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How Loud is a G5 Supposed to be?

Phat_Pat

Phat_Pat

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 8, 2004
1,955
0
I Live Where I Live
I have a DP 2.5 G5 and i love it. Although after reading through how queit tis supposed to be and stuff i've been starting to think that theres something wrong. I mean it's supposed to be real quiet with the liquid-cooling system.

Everything is stock... nothing has been added. (specs in profile) The Plastic strips have also been removed.

Its always at a constant hum and even opening a small app such as mail the fans screem. They also seem to go off just at random while sitting idle. and when opening a finder window.
Am i just being anal or is this a problem?

Also i'm not sure how hot this thing is supposed to get while just sitting using Firefox but heres the temps

maybe other DP 2.5 owners can describe how loud theirs get and the heat of the comp while being idle

Thanks for you input.
 

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I have a dual 2 Ghz G5, and it's really quiet. My temperatures are much lower than yours (see the attachment). My room is only around 21-22 degrees warm, and the Mac is sitting on the floor where it's extra chilly.

Anyway, it's very quiet, and all the fans are spinning at low speed constantly. Only after I've run both processors at 100% for some minutes I can notice that it really start to speed up the processor fans. Especially when going from 100% over a few minutes to 0% to 100% again.

What kind of graphics card do you have? I have the stock Radeon 9600 Pro without any fan. I'm planning to get a X800 very soon, and it might be noisier. Hopefully not that much though.
 

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These are the specs to my G5

G5 DUAL 2.5/2 Gigs RAM/NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL/250 HD/AP/BT/23" Apple Display

the only reason i'm worrying is that if you slap down 6 grand for a computer it better be working correctly.

_pat
 
Mine Seems Quieter

I just got a DP2.5 two weeks ago and it seems quieter than you're describing. The fans ramp up when I'm running Final Cut Pro and I start video playback and such, but more routine apps don't seem to trigger fan rampup.

I didn't know that there was a temperature monitoring app. I'll have to find and launch it and see what my results are.

(BTW: I have the 6800 Ultra DDL card.)
 
How Loud is a G5 supposed to be?

I had the same problem after my G5 Dual 1.8 had its motherboard replaced under warrenty. It sounded like a jet taking off. I called Applecare and they said the Thermostat needed calibration. I took it to the Apple Store, they ran a set-up disk and 45 minutes later it was quiet again. Call Applecare, or bring it to an APPLE STORE.

PC
 
Just ran into this thread over at the Apple web site.

Seems like alot of people have had this issue... haven't read through all the post yet.....

ohh this thread is making my fans rev. Try hitting view all and scroll all the way to the bottom then back up fast a few times..... :eek:
 
You won't find any information on what the temps should be in the G5. I've been down this road and it is a dead end. Out of curiosity, I emailed one of the IBM designers of the G5 chip and he turned me over to one of the lead engineers who simply said that the 970's operating temps are not for public knowledge and Apple wants to keep it that way. Not sure why this is.. :confused:

I tried Apple CS as well with no luck on finding this info. Best I got from them was "Are your fans revving up or has the computer turned itself off?" I say "No". They say "Then its ok". End of call. Very informative... :eek:
 
cmvsm said:
You won't find any information on what the temps should be in the G5. I've been down this road and it is a dead end. Out of curiosity, I emailed one of the IBM designers of the G5 chip and he turned me over to one of the lead engineers who simply said that the 970's operating temps are not for public knowledge and Apple wants to keep it that way. Not sure why this is.. :confused:

I tried Apple CS as well with no luck on finding this info. Best I got from them was "Are your fans revving up or has the computer turned itself off?" I say "No". They say "Then its ok". End of call. Very informative... :eek:
Click to expand...
hmmm... thats weird.....

well maybe i'll call apple tommorow... i mean even right now i can hear the fans over my music...... and i'm just running 2 apps!! the old eMac we used to have was quieter than this :eek:
 
My G5 is actually very quiet. The fans rev up on occasion when I'm doing something, but other than that, good to go. I know that I found any revving at all a little odd when I first converted to Mac. I'm sure this is because my PC's fans were always running and you just got used to the noise. Now, I can hear my PC breathing underneath the desk all day and my G5 only runs the fans on demand which is great.

I ran hardware monitor and I'm guessing that everyone is in the same ballpark. Again, if you have not benchmarks on what the proper operating temps are, its a little hard to say. These chips run much hotter than any I've experienced in the past, but if my system thinks it's ok...then it's ok!!
 
my fans only come on when i start up a process they have a short burst and then they go silient.

usually it's quiet ... something makes the fans go wild; then it locks up. :(

but that hasn't happened since i stopped using the iPod with USB 2.


peace.
 
In terms of temps, the same guy who created Hardware Monitor and Temperature Monitor just came out with a program called "System Load". You can choose to max out one or two processors and when you have temp monitor running at the same time, you can really see your processors work. I had 10 other apps running at the same time as System Load and couldn't get the CPU temps past 74C. The fans never came on either. Hopefully this is normal. Anyone have temps higher than that after running this program?

You can find the download here: http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html
 
cmvsm said:
In terms of temps, the same guy who created Hardware Monitor and Temperature Monitor just came out with a program called "System Load". You can choose to max out one or two processors and when you have temp monitor running at the same time, you can really see your processors work. I had 10 other apps running at the same time as System Load and couldn't get the CPU temps past 74C. The fans never came on either. Hopefully this is normal. Anyone have temps higher than that after running this program?

You can find the download here: http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html
Click to expand...
i ran this too and the fans never sped up... just a constant hum. Although there seemed to be a strange whine coming from the case while to program was open.... :confused:

tempuratures didn't seem to change much either. i think the highest i got with 100% going was about 65ºC
 
Phat_Pat said:
i ran this too and the fans never sped up... just a constant hum. Although there seemed to be a strange whine coming from the case while to program was open.... :confused:
Click to expand...

I heard the same thing. It only occurred on my machine when the program is set at the lowest load levels. The sound disappeared when I put it at full blast. Was kind of high pitched and coming from the fans. Not sure what that is all about.
 
Phat_Pat said:
Its always at a constant hum and even opening a small app such as mail the fans screem. They also seem to go off just at random while sitting idle. and when opening a finder window.
Click to expand...

Mine doesn't do that...the fans normally are at a low, quiet hum, but starting a CPU-intensive process will cause them to rev for a few seconds. Just opening an app never does. Seems to be mostly the change in activity that sets the fans off; once the CPUs are going full tilt, long periods of this only results in fans coming on occasionally and not as loud. The only time the fans go off randomly is when scrolling through web pages for some reason.

--Eric
 
Eric5h5 said:
The only time the fans go off randomly is when scrolling through web pages for some reason.

--Eric
Click to expand...
yes i've noticed this too... although it puzzles me why viewing a web page would cause the system to heat up and require the fans....
 
Eric5h5 said:
Mine doesn't do that...the fans normally are at a low, quiet hum, but starting a CPU-intensive process will cause them to rev for a few seconds. Just opening an app never does. Seems to be mostly the change in activity that sets the fans off; once the CPUs are going full tilt, long periods of this only results in fans coming on occasionally and not as loud. The only time the fans go off randomly is when scrolling through web pages for some reason.

--Eric
Click to expand...

yeah, this seems to be what is normal for dual 2.5 G5s. :)

i don't mind the occasional fans. it's just these weird lock ups. I have the latest version of firmware and OSX, but every few days (sometimes a few times in a row) it will hard lock and the fans go on ... and stay on!. stays nice and cool, but it sure works the fans. :(


peace.
 
maybe one of the reasons why my fans seem to get loud is because of the location of the tower...... I put my hand in the little hutch shown at it was rather warm. There is no back to the "hutch" but it feels like the air isn't escaping.....

comp.jpg


oh yeah there was a door.... but it broke off a while ago :rolleyes:
 
Phat_Pat said:
maybe one of the reasons why my fans seem to get loud is because of the location of the tower...... I put my hand in the little hutch shown at it was rather warm. There is no back to the "hutch" but it feels like the air isn't escaping.....
...
Click to expand...
How close is the back of the hutch/desk to the wall? If it's less than half an inch (12.5mm), maybe you should try moving it to about an inch away(25.4mm) from the wall to allow for better airflow.

Also, there is nothing blowing warm air towards the Mac is there?
 
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