After weeks of sitting around in a box, I finally got it installed. For those of you that are running a similar setup, have you noticed that it produces a fan whining noise? At first I thought it was the GTX 780 but that is surprisingly quiet.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
FSP Booster noise
- Thread starter superdx
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The whining is not super-loud-irritating, but I love my Mac Pro because it was quiet. Just not used to hearing the standard PC whirring. I can definitely hear something going on now.
I just ordered 2 quiet fans from Amazon, will replace them when they get here. From what I can see the stock fans aren't spectacular.
I just ordered 2 quiet fans from Amazon, will replace them when they get here. From what I can see the stock fans aren't spectacular.
Yea, I love how quiet my MP is. It's right at the line of "is that my Mac's fan or the refrigerator in the kitchen? Oh, it's the refrigerator" haha.
I've already got a 40mm Noctua fan saved in my Amazon wish list just in case this PSU disturbs the ambiance.
I've already got a 40mm Noctua fan saved in my Amazon wish list just in case this PSU disturbs the ambiance.
Ugh, now that it's past midnight and everything is quiet and my wife has gone to bed, all I can hear is the FSP Booster spinning away.
Going to have to uninstall this until the quiet fans get here, I can't even think with this noise!
Going to have to uninstall this until the quiet fans get here, I can't even think with this noise!
Well, after some minor surgery I got my two Noctura fans installed. But unfortunately they're not spinning. Have no idea why, all the cables seemed to be connected properly.
The temperatures so far don't seem to be a problem, even without the fan as the Mac Pro PSU fan is literally right in front of the face place, so there is still airflow.
Good news is that my Mac Pro is down to a quiet hum, which is probably the GTX 780 purring away.
The temperatures so far don't seem to be a problem, even without the fan as the Mac Pro PSU fan is literally right in front of the face place, so there is still airflow.
Good news is that my Mac Pro is down to a quiet hum, which is probably the GTX 780 purring away.
Hmm, interesting. When I took apart mine last week just to see how it was put together before installing it, I noticed the fans have 2-leads soldered to the board. The Noctua's are 3-wire, right? Could that be the problem? Were they soldered in correctly?
Noctuas are indeed 3 wires, but they included an adapter which only has two wires for custom fits. They even include this handy 3M widget that allows you to connect two wires without soldering.
The yellow cable, supposedly for RPM connection, is not connected.
The yellow cable, supposedly for RPM connection, is not connected.
I flipped my fans to encourage airflow as per Dr. Stealth. When I first did it, a cable was barely rubbing on a fan and creating all kinds of noise until I figured it out.
12 hour report: I've been running without fans on the FSP Booster. Temperatures are still very low, the case isn't even warm to the touch, in fact it's slightly cool. Ran a gaming session with Diablo 3, WoW and Starcraft 2 last night and pretty much the same story, not much heat generated.
The vast majority of PWM controlled fans are horrible. They generate all kinds of noises at low RPMs. (most commonly ticking)
Noctua's PWM fans are the only PWM-controlled fans I can stand the noise of.
If I had to buy something else, I would prefer a voltage controlled fan running at higher RPMs.
Now 48 hours, gone through a 4 hour raid session in WoW and zero problems.
Thinking of taking out all the fans in the FSP box to give more ventilation from the Mac Pro PSU fan.
If you were looking to replace the fans, I'd say don't bother, they seem to be totally unnecessary.
PS - I run an ASUS GTX 780 Direct CUII, uses 6pin and 8pin connectors. The card's fans do spin up when I play games but that's ok. When I'm just working on email and documents, it's now back to totally silent.
Thinking of taking out all the fans in the FSP box to give more ventilation from the Mac Pro PSU fan.
If you were looking to replace the fans, I'd say don't bother, they seem to be totally unnecessary.
PS - I run an ASUS GTX 780 Direct CUII, uses 6pin and 8pin connectors. The card's fans do spin up when I play games but that's ok. When I'm just working on email and documents, it's now back to totally silent.
This is probably the best PSU for running hungry graphics cards and SLI, but damn they are hard to find now.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=201253347136
Just popped up on eBay?
I bought an FSP Booster X5 last year to power two older GPUs. Between the GPU fans and the Booster fan, it got pretty loud in my office. I measured the sound level at 50-52 dB. When I got a GTX970 to replace the two legacy GPUs, I disconnected the Booster power cord but left it installed in case I ever need it again. These changes made a 12 dB drop in ambient noise level, bringing it down to a whisper-quiet 38 dB.
I don't know what I'll do with the Booster - maybe sell it on eBay?
I don't know what I'll do with the Booster - maybe sell it on eBay?
If you want to sell it, please put it on eBay. I would be the first one to bid for it
