I hear a noise too on my quad, but it is of the fans I believe. I would not call it a rattle but a smooth noise one would expect of a fan. Some here are describing their mac pros as dead silent which mines is not. Fan noise, but not annoying enough for me to be concerned about.
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Fan Noise (early 2008 Mac Pro)
- Thread starter Eric2
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Okay update.
Mac Pro came back today. Damaged box, polystyrene everywhere
Anyway, HD replaced with another 750gb Seagate 7200.10. Noise still the same.
Called Apple, pulled the HD out. The noise isnt coming from the HD. After a long time on the phone to Apple it seems like its the fan in the 8800 GT Graphics Card thats the noisy component.
So now Im not sure whether to get a replacement graphics card and hope that its a big improvement or just go for the standard ATI card that doesnt have a fan.
Anyone compared the 2 cards for noise?
Mac Pro came back today. Damaged box, polystyrene everywhere
Anyway, HD replaced with another 750gb Seagate 7200.10. Noise still the same.
Called Apple, pulled the HD out. The noise isnt coming from the HD. After a long time on the phone to Apple it seems like its the fan in the 8800 GT Graphics Card thats the noisy component.
So now Im not sure whether to get a replacement graphics card and hope that its a big improvement or just go for the standard ATI card that doesnt have a fan.
Anyone compared the 2 cards for noise?
Mine makes a reasonable noise... not checked to see if its coming from the case fans or the GPU fan yet.... either way its a hell of a lot quieter than my AMD PC (I can not hear the mac when the pc is on) I had hoped it may have been quieter than it is but overall im quite impressed with the quietness of the 
I ended up taking the Graphics card out, this did help a little but the louder noise is still there. Im sure its the front fan.
Either way now it doesnt matter as the optical drive doesnt open. Apple have finally agreed to exchange for a new computer. About time!
Either way now it doesnt matter as the optical drive doesnt open. Apple have finally agreed to exchange for a new computer. About time!
putting them on wooden tables makes them resonate like mad. get it off there, put it on the carpet/floor, and it will be so much quieter... or at least get some neoprene strips...
Sorry to hear about your problems, Eric. I hope it works out for you when you get a new computer. Let us know here.
My problems persist... Now, bear with me as this is likely to be a long post.I wrote in an earlier post in this thread that I too had some strange noise related problems with my Mac Pro. I've tried to hunt them down, and so far I've realised this:
* There is nothing "wrong" with my MP. All system tests, logs and so on tell me that the Mac is in tip top shape.
* The rattling / whirring / buzzing noise I found, sounded as if it was related to the front fan. However this noise disappeared when I did a reset of the SMC.
* While the noise described above was annoying enough, it was nothing compared to a constant fan noise. I quickly located it to the graphics card itself (the 8800GT). Too bad really, as I need this card. Now, this fan noise is constant, it doesn't matter if I use the machine actively or if it is idle. The fan goes silent only when I put the Mac to sleep. I wish there was a way to control the graphics card fan. I'm thinking that maybe the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 can be a solution, but then again, maybe it'll just be a waste of money (and maybe it'll be bad for graphics intensive tasks like video or heavy gaming).
* I installed 8GB of OWC RAM, it works great, no problems whatsoever. I also installed 3 HDs (Samsung Spinpoint F1s - 750Gb), to go with the stock 320Gb Seagate 7200.10. I have to say that the Sammys run faster and cooler than the Apple shipped (noisier and slower) HD. However, after I installed the new Sammys, my Mac started to make an oscillating hum, going on for a cycle of 3-4 seconds (and it only stops when the machine is put to sleep). I eliminated one by one of the drives, and this *very* annoying noise did only disappear when the only drive left in the MP was the Apple stock drive... I also changed the order of the drives, but the noise seems to be constant. The odd thing is that the noise gets less oscillating (but can still be heard) if I tip the MP slightly over to its side. If I place a soft surface underneath it, it solves the problem to some extent.
* The oscillating noise has to be related to the hard drives. I have no other explanation. Now, another worrying thing is that the Mac started to produce a high pitched metallic sound shortly after installing the drives. This high pitch sound persists even when the Mac is put to sleep. Although it cannot be heard across the room, it can certainly be heard when sitting at my desk. I suspect that this sound might have something to do with one of the fans - maybe the PSU fan?
It should be noted that my MP's fans always spin at their default settings (perfectly normal, as should be expected), and that I during these tests have not used any CDs or DVDs, thus the Superdrive has not been touched and can not be related to the noise problems. When put to sleep, the MP is so silent that I have to place my ear next to it to hear anything at all (with the exception of the newly discovered high pitch metallic sound that appeared last night).
Going back to the topic of HD noise itself, I have tightened the screws on the drive carriers (no effect whatsoever), and I've even used the Mac with the latch lifted (someone said it might help, but it doesn't). The only way to make the HDs slightly less noisy, was to place a soft surface underneath the Mac. However with a machine in this price range and of this build quality (and with the good looks to go), it looks silly to have to wrap it up with any soft objects just to take the vibration off (I have a wooden desk and it does pick up some vibrations from the case).
I'd like tips from anyone who's tried to make their MP less noisy (sorry to those who claim their MP is dead silent - you are either deaf or using headphones all day - or possibly don't use the 8800GT).
I want the HDs to stop vibrating and to become less noisy, and I want the graphics card to just... shut up. It gets close to the ever present noise I had with my Power Mac G4. If anyone has used the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 for the 8800GT, let me know of your experiences (including how it handles tough tasks like heavy video production and gaming).
Also, has anyone tried the MaxUpgrades' max_flow for 800 MHz FB DIMMs for Apple Mac Pro? Just curious about that one.
Is it worth it to get some sound proofing material inside/outside the MP case? The MP is shipped with small rubber grommets for the screws in the hard drive trays, are these grommets of good quality or should I change them for something else?
Finally, a rather important question: The stock drive shipped from Apple is stuck inside of its tray. Two of the four screws are completely stuck, they are so tight that I'm unable to make them move at all. I want to use the tray for a 750gb Sammy, so I can remove the stock 320gb drive from the MP...
My problems persist... Now, bear with me as this is likely to be a long post.I wrote in an earlier post in this thread that I too had some strange noise related problems with my Mac Pro. I've tried to hunt them down, and so far I've realised this:
* There is nothing "wrong" with my MP. All system tests, logs and so on tell me that the Mac is in tip top shape.
* The rattling / whirring / buzzing noise I found, sounded as if it was related to the front fan. However this noise disappeared when I did a reset of the SMC.
* While the noise described above was annoying enough, it was nothing compared to a constant fan noise. I quickly located it to the graphics card itself (the 8800GT). Too bad really, as I need this card. Now, this fan noise is constant, it doesn't matter if I use the machine actively or if it is idle. The fan goes silent only when I put the Mac to sleep. I wish there was a way to control the graphics card fan. I'm thinking that maybe the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 can be a solution, but then again, maybe it'll just be a waste of money (and maybe it'll be bad for graphics intensive tasks like video or heavy gaming).
* I installed 8GB of OWC RAM, it works great, no problems whatsoever. I also installed 3 HDs (Samsung Spinpoint F1s - 750Gb), to go with the stock 320Gb Seagate 7200.10. I have to say that the Sammys run faster and cooler than the Apple shipped (noisier and slower) HD. However, after I installed the new Sammys, my Mac started to make an oscillating hum, going on for a cycle of 3-4 seconds (and it only stops when the machine is put to sleep). I eliminated one by one of the drives, and this *very* annoying noise did only disappear when the only drive left in the MP was the Apple stock drive... I also changed the order of the drives, but the noise seems to be constant. The odd thing is that the noise gets less oscillating (but can still be heard) if I tip the MP slightly over to its side. If I place a soft surface underneath it, it solves the problem to some extent.
