the PCI-e bay. If the problem is reduced you need to do something for cooling the regulators, although they may have taken a lethal hit already.
The voltage regulators are most likely to cause problems on this card. A compounding problem may be the opposite blowing direction of the card fan to the PCI-e fan of the Mac Pro. The air stagnates and the voltage regulators may age prematurely. For trial I would remover all slot covers from the back of the PCI-e bay. If the problem is reduced you need to do something for cooling the regulators, although they may have taken a lethal hit already.