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konakazi · Jan 7, 2005, 01:02 AM

Hey guys,

I hope this isn't a horrible newb type question / observation. I've seen posts about "beeps" and such but this isn't an "annoying beeps" thread.

My G5 makes quite a bit of sound revving up or making more of an exhalation sound.

It's understandable that I'm noticing it since it can be dead quiet often and then when there's some cooling / processin happens it will spring to life.

I'm surprised at how often this happens though.

This evening for instance I've just been web browsing and running XFactor in the background.

REVVVVV SHHHHHH REVVVV SHHHHHH.

You'd think I was rendering a 3D model of Manhattan!

Are there any settings to be adjusted for this scenario?

It would be frustrating trying to record sound while this stuff is going on inches away from me.

Thanks for any information.

Leonard · Jan 7, 2005, 11:16 AM

If it is happening constantly every minute or every so many seconds then there may be a problem and you should take it into an Apple Store or AASP. It could be something as simple as a fan is mis-calibrated or it could be a bad processor. How is the temperature of the CPUs - you can monitor this using hardware monitor, a shareware program? If it's just happening at odd times or under load than it's normal cooling activity. Have you tried running it without XFactor running in the background? I'm not sure waht this software is and whether it would put load on the CPU.

As for settings, there really aren't any for the fans as they are automatically controlled by the MacOS. There are some controls for the CPU in energy saver, but you don't want to change this option unless you are playing 3D games or doing CPU intensive work.

CatOne · Jan 7, 2005, 11:40 AM

Originally posted by konakazi:
Hey guys,

I hope this isn't a horrible newb type question / observation. I've seen posts about "beeps" and such but this isn't an "annoying beeps" thread.

My G5 makes quite a bit of sound revving up or making more of an exhalation sound.

It's understandable that I'm noticing it since it can be dead quiet often and then when there's some cooling / processin happens it will spring to life.

I'm surprised at how often this happens though.

This evening for instance I've just been web browsing and running XFactor in the background.

REVVVVV SHHHHHH REVVVV SHHHHHH.

You'd think I was rendering a 3D model of Manhattan!

Are there any settings to be adjusted for this scenario?

It would be frustrating trying to record sound while this stuff is going on inches away from me.

Thanks for any information.

Mine does it too... it's noticeable but not all THAT loud. Do you have the 6800 Ultra? It has a mother of a fan on it... I suspect it's what's making the noise. Happens ever few minutes for me, or when the CPU kicks in for a while.

konakazi · Jan 7, 2005, 06:30 PM

CatOne,

What kind of workload are you giving your mac when you hear it "going off" every few minutes?

Like I said, I can understand it doing alot of cooling when it's got a heavy burden but I'm surprised by the amount of sound it can make when just surfing the net.

Leonard,

Xfactor is just a P2P program like Limewire, nothing intense.

Macanoid · Jan 7, 2005, 08:40 PM

Originally posted by konakazi:
My G5 makes quite a bit of sound revving up or making more of an exhalation sound.
Thanks for any information.

I had similar problems with my dual 2.5. Within a week after getting it I got a new processor. This helped temporarily but after a few weeks the problems returned. I got another processor. To no avail, so I got a new machine, again to no avail. As you can imagine, I was not happy!

Anyway, I switched to a dual 2.0 and have had a silent machine ever since. Thought you might want to know!

CatOne · Jan 8, 2005, 12:21 PM

Originally posted by konakazi:
CatOne,

What kind of workload are you giving your mac when you hear it "going off" every few minutes?

Like I said, I can understand it doing alot of cooling when it's got a heavy burden but I'm surprised by the amount of sound it can make when just surfing the net.

Leonard,

Xfactor is just a P2P program like Limewire, nothing intense.

Sometimes not much. Viewing a web page with lots of crap might make the CPUs go to 50% for 10 seconds... sometimes it will rev a bit and then kick back down.

Target Practice · Jan 8, 2005, 02:21 PM

Same thing with my brand new 2x2.5GHz with 6800 Ultra. The revving is starting to get annoying.

I've been reading about this issue on Apple's discussion boards and monitoring the Mac's temperature sensors with Temperature Monitor. There is speculation that the revving is caused by the memory controller which tends to spike in temperature when doing mundane things like scroll a long web page. I tend to agree that this heatsink sensor is the culprit or that the fans are too sensitive to rapid spikes in temperature for this sensor.

I have 2.5 GB of RAM (in 2x256MB + 4x512MB Apple DIMMs). I wonder if a different memory config would run cooler (e.g., 2x1GB DIMMs)

What type and how much RAM is in your machine?

Cadaver · Jan 25, 2005, 12:52 AM

I just purchased a dual 2.5GHz G5 to replace a dual 2.0GHz (rev. A) that I had to give back when I changed jobs.

The 2.0's fans would only rev up during episodes of sustained processor load. The new 2.5's fans will rev up whenever the processor load spikes for more than a few seconds - like the fans are trying to keep up with the processor. Its not a rhythmic rev up/down, but more like the fans are chasing the processors.

I presume this is to handle the significant amount of heat the 2.5's are reported to generate, but this behavior is very different than my former, near-silent 2.0GHz machine.

But, I will say the 2.5 is noticeably faster, even for mundane things like resizing Safari windows, etc.