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Mac Pro needs heat sink?

N

newmacchick

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 10, 2007
48
0
So, at my college, some departments own Mac Pros; one of them decided that they would like to fit the Mac Pro into a smaller space, so they cut ALL the handles off, which of course removed the heat sink, so the computer overheats. Long story short, the computer ended up in our tech trash, and I took it, DUH it's so beautiful :) (even without the handles). How can I make this computer usable? Would a water cooling system do it?

Thanks!
nmc
 
newmacchick said:
So, at my college, some departments own Mac Pros; one of them decided that they would like to fit the Mac Pro into a smaller space, so they cut ALL the handles off, which of course removed the heat sink, so the computer overheats. Long story short, the computer ended up in our tech trash, and I took it, DUH it's so beautiful :) (even without the handles). How can I make this computer usable? Would a water cooling system do it?

Thanks!
nmc
Click to expand...


Look mate, the heat-sinks on the MacPro's are inside the machine.
There's a good reason why your college's MacPro's over heat, it's probably due to poor air flow/ventilation...
all due to the smaller space. I guess cutting of the handles have just voided the warranty. Congrats to your school!
 
It has to be space and the fact that no air would circulate under the case to help cool it down. I recommend two bricks at the bottom. :D
 
iShater said:
It has to be space and the fact that no air would circulate under the case to help cool it down. I recommend two bricks at the bottom. :D
Click to expand...

You can put some on top too... though no like this:

crash219.jpg
 
Yes, please post a picture. I have to see this.

The handles have nothing to do with the heat dispersion of the mac pro.
How small of a space were they trying to fit it in?
I have see mac pro's placed in small cabinets, work just fine. As long as their is some air circulation.

Their could be something else wrong with it. If not your very lucky.::)
 
As others have said, airflow would be the culprit. ;)

You might want to look inside, as it may be full of dust, and need a good cleaning. :)
 
I will post pictures as soon as I can :) (At my work they didn't necessarily say heat sink...just that it helped distribute heat? Thanks for the correction).

Unfortunately, though, it gets worse my friends. If I plug it in to a monitor (which is technically a flat screen television), it starts up, and then the white light on the front starts blinking, and I get nothing on the screen, just keeps blinking. (Some of the blinks are brighter than others). Keep in mind that this was probably tossed into the trash...? I'm opening up the case to see if anything's gotten loose or broken. Any ideas?
 
Ah, I figured it out: the RAM has been taken out, as has the hard drive. I'll post a picture to see if that's all that's been taken.

Oh, and it's actually a G5, not a Mac Pro. Sad!
 
newmacchick said:
Ah, I figured it out: the RAM has been taken out, as has the hard drive. I'll post a picture to see if that's all that's been taken.

Oh, and it's actually a G5, not a Mac Pro. Sad!
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it would still be cheap, as HDD's and RAM aren't really expensive these days. ;)
 
How can I figure out what kind of G5 it is by looking at the inside? (Only one G5 processor, doesn't seem that there were any more than that.)
 
single or dual ... that is the question. ;)

newmacchick said:
Ah, I figured it out: the RAM has been taken out, as has the hard drive. I'll post a picture to see if that's all that's been taken.

Oh, and it's actually a G5, not a Mac Pro. Sad!
Click to expand...

just a thought ... do you think a G5 CPU had been removed as well? this could well been a dual G5 model.

dscn1433kj7.jpg


btw, nice pics. i love the inside of the G5s, though they may not be as space saving or energy saving, but the looks are stunning.
 
I figure I might as well ask a few other questions about this machine...

I'd like to run Virtual PC with Windows XP on this system potentially. Is 1 GB of RAM going to be enough? Should I splurge for 2 GBs? Also, what's the minimum that you should have in hard drive space for a partition?

FWIW, the programs I'd like to use are Photoshop (usually just coloring my line art or editing my cartoons for my school newspaper), Garageband, Finale 2008 (arrangements for my a cappella group), and Hammerhead Rhythm Station on the Windows side.
 
newmacchick said:
I figure I might as well ask a few other questions about this machine...

I'd like to run Virtual PC with Windows XP on this system potentially. Is 1 GB of RAM going to be enough? Should I splurge for 2 GBs? Also, what's the minimum that you should have in hard drive space for a partition?

FWIW, the programs I'd like to use are Photoshop (usually just coloring my line art or editing my cartoons for my school newspaper), Garageband, Finale 2008 (arrangements for my a cappella group), and Hammerhead Rhythm Station on the Windows side.
Click to expand...


No matter how much RAM you decide to install, Photoshop can only physically address slightly less than 4GB.

