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Any M2 Studio users that formerly had a 2013 Mac Pro?

M

Maury

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 25, 2008
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I'm on a base model 2013 Mac Pro (trash can) which I got off the refurb list almost a decade ago. I use it as a workstation and for medium gaming. I work at home in a quiet town and I love that the trash can is normally very quiet, just barely audible and what you hear is a non-annoying white noise. But during gaming it does spool up - not noisy, but still.

I'm considering getting a M2 Studio. According to QuietMac, the M1 Studio was 25 db, while my Pro was 20.5. Meanwhile, Apple's own specs page says it's only 6 db, which I assume is because they have some other definition or testing regimen. Looking at the M1 page, I see Apple rates it at 15. So according to whatever measure they use, the M2 is quieter than the M1, perhaps by a lot. Maybe so much that it is quieter than my Pro?

All of this is confusing... anyone out there have a M2 Studio that has/had a trash can Pro that can directly compare them?
 
Maury said:
I'm on a base model 2013 Mac Pro (trash can) which I got off the refurb list almost a decade ago. I use it as a workstation and for medium gaming. I work at home in a quiet town and I love that the trash can is normally very quiet, just barely audible and what you hear is a non-annoying white noise. But during gaming it does spool up - not noisy, but still.

I'm considering getting a M2 Studio. According to QuietMac, the M1 Studio was 25 db, while my Pro was 20.5. Meanwhile, Apple's own specs page says it's only 6 db, which I assume is because they have some other definition or testing regimen. Looking at the M1 page, I see Apple rates it at 15. So according to whatever measure they use, the M2 is quieter than the M1, perhaps by a lot. Maybe so much that it is quieter than my Pro?

All of this is confusing... anyone out there have a M2 Studio that has/had a trash can Pro that can directly compare them?
Click to expand...
As the creator of quietmac, the sound reading ignores the subjective operator position and instead focuses on the objective sound power level readings, which are a consistent across all products.

To answer your question, the m2 studio is quieter than the mac pro 2013 (15db vs 20.5db). I’ll update the site with the new desktop products in the coming days.
 
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I think you will find that the M2 sounds quieter than the pro when working hard.

I have an M1 studio and a loaded trashcan, both sitting behind its main display doing video work and at 90 degree angle to my chair. I don't notice a noise difference at idle, and when pushed they will both have some fan noise. The M1 is not louder than the Pro when pushed. Reports here are that the M2 is quieter than the M1.
 
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The Studio is indeed quieter. There’s a variety of reasons but I would guess the main one is that Ultra variant of the Studio has more copper than the Pro. The Mac Pro has a couple of copper pipes that connect to an aluminium fin stack, whereas the Studio Ultra is all copper.
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
The Studio is indeed quieter. There’s a variety of reasons but I would guess the main one is that Ultra variant of the Studio has more copper than the Pro. The Mac Pro has a couple of copper pipes that connect to an aluminium fin stack, whereas the Studio Ultra is all copper.
Click to expand...
No - It's because there's a blower fan on the side of the Mac Pro and for some reason they haven't bothered to reduce the speed of that on the Mac Pro even though there's no external memory there anymore and the PSU on average has reduced it's load.
 
AdamSeen said:
No - It's because there's a blower fan on the side of the Mac Pro and for some reason they haven't been bothered to reduce the speed of that on the Mac Pro even though there's no external memory there anymore and the PSU on average has reduced it's load.
Click to expand...
As I said, there’s a variety of reasons.
 
Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
Neither of us can prove that indefinitely, but there’s no denying that the greater volume of copper on the Studio will have a factor.
Click to expand...
As someone who has experimented with a Mac Pro to identify noise issues, recorded the results on the forum and then started a website about it (https://quietmac.netlify.app/), finally then returning it - yes I can.


The noise comes from the blower fan, which doesn't travel across the CPU like the three fans at the front - which are quiet and provide the main cooling. But sure, if you like widely speculating about "more copper" you're more than welcome to fill your boots.
 
AdamSeen said:
But sure, if you like widely speculating about "more copper" you're more than welcome to fill your boots.
Click to expand...
Not sure why you’re being sarcastic, it’s uncalled for. My mistake was not accounting for the noise to fan speed ratio, the latter which I was originally considering.
 
AdamSeen said:
No - It's because there's a blower fan on the side of the Mac Pro and for some reason they haven't bothered to reduce the speed of that on the Mac Pro even though there's no external memory there anymore and the PSU on average has reduced it's load.
Click to expand...
This thread is talking about the 2013 Mac Pro (Trashcan). That particular Mac Pro only has one fan, a single centrifugal fan located at the very top of the Mac Pro...
 
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Strange since two different 6.1's I've used are dead silent, you have to put your ear practically touching the top of it to hear anything. M1 Ultra is noticeable anywhere in the same room but still not unpleasant at least. M2 should be quieter with it's lower rpm fan.
 
Yeah, I was trying to say at idle and low use, my M1 and 6,1 are silent. The M1 has more CPU power so its fans are not going to ramp up and make noise when heavy lifting as much as the 6,1. I'd expect the M2 to be quieter overall.
 
Evil Lair said:
Strange since two different 6.1's I've used are dead silent, you have to put your ear practically touching the top of it to hear anything. M1 Ultra is noticeable anywhere in the same room but still not unpleasant at least. M2 should be quieter with it's lower rpm fan.
Click to expand...
That noise you may or may not notice from the two computers is relate to RPMs for sure, but also the size of the fans...
 
Not that my 2013 Mac Pro was super loud… it did have that SINGLE fan blow insane hot heat though! The Mac Studio doesn’t have that issue and has been dead silent as a replacement thus far!
 
My trashie was very silent and much beloved before I got iMacPros, from which I switched to MacStudio. None of these were ever loud in the way our regular iMacs were or in the way the M1Max can get when working hard — but the Studios are all super silent, even when working in Handbrake or Topaz. We have an Ultra and two of the more regular models, no noise, great performance, lots of ports. Brilliant machine that is the heir apparent of the old Innovated-Ass-MacPro.
 
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