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lngtones · Aug 16, