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Scotttheking · 09:09 PM

I've heard some people say the machines are noisy, some say they are quiet, and I since can't exactly test noise in an Apple store, I need you to perform noise tests for me.
Duals preferred, as that's what I'd be looking at. Please list the relevant machine specs, like CPU(s), and HDs.

I need the test done like this:
Get the room to 77F or higher, maybe 80F if you can.
Turn of ALL noise in the room. Dead silent. You can hear yourself breathe. You can hear your heart beat.
Get both CPUs going at full speed. Run a DC client of some kind. (team.macnn.com)
Wait 10 minutes.
Get your head 3 feet away from the computer, with nothing between you and it.

Can you hear anything? About how loud is it? Estimated dB is appreciated, or use a dB meter if you have one.
What is the sound like? Higher pitched, lower pitched, whirr, etc.

Thanks,

Scott

OzarkMtn · Jul 1, 2004, 09:04 PM

You got to be kidding me...

Scotttheking · Jul 1, 2004, 09:14 PM

Originally posted by OzarkMtn:
You got to be kidding me...

As yourself this: Why would Scott take the time to make a post if he didn't want the information he asked for in the post?

Leonard · Jul 2, 2004, 12:28 AM

Let's put it this way, they've got to be quiet if a cube user buys one, and I know at least one cube user who's bought one. Of course they are not as quiet as a cube.

Siskomac · Jul 2, 2004, 03:12 AM

I'll try it when mine comes in tomorrow...but I'm a PC user used to 120mm case fans and heatsink fans whirring away like crazy, so I may not be the best judge of what's "loud" and what's bearable.

d.fine · Jul 2, 2004, 03:51 AM

lenox · Jul 2, 2004, 10:13 AM

And while you're at it, fix me a peanut butter and jelly...no, a roast beef sandwich. muenster cheese preferably. see if you can't find some lettuce.

Arkham_c · Jul 3, 2004, 10:51 AM

They're nowhere near that quiet.

They're certainly not loud (quieter than my Dell Optiplex or my eMachines by far), but I can hear it sitting upright in my chair just fine, with the room at 75 degrees and the machine idle.

flanders · Jul 3, 2004, 02:41 PM

my 2.0 is very, very quiet; but not 'silent' at all like the cubes. Even when idle I can make out a small bit of noise without it being silent in the room.

I will say this though: if you're used to a PC desktop this thing will make you think it's the quietest computer ever. Hey, now I can use the computer and not have to drone out the noise with music just to get some work done

fjonga · Jul 3, 2004, 04:52 PM

My new (old, 2nd hand rev A) 1.8 DP is quiter than the ventilation in my house. The Windows XP before... I could hear it in another room, but this G5 I can't hear almost anything. DVD/CD is always a noisemaker, but if it's just doing it's job, it seems to be very, very silent...

booboo · Jul 3, 2004, 06:59 PM

After a QuickSilver - which was by no means worse than your average PC - the G5 1.8 DP made me laugh with its almost eery silence.

The room (a home - but professional - recording studio) still seems conspicuously quiet even after a month's acclimatization - there is no whine, nothing remotely annoying just a gentle brrr of the fans - which is only noticeable when the music stops, and I think 'Is it the G5 even running?' and make myself listen - hard . . .

(Not my G5 btw, but the guy upstairs . .. )

Detrius · Jul 3, 2004, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:

...
I need the test done like this:
Get the room to 77F or higher, maybe 80F if you can.
Turn of ALL noise in the room. Dead silent. You can hear yourself breathe. You can hear your heart beat.
Get both CPUs going at full speed. Run a DC client of some kind. (team.macnn.com)
Wait 10 minutes.
Get your head 3 feet away from the computer, with nothing between you and it.

Can you hear anything? About how loud is it? Estimated dB is appreciated, or use a dB meter if you have one.
What is the sound like? Higher pitched, lower pitched, whirr, etc.

Thanks,

Scott

You know, 80F is warm to begin with. Also, running the CPU at 100% is definitely going to make the machine hot which will make the fans louder. I stopped running the distributed.net client on my dual G4 years ago because it made the fans louder. If you think your machine's fans are too loud, take it to your local Apple authorized service center and have them check the thermal calibration. If that checks out fine, stop running your machine at 100% 100% of the time.

Proposal: All you people with fast G4 laptops, will you run the distributed.net client on it for an hour and then put it directly on your lap? Is it hot? Is the AC adapter hot? Are the both way beyond uncomfortably hot? Will you keep running the machine at 100% because of the remote chance that you might win some money? If it's too hot, don't run it at 100% all of the time.

Likewise with your G5: If it's too loud, don't run it at 100% all of the time. They are whisper quiet when they are doing nothing. They sound like a jet engine taking off when they don't have software controlling the fans. The rest of the time, they are somewhere in between.

OzarkMtn · Jul 3, 2004, 07:48 PM

Well said Detrius! One of the most logical things posted on these forums in quite a while.

Leave the distributed.net stuff in the labs or don't complain about the heat & noise.

Big Mac · Jul 4, 2004, 01:06 PM

The G5 is very quiet unless it doesn't have proper space in back for ventilation. I've pushed mine pretty hard without hearing any corresponding increase in fan speed.

MattiMattMatt · Jul 4, 2004, 02:30 PM

Scotttheking:

Just wondering: what are you going to do at College Park (are you a grad student?) and what are you going to use the computer for (audio?)?

One thing I've been wondering about is the noise of the forthcoming liquid-cooled G5s. If you read the lit and listen to the claims, it is NOT clear whether it will be as quiet or quieter than existing G5s. The new cooling system may simply compensate for hotter chips, without reducing noise beyond current levels.

billybob128 · Jul 5, 2004, 04:43 PM

scott asked a question, and as has been said here many times - and in real life - if you cant talk civial dont talk at all.

scott my dual 2.0 runs F@H 24/7 with the room at hottest about 35 -40 degrees C stays quite quiet i suppose its audible from 5m away round a corner

OreoCookie · Jul 6, 2004, 01:48 AM

Here in Japan, it's so hot, my iBook's fan is almost constantly on, even when idleing around. I remember a similar situation last year in August and September, we had a G5 at work and it could become very loud. On the other hand, it was 35-40 �C in the room (90s-100s) and we had to switch off some computers for safety reasons.

The G5s are less noisy than a good PC with decent cooling, but obviously louder than my brother's water-cooled PC. Most importantly, the `noise' is (at least for me) not annoying, as it is not a high sound, but rather like a silenced airconditioner.

So make sure you have enough space for ventilation, and put it below your desk.

cmoney · Jul 6, 2004, 03:33 PM

Ok, I've had a Cube for years and have been hesitant to buy a newer Mac because of how noisy they could be, so I've been sticking to PowerBooks (currently have a TiBook 800) I've also got a 1 year old Sony VAIO which is amazingly quiet. I can't even tell that machine is turned on until it's cranking out a DVD.

The room all these computers sit in is probably as close to silent as they come.

Compared to the Cube, the TiBook and the Vaio, my dual G5 2GHz is noisier than all of them except the TiBook at 100% CPU. At idle, the G5 is not that bad, but it's far from whisper quiet. When I put it to sleep for the night, I can feel the ear fatigue after the G5 fans turn off.

A friend's Dell Dimension was also much quieter than the G5. Most common place PCs with generic parts are gonna be much noisier, but there are some name-brand PCs that are now pretty darn quiet. (And that new black/silver Sony VAIO uses liquid cooling and looks pretty damn cool.)

Now that summer's here though, my central air is running nearly 24/7 so that makes more noise than the G5.

legacyb4 · Aug 5, 2004, 09:50 AM

Working with a G5 1.6, I get very little wind noise, but I definitely get some motor whirring noise from the front unit. Not annoying, but certainly not silent and in a dead quiet room, you can hear if you are sitting nearby.

What I do have though is an occasional chirp/purr which originates from somewhere inside the machine; I haven't taken the time to figure out exactly where it's coming from but it certainly is odd.

Jansar · Aug 6, 2004, 04:13 AM

I have a G4 MDD which sounds about as loud as a vacuum cleaner. I'm sure the 2.5 G5 I'm waiting for will be much quieter, yes? The reson for purchasing it was to get a quieter computer.

Link · Aug 6, 2004, 04:54 AM

Originally posted by Jansar:
I have a G4 MDD which sounds about as loud as a vacuum cleaner. I'm sure the 2.5 G5 I'm waiting for will be much quieter, yes? The reson for purchasing it was to get a quieter computer.

Buck up. My g4 QS sounds like a hair dryer.

The Placid Casual · Aug 8, 2004, 08:12 AM

My G5 used to be quite quiet, much more so than a dual 450 G4...

These days it has got a bit louder, and is now getting to the 'annoying' loudness stage. :/

Eugene Fields · 11:50 AM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
I've heard some people say the machines are noisy, some say they are quiet, and I since can't exactly test noise in an Apple store, I need you to perform noise tests for me.
Duals preferred, as that's what I'd be looking at. Please list the relevant machine specs, like CPU(s), and HDs.

