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janboersma · May 11, 2005, 06:13 AM

I can't wait to buy a new iMAC 20" 2Ghz, but has Apple solved the fan noise that plagued the Rev A models?

Please let me know you experiences,

Jan Boersma

Ozzpot · May 11, 2005, 07:20 AM

Seriously, I have heard people mention this, but I use a RevA 1.6ghz 17" at work, (I am using it right now), and no matter how hard I thrash it it has NEVER EVER made the slightest noise.

It is silent. Sans bruit. Silencioso. Not the slightest whisper. I didn't even know it had fans. Maybe someone else who is familiar with this problem should answer
;-)

bgordon · May 11, 2005, 01:55 PM

I'm using a 1.8Ghz iMac at work with 1 GB of RAM and for normal, non-taxing purposes - web surfing, writing, etc. - it's utterly silent. But when I play Snood (probably the least-taxing game I can think of) the internal fans ramp up to a whiny pitch. When I quit Snood, they ramp back down. And this occurs at all processor settings - automatic, highest, reduced.
And it's not just Snood - they do the same thing when I rip songs into iTunes from CD's.

It's annoying enough that I would not buy an iMac for my home use, to be honest. Of course, I've got a MDD at home right now which is even more annoying, but that's another story.

Jawbreaker · May 11, 2005, 06:07 PM

I don't want to go so far as to say the fan noise problems have been fixed, but the difference between my Rev.A 17" and my new Rev.B 20" is astounding. The 17" emitted a terrible whine and buzzing sound and I eventually returned it to have it replaced with an SP G5 tower (eventually returned for other reasons, bad luck I guess). The 20" arrived today and I've put it through its paces. When the fans rev up high, there's a sort of low pitched blower sound, really not disturbing at all. There's no high-frequency whine of any sort. The fans calm down pretty quickly, too, and right now it's practically inaudible. So I presume what I'm hearing now is what owners of normal, quiet Rev.A iMacs have been hearing all along. I don't know if I just lucked out or if there was some helpful redesign, but in any case I'm really really pleased.

Fonzie · May 15, 2005, 09:27 AM

Mine sounds like a leafblower, even on automatic. I guess mine is faulty and a rev.a board. I'm not sure though. I don't know if they have fixed it on the newer iMac's.

May 15, 2005, 02:09 PM

I don't have an older rev A to compare it to but my 20" rev B seems pretty darn quiet. Just sitting in front of it you can hear the "whoosh" of a fan but from 5" away, you can't tell.

bgordon · May 15, 2005, 07:28 PM

Screamingfit, what about when you do processor-intensive stuff? Any noticeable ramp-up in fan speed?

galarneau · May 15, 2005, 09:00 PM

I'd like to hear more from Rev. B owners as well.... I'd be more likely to consider an iMac if it were very quiet.

May 16, 2005, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by bgordon

Screamingfit, what about when you do processor-intensive stuff? Any noticeable ramp-up in fan speed?

I've yet to get any big time apps on there yet and give it a try. I'll be able to get to it tonight, though so I'll let you know.

markb8705 · May 16, 2005, 09:24 AM

i have a Rev. B and i have yet to hear a thing... even when burning dvd's and playing games

atlcane · May 16, 2005, 10:30 AM

I purchased a 2 gig imac on saturday and it make 0 Noise. What a great machine.

May 16, 2005, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by screamingFit

I've yet to get any big time apps on there yet and give it a try. I'll be able to get to it tonight, though so I'll let you know.

Well, I loaded up Ableton Live to the gills with loops and Reverbs (First Class Setting) - the CPU meter in Live was in the 300's, CPU in Activity Monitor was in the mid 90's for user processes. Let it sit for 1/2 hour and guess what? Absolutely no change in the fan speed or noise! I really, really can't believe it - I was expecting at least SOMETHING but nada.

And believe it or not, this thing is quieter than my 1Ghz Powerbook.

galarneau · May 16, 2005, 04:53 PM

Totally friggin' cool if this is the case. To the people who are posting about the (lack of) noise their Rev. B iMacs make....

How much background noise do you have going on that might be masking fan/hard drive noise? Playing music etc?

the_glassman · May 16, 2005, 05:14 PM

Are settings for performance set for automatic or highest?

wordsmith · May 16, 2005, 07:41 PM

I'm going to wait a couple of months and see if anybody posts obout overheating or power supply problems before investing in an iMac.