* The oscillating noise has to be related to the hard drives. I have no other explanation. Now, another worrying thing is that the Mac started to produce a high pitched metallic sound shortly after installing the drives. This high pitch sound persists even when the Mac is put to sleep. Although it cannot be heard across the room, it can certainly be heard when sitting at my desk. I suspect that this sound might have something to do with one of the fans - maybe the PSU fan?
It should be noted that my MP's fans always spin at their default settings (perfectly normal, as should be expected), and that I during these tests have not used any CDs or DVDs, thus the Superdrive has not been touched and can not be related to the noise problems. When put to sleep, the MP is so silent that I have to place my ear next to it to hear anything at all (with the exception of the newly discovered high pitch metallic sound that appeared last night).
Going back to the topic of HD noise itself, I have tightened the screws on the drive carriers (no effect whatsoever), and I've even used the Mac with the latch lifted (someone said it might help, but it doesn't). The only way to make the HDs slightly less noisy, was to place a soft surface underneath the Mac. However with a machine in this price range and of this build quality (and with the good looks to go), it looks silly to have to wrap it up with any soft objects just to take the vibration off (I have a wooden desk and it does pick up some vibrations from the case).
I'd like tips from anyone who's tried to make their MP less noisy (sorry to those who claim their MP is dead silent - you are either deaf or using headphones all day - or possibly don't use the 8800GT).
I want the HDs to stop vibrating and to become less noisy, and I want the graphics card to just... shut up. It gets close to the ever present noise I had with my Power Mac G4. If anyone has used the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 for the 8800GT, let me know of your experiences (including how it handles tough tasks like heavy video production and gaming).
Also, has anyone tried the MaxUpgrades' max_flow for 800 MHz FB DIMMs for Apple Mac Pro? Just curious about that one.
Is it worth it to get some sound proofing material inside/outside the MP case? The MP is shipped with small rubber grommets for the screws in the hard drive trays, are these grommets of good quality or should I change them for something else?
Finally, a rather important question: The stock drive shipped from Apple is stuck inside of its tray. Two of the four screws are completely stuck, they are so tight that I'm unable to make them move at all. I want to use the tray for a 750gb Sammy, so I can remove the stock 320gb drive from the MP...
The Samsung drives have been known to resonate a little, but...
please don't take this as an attack - I wonder if you're being a
little over-sensitive to the noise here. You might ask yourself,
how probable is it that all these things would be simultaneously
faulty? I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems to me you'd
have to be exceedingly unlucky for that to be the case.
It’s very difficult trying to pin point were the noises are coming from. I found the biggest help was taking each item out of the equation.
So to do this you could – Turn Mac off, unplug etc, see Apple guidelines for this then pull out bay 1 completely. Turn the Mac back on and see if you still have the noise?
You can then do the same with the 8800GT – but please be aware that Apple was telling me to do this. Otherwise I think it might void your warranty which I wouldn’t want to be responsible for. Speak to Apple Care first.
After doing this the noise was still the same, hence my conclusion that the front fan was the problem. My 8800GT card made a noise but I expect that noise level was standard. Guess I will find out in 2 weeks.
Knowing my luck I’ll get quite Mac fans and a noisy graphics card. Thought about requesting the ATI card and swallow the difference but I see that some people are complaining about the noise level on this card as well.
So to do this you could – Turn Mac off, unplug etc, see Apple guidelines for this then pull out bay 1 completely. Turn the Mac back on and see if you still have the noise?
You can then do the same with the 8800GT – but please be aware that Apple was telling me to do this. Otherwise I think it might void your warranty which I wouldn’t want to be responsible for. Speak to Apple Care first.
After doing this the noise was still the same, hence my conclusion that the front fan was the problem. My 8800GT card made a noise but I expect that noise level was standard. Guess I will find out in 2 weeks.
Knowing my luck I’ll get quite Mac fans and a noisy graphics card. Thought about requesting the ATI card and swallow the difference but I see that some people are complaining about the noise level on this card as well.
Shame we can all measure the noise of our macs, might make the conversation more meaningful.
With regard to hard disks. I used to have an almost totally silent PC with quiet Samsung drives. Sadly, the drives got noisier as they got older. For this and other reasons (like having data available 24/7 with low power drain. I've just bought a drobo (attached to a Koolu low power linux PC) which will sit in my cellar for all major backup and storage needs. That way, noise should never be an issue. I'll stick with one drive in the Mac Pro. Obviously this is an expensive way of doing things, but I also use the low power koolu + external storage as a media server, so it's good for me.
I'll also try the carpet / foam suggestion from the previous link to see if it makes any difference.
I've been thinking about replacing the graphics card as well, but I'm not sure what I'd swap it for. Unlike with a PC, I think the number of supported cards is rather low, so I'm leaving it for now.
Hmm...
With regard to hard disks. I used to have an almost totally silent PC with quiet Samsung drives. Sadly, the drives got noisier as they got older. For this and other reasons (like having data available 24/7 with low power drain. I've just bought a drobo (attached to a Koolu low power linux PC) which will sit in my cellar for all major backup and storage needs. That way, noise should never be an issue. I'll stick with one drive in the Mac Pro. Obviously this is an expensive way of doing things, but I also use the low power koolu + external storage as a media server, so it's good for me.
I'll also try the carpet / foam suggestion from the previous link to see if it makes any difference.
I've been thinking about replacing the graphics card as well, but I'm not sure what I'd swap it for. Unlike with a PC, I think the number of supported cards is rather low, so I'm leaving it for now.
Hmm...
I've been doing a lot of testing, tweaking, benchmarking and so on, and I can finally say that my MP is in 100 percent perfect shape. The fans do not have any abnormalities whatsoever, nor do the hard drives. It is just that this MP is louder than I thought it would be (various forum members describe their MP as "dead silent" and similar descriptive phrases).
I still want to make it less noisy. The HDs do make a lot of resonance, and they tend to vibrate a lot. I'll try the solutions you guys have come up with. So far I've placed the MP on top of a soft surface (temporary solution only - I'll get around to aquire some decent noise and vibration absorbing material). Already this little trick has helped.
The worst source of noise is the 8800GT. It is loud. Very loud. Thus, I'm considering the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 for the 8800GT. I would be really interested in some real world experience though, so anyone who's got this cooler (with or without the turbo fans) in their Early 2008 MP, please let us know how well it works (noise, heat, stability). It would also be interesting to know how the MaxUpgrades' max_flow for 800 MHz FB DIMMs does its job on the RAM in this machine. Anyone tried this cooling solution yet?
Only two issues left:
Whenever i set my Mac to sleep, or shut it down, there is a clicking sound from the bottom memory card. Like a loud "click" and that's it (with the side door open, I also noticed that there is a red light on the same memory card that flashes for some milliseconds when I hear the "click" sound).
And... the assembly guys in Ireland tightened the screws on the stock hard drive (320GB) to such an extent that two of the four screws are completely stuck. How can I remove them without causing damage? I want to swap the 320GB for a 750GB Sammy.
I still want to make it less noisy. The HDs do make a lot of resonance, and they tend to vibrate a lot. I'll try the solutions you guys have come up with. So far I've placed the MP on top of a soft surface (temporary solution only - I'll get around to aquire some decent noise and vibration absorbing material). Already this little trick has helped.
The worst source of noise is the 8800GT. It is loud. Very loud. Thus, I'm considering the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 for the 8800GT. I would be really interested in some real world experience though, so anyone who's got this cooler (with or without the turbo fans) in their Early 2008 MP, please let us know how well it works (noise, heat, stability). It would also be interesting to know how the MaxUpgrades' max_flow for 800 MHz FB DIMMs does its job on the RAM in this machine. Anyone tried this cooling solution yet?
Only two issues left:
Whenever i set my Mac to sleep, or shut it down, there is a clicking sound from the bottom memory card. Like a loud "click" and that's it (with the side door open, I also noticed that there is a red light on the same memory card that flashes for some milliseconds when I hear the "click" sound).
And... the assembly guys in Ireland tightened the screws on the stock hard drive (320GB) to such an extent that two of the four screws are completely stuck. How can I remove them without causing damage? I want to swap the 320GB for a 750GB Sammy.
iPapa,
The screws might not be as tight as you think, mine seemed that way, but really just needed to get started. The most important thing is to have the right szied screw driver head and press down hard whilst unscrewing. If you have the right sized screw head it should not slip and you will not damage the screws.
The clicking sound and the red light are normal (at least they happen to me).
The Accelero looks good value... but I've not experience with it, sorry. Let us know how it goes!
F
The screws might not be as tight as you think, mine seemed that way, but really just needed to get started. The most important thing is to have the right szied screw driver head and press down hard whilst unscrewing. If you have the right sized screw head it should not slip and you will not damage the screws.
The clicking sound and the red light are normal (at least they happen to me).
The Accelero looks good value... but I've not experience with it, sorry. Let us know how it goes!
F
since people here described their Mac as completly silent, i went forward and tested the noise output of my brand new mac pro.
mine is definatly not silent, it is very quiet compared to normal computers but surely not silent. i believe that noise awareness is different for everybody and dependant on other noises surrounding you.
i booted the mac several times, while blocking rear, front and graphic fans. i also took out the harddisks. none of those actions totally kill the noise, so it has to be coming from the CPU fans. while the graphic card (8800gt) fan does add to the noise it is not the main source.
i did however soften the overall noise bei leaving the mac pro open on the side, as soon as i use the lever on the rear to secure the cover the noise gets louder.
mine is definatly not silent, it is very quiet compared to normal computers but surely not silent. i believe that noise awareness is different for everybody and dependant on other noises surrounding you.
i booted the mac several times, while blocking rear, front and graphic fans. i also took out the harddisks. none of those actions totally kill the noise, so it has to be coming from the CPU fans. while the graphic card (8800gt) fan does add to the noise it is not the main source.
i did however soften the overall noise bei leaving the mac pro open on the side, as soon as i use the lever on the rear to secure the cover the noise gets louder.
I don't think I have exactly the same issues with my fans as most of the posters here, since my fan is making a squeaking noise. I'm thinking of trying some wd-40 on it it but I'm reluctant to spray liquid inside for obvious reasons. Does any one know any online shop that just would sell a replacement fan module?
I too have a noisy MP, its hard to tell where the noise is coming from, probably all the fans and the hard drive.
The back exhaust seems slighly loose, I wonder if this is a cause, the way it rests against the memory modules, but I see no way it could be tightened.
The back exhaust seems slighly loose, I wonder if this is a cause, the way it rests against the memory modules, but I see no way it could be tightened.
I can feel it vibrating on it under belly, where the back fan is so that may be adding to the noisiness. It's on my desk so thats no helping, just put a thick scarf under and it seems to of cut it down a bit.
I would like it on the floor but there is no space for it anywhere which is annoying.
Its a refurb unit so I guess it not been put back together to great, or its from someone who didn't like the noise much.
I would like it on the floor but there is no space for it anywhere which is annoying.
Its a refurb unit so I guess it not been put back together to great, or its from someone who didn't like the noise much.
Just got my MP 2.8 two days ago. I have the 2600 XT graphics card. Is this a newer or older model card? Quieter that the 8800?
My MP does make fan noise, however it is dead quiet in sleep mode.
I was also expecting a (is that thing on?) machine, but can def. tell it's running.
It's not unbearable but a little disappointing after reading other dead silent posts.
Thought about taking a ride to the Apple store and having them take one of their machines in the back room for a comparison listen. However I am in a 12'x14' well sound treated room for recording so this test would not be equal.
My MP does make fan noise, however it is dead quiet in sleep mode.
I was also expecting a (is that thing on?) machine, but can def. tell it's running.
It's not unbearable but a little disappointing after reading other dead silent posts.
Thought about taking a ride to the Apple store and having them take one of their machines in the back room for a comparison listen. However I am in a 12'x14' well sound treated room for recording so this test would not be equal.