fan noise in new g5's

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I can't tell from standing in the apple store (due to all the loud music) how much quieter the fan noise is in the g5 towers compared to previous g4 models. Can anyone shed some light on this? I know the fans speed up during intensive use, but what about ordinary word processing, web surfing, etc...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    I never heard a G4 so I can't compare, but my Dual G5 is one of the quietest computers I have ever owned. (I don't own a cube or iMac witch would be quieter) But is is certainly less than my Beige G3. My external firewire drive is much louder than the G5.



    That is unless you boot in target disk mode, use the hardware test CD, play a 3D game, or open the side. 8)
  • Reply 2 of 15
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    The biggest noise issue with the G5 (particularly duals it seems) are faulty Power Supply Units, believe it or not. There is a huge thread over at the Apple Discussion Board about a variety of buzzing and loud humming noises created by some people's machines. At first this was apparently a pretty wide-spread problem, to the point Apple started replacing people's PSUs.



    For now, it seems like the newer units (there is a certain range of serial numbers that have the faulty PSUs I guess) are much better in this regard. There are however, some noises that all G5 owners seem to experience, particularly under Panther. Expose for example, will cause a high-pitched chirp or squeak when activated on most people's machines. This too is supposedly caused by the PSU (even the less troublesome models).



    Speaking for myself, I haven't had any major noise problems. In fact, I would say the machine is so quiet that I end up listening to my hard drive "gurgle" a lot more than I used to, because the drive itself makes more noise than the fans / computer.
  • Reply 3 of 15
    The Radeon 9600 (default option) is fanless, but the Radeon 9800 has a fan, which happens to be, by far, the loudest noise coming from my dual G5... I swapped out the BTO 9600 for a retail 9800, and the difference was night and day. \
  • Reply 4 of 15
    I have a MDD G4 at work and a G5 at home. The G5 is MUCH more quiet. The difference is huge. The only time the G5 is "Loud" is when you put it in firewire target disk mode. Try it. It's fun. All 9 fans will go on full blast.
  • Reply 5 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MrSparkle

    I have a MDD G4 at work and a G5 at home. The G5 is MUCH more quiet. The difference is huge. The only time the G5 is "Loud" is when you put it in firewire target disk mode. Try it. It's fun. All 9 fans will go on full blast.



    I have the MDD G4 Dual 1.25 at home. Is there any way to quiet that sucker down?



    And, yes, the G5 is quieter than the previous G4 model ... by a little or a lot depending on if you're running processor/hardware-heavy apps.



    There has to be some way to get the Windtunnel to quiet down ... doesn't there?
  • Reply 6 of 15
    I have owned both the original MDD G4 and the MDD FW (800) and my new G5 dual is significantly quieter than either of those. I have no unusual noises, i.e "beeping", "humming" , "chirping" or any other sound other than the "woshing" sound of air being blown by fans. Most of the time it is "whisper quiet" but it does increase in volume when the processors are tested or stressed.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rustedborg

    I have the MDD G4 Dual 1.25 at home. Is there any way to quiet that sucker down?



    And, yes, the G5 is quieter than the previous G4 model ... by a little or a lot depending on if you're running processor/hardware-heavy apps.



    There has to be some way to get the Windtunnel to quiet down ... doesn't there?




    I'm sure you've seen the discussion about replacing the power supply/ fan in the MDD's. I did that and it reduced the screaming sound from about the sound you hear while sitting on the wing of a jet liner to the sound you hear inside at aisle 20 on a jet liner. I'm looking to get the sound level down to "near Cube levels." A dream, I know, but such a beautiful one. Do the new g5's warrant selling my current ibook and g4 MDD dual 867? Or should I suffer a year of further hearing loss and get something next generation g5 later...
  • Reply 8 of 15
    go here



    www.endpcnoise.com



    very nice supplier of quiet parts fans psu's etc etc

    well worth it & great service
  • Reply 9 of 15
    The only way to get to Cube sound levels is to get a Cube. I have one, I'm dreading the day I have to get something else, there is nothing in the world quite like a fanless computer. It's amazing. I also use a sawtooth that sounds a little bit like a stock car when it's goin full blast. Those G5s better be quieter, because I won't buy something that is that loud again.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    fulmerfulmer Posts: 171member
    I've got a dual 2Ghz G5 and the only noise I hear is a high pitched noise (kinda like an electrical whine) while moving windows around the screen. It's not loud, but since the machine is so quiet, it's noticable. Of course there is fan noise, but it's hardly noticable. When I run 2 sessions of Seti@Home (command line ver) the fans kick up speed a little, but it's still not bad at all. The CPU monitor shows both CPU's at 90-98%.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    The noise is really quiet, almost unnoticable after working at your desk for 15 minutes. If you have your G5 under a relatively thick desk, it's close to inaudible. When you're rendering in PS, the fans do crank up, but the noise is white noise, not the horrible "deisel" sounds of the MDDs.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    I've played around a little more with moving windows around and the noise I've been getting...



    I think it has to do with the GPU since when ever windows are moved around, the dock magnification effect or draging icons around the desktop.



    Again, the noise is hardly noticable, but because the G5 is actually so quiet, I can hear it...
  • Reply 13 of 15
    I thought it was the GPU causing that noise...



    Anyway a buddy has a stock dual 2GHz, and his Xbox drowns it out completely, if that helps at all.



    translation: it's damn quiet.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Clayton Magnet

    Anyway a buddy has a stock dual 2GHz, and his Xbox drowns it out completely, if that helps at all.





    Translation: Xbox sucks!
  • Reply 15 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MrSparkle

    I have a MDD G4 at work and a G5 at home. The G5 is MUCH more quiet. The difference is huge. The only time the G5 is "Loud" is when you put it in firewire target disk mode. Try it. It's fun. All 9 fans will go on full blast.



    Yup. Tried that once, kind of scarry. Sounds like its going to blow.



    As to answer the original question, I say that there is no simple answer. If the computer is being used it will make a fair amount of noise, but if your just surfing the web than it is among the quitest computers I've every had. The superdrive is a bit load when ripping etc. I often run SETI while doing stuff and that constant load results in a constant low fan noise that is acceptable but loader than my desktop G3 for instance.



    As I posted in my initial impression of my dualie, I think the sounds from this computer are very organic. When you do something the fans and other parts of the computer let you know they are working. Think of it as an audio version of a CPU monitor. Overall the sound levels are very low and acceptable, but don't get the idea that these machine are silent. They are only silent when they are not doing anything.
Sign In or Register to comment.