ATI Radeon 5770 in MacPro 2009 too noisy

mac hammer fanmac hammer fan
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I replaced the stock video card (GeForce GT 120) from my Mac Pro 2009 by the ATI Radeon 5770.

While performance is good, this card is unacceptable noisy. Fan speed, measured by iStat Pro, is between 1700-2100 rpm.

It is the only PCIe-card in my MacPro.



Any suggestions?



TIA

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Either use a utility to manually manage fan speed or live with it; my 4870 (Gainestown Mac Pro) is the loudest thing in my machine, as well. It's complete nonsense. If Apple designed GPUs, they wouldn't make any noise, fit into one slot, and still have the same power as any other model.



    'Course, they'd run warmer, but the fans could handle it... silently.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    mac hammer fanmac hammer fan Posts: 101member
    After more than half an hour, speed is now below 1000 rpm and noise is acceptable now.

    But every time I restart my computer, it takes a long time before the noise and fan speed is reduced.

    Is the 5870 also so noisy?
  • Reply 3 of 11
    mac hammer fanmac hammer fan Posts: 101member
    It seems that not the ATI fan but the fans from the PCI-expansion bay and the power supply are the culprit.

    Any ideas?



    TIA
  • Reply 4 of 11
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Yai, yai, yai... Take care of that. NOW. PSU fans running hot smells (and eventually literally will) like trouble.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    mac hammer fanmac hammer fan Posts: 101member
    Does this mean that if I upgrade to an ATI radeon 5870, that I will have the same trouble?
  • Reply 6 of 11
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mac Hammer Fan View Post


    Does this mean that if I upgrade to an ATI radeon 5870, that I will have the same trouble?



    Given that you said the graphics card isn't even the problem, yes, you'll have the same trouble.



    If your PSU fans are misbehaving, take it to an Apple Store.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    mac hammer fanmac hammer fan Posts: 101member
    The fans aren't misbehaving now while only the GeForce 120 is in PCie-slot 1.

    The GT 120 doesn't need a power cable connected to the logic board.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    wormboywormboy Posts: 220member
    The 5870 is much quieter and uses less power than the 4870. Also, you don't need to buy the Apple version of the card. If you are comfortable flashing the ROM, any 1 GB PC version of the 5870 can be flashed to run in a mac. I have a Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X running in mine, and it uses an advanced cooling technique. I have no problems and don't notice any noise at all. These can be found for around $300 ATM, AFAIK.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    mac hammer fanmac hammer fan Posts: 101member
    Yesterday I installed the ATI Radeon 5870 in my MacPro Nehalem 2009. Unlike with the 5770, the pci expansion bay fan isn't noisy, except for a few seconds at startup. Fan speed quicky drops then from 2000 rpm to 800 rpm which is very acceptable. Now I have a silent and speedy card in my Mac.

    I don't know if the 5770 was a faulty card or this noise issue happens with all the 5770 cards. According to the Apple store, the 5870 is compatible with my MacPro, and the 5770 isn't. But Barefeats says the 5770 is compatible too.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mac Hammer Fan View Post


    Yesterday I installed the ATI Radeon 5870 in my MacPro Nehalem 2009. Unlike with the 5770, the pci expansion bay fan isn't noisy, except for a few seconds at startup. Fan speed quicky drops then from 2000 rpm to 800 rpm which is very acceptable. Now I have a silent and speedy card in my Mac.

    I don't know if the 5770 was a faulty card or this noise issue happens with all the 5770 cards. According to the Apple store, the 5870 is compatible with my MacPro, and the 5770 isn't. But Barefeats says the 5770 is compatible too.



    Probably a power management thingy of some sort.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    macgoblinmacgoblin Posts: 1member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mac Hammer Fan View Post


    I replaced the stock video card (GeForce GT 120) from my Mac Pro 2009 by the ATI Radeon 5770.

    While performance is good, this card is unacceptable noisy. Fan speed, measured by iStat Pro, is between 1700-2100 rpm.

    It is the only PCIe-card in my MacPro.



    Any suggestions?



    TIA



    I just received my 5770 today and it was exactly what Mac Hammer Fan was experiencing. I have an 09 mac pro and as soon as it turns on for about the 1st 30 minutes the power supply fan is running about 2 -3 times faster than it normally does and the PCI fan is running 2-3 times faster than it normally does as well. So after reading this post Ive returned my card to apple and am eagerly awaiting the 5870 so that my machine works properly. However even though my fans are going crazy with the 5770 the card itself still runs flawlessly. So yes it works to improve your performance but who knows what its going to do to your hardware.
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