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Mac Pro 1.1 with Noisy X1900XT: any Accelero X2 alternatives?

juanm

juanm

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 1, 2006
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Hi, I just got an awesome deal on a Mac Pro with its cinema Display, but there's a somewhat annoying detail: the fan from the Ati X1900XT kicks in very often (even when doing nothing special at all) and it's VERY noisy. It's a workstation, so I don't mind it being noisy, but this is a bit too much.

I've done a bit of research, and at the time, people seemed to like the aftermarket Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 cooler. I wanted to know if there was some other model in their current product line-up that would work or if it was the only one.

Here's their website but I'm completely lost, since I've never needed to do any cooling modifications.

Would this be the right product? Is it the same for the one in Mac Pros?

Thanks for your help, guys!
 
S1Rev2 is the right model and it would be passive. The X2 is also reported to work but it is primitive compared to more modern 2 slot coolers with heat pipes. If you fancy that technology I would recommend an AKASA Neo Vortexx. I have used that successfully on a HD3870. It also fits a X1900.
 
You don't need anything new. Pop out the x1900 and clean up any dust from it the fins on the heat sink. Also remove the heat sink and reapply good thermal paste (Arctic Cooling MX-2 or something similar) instead of 3 tonnes of cheap goop they put there. It'll be very quiet after that treatment (mine certainly was). Also keep in mind that Accelero exhaust the hot air inside the case (don't know whether you'd want that).

You could also get a Radeon 4870 or a 4890 and flash it for the Mac. Those are relatively quiet cards (4890 more so).
 
dusanv said:
You don't need anything new. Pop out the x1900 and clean up any dust from it the fins on the heat sink. Also remove the heat sink and reapply good thermal paste (Arctic Cooling MX-2 or something similar) instead of 3 tonnes of cheap goop they put there. It'll be very quiet after that treatment (mine certainly was). Also keep in mind that Accelero exhaust the hot air inside the case (don't know whether you'd want that).

You could also get a Radeon 4870 or a 4890 and flash it for the Mac. Those are relatively quiet cards (4890 more so).
Click to expand...

That's what I thought at first, but the computer internals are, to say the least, mint. There's absolutely no dust anywhere to be found. On top of that, I saw on the net that some of the early X1900XT on Mac Pros were being noisy, and this is one might be among those, considering the purchase date. Considering that I'm going to use heavily Aperture, I think spending 30€ more to make sure the graphics card is working all right is fair.
I think I'm going to go the S1Rev2 way. It's amazing (to me, at least! :p) that a passive system can work better than a fan equipped system...
Which thermal paste is better for the GPU? Arctic Cooling MX2 or MX3?
 
I was thinking, since I'm doing this, I might as well go a bit further and add the Accelero Turbo Module (two fans on the Accelero S1 Rev 2) for a few Euros more. Is there a three pin power connector on the Mac Pro motherboard to power these fans? Or is it on the X1900XT?
 
There is no provision for a fan on the logic board, but the X1900 should have a fan connector. You may have to cut the cable off the stock cooler and splice it to the fan unit. There could be differences in the number of pins. Some ATI designs used 2 pin cables only which means no rpm feedback.
 
gugucom said:
I believe they work well with the PCIe bay ventilation of the Mac Pro.
Click to expand...
I think I'll be enableing my 120mm PCI/PCIe bay intake fan in my case. A BIOS reset really toned down my CPU fan's throttling on load.

My hard drives are the loudest part of my computer now. :(
 
juanm said:
mmmh... SSD? :D
Click to expand...
Maybe for a boot drive someday. The capacities are still too low for my liking.

I do have 2.5" to 3.5" adapters and some spare 120 GB drives. I was considering buying a 2.5" 640 GB Scorpio Blue but I went with the 3.5" WD 640 GB Black on Wednesday.

RAID 0 does tempt me somewhat but I'd have to use a 640 GB Blue + Black. :rolleyes:
 
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