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rootdr · Oct 4, 2003, 01:39 AM

SORRY FOR SHOUTING, BUT I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN HEAR ME OVER THE DIN MY NEW G5 IS MAKING. I ORDERED THIS 2.0 GHZ G5 W/ RADEON 9800 NEARLY 3 WEEKS AGO AND I WAS THRILLED WHEN IT WAS DELIVERED TODAY.

RIGHT NOW I AM COPYING MY HOME DIRECTORY FROM MY OLDER DUAL 500 G4 TO THE G5, WITH THE G5 IN FIREWIRE TARGET DISK MODE. THINGS STARTED OFF OK, BUT THEN VERY QUICKLY REACHED DEAFENING LEVELS AS THE FANS BECAME FASTER AND FASTER. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT ABOUT PULLING THE PLUG SINCE I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BLOW UP IT IS SO LOUD. IT DOES SEEM TO MOVE QUITE A BIT OF AIR ALSO -- THE WINDOWS BOWING INWARDS AND THE CAT'S FUR GAVE ME A HINT.

I REALLY DO NOT KNOW IF I AM GOING TO BE ABLE TO STAND THIS MUCH LONGER - IT IS REALLY RIDICULOUS AND I'M ONLY USING THE DISK. WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IF I START PLAYING A GAME THAT STRESSES THE CHIPS AND THE RADEON????? I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING THIS LOUD SINCE I WORKED IN A BUREAU WITH A LINOTRON 500 IMAGESETTER!

SORRY FOR SHOUTING, JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU HEARD ME.

Hydra · Oct 4, 2003, 02:00 AM

I REALIZE THIS IS YOUR FIRST POST BUT IF YOU READ ANY POST ABOUT USING FIREWIRE TARGET DISK MODE YOU WOULD SEE IT GET'S VERY VERY LOUD, HOWLING LOUD IN FACT. WHEN IN TARGET DISK MODE THERE IS NO OSX BOOTED TO CONTROL THE FANS SO THEY EVENTUALLY GET UP TO FULL SPEED (ALL 9+ OF THEM). IN ACTUAL USE, GAMING OR HEAVY 3-D RENDERING IN FACT, IT WILL NEVER GET THAT LOUD - UNLESS YOU USE IT IN A ROOM AT 110 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. I SHOUTED BACK BECAUSE I WANTED YOU TO BE ABLE TO HEAR ME.

-JERRY C.

Vader�s Pinch of Death · Oct 4, 2003, 02:13 AM

WHAT HE SAID. IT IS NORMAL.

flyhigher · Oct 4, 2003, 02:19 AM

How loud is it under normal conditions?

I ask because there are a lot of threads over at the Apple support forum saying how the OEM version RADEON 9800's fan runs constantly -- it's not controlled by the ATI driver. One person can hear it at 20 feet away, and it's due to the RADEON fan, not the G5 fans. Is that true with yours as well?

zigzag · Oct 4, 2003, 02:42 AM

Originally posted by flyhigher:
How loud is it under normal conditions?

I ask because there are a lot of threads over at the Apple support forum saying how the OEM version RADEON 9800's fan runs constantly -- it's not controlled by the ATI driver. One person can hear it at 20 feet away, and it's due to the RADEON fan, not the G5 fans. Is that true with yours as well?

Not likely. He's in FW Disk Mode and there's a reason why all of the fans run full speed in FW Disk Mode, as Hydra explained. It's been reported before, it's normal, it won't run that way in normal use.

Remain calm.

Link · Oct 4, 2003, 02:50 AM

In order to make the rom chip as small and cheap as possible they left that out. Who cares, at least there's an FW disk mode

flyhigher · Oct 4, 2003, 03:19 AM

Originally posted by zigzag:
Not likely. He's in FW Disk Mode

zigzag, I realize he's in FW disk mode, but I am asking about regular use with his box. I've found threads at Apple and various forums indicating that there is a fan problem specifically with Dual 2.0s with the OEM 9800. Since we have someone here right now with this setup, I'd like him to answer.

rhogue islander · Oct 4, 2003, 09:46 AM

Yep, if you run the extended Hardware Test, it does the same thing.

Scary Loud.

Under normal operation, it is *extremely* quiet, even with a Radeon 9800 Pro Retail during extended sessions of Quake 3 Arena.

aaanorton · Oct 4, 2003, 11:40 AM

Originally posted by flyhigher:
zigzag, I realize he's in FW disk mode, but I am asking about regular use with his box. I've found threads at Apple and various forums indicating that there is a fan problem specifically with Dual 2.0s with the OEM 9800. Since we have someone here right now with this setup, I'd like him to answer.

I was reading something about this too. I just ordered 3 of these with the 9600 instead. I don't really need the 9800, but found that i can order one on line for only 50 bucks more than Apple's OEM. This will only get better. Plus, I read that the after market cards have better drivers and more control/functionality. Didn't MacFixIt do a report on this?

Vader�s Pinch of Death · Oct 4, 2003, 11:53 AM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
I was reading something about this too. I just ordered 3 of these with the 9600 instead. I don't really need the 9800, but found that i can order one on line for only 50 bucks more than Apple's OEM. This will only get better. Plus, I read that the after market cards have better drivers and more control/functionality. Didn't MacFixIt do a report on this?

I thought the aftermarket cards were only 4x AGP.

Anyway, the 9600's are dead silent, they don't have a fan.

ReggieX · Oct 4, 2003, 01:42 PM

Gosh, this needed it's own topic

Hydra · Oct 4, 2003, 01:55 PM

Originally posted by rhogue islander:
Yep, if you run the extended Hardware Test, it does the same thing.

Scary Loud.

Under normal operation, it is *extremely* quiet, even with a Radeon 9800 Pro Retail during extended sessions of Quake 3 Arena.

Yup, Firewire TDM and the hardware test get very, very loud - near hair dryer loud (no I'm not exaggerating here

) During normal usage like surfing the web it is very near silent with only a faint whooshing sound. If you start something processor intensive (esp. dual processor aware) the whooshing increases to a mild blowing sound. I have the 9800 in my dual G5 so I don�t have allot of experience with what a G5 sounds w/o one but the fan is always running on the card. When the machine just sits there it is very quiet, so the 9800�s fan can�t be contributing too much noise to the baseline dual G5 noise.

-Jerry C.

zigzag · Oct 4, 2003, 03:05 PM

Originally posted by flyhigher:
zigzag, I realize he's in FW disk mode, but I am asking about regular use with his box. I've found threads at Apple and various forums indicating that there is a fan problem specifically with Dual 2.0s with the OEM 9800. Since we have someone here right now with this setup, I'd like him to answer.

Sorry, I misconstrued you - I thought you thought that the 9800 might be the reason for his complaint. No problem.

flyhigher · Oct 4, 2003, 05:32 PM

Originally posted by Hydra:
I have the 9800 in my dual G5 so I don�t have allot of experience with what a G5 sounds w/o one but the fan is always running on the card. When the machine just sits there it is very quiet, so the 9800�s fan can�t be contributing too much noise to the baseline dual G5 noise.

-Jerry C.

Hydra thanks for the data point. So the fan is always running on yours, but it's not obnoxiously loud. That's good to hear. Does the card's fan every speed up or slow down? Do you have the OEM 9800 or did you add in the retail card?

Zigzag -- no prob.

Superchicken · Oct 4, 2003, 05:58 PM

Set the 500Mhz in Target mode and access it from the G5 and your ears will be happy

Hydra · Oct 4, 2003, 06:11 PM

Originally posted by flyhigher:
Hydra thanks for the data point. So the fan is always running on yours, but it's not obnoxiously loud. That's good to hear. Does the card's fan every speed up or slow down? Do you have the OEM 9800 or did you add in the retail card?

Zigzag -- no prob.

As far as I can tell my OEM 9800 always spins at at a constant speed. Only the case fans alter their speed depending on the cpu load. As to the baseline sound it is a very subjective thing. To give you a reference the HD's and superdrive are always louder than the case fans in the G5. Even when under heavy smp load I can hear if the HD or superdrive start to spin up or make head access noise.

I was just playing UT2003 for about an hour @ 1680x1050 and EVERYTHING maxxed out and it seems that the case fans didn't quite get up as much as they do for Quake 3 for even short 5-10 min sessions. I think software that is truly smp-aware is the only way to get the case fans cranked up.

I thought UT2003 just being such a resource intensive app would be enough to really rev the fans up but it seems as though the G5's fan control system is savvy enough to only really crank it up when both cpu's are being maxed out not just one.

-Jerry C.

flyhigher · Oct 4, 2003, 06:49 PM

Thanks Hydra. I'm getting the dual w/ OEM 9800, as I have an ADC monitor. Hopefully ATI will come out with new drivers to modulate the fan speed on this one. (And give us all of the other retail version goodies.)

zigzag · Oct 4, 2003, 08:03 PM

Originally posted by flyhigher:
Zigzag -- no prob.

Thanks. I should add that my "Remain calm" comment was directed at the first poster, not you.

Plus, it was 3 in the morning.

Jerommeke · Oct 5, 2003, 02:52 PM

Have you seen this commercial before buying? Then you could have known the risks of buying a G5 with so much fans.

Elderloc · Oct 7, 2003, 03:39 AM

the 9800 has a wierd sounding fan mbut i fixed it. i used the fans from my PC 9800 pro it has a copper mount instead of a plastic mount it is now much better. It was not so much the level or noise but the way the fan sounded.

I could swear the 9600 has a fan, are you sure it is fan less?

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Oct 7, 2003, 03:50 AM

Originally posted by Elderloc:
I could swear the 9600 has a fan, are you sure it is fan less?

yes, just a heatsink.

rhogue islander · Oct 7, 2003, 10:45 AM

I'd love to mount some rollerblade wheels on my Dual G5, place it on the formica floor in the kitchen and then launch the 'extended hardware test'.

I'm pretty sure it could self propel itself 'swamp boat' style.