Using Power Macs less in the summer than in the winter?

[MacFoxG4]

So, due to the warmer weather I haven’t been using my Sawtooth much. There’s no air conditioning in the room where I use it and after using the Sawtooth for a while the room feels a bit warmer. This is not an issue in the winter, but in the summer it can make the room feel pretty uncomfortable.

Any other Power Mac owners use their Power Macs less in the summer than in the winter?

 

[RogerWilco6502]

So, due to the warmer weather I haven’t been using my Sawtooth much. There’s no air conditioning in the room where I use it and after using the Sawtooth for a while the room feels a bit warmer. This is not an issue in the winter, but in the summer it can make the room feel pretty uncomfortable.

Any other Power Mac owners use their Power Macs less in the summer than in the winter?

I am lucky to have A/C where I use my Power Mac and Mac Mini. It did go out yesterday and wasn't restored until just an hour ago, so I haven't powered either on today both to minimize heat and also to prevent them from overheating.

 

[Alexis Trinquet]

I don't have any PMs so far, but I get where you're coming from, my iMacs both get insanely toasty in the summer (my G3 not really, it's not that bad, but the G4 if I push it a bit hard it starts getting unbearably hot).

Luckily I have A/C too in my room, but most of the time I just use a small table fan and put it so it blows towards the iMac. It's not much but from my limited testing it works in a pinch.

(note to self, redo the thermal paste on my G4)

 

[z970]

The room where my machines live is shag carpeted, so it's prone to get both insanely dusty, and very warm.

Side note, not a day goes by where I don't regret that purchase. Do not get a shag carpet (or any carpet) if you plan on housing any sort of technology in any given room. It is also a bad idea if you have pets.

For years, I've had to keep the ceiling fan exclusively on high to prevent both them and myself from overheating (this is in the southern US, mind you). But around several months ago, the ceiling fan actually partially died on me, so now it will effectively only move on 'low'. This, obviously, is not much help, and I have yet to fix it because I'm always busy with higher-priority things.

So as an interim "fix", I've had to get creative and re-position an air filter in a certain way so that the cool air exhaust channel is directly facing the fan blades at the same level, redistributing the cooled air downward over most of the area. ...And of course, it also helps that the room A/C duct is positioned so that its channel also happens to be facing the ceiling fan as well.

Not only that, it is another good idea to close any blinds if too much sunlight is shining in, which contributes to heat concentration. This darkens the general lighting, but can also help cool things down when you are more or less fan-less, like me. Consequently, making a habit out of this can be very effective when trying to cut down on A/C usage.

In any case, how I've managed to survive this way (in the middle of summer, no less) with three machines, sometimes four, running concurrently is beyond me.

 

[timidpimpin]

What I would do is put the extra systems you want to run in a different room, and VNC into them from your computer room.

 

[eyoungren]

So, due to the warmer weather I haven’t been using my Sawtooth much. There’s no air conditioning in the room where I use it and after using the Sawtooth for a while the room feels a bit warmer. This is not an issue in the winter, but in the summer it can make the room feel pretty uncomfortable.

Any other Power Mac owners use their Power Macs less in the summer than in the winter?

Unfortunately, except for one MBP, I have had to shut everything off. Around mid-June our A/C went out. Bad enough for most people, but I live in Phoenix. We've spent the better part of the last month attempting to acquire portable and window A/C units. So having everything on like I normally do just isn't feasible.

Tomorrow will be 116º and Sunday is expected to be 117-118º. We are averaging about 90º in the front room with one A/C and one evap cooler on full blast.

I do boot my MP in order to work, but by about 5pm I have to walk away. We just dropped some money for a 14,000 BTU A/C today. I think we should get through this weekend okay.

I just don't have around $6K to replace the A/C unit at this time, and I'm not prepared to finance. So the Macs stay off.

 

[Project Alice]

My Mac Pro heats up my apartment way faster than any of my PPC macs. G5s included.
The room is always hot anyways as I have an HP Z400 running 24/7. I probably use computers more in general in the Winter because it's too cold and crappy for me to want to go out and do anything, whereas in nice weather I'm just not inside as much.

 

[AL1630]

My Mac Pro heats up my apartment way faster than any of my PPC macs. G5s included.

My Mac Pro gets hot as well, when it's been running for a while the room it's in is noticeably warmer than the rest of the house. I've heard people refer to them as space heaters before.

My G4 towers get warm, but not really hot.

