New PowerMac G5 1.8 dp (pci) questions

[tom vilsack]

Just bought a PowerMac G5 1.8GHz dp (pci) 4g ram (4-512) and have a few questions.

-is it normal for the power supply to have a mild humming sound (not overly loud,but louder then any of the fans) note: I did a pram and pmu (small button near ram to reset)...did shine a light into ps fans and they look clean (don't really want to take out as on ifixit looks like a bit of a job)

-I replaced the harddrive with a older ssd I have...using istat nano i notice the drive bay fan stays at 1000rpm...is there a way to disable this fan? (as ssd never gets hot) or would that not be a good idea?...Best I can tell the power connection for this fan is behind the board?

-The video card is the standard apg gforce 5200 ultra (64mb)...what is a good replacement card and if it's not a mac edition how do I flash said card to work?

btw: it's in good shape (couple minor scuffs but no dents and clean) payed $60 cdn...and after owning countless ppc ibooks,powerbooks,Imacs,mini's ect this is my first powermac G5,really surprised at how good the speed is (can even play flash videos at 480p ect)

 

[Intell]

It would be best to leave the HDD fan spinning. It helps remove hot air from the U3 backside controller.

 

[tom vilsack]

Okay ill leave the fan alone then (would he rather difficult to turn off anyways as it looks like only way to get at connection would be by removing the mb)

Any thoughts on my other questions?

btw: just used geekbench 2.2.0 and got a score of 1494. (which I'm sure could be improved with the max 4 g of ram and a better video card...both of which will be added when i can find for -$ on craigs)

 

[Intell]

I don't think GeekBench changes much with a different video card and more ram. You could start with a mid-range card like the ATI 9600 XT. They're cheap at about $15-$20 for a G5 Mac edition. They're also much better than the horrid 5200 in there now. Up from there, you can get a 9800. The 9800 would be a mid-high range card. I don't know the current pricing ranges of the Mac 9800. Beyond that is the ATi X800/X850. Those are top of the line for a AGP G5. They go for $80+ for a Mac edition. I didn't really cover Nvidia cards or much about flashing PC cards.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Is the computer pretty dusty? Maybe getting as much dust out as you can will help lower the RPMs of the fans as the fans won't have to work as hard to push air.

 

[harrymatic]

-The video card is the standard apg gforce 5200 ultra (64mb)...what is a good replacement card and if it's not a mac edition how do I flash said card to work?

I recommend a flashed nVidia GeForce 6800GT. It's one of the fastest cards you can put in a Power Mac, it's easy to flash; and as they're not particularly high in demand (unlike cards like the ATI Radeon 9800XT), they're also very cheap - I picked up a 6800GT for £6 on eBay, I was the only bidder!

See http://www.s155158671.websitehome.co.uk/nvidia6800gtonam.html for step-by-step instructions for flashing this card.

 

[tom vilsack]

Intell and Harry thxs for the suggestions

Gavin,yes had some dust but using ifixit I removed a number of items and gave them and inside of case a real good cleaning.

I'm really kinda surprised how well this machine works,maybe I'm just used to slower computers,but I could very easily use this as my daily computer. Right now I have if paired up with a 32" led tv and it's working great!

 

[RedCroissant]

Intell and Harry thxs for the suggestions

Gavin,yes had some dust but using ifixit I removed a number of items and gave them and inside of case a real good cleaning.

I'm really kinda surprised how well this machine works,maybe I'm just used to slower computers,but I could very easily use this as my daily computer. Right now I have if paired up with a 32" led tv and it's working great!

Image

Oh, the PMG5s are awesome. If you ever get your hands on a quad, you'll see another jump in performance. That's the only PPC machine that I had that made me not regret selling my 2009 iMac.

 

[tom vilsack]

-update (note: if you try this please don't blame me if all *** goes wrong)

-as per top post I really love my new G5 but never been a fan of noise! so despite Intell good advice,I decided to try and track down what I thought was excess noise....turns out it was the "drive bay/media bay" fan (but only one of the two)...the fan with the wire screen over it is fine (it's the one that really speeds up if you remove plastic shield)...the fan that makes the noise is the one towards the back (round body with outlet towards harddrive),the way to turn off (note Im using a ssd so drive never even gets warm) is to remove the plugin connection just above the top pci slot (there are two connections,for that fan it's the one to the right).

note: this fan is very similar in shape to the known loud cpu fan in the first Imac G5's rev A...could this fan be similar to that dreaded pos?

so now my G5 is very quite! just the mild swish of the other fans and lite hum of ps...ive checked the temps and speeds for the last couple hours and everything is just fine.

once again if you also try this remember Im using a ssd so drive doesn't get even hot,and you might want to listen to Intell's wise advice...just worked for me!

note: almost forgot..before I even pulled that wire this G5 would rev up all the fans for no real reason (every now and then)...I did some research and found other having same issue,and advice was to set system pref/energy saver/options/cpu to highest performance)...stops the now and then rev ups...now that I unplugged that annoying media fan Ive also kept same setting...

 

[tom vilsack]

question:

can I use a X1300 pro (256mb) agp pc card in my powermac,and if so, how do I go about flashing card to use?

-what software will I need to flash?
-will I need a agp pc in order to flash card?