Power Mac G5 Dual Core (2.0) with noisy PSU fans

[roqueeee]

Hi guys!

I am the proud new owner of an Apple Power Macintosh G5 Dual Core (2.0) that I bought for fairly cheap a couple of days ago. I got this thing mainly to go down memory lane with 10.4 and also to check out PPC Linux.

The machine is already set up after a day of use and everything is working perfectly... except for the rather loud PSU fans. Those fans are significantly louder than all the other fans in the system. I also verified that by unplugging all the case fans, but the noise remained.

So my question is, is this expected? What should be the noise level of a G5 when sitting idle? Should I replace the fans or the entire PSU?
It's hard to tell when you don't have a second G5 to compare.

Thanks!

 

[timidpimpin]

All the late Power Mac (G4 and G5) systems are loud compared to what most would currently consider quiet. Totally normal. If you plan to use it a lot, then you'll need to get used to it. And those G5 chips run hot, so they need lots of cooling.

 

[roqueeee]

Alright, I guess I'll live with it then

I just installed a flashed X1900 GT and that card runs about as loud as the PSU does (After the vbios gets properly initialized in Mac OS X). So it wouldn't make a difference anyways.

Apple seems to have put a lot of effort into the airflow design of the G5. Without that PSU and with a passively cooled card my G5 could be really quiet. Maybe Apple outsourced the PSU design and noise levels weren't a priority anymore. Just speculating of course.

Also the dual processor variants appear to run much hotter and louder.

There's really a lot of conflicting info on this subject out there.

 

[Dronecatcher]

So my question is, is this expected? What should be the noise level of a G5 when sitting idle?

Some G5s are quieter than others - it might be down to thermal calibration or failing sensors. I've had a few that were reasonably quiet, a Quad that was virtually silent but I also had a Dual 2.3 that I had to be permanently run in reduced CPU mode to stop the fans howling (you could try that yourself from System Preferences.)