May 16, 2005, 09:21 PM

I live in a VERY quiet area. All I can usually hear are birds chirping outside. Though I was playing loops through Live, I did have the volume turned to one notch above off (if you've ever played Live while running the CPU meter at 300%, you'd understand why!). That was it as far as any masking noise that would of happened.

I do have "highest" chosen as my processor speed, fwiw.

Trust me, this thing is no more than a little bit of a fan whirl! I was very hesitant to buy this machine after all I read about the noise and the rev. a machines and glad I made the investment! Noise bugs the crap outta me and believe me, if this thing was noisy, I'd be the first to say something about it!

joeyc · May 17, 2005, 05:52 AM

Jan-

I actually bought a rev. A ultimate on May 1st, then found out about the Rev. Bs coming out two days later, so I brought it back to the Apple store and they upgraded me to the new one without hitting me with the open box fee, which was pretty cool.

Anyway, the first one I had was totally quiet, while this one, the 2Ghz one, makes the 'remote controlled airplane noise.' Very quiet, but very annoying. Actually, to tell the truth I probably would have thought it normal had I not had the Rev. A first (this is my first Mac).

So not, its not all togther fixed. Apple is telling me I need to ge a new midplane put in, but that means I'd be without my computer for a week or so, without any real guaruntee that the noise will be fixed. I could easily see myself getting the thing home, pluging the thing in and having it make the same nooise as before. Then I'd be about 50 times as upset as I am right now. :-)

I wouldn't let that discourage you though. This is flat out the coolest freaking thing ever, and I'd definitely invest in ti if you can afford it. Just bring a stethoscope or something to the store and tell them you want to have a listen before you take it home- lol.

Oh, and definitely get the bluetooth. It's totally worth it.

May 17, 2005, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by joeyc

Jan-

I actually bought a rev. A ultimate on May 1st, then found out about the Rev. Bs coming out two days later, so I brought it back to the Apple store and they upgraded me to the new one without hitting me with the open box fee, which was pretty cool.

Anyway, the first one I had was totally quiet, while this one, the 2Ghz one, makes the 'remote controlled airplane noise.' Very quiet, but very annoying. Actually, to tell the truth I probably would have thought it normal had I not had the Rev. A first (this is my first Mac).

So not, its not all togther fixed. Apple is telling me I need to ge a new midplane put in, but that means I'd be without my computer for a week or so, without any real guaruntee that the noise will be fixed. I could easily see myself getting the thing home, pluging the thing in and having it make the same nooise as before. Then I'd be about 50 times as upset as I am right now. :-)

I wouldn't let that discourage you though. This is flat out the coolest freaking thing ever, and I'd definitely invest in ti if you can afford it. Just bring a stethoscope or something to the store and tell them you want to have a listen before you take it home- lol.

Oh, and definitely get the bluetooth. It's totally worth it.

Do you have the 17" or 20" model?

chse · May 29, 2005, 08:46 PM

I just got a new 20" 2ghz - and yes it IS noisy, no loud or whining noises as described for the older ones before but a constant airflow, simmilar to the noise of a ventilator. The problem is since the whole computer sits in front of you it is somehow annoing, espesially after you started thinking about it. Will cal apple to ask what they think about it.
Have some other issues, the screen has a brighter "shadow" in the middle when it is dark (f.e when watching a DVD) and the airport signal-bars do not show anything. (Anyone with the same issues?)

C

iBorg · May 30, 2005, 02:47 AM

Originally Posted by chse

I just got a new 20" 2ghz - and yes it IS noisy, no loud or whining noises as described for the older ones before but a constant airflow, simmilar to the noise of a ventilator. The problem is since the whole computer sits in front of you it is somehow annoing, espesially after you started thinking about it. Will cal apple to ask what they think about it.
Have some other issues, the screen has a brighter "shadow" in the middle when it is dark (f.e when watching a DVD) and the airport signal-bars do not show anything. (Anyone with the same issues?)

C

There must be some variability in the quality of Rev B G5 iMacs - mine is DAMN quiet! Certainly more quiet than my 1GHz TiBook, and even that isn't very loud, even with fans on "high" during gaming! I can hardly hear a fan running unless I'm doing graphically intense activities or games, and even then, the fan is barely noticeable!

I couldn't be happier with my 20" iMac 2 GHz! No stuck pixels, exceedingly quiet, fast, bright screen - the best purchase I've made in a LONG time!

iBorg

PeteWK · May 30, 2005, 03:11 AM

I've had a rev. B 20 inch for a week or two and it's very quiet. I haven't had any of the problems associated with the original models.