And I think the max in your machine is 4Gb cause the single G5 only has 4 Memory slots as the regular Dual G5's have the full 8 slots with a maximum of 8Gb. That was hell of a lot then!


Your system specs:

CPU
CPU: PowerPC 970
CPU Speed: 1.6/1.8/2x1.8/2x2.0 GHz
FPU: integrated
Bus Speed: 800/900/900/1000 MHz
Data Path Width: 64 bit
Address Width: 64 bit
ROM: 1 MB ROM + 3 MB toolbox ROM loaded into RAM
RAM Type: PC3200 DDR
Minimum RAM Speed: 400 MHz
Onboard RAM: 0 MB
RAM slots: 8
Maximum RAM: 8.0 GB
Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 64 kB instruction
Level 2 Cache: 512 kB on-chip, 1:1
Expansion Slots: 64-bit 133 MHz PCI-X, 2 64-bit 100 MHz PCI-X

Video
Video Card/Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (8X AGP)
VRAM: 64 MB
Max Resolution: all resolutions supported
Video Out: DVI, ADC

Storage
Hard Drive: 160 GB 7200 RPM
ATA Bus: Serial-ATA
Optical Drive: 32x/16x/10x/8x/4x/2x CD-RW/DVD-RW

Input/Output
USB: 3 (2.0)
Firewire: 2
Firewire800: 1
Audio Out: 2x stereo 16 bit mini, Optical S/PDIF
Audio In: stereo 16 bit mini, Optical S/PDIF
Speaker: mono

Networking
Modem: 56 kbps
Ethernet: 10/100/1000Base-T
Airport Extreme: optional card
Bluetooth: internal support

Miscellaneous
Family: PowerMac G3/G4/G5
Codename: Q37 (Grand Prix)
Gestalt ID: 406
Power: 700 Watts
Dimensions: 20.1" H x 8.1" W x 18.7" D
Weight: 39.2 lbs.
Maximum OS: 10.4.11
Minimum OS: 10.2.8
Introduced: June 2003
Terminated: June 2004
g5_inside.jpg

Notes
The 1.6 GHz model had four PC2700 333 MHz RAM slots for a maximum of 4 GB of RAM, and three 33 MHz, 64-bit PCI slots. It shipped with 256 MB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive. The 1.8 and Dual 2.0 GHz models shipped with 512 MB of RAM. The Dual 2.0 GHz model shipped with a 64 MB ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card. RAM modules for all models must be installed in matched pairs.
Announced in June 2003, the PowerMac G5 was Apple's long-awaited fifth generation PowerPC-based machine. In an important move, Apple decided to break with Motorola, and used an IBM-designed processor. Motorola had been chronically delayed for both processor design and shipment, and was at least a year away from its fifth-generation PowerPC CPU. Apple and IBM had worked closely together for nearly a year of the PowerPC 970 Processor (publicly referred to as the G5), and the 64-bit PowerMac G5 represented a huge leap forward in both processor and machine design.
Housed in an innovative new Aluminum enclosure, the PowerMac G5 was the first 64-bit consumer-level desktop computer ever sold. It featured either a single 1.6 or 1.8 GHz processor, or dual 2.0 GHz processors. It included a variety of motherboard enhancements, including PCI-X slots, and 8X AGP slot, a Serial-ATA bus, and up to 8 GB of RAM. Most impressive of all was the front-side bus speed, which was increased to half of the processor speed-up to 1.0 GHz. This represented a more than six-fold improvement over the previous PowerMac G4 model.
The PowerPC 970 was a higher-power and higher-temperature chip than its 74xx predecessors, and a considerable amount of engineering went into the cooling system of the PowerMac G5. The case was divided into 4 discreet "thermal zones" each with its own cooling system. A total of 9 computer-controlled fans were used in the G5, which amazingly was one of the quietest PowerMacs in years.
There were three configurations for the PowerMac G5. The 1.6 GHz model, with an 80 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM, sold for $1999. The 1.8 and dual 2.0 GHz models, both with a 160 GB hard drive and 512 MB of RAM, sold for $2399 and $2999 respectively. Although officially introduced for pre-ordering in June, the 1.6 and 1.8 GHz models didn't ship until August, and the dual 2.0 GHz models did not begin volume shipments until September. In November, Apple lowered the price of the 1.6 GHz model to $1,799, and replaced the single 1.8 GHz model with a dual 1.8 GHz model for $2,499. All models were discontinued in June 2004.
Picture Credits:
Apple Computer, Inc.
Click to expand...


http://www.apple-history.com/body.php?page=gallery&model=g5&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC&range=
 
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