I think everyone is with you on that there. Apple will probably give consideration to this in the next fully redesigned case. I wouldn't expect any major improvements if it is another QS/El Capitan Stop-Gap however.
<strong>i know what you mean. i finally gave up and decided that a pwoerbook dvi could be my main machine.
so far so very good. i love it. the new res is awesome.
my place is so much more quiet. esp. at night.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm happy using my TiBook 800 as a pseudo-desktop machine, especially with the DVI since I can now hook up a 22" Cinema Display. Of course, the room it's in can only get so quiet, since I've got a noisy old PC in there as well <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
While stuck in an unheated hotel room in Zambia last year, I actually put my TiBook under the covers and turned it on to help me warm up. It was suprisingly effective
If the new, flat-panel iMac is any indication, there may be more quiet towers in Apple's future. The way the processor is rigged inside the iMac, the entire case (the metal dome under the white plastic shell) becomes a heat sink. It's pretty amazing.
Anyhow, I have not heard a QuickSilver PowerMac in person... but I hear they are fairly loud. My G4 / 533 is not (was not) that loud. I say *was*, because it actually IS louder now that I put a leftover 80GB Maxtor drive in there. It's a devective drive in the sence that it "whines" all-the-time... which means it will most-likely fail soon.
Other than that... it's been relatively quiet... but then again... no matter HOW quiet it gets... my 5 external firewired drives and the small fan that constantly keeps them cool would negate any additional silence that a quieter PM would provide me.
I had got so fed up of the noise on my dual 800, that I sold it today and bought two cubes instead!! Lack of power, I don't care, my office no longer sounds like Heathrow airport!!
When you guys attribute a "whining" noise, are you sure it is the cooling fan and not the HD? There are some pretty noisy hard drives out there, and not much awareness about consistently selecting quiet HD's. The fan noise shouldn't really be a problem unless you are throwing off 50 or 75 W of heat from the CPU (mostly a problem with PC's). I don't know- are the latest Quicksilver's up to 50-75 W of dissipation off the CPU?
<strong>When you guys attribute a "whining" noise, are you sure it is the cooling fan and not the HD? There are some pretty noisy hard drives out there, and not much awareness about consistently selecting quiet HD's. The fan noise shouldn't really be a problem unless you are throwing off 50 or 75 W of heat from the CPU (mostly a problem with PC's). I don't know- are the latest Quicksilver's up to 50-75 W of dissipation off the CPU?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well... my use of the attribute "Whining" was definitely referring to the 80GB hard drive... it's on it's way out... my G4 fans seem (AFAIK) fairly quiet.
<strong>When you guys attribute a "whining" noise, are you sure it is the cooling fan and not the HD? There are some pretty noisy hard drives out there, and not much awareness about consistently selecting quiet HD's. The fan noise shouldn't really be a problem unless you are throwing off 50 or 75 W of heat from the CPU (mostly a problem with PC's). I don't know- are the latest Quicksilver's up to 50-75 W of dissipation off the CPU?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Believe me, its the fan...you can't even remotely hear the hard drives!
Twice as loud as your AC? Man, that is loud for a computer! Do you have it so that the fan port is facing a wall that faces you (your ears, in particular)? That could make the fan much louder than normal as if it was venting into free space.
I guess it isn't impossible. The fan on my PS2 is unnecessarily loud as well. It is so loud, I can hear it from across the room as I sit next to my computer where normally you would just hear the fan and HD from the computer. One night I left it on overnight (in the living room of my apt) and I could still hear the damn thing from the bedroom with the doors closed. The thing is, the fan noise isn't the typical white noise kind of sound that is more easily masked by ambient environmental noise. The fan noise is kind of like a whir of the electric motor. If anybody here is old enough to remember those old slide projectors with the then "mysteriously technological" fan whir, that is very much like the sound I get out of my PS2. Fan whir pisses me off, and it is the thing I dislike the most about my PS2.
I do agree, however, that Apple should remain ever vigilent in keeping computers quiet. Whether it be clever fan cooling implementation or careful selection of HD, it is definitely a quality that adds to the "class" and perceived quality of a computer.
The DP 800 was just too much...I could hear it through 3 closed doors, even when it was on a seperate floor of my house!
I've just set the first of my cubes up, and it is just heaven at the moment! All I can hear is the HD now and again (think it needs a needs a new one...although I aready have an 80 gig to drop in...). I am ecstatic!!
I have taken a relatively big hit money wise on the Powermac, but it was worth it...after 6 months of constant fans, the silence is genuinely golden. I mean I can hear the click of my typing...woohoo! I am a designer and *need* a quick powermac for some things...however I will not buy one until the noise issue is sorted...I'll buy Powerlogix 800 fanless first and suffer the speed hit... of needs be...
I'm no tech-geek, but even most open minded knowledgeable PC geeks will admit that the G4 waste heat output is relatively low compared to AMD or Intel. Now can you imagine if Apple/Motorola give us a 1.5 Gig chip and how much more heat(than the current G4...) this chip will put out. Apple uses high quality heat sink/fan combos and my Duel Gig still sounds like a turbo-prop. I admit that after a few hours my ears begin to fatigue. It's the fans that are buging me, not the HD.
Apple's towers are still quieter than the big chip Intels and AMD's...