PeteWK

alcool · Jun 1, 2005, 08:10 PM

I've got a 17" 1.8ghz, and you can definitely hear the fan on the lower left. From the second you push the power on button, you can hear it, and while I'm working away, if there is no TV on or no iTunes or anything, you can still hear it. If I just go through and click every program on the dock, you can hear the fan ramp up, and eventually it will go back down again.

I'm definitely not one of the lucky ones with a "dead silent" iMac G5. Is it annoying? Yes. Is it annoying enough that I'll pack it back up and return it? Probably not. As someone said earlier, I too would rather have a noisy iMac than a melted one

Zubir · Jun 6, 2005, 11:38 PM

Bought the 20" model yesterday, it developed the whine tonight. It's not that loud, but it's an annoying pitch. Maybe it always had it, I've had iTunes on the whole time I've used it. The fan noise is coming from the right side, sounds like the bottom. I'll be taking it back this weekend, especially after the Intel announcement. I don't trust third party developers to deliver PPC apps after next summer.

chenyichung · Jun 7, 2005, 10:51 AM

take your palm and cover up the bottom left side of the iMac, no, it won't cover your left speaker, it's a little further right than where the buzzing is coming from. So yea, if you cover the bottom left up, there really is no more buzzing. I mean, there is, but i can't hear is unless my ear is like pressed up against the iMac. So what i'm gonna do is just shove one of my gf's little stuffed animals under the left side of the iMac, and BAM, no more BUZZING, YEAH!!!!

now, will this cause' my iMac rev.B to overheat? i doesn't cover up the entire bottom, just the left side where the noise is coming from, maybe 4inch in lenght is covered up by the stuff animal. Speakers still sound fine, so i know i'm not covering up any holes or anything.

So there ya go, buzzing problem in new rev.B iMac G5's solved!

-Yi Chen

chse · 08:14 PM

reply to Yi Chen:

I just got also a 17" 1.8 imac at work, true there is a buzing noise I don't hear with the 20" (see above) but it is not very loud.

But hey!!!! DO NOT COVER THE LOWER LEFT AIR INLET!!!!! I just put extra RAM in the 17" and that it exactly the position where the air is taken in for the processor. There is a funnel which is directly connected to the processor there. I am sure it is a good way to get a new one from apple but only if they don't get suspicious how you toasted it....

By the way the 20" monitor is much brighter and more briliant than the 17" - so if you can spare the money get the big one...

C

PS here an image what you are covering:

kick52 · Jun 9, 2005, 04:43 PM

sorry, 'avent 'ad time to read the 'ole thread. Dont most computers do that? my friends PC and my PC does that... his is 800mhz and my pc is 450mhz. and the fans pitch goes up and down when u du stuff. though when i use my 333mhz iMac, it doesnt change at all.

jokell82 · Jun 9, 2005, 05:00 PM

Just got my 20" Rev A iMac, and it's awesome. No fan noise whatsoever, and (lucky me) no dead pixels. I was very nervous about the fans due to posts on here, but it's definitely the quietest machine I've ever used. Only thing I don't like about it is that since I got it refurbished, I didn't get a pretty box.

chse · 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by kick52

sorry, 'avent 'ad time to read the 'ole thread. Dont most computers do that? my friends PC and my PC does that... his is 800mhz and my pc is 450mhz. and the fans pitch goes up and down when u du stuff. though when i use my 333mhz iMac, it doesnt change at all.

PC??? Whats that? - but seriously you are right - I just had the pleasure to work with a Dell - when you only open an excel document that things sounds like the cleaning person with the vacuum cleaner would come in the room- imacs are very far from this.. Here in the lab with the airconditioning running I do not notice it at all - on the other hand thats why you buy an apple - great design, incredible service, great construction, etc. (at least they try- sometimes they build titanium powerbooks, though... ) I would say that even compared to quiet PCs imacs are far less noisy. On the other hand an imac sits on your desk right in front of you so no way to lock out the noise.

Zubir · Jun 10, 2005, 10:41 AM

"On the other hand an imac sits on your desk right in front of you so no way to lock out the noise."

Exactly.

iBorg · Jun 12, 2005, 03:43 AM

I've had my new Rev. B iMac 20" 2 GHz for a few weeks now, and it's been perfect, in every way: incredible screen (with no stuck or dead pixels), faster than I thought possible without buying a G5 tower, and almost dead-quiet! I don't think I've heard the fan run yet, and it stays very cool - I can hear the hard drive, if the room is absolutely silent, but with anything else on (TV, music, people talking) I can't hear a thing.

