I can hear my G5 processors!

craig12cocraig12co
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
OK, I can't hear the 2x2 G5 processors themselves, but something in the power supply that is very directly connected to them is making some disturbing noises. When Processor Performance is set to Highest, and the computer is idle, the power supply makes a noise similar to that of a heart monitor. When set to Reduced or Automatic, this noise is quieter. Also, when I click and hold the iTunes window and move it around, I can hear a buzzing noise that corresponds directly to what I do on the screen. As soon as I release the iTunes window, it goes away.



Anyone got any ideas what the heck in my power supply is making noises depending on how my processors are used? And before you say I am dumb and its the hard drive let me assure you that 1. I repaied Macs at an AASP for a year, and 2. My ears work well enough to hear that the noise is coming from the bottom of the computer, not the top. And it fluctuates so close to what the processor does that I am pretty confident it aint the fans.



So there it is. Don't know if anyone else has the same problem. It's pretty quiet, but I have my G5 in a quiet room, so I can hear it easily.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    The power supply of your computer (600 VA for a dual) is at the bottom of your computer.

    I think the answer is here.
  • Reply 2 of 35
    philbyphilby Posts: 124member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by craig12co

    Also, when I click and hold the iTunes window and move it around, I can hear a buzzing noise that corresponds directly to what I do on the screen. As soon as I release the iTunes window, it goes away.



    It's probably got nothing whatsoever to do with this, but anyway...



    Sounds similar to what PowerBook owners have been experiencing for years, with varying degrees of intensity (a Pismo I had was intolerable).



    There's a magic cure: second post.



    Warning: using these tool may or may not put a strain on your gorgeous new G5.
  • Reply 3 of 35
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    We had some SGIs at work that you could "hear". When you rotated a large 3D object in some OpenGL app you could hear the graphics card ticking. It was completely controlled by how you rotated the object.
  • Reply 4 of 35
    g-newsg-news Posts: 1,107member
    I'd try turning off or even better, disconnecting your speakers first and see if that helps.

    badly isolated/shielded speakers often pick up noise from electro-magnetically active devices (such as mice, screens, probably CPUs, I don't know)



    G-News
  • Reply 5 of 35
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    What exactly are they saying - singing? \
  • Reply 6 of 35
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    Macintouch has a story about this exact problem. You don't happen to be the same guy who wrote in to them are you?
  • Reply 7 of 35
    craig12cocraig12co Posts: 106member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Pie Man

    Macintouch has a story about this exact problem. You don't happen to be the same guy who wrote in to them are you?



    If you mean MacFixIt, yes, that would be me as well. It's annoying as hell, and the Genius at my local Apple Store didn't know anything about it. Supposedly however, the post on MacFixIt got referred to Apple engineers. Here's to hoping it's a quick and easy solution.
  • Reply 8 of 35
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    My HD makes very apparent clicking noises, like older iMacs.
  • Reply 9 of 35
    joe_itjoe_it Posts: 12member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    My HD makes very apparent clicking noises, like older iMacs.



    My G5 does that too. Whenever I am accessing the hard drive, it sounds just like a SCSI drive..



    Joe
  • Reply 10 of 35
    rplatrplat Posts: 22member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    My HD makes very apparent clicking noises, like older iMacs.



    I have that too on my dual . . . it sounds exactly like VM thrashing. I have 1.5 GB of memory and I think I'll put in another 2 GB, one at a time, and see if that stops the thrashing.
  • Reply 11 of 35
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    There's 2 sounds I've experienced:





    The first is high-pitched disk writes. If you run XBench you can hear this fairly steadily. It is faint and not as noticable.



    The second sound is a faint white noise sound. It isn't persistent and to me sounds like data being moved across the bus. I can drag large windows around the screen and hear the noise corresponding with my movements. If I let the box sit, the sounds is almost non-present. I have to play more to see where it originates. I don't think it has anything to do with my speakers, although that's the obvious first thing to look at.



    More later.
  • Reply 12 of 35
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    I downloaded Apple's CHUD tools and disabled napping on my G5 Processors. This stopped the sound. I am very pleased.



    Now, back to playing with the Performance settings!
  • Reply 13 of 35
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rplat

    I have that too on my dual . . . it sounds exactly like VM thrashing. I have 1.5 GB of memory and I think I'll put in another 2 GB, one at a time, and see if that stops the thrashing.



    I'll be begging my parents for some Christmas RAM, because the bechmarks seem to really tout the virtues of adding RAM to your G5. They showed performance increases in the ballpark of 4X.
  • Reply 14 of 35
    tokenfirstyeartokenfirstyear Posts: 32member
    i had the exact problem with my 12" powerbook - but it would make this very high pitched sound (similiar to when an old TV is on and you can faintly hear it from the next room even if it's on mute) - get this - when i was loading secure web pages (https)! in the 0.5 - 1 seconds before it loaded the page, the computer would emit this very high pitched squeal, as if it was trying to 'squeeze' the page out. it would stop as soon as it appeared.



    didn't happen any other time other than this.



    very odd.
  • Reply 15 of 35
    merovingianmerovingian Posts: 436member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tokenfirstyear

    i had the exact problem with my 12" powerbook - but it would make this very high pitched sound (similiar to when an old TV is on and you can faintly hear it from the next room even if it's on mute) - get this - when i was loading secure web pages (https)! in the 0.5 - 1 seconds before it loaded the page, the computer would emit this very high pitched squeal, as if it was trying to 'squeeze' the page out. it would stop as soon as it appeared.



    didn't happen any other time other than this.



    very odd.



    I can hear something similar when on the Internet. It happened with some sites, and not with others. Very strange.



    Doesn't bother me, though! m.
  • Reply 16 of 35
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tokenfirstyear

    (similiar to when an old TV is on and you can faintly hear it from the next room even if it's on mute)



    Hell, I get that with a two year old TV.
  • Reply 17 of 35
    imacfanimacfan Posts: 444member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tokenfirstyear

    i had the exact problem with my 12" powerbook - but it would make this very high pitched sound (similiar to when an old TV is on and you can faintly hear it from the next room even if it's on mute) - get this - when i was loading secure web pages (https)! in the 0.5 - 1 seconds before it loaded the page, the computer would emit this very high pitched squeal, as if it was trying to 'squeeze' the page out. it would stop as soon as it appeared.



    didn't happen any other time other than this.



    very odd.



    I have exactly the same problem on my 12" - but only in Safari, so if you really hate the noise, use another browser for those sites.



    David
  • Reply 18 of 35
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by iMacfan

    I have exactly the same problem on my 12" - but only in Safari, so if you really hate the noise, use another browser for those sites.



    David



    Running over SSL (https), all data is encrypted during transfer -- HTML, images, form data, and all. This adds CPU overhead and is likely why you'd hear the surge in CPU noise at this time.



    After disabling NAPping on my G5, I'm fairly certain this noise comes from switching the CPUs voltage levels. Wether its the CPUs or the Power Supply, only more testing will tell.
  • Reply 19 of 35
    craig12cocraig12co Posts: 106member
    Well I will be taking my G5 into have the power supply replaced as soon as the part arrives, and I'll advise on the issue. Totally unacceptable in such an expensive machine, if you ask me.
  • Reply 20 of 35
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Just an idea... there are lots of fans, two sets of paired ones down there near the bottom. They're tied to the processor usage, not just the temperature (keeps it ahead of the game that way).



    If they're *SLIGHTLY* out of sync with regards to speed, you'll get a beat effect, which given the internal electronic whines may be creating a 'pocket of whine' coming out at repeatable intervals. (Creating a compression envelope around the higher frequencies.)



    ?
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