I can't believe how people are helplessly stuck, but since no one suggests the obvious...: What is so hard with changing the loud fans? You get a perfect (temp driven speed) fan set for 50 to 80 bucks. Absolutely worth the money. Changing the whole machine is a real overkill imho! :-)
I have a 867 QS with about 5 inches between it, and a wall, and I've never noticed anything as crazy as what you are all talking about. Although I must admit I am in the minority here, but this is my second 867, and it's in the same place as the last one, and I had no noise troubles with that one either. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
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I do usually have some music on (iTunes) while I'm here at my desk, but it is off now that I'm responding to this, and it certainly isn't louder than my AC because I can't hear my Mac at all, but the AC I can hear just fine.
Comments
so far so very good. i love it. the new res is awesome.
my place is so much more quiet. esp. at night.
Or apply old technology from other places into our computers.
although
it is nice not having to turn the heat on ever.
<strong>i know what you mean. i finally gave up and decided that a pwoerbook dvi could be my main machine.
so far so very good. i love it. the new res is awesome.
my place is so much more quiet. esp. at night.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm happy using my TiBook 800 as a pseudo-desktop machine, especially with the DVI since I can now hook up a 22" Cinema Display.
<strong>Someone needs to invent some crazy new way to move heat.
<a href="http://www.coolchips.com/"; target="_blank">Crazy new way to cool chips</a>
<strong>...although
it is nice not having to turn the heat on ever.
While stuck in an unheated hotel room in Zambia last year, I actually put my TiBook under the covers and turned it on to help me warm up. It was suprisingly effective
Anyhow, I have not heard a QuickSilver PowerMac in person... but I hear they are fairly loud. My G4 / 533 is not (was not) that loud. I say *was*, because it actually IS louder now that I put a leftover 80GB Maxtor drive in there. It's a devective drive in the sence that it "whines" all-the-time... which means it will most-likely fail soon.
Other than that... it's been relatively quiet... but then again... no matter HOW quiet it gets... my 5 external firewired drives and the small fan that constantly keeps them cool would negate any additional silence that a quieter PM would provide me.
Marcus
<strong>When you guys attribute a "whining" noise, are you sure it is the cooling fan and not the HD? There are some pretty noisy hard drives out there, and not much awareness about consistently selecting quiet HD's. The fan noise shouldn't really be a problem unless you are throwing off 50 or 75 W of heat from the CPU (mostly a problem with PC's). I don't know- are the latest Quicksilver's up to 50-75 W of dissipation off the CPU?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well... my use of the attribute "Whining" was definitely referring to the 80GB hard drive... it's on it's way out... my G4 fans seem (AFAIK) fairly quiet.
<strong>When you guys attribute a "whining" noise, are you sure it is the cooling fan and not the HD? There are some pretty noisy hard drives out there, and not much awareness about consistently selecting quiet HD's. The fan noise shouldn't really be a problem unless you are throwing off 50 or 75 W of heat from the CPU (mostly a problem with PC's). I don't know- are the latest Quicksilver's up to 50-75 W of dissipation off the CPU?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Believe me, its the fan...you can't even remotely hear the hard drives!
M
I have a good gauge on how to rate the noise volume of a PC. Compare it's loudness to the heating/cooling system of the room.
MY QS 867 is twice as loud as the air conditioning.
MSKR
<strong>I have a QS 867 and it's loud.
I have a good gauge on how to rate the noise volume of a PC. Compare it's loudness to the heating/cooling system of the room.
MY QS 867 is twice as loud as the air conditioning.
MSKR</strong><hr></blockquote>
You guys ever sit next to a SparcStation with two hard drives? Man, those things whine so much you can't even hear the air-conditioning above them.
Wusses
I guess it isn't impossible. The fan on my PS2 is unnecessarily loud as well. It is so loud, I can hear it from across the room as I sit next to my computer where normally you would just hear the fan and HD from the computer. One night I left it on overnight (in the living room of my apt) and I could still hear the damn thing from the bedroom with the doors closed. The thing is, the fan noise isn't the typical white noise kind of sound that is more easily masked by ambient environmental noise. The fan noise is kind of like a whir of the electric motor. If anybody here is old enough to remember those old slide projectors with the then "mysteriously technological" fan whir, that is very much like the sound I get out of my PS2. Fan whir pisses me off, and it is the thing I dislike the most about my PS2.
I do agree, however, that Apple should remain ever vigilent in keeping computers quiet. Whether it be clever fan cooling implementation or careful selection of HD, it is definitely a quality that adds to the "class" and perceived quality of a computer.
I've just set the first of my cubes up, and it is just heaven at the moment! All I can hear is the HD now and again (think it needs a needs a new one...although I aready have an 80 gig to drop in...). I am ecstatic!!
I have taken a relatively big hit money wise on the Powermac, but it was worth it...after 6 months of constant fans, the silence is genuinely golden. I mean I can hear the click of my typing...woohoo!
Marc
Apple's towers are still quieter than the big chip Intels and AMD's...
[ 06-19-2002: Message edited by: 2gigman ]</p>
At home my work DP800 is much louder than my DP533.
None of them come close to my 1800 Athlon that I built as the CPU fan is so noisy I have put it in a closet and bought a video repeater to use it!
The AP550 and AP750 range from compaq are VERY noisy in comparison to the DP macs.
Dobby
Regards,
PB
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I do usually have some music on (iTunes) while I'm here at my desk, but it is off now that I'm responding to this, and it certainly isn't louder than my AC because I can't hear my Mac at all, but the AC I can hear just fine.