Do some MACs really have so many fans ?
Dec 6, 2009 21:12:36 GMT
Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2009 21:12:36 GMT
If this is true, no wonder so many Mac owners are pushing the proverbial uphill trying to hear SQ differences between .wav files,or any other kind of audio files for that matter! 
Bear in mind, that I can hear the difference between rips when just switching off a SINGLE fan in front of the HDDs in my PC.
Alex
P.S.
Before Robert jumps in boots and all, I will also point out that a Mastering Engineer in Germany has now confirmed that there are audible differences between uploaded.wav files with identical check sums, as has the lead designer of XXHE playback software, which plays back audio files from system MEMORY. (www.phasure.com) Also jkeny. (from RG,and Computer Audiophile.)
Quieting the Mac G5's ATI 9800 GPU Fan -- a Zalman upgrade!
Joined: 10/07/2009 .:. Offline .:. Comments: 53
Sun, 12/06/2009 - 14:42 — Socrates7
For those of you with aging Power Mac G5's, you're probably already aware that they're a noisy bunch. Very, very noisy. Opening up the case, you can blow out all that dust (recommended), but there is still no getting around the fact that there are 9 (!) case fans in this thing and together with the fan on the video card, this box can quite easily sound like an aircraft taking off when you start it up. Luckily that tends to quiet down, but even so, there's a rather penetrating high-pitched whine that just won't go away.
Seems that that's coming from the fan on the video card. YMMV, but in my case, that was the source of the most annoying sound coming out of the computer. Encasing the box in 4" of packing foam (with clever positioning to allow airflow) didn't do much to attenuate this particular frequency. It was loud enough, and distracting enough, that critical listening to music in my "office" with the computer on was simply not enjoyable -- unless I turned it off. Which made computer playback ... challenging.
What to do? Well there's other video cards. Given that this design was new back in '03 and that current manufacturers don't really invest in AGP slot cards anymore, there are some old (NOS if lucky, used in not) cards I could find -- but anyone who's done searches on these has undoubtedly learned that those still available go for a premium. Quite the premium -- well north of $200. And there'd be no guarantees that they'd be better. So the option was to either "downgrade" and get a Mac-compatible AGP video card with no fan (very slow performer) or go for an aftermarket upgrade.
I bought a Zalman VF700 CU for $30 off of Amazon.
The instructions weren't difficult. I popped off the old fan with a twist and a pop, cleaned off the GPU with some acetone (wife's nail polish remover), added some conductor, and screwed the new fan in place. It's a monster, easily 3x the weight of the card it now sits on and it completely obstructs the PCI slot next to the AGP slot on the mobo, but whatever, I have 2 more I can still get to.
Problem -- connecting the power. Oops.
Mac's don't really have extra power connectors lying around, and the connector the Zalman shipped with was not terribly helpful. What I really needed was a 3-pin to 2-pin connector/adapter so I could power the fan directly from my video card. I found them at Performance-PCs dot com. Unfortunately, there are 4 different types of these connectors -- but at $1 each, I simply ordered one of each and figured I'd see if any of them worked.
3 days later, I got them, unpacked them, and no, none of them fit. But, the "TYPE B" was "close", and with a little extra shove, I just crammed that sucker down onto the power jack on the card, popped the whole into the Mac, powered up ....
And it worked. Not only that, but that annoying whine? Gone.
:-)
That isn't to say that the computer is quiet. Remember, there are 9 case fans! But now, the hum is low, not high, and I can live with it, even though it's not ideal. One caveat -- this adapter doesn't allow me the ability to change the fan speed on the Zalman -- it's set at max, about 2600rpms instead of half that, which would be totally silent. I may fiddle with this to see if there is another set of adapters which would get me to where I want to be, but right now, I'm just happy it works.
Best of luck to you would-be modders! IMO, this is the biggest improvement I've been able to make so far ... and for $30, what's not to like?
www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Quieting-Mac-G5s-ATI-9800-GPU-Fan-Zalman-upgrade
Bear in mind, that I can hear the difference between rips when just switching off a SINGLE fan in front of the HDDs in my PC.
Alex
P.S.
Before Robert jumps in boots and all, I will also point out that a Mastering Engineer in Germany has now confirmed that there are audible differences between uploaded.wav files with identical check sums, as has the lead designer of XXHE playback software, which plays back audio files from system MEMORY. (www.phasure.com) Also jkeny. (from RG,and Computer Audiophile.)
Quieting the Mac G5's ATI 9800 GPU Fan -- a Zalman upgrade!
Joined: 10/07/2009 .:. Offline .:. Comments: 53
Sun, 12/06/2009 - 14:42 — Socrates7
For those of you with aging Power Mac G5's, you're probably already aware that they're a noisy bunch. Very, very noisy. Opening up the case, you can blow out all that dust (recommended), but there is still no getting around the fact that there are 9 (!) case fans in this thing and together with the fan on the video card, this box can quite easily sound like an aircraft taking off when you start it up. Luckily that tends to quiet down, but even so, there's a rather penetrating high-pitched whine that just won't go away.
Seems that that's coming from the fan on the video card. YMMV, but in my case, that was the source of the most annoying sound coming out of the computer. Encasing the box in 4" of packing foam (with clever positioning to allow airflow) didn't do much to attenuate this particular frequency. It was loud enough, and distracting enough, that critical listening to music in my "office" with the computer on was simply not enjoyable -- unless I turned it off. Which made computer playback ... challenging.
What to do? Well there's other video cards. Given that this design was new back in '03 and that current manufacturers don't really invest in AGP slot cards anymore, there are some old (NOS if lucky, used in not) cards I could find -- but anyone who's done searches on these has undoubtedly learned that those still available go for a premium. Quite the premium -- well north of $200. And there'd be no guarantees that they'd be better. So the option was to either "downgrade" and get a Mac-compatible AGP video card with no fan (very slow performer) or go for an aftermarket upgrade.
I bought a Zalman VF700 CU for $30 off of Amazon.
The instructions weren't difficult. I popped off the old fan with a twist and a pop, cleaned off the GPU with some acetone (wife's nail polish remover), added some conductor, and screwed the new fan in place. It's a monster, easily 3x the weight of the card it now sits on and it completely obstructs the PCI slot next to the AGP slot on the mobo, but whatever, I have 2 more I can still get to.
Problem -- connecting the power. Oops.
Mac's don't really have extra power connectors lying around, and the connector the Zalman shipped with was not terribly helpful. What I really needed was a 3-pin to 2-pin connector/adapter so I could power the fan directly from my video card. I found them at Performance-PCs dot com. Unfortunately, there are 4 different types of these connectors -- but at $1 each, I simply ordered one of each and figured I'd see if any of them worked.
3 days later, I got them, unpacked them, and no, none of them fit. But, the "TYPE B" was "close", and with a little extra shove, I just crammed that sucker down onto the power jack on the card, popped the whole into the Mac, powered up ....
And it worked. Not only that, but that annoying whine? Gone.
:-)
That isn't to say that the computer is quiet. Remember, there are 9 case fans! But now, the hum is low, not high, and I can live with it, even though it's not ideal. One caveat -- this adapter doesn't allow me the ability to change the fan speed on the Zalman -- it's set at max, about 2600rpms instead of half that, which would be totally silent. I may fiddle with this to see if there is another set of adapters which would get me to where I want to be, but right now, I'm just happy it works.
Best of luck to you would-be modders! IMO, this is the biggest improvement I've been able to make so far ... and for $30, what's not to like?
www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Quieting-Mac-G5s-ATI-9800-GPU-Fan-Zalman-upgrade