 

[Project Alice]

My Mac Pro gets hot as well, when it's been running for a while the room it's in is noticeably warmer than the rest of the house. I've heard people refer to them as space heaters before.

My G4 towers get warm, but not really hot.

I'd say that's a pretty accurate term. I can leave any of my Mac Pro's (I have a 4,1>5,1 with dual X5680s, another 4,1>5,1 with the stock quad core CPUs, and an 8 core 3,1) running for a day, the room has heated up immensely. If I do the same with a G5 or G4 it isn't nearly as bad.
I've noticed it get warmer in that room if I'm just sitting there on this forum, which my Mac Pro just idles while doing that.

PowerPCs don't use as much power as everyone says they do.
For reference, someone on here did a real world test a few years ago. There's also this list of TPD for common PPC CPUs on OS9lives. I remember seeing a more in-depth list a while back but I can't find it.

 

[raymanster]

I'd say that's a pretty accurate term. I can leave any of my Mac Pro's (I have a 4,1>5,1 with dual X5680s, another 4,1>5,1 with the stock quad core CPUs, and an 8 core 3,1) running for a day, the room has heated up immensely. If I do the same with a G5 or G4 it isn't nearly as bad.
I've noticed it get warmer in that room if I'm just sitting there on this forum, which my Mac Pro just idles while doing that.

PowerPCs don't use as much power as everyone says they do.
For reference, someone on here did a real world test a few years ago. There's also this list of TPD for common PPC CPUs on OS9lives. I remember seeing a more in-depth list a while back but I can't find it.

I also have a Mac Pro 4,1 with dual processors along with a 30” Cinema Display. They are in my study which is a small box room (approx 7ft x 7 ft) and I find it uncomfortable enough that I don’t want to sit in there for too long. On the other hand wintertime it is nice, I can totally turn off the heating and the room is warmed up very nicely with the Pro.

 

[MrVitalic]

My 8core 3ghz mp 2.1 blast really hot air, much more than my dp 2.5 or quad g5. Its hot. So in the summer, if the mp is on, xbox 360 on and my old school tft led tv are all on at the same time, I'm cooking and I sometime stop doing what I'm doing to cool the room. In winter, here in Canada, we get some felt -36c...In these time, everything is on and the heater is off, so I can get a nice 19-21c (I'm in a appartment, so it never get down under 12c).

 

[eyoungren]

Yesterday, we had a high of 118º. The MacPro was on and the TV was on as well as five other displays and an external drive; also my work MBP.

Worked right through the hottest part of the day, probably about 88º in the room by that time. Possible because of a 14,000 BTU portable A/C and an evap cooler and two small recirculator fans.

In late afternoon, all the heat the second story collects during the day dumps back downstairs for an hour and a half. If I have my daughter leave her 12,000 BTU A/C running in her room with the door open, I can use a recirculator fan in her doorway to fight this late afternoon heat dump.

Without any of this, there'd be no way I could use any of my Macs.

 

[retta283]

Yesterday, we had a high of 118º. The MacPro was on and the TV was on as well as five other displays and an external drive; also my work MBP.

Worked right through the hottest part of the day, probably about 88º in the room by that time. Possible because of a 14,000 BTU portable A/C and an evap cooler and two small recirculator fans.

In late afternoon, all the heat the second story collects during the day dumps back downstairs for an hour and a half. If I have my daughter leave her 12,000 BTU A/C running in her room with the door open, I can use a recirculator fan in her doorway to fight this late afternoon heat dump.

Without any of this, there'd be no way I could use any of my Macs.

Friend of mine in Bullhead City had his AC out for a month in one of the hottest summers of the decade, and he was still running a server computer and it was making the room crazy hot, his MBP was also running extremely hot. He ended up getting some used portable Acs for the room until he could have the system replaced. He slept in the basement that month, he told me

 

[eyoungren]

Friend of mine in Bullhead City had his AC out for a month in one of the hottest summers of the decade, and he was still running a server computer and it was making the room crazy hot, his MBP was also running extremely hot. He ended up getting some used portable Acs for the room until he could have the system replaced. He slept in the basement that month, he told me

Yeah, I have to get central fixed by next summer. Long term, this isn't going to work. It's just the best I could do on a single, much reduced, income for right now.

OTOH, I have been wishing to get a portable A/C unit for the garage during summer for years now. Once summer is over, I have two I can choose from and two window A/C units I'll have to figure out what to do with.

Fortunately, the Macs handle all of this just fine, it's me that's the problem.