If you're waiting for the "perfect" iMac, this is it! They'll have to come up with one hell of an iMacTel to make me want to EVER give this baby up!

iBorg

chenyichung · Jun 15, 2005, 03:39 AM

hey guys,

so yea, i just finished playing that Dinosaur game on my gf's rev.B 17" iMac, and that buzzing fan sound coming from the power supply at the bottom left of the iMac got pretty loud. I didn't use to bother me when i was just surfing the web or typing a paper. But when i played that game, the sound got really loud. There's gotta be a fan in the power supply that's causing the noise, cause' as soon as i stopped playing the game, the sound went back to normal. I mean, it's really not a big deal, just don't know if this is some way the iMac is trying to tell me something's wrong. I mean, there's gotta be something wrong with it right? There have been a hand full of people who have stated that they can't hear a single buzz from their fans in a very very very silent room. So obviously the iMac should've been built to be silent, or very close to it.

So my question is, should i be worried that something is wrong with the iMac? or do enough people have this problem that it's not seen as a real problem?

Also, if i bring it to the apple store, can they maybe switch out my power supply in the store? or do they have to ship it off to get fixed? I know they don't do notebook repairs, don't know about iMacs and towers.

-Yi Chen

Rooskibar03 · Jun 15, 2005, 03:45 PM

I'm using a 1.8Ghz iMac at work with 1 GB of RAM and for normal, non-taxing purposes - web surfing, writing, etc. - it's utterly silent. But when I play Snood (probably the least-taxing game I can think of) the internal fans ramp up to a whiny pitch. When I quit Snood, they ramp back down. And this occurs at all processor settings - automatic, highest, reduced.
And it's not just Snood - they do the same thing when I rip songs into iTunes from CD's.

Just picked up a Bev B 17" 2.0. First night it didn't really bother me. Second night, the fan noise started to get annoying. The above post sums it up well. I will put the machine through it pases and see it becomes any louder or more annoying.

chse · 04:46 PM

OK here my two week experience with both a rev B 17" 1.8 and a revB 20" 2.0 ghz imac.
The 17" has a (not very loud) buzzing noise which is always present. In contrast to the posting before I believe it comes from the processor (see my previous posting). I don't think it is really annoying but it sits in a lab where lots of other things are going on (fe the aircondition)- at home I would probably not like it. If I start doing lots of things f.e. using some old OS9 aplications it becomes noticable louder since the fan it comes from spins faster. If I use even more applications another fan kicks in which produces the sound of the airflow only.
The 20": If I am not using it heavily it is very silent (no buzing like with the 17"). If I use it more again a fan starts running that produces a louder airflow-sound. I have the feeling that this fan starts more often on the 20" than on the 17". Moreover when I connect my eyeTV 200 unit to the computer, which takes the power from the firewire that fan comes on after about 20 min (same thing when I charge the ipod). If I sit directly in front of the computer it is a bit annoying but I think there is nothing I can do about it since thats a normal reaction to the use of the computer, when I sit back and watch TV on the imac I hardly notice it.
Conclusions: I think there are two fans one on the processor and one for the power supply (or for the inside of the computer). The one on the processor produces a buzing noise in some revB imacs, I wonder if this is more often in the 17" (1.8?). Did someone ever experience that buzzing in a 20' (or a 17" 2.0)? If you really use your computer a lot for e. gaming a second fan kicks in which is kind of noisy.
Thinking about it these noises are still much more quiet than a PC under your desk (or these horrible powermac g4s..) and I think I can live with it. But be aware that the imac is in front of your face (and your ears), so maybe go to a store and test it yourself.

C

jephro · Jul 2, 2005, 09:31 PM

Same irritating fan noise problem here. And info about how Apple DONT deal with it on www.jephro.com !

yongfook · Jul 17, 2005, 09:47 AM

brand new 20" iMac here. Sounds like a leaf-blower. Slightly disappointed.

cleanup · Jul 17, 2005, 07:24 PM

1.8 Ghz 17" iMac Rev B.

Fans spin up to a quiet hum sometimes when I launch a new application, but even when I'm doing intensive tasks like using Illustrator or (god forbid) playing a game, the fans are audible, but comparatively very quiet to most Windows PCs.

My mom's Windows tower, by comparison, sounds like a freight train. There's no fan controller, so the fans just spin at full speed all the time. You can hear it from across a long room. Right now I'm about a foot and a half away from my iMac and all I can hear is my fingers tapping on the keyboard. And the Windows tower... And a lawnmower outside, and the TV upstairs, but my iMac is just sitting there. Sometimes it's eery how quiet it is.

neilw · Jul 17, 2005, 09:42 PM

My 3-week old rev B 20" is plenty quiet for my needs. I was quite concerned when I bought it, but took a chance and it worked out fine. One of the fans clearly has a dominant pitch, but it's almost completely drowned out by the white noise of the other fans, so it is not bothersome. Overall, the noise of the machine (even when running long sessions with 100% CPU utilization) is completely acceptable.

It is, however, right up in your face, so you notice pretty clearly whatever noise it *does* make. I sympathize with those who have "noisy" ones; there clearly are some (maybe most) that are quiet, and some that are not.

Interestingly, mine just for the first time made a bit of a scratching sound, as if one of the fan bearings got some grit in it. That will bear further watching....

Mrjinglesusa · Jul 19, 2005, 04:56 PM

No problems here on a Rev B 20" G5. Can hear the fan, but it's not too loud considering the ambient noise.

italiano · Jul 19, 2005, 07:05 PM

My REV A 20" is fine? Not what I'd consider noisy at all.

OogaBooga · Jul 19, 2005, 07:59 PM

My PowerMac is nearly silent. I can't hear it unless I put my ear up to the front grill.

Oh wait... this is the iMac forum.

rpm126 · Jul 27, 2005, 02:16 PM

Mine makes a slight buzzing sound, but it's really not that bad. I've been building high performance pcs for years, so I'm used to a computer that sounds like a jet turbine spinning up whenever you push the power button. It makes kind of an irrtating buzz, but it's still much quieter than most pc's I've had.

If it does get to the point where it's bugging the hell out of me, is this covered under Applecare at all or will they just tell me to shove it?

zign · Jul 31, 2005, 05:12 PM

Mine is not noisy. I can hear it, but after my pc I don't notice the imac noise. My d-link wireless router is actually louder

Some people probably confuse the spinning cd sound with the fans noise.

I had/still have my pc, which is really powerful and therefore quite noisy and the tasks I performed on it (graphic design) did slow down the computer a lot, especially if I had a lot of windows open in image editing applications. This drove me crazy and I had to restart the computer like 5 times a day. IMac, which is less powerful, handles the same workload much better and no restarts needed. Having said that, the PC made sooo much noise and even that didn't bother me. Imac is whisper quiet even with the fans on compared to any pcs I had.

Zacco · Aug 15, 2005, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by wordsmith

I'm going to wait a couple of months and see if anybody posts obout overheating or power supply problems before investing in an iMac.

Have had a rev.B iMac for 3 days. It is going back to Apple tomorrow. The fan noise when doing anything other than watching your screen saver ranges from obviously noticable to so loud (when under moderate loads) I could hear it even with iTunes cranked up full volume. Having had every Apple/Mac since the IIPlus, I was really excited about getting this one. Hope the replacement fixes it, I'd hate to give up my Macs. When I called the Apple store they said "we haven't heard anything about noise concerns". I directed them to any of the 56,000 entries I got when I googled it, including several on Apple's own forum.

Zacco · Aug 16, 2005, 11:06 PM

Well, my 3 day old rev.B went back to the Apple store today, and came home again. First they listened to it on the counter in the store, said they couldn't hear anything. I pointed out that one could land a 737 in the store and you might not hear it. So they took it into the backroom for a while. When I picked it up they said they still hadn't heard anyting unusual, said they could hear the fans but "its not like it was so loud we had to yell to hear each other over it".....So now we have an Apple baseline for "reasonable" noise levels. As long as one doesn't have to yell to be heard over it is is o.k.

buggsuperstar · 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by Zacco

When I picked it up they said they still hadn't heard anyting unusual, said they could hear the fans but "its not like it was so loud we had to yell to hear each other over it".....So now we have an Apple baseline for "reasonable" noise levels. As long as one doesn't have to yell to be heard over it is is o.k.

Did you point out to them that their advertising material claims the iMac as "whisper quiet"?

Gently (or harshly) remind them that claiming a product to be whisper quiet, when it is clearly not, is false advertising.

From what you have illustrated, the attitude of the staff there is poor. "It's not like we had to yell to hear each other over it" is not an acceptable explanation, and is in fact rather insulting to the customer.

You should take a harder stance against them. They are clearly not taking your complaint seriously.

Dale Sorel · Aug 17, 2005, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Zacco

As long as one doesn't have to yell to be heard over it is is o.k.

What a bunch of crybabies