[damiensmunki]

I'm having problems with the search function of this forum, so I cannot find whether or not a poll has been posted regarding this issue. Also...I can't remember ever posting a poll before, so forgive me if the options and organization are not the best.

I picked up the X1900 for my Mac Pro yesterday, and now I'm doing lots of reading up on the card. I'm seeing hundreds of posts on various forums about overheating issues (graphic artifacts/glitches/crashes) when playing WoW, Prey, Doom 3, and other demanding games.

I know the tendency is to post when one has a problem, so I'm wondering whether or not the number of posts on these issues is an exaggerated indicator of real-life occurrence. Please post any experiences you wish to share. Thanks!

Rob

[bld44]

I am on that same setup, but experience no problems. Not a big gamer though, the only game I play is Halo and the rest is all work.

[Trekkie]

After having my Mac Pro for a few months I also started having problems with graphical glitches causing artifacts and crashes. Like you I also have read up on anything I could find relating to this problem. From what I've gathered here's the crux of the problem: Apple. Playing a game like Halo or anything older than 3 years won't really stress the X1900 so you won't experience the overheating issues. The ATI X1900 is a great card and has yet to stumble on anything I've thrown at it. But there's only so much the GPU's onboard heatsink and fan can do when the computer's onboard fans aren't stepping up to the challenge. Ask any owner of a Mac Pro about it's ambient noise and they'll all tell you how quieter it is compared to previous models. Apple has done a terrific job creating such a powerful machine and keeping it cooled without the use of liquid cooling while keeping it whisper quiet. For the first few weeks I had my MP it always took me by surprise whenever I walked into the room just how quiet it was.(Didn't I leave this thing running?!?) The problem is that Apple took this to an extreme. Whenever the Mac Pro is being put through its paces you'll notice that the fans in the machine don't noticeably rev up except for the GPU fan. Apple is sacrificing air flow in order to keep the machine as quiet as possible. This could either be due to an error with the SMC programming not increasing air flow when it should or an intentional decision by Apple when designing the internals. When the machine gets overheated it will shut itself down before permanent damage to its components can occur. Normally the internal fans spin at a speed of 500 RPMs. Stepping this up to even 1,000 RPMs creates no discernible change in noise but does greatly decrease the internal temperatures across the board. Of course, the fans can only work effectively if the air coming into the machine is much lower than the internal temperatures and that the machine is free of blockages.

As I was reading up on this issue on the Apple support forums I came across a possible solution. Someone suggested using scmFanControl to individually program the fan speeds in order to keep the machine within operating temperatures. A nice thing about smcFanControl is that it will not allow you to set speeds below or above the parameters set by Apple so you can't cause any damage using it. Once installed I used the program to set a preferred speed for each fan in the machine. The first grouping I labeled 'Normal' for everyday use with a simple doubling of the default values except for the Power Supply fan. As I said earlier there is no extra noise but it keeps the machine cooler. The second grouping triples the default values to 1500 RPMs across the board except for, again, the Power Supply fan. Before I play a game I just set smcFanControl to the higher setting and then get busy playing. Ever since doing this I haven't had a single system lock up, crash or anymore screen artifacts. Prior to the changes my machine would lock up every time I'd been playing a game for more than 10 minutes and the gradual excess of heat was noticeable due to the increasing number of memory artifacts; which resulted in odd screen drawings and random color pixels on the dimmed second monitor.

The overheating is a widely reported issue concerning the Mac Pro and Apple is looking into it from what I've heard. The card itself is fine and if you use smcFanControl then you won't have any problems actually trying to use the damn thing. Those who use their Mac Pro's to boot into Windows and play games should also rejoice if they've been having the same problem. When in OS X use SFC to increase the fan speeds and the settings will carry over to the next Windows session. Please take note: booting back into OS X clears the settings so you'll have to do it each time you plan on booting Windows.


Below are the settings I use in smcFanControl for your reference.

Normal:
Fan - RPM
CPU Fan - 1000
PCIe/HDD Bay Fan - 1000
Rear Fan - 1000
Power Supply Fan - 600

Gaming:
Fan - RPM
CPU Fan - 1500
PCIe/HDD Bay Fan - 1500
Rear Fan - 1500
Power Supply Fan - 750

The program sits in your menubar while running and you can get it from VersionTracker. Did I also happen to mention that it's free? Hope this helps.

P.S. I run with two 23" ACDs connected to my X1900.

[mac128k-1984]

While I don't have an ACD 24" I do have a 2.66Ghz Macpro with the X1900xt and have had no problems (knocks on wood). Good computer, blazingly fast!

[macgeek2005]

I have a Quad 3.0Ghz Mac Pro, X1900XT, 23" ACD monitor.

I do have some bizzare issues while gaming. Here are a few:

When playing Quake 4, if I put it on Ultra Quality, the game will play perfectly, at 60+fps, but at certain points, all of sudden, upon entering a new building or something, it'll drop to slideshow speed. Between 1 and 4 fps! Completely ludicrous! And that's not the speed that the card runs the game at ultra quality. It's some glitch in pre-caching files. At High Quality, it NEVER drops below 40 fps.

When playing Call of Duty 2, it will occasionally freeze up. And i'm aware that this is simply a Call of Duty 2 on Mac issue. It can happen on any mac. It happened on my G4 tower with the Radeon 9800 Pro video card. Once in a while, it will simply freeze, and I have to shut the computer down.

Other than that, I can't think of anything. Oh yeah, Return of the King. That game unexpectedly quits sometimes, and again, it did the same on my G4 tower. Some of these Mac games just have bugs and stuff.

[Leonard]

I voted anyways, but I don't have a 23" ACD, I have the 30" ACD screen.

I haven't had any problems so far playing in UT2004. It runs great.

I'm wondering if these people having problems have their Macs under their desks, in cabinets or with not enough clearance between the machine and a wall.

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by Leonard 

I voted anyways, but I don't have a 23" ACD, I have the 30" ACD screen.

I haven't had any problems so far playing in UT2004. It runs great.

I'm wondering if these people having problems have their Macs under their desks, in cabinets or with not enough clearance between the machine and a wall.

UT2004 does run great. The only problems I have are with games that have glitches WITHIN them, and would do the same on ANY mac setup.

Get Call of Duty 2, and play it for 5 hours straight, and let me know if it froze up at all.

[dabigdawg]

WoW Forums -> Mac Pro & ATI X1900 issues

There is a fairly rampant issue playing WoW I just took my machine in under warranty to the apple store to have it looked at since it artifacts everywhere for me and I was beginning to get both kernel panics and then just black screens.

WoW is the only application that does this, the issue does not occur if I run a regular fan at the case with it open.

Will let you know what they find,

[Phuncz]

This is what I'm afraid for, Apple throttled the X1900XT's fan to much lower settings to keep it quiet. But that's just the problem with the newer high end ATI and nVidia cards: they require a LOT of cooling that simply will make more noise than you'd like. I for one don't understand why they just didn't go for a better cooler or replace it with a watercooling solution like the later G5 series. Graphical glitches is something you don't want in a machine like this...

[macgeek2005]

I'm getting some weird issues with Call of Duty 2 now, some quirky glitches. But I don't think they're heat related. If I hit "esc" and then "back to game" they go away instantly, and don't come back for a while.