I need the test done like this:
Get the room to 77F or higher, maybe 80F if you can.
Turn of ALL noise in the room. Dead silent. You can hear yourself breathe. You can hear your heart beat.
Get both CPUs going at full speed. Run a DC client of some kind. (team.macnn.com)
Wait 10 minutes.
Get your head 3 feet away from the computer, with nothing between you and it.

Can you hear anything? About how loud is it? Estimated dB is appreciated, or use a dB meter if you have one.
What is the sound like? Higher pitched, lower pitched, whirr, etc.

Thanks,

Scott

I have one of the new RevB 2 Ghz Towers. i Hear NOTHING at 3 feet !! It's On my desk at Ear Level and its been silent for a Month now through restarts etc. Not a peep> I've had my processors pinned the whole time Folding@Home 2 instances!! + Doing normal work 24/7. Dead Silent!!!

At 1 inch away All I hear is the whoosh of air!! Incredible! On the 9800XT, they copied the Verax G03 Fan Percisely!! It is Silent. This Tower is like a swiss watch. The revA gave me loads of noise by now. Im Vrry Impressed.

johnmccaig · Aug 8, 2004, 12:29 PM

here you go:
g5 at startup: http://www.panicnow.net/~monkeyplus1...g5_startup.mp3
pentium4 at startup: http://www.panicnow.net/~monkeyplus1...p4_startup.mp3

enjoy the loud

Rev-O · Aug 8, 2004, 01:43 PM

Rev.A Dual 2GHz with 250gb internal and a 250gb external LaCie d2 extreme thru fw 800 in the highest ambient temperature in my air-conditioned house. Prolly around 80 degrees F or so. It sits on top of a desk in a corner, so there is no baffling of sound, possibly even a bit of accoustical amplification.
Not as quiet as my G3 iMac (which of course if fanless), except for hd access. The sata drives are quiter than my iMac's. I've had the same question from 2 pc guys. One a run of the mill consumer, one a microsoft certified network jockey: "Is it on?" Had to launch some meaty applications (well, the meatiest that I have, which isn't much) to get fans revved up so they could hear it make some noise. Then they just thought the whole speeding up/slowing down fan thing was neat.
Yah, mine is quiet. I likey.

d.fine · Aug 9, 2004, 05:06 AM

Originally posted by johnmccaig:
here you go:
g5 at startup: http://www.panicnow.net/~monkeyplus1...g5_startup.mp3
pentium4 at startup: http://www.panicnow.net/~monkeyplus1...p4_startup.mp3

enjoy the loud

Man that P4 is loud !!

DP 2.0 G5 sits 35 cm's from my head on my desk, it's hot in here, cpu's are at 68� & 63�C (155� & 145�F) and I can barely hear it ! Is it on ? Compared to my former Wintel machine, the G5 is a silent and pleasant dream ... even tough I must admit, once that blower fan comes on to cool the pipes on the rear of the MB it can get a little noisy ...

ngc127 · Aug 11, 2004, 10:27 PM

My new Dual 1.8 is quite quiet except when the hard drive is active. The hard drive makes a crackling noise whenever it's reading data. Can other people hear their hard drives? I've got 512MB of RAM. Would installing more reduce hard drive activity?

Link · Aug 11, 2004, 10:51 PM

Originally posted by johnmccaig:
here you go:
g5 at startup: http://www.panicnow.net/~monkeyplus1...g5_startup.mp3
pentium4 at startup: http://www.panicnow.net/~monkeyplus1...p4_startup.mp3

enjoy the loud

My G4 sounds a little like the P4 when it starts up, but the HD is nowhere near as loud.

The Placid Casual · Aug 12, 2004, 06:12 AM

Hmm, I think my G5 is faulty noise wise...

I get loads of random fan noise, kind of like uneven oscillation of one or more of the fans... :/

Hmmm, yippee I get to deal with Apple support again!!

Scotttheking · Nov 25, 2004, 02:30 PM

So I'm sitting in front of a relative's dual 2ghz G5, and the noise isn't bad. Except for the hard drive.
HOLY CRAP.
I haven't gotten the fans on loud yet, which is what I want to hear.
It only has a GF5200, so I can't hear how loud the video fan is.

UnixMac · Nov 25, 2004, 11:33 PM

With a system configured like mine [see below]... Running 3D apps that use my NV40 and both hard drives I consider my system more or less silent. My house is at a constant 74 degrees, my machine sits atop my desk where it gets great airflow. I am wondering if many who have loud machines aren't placing their box where it can get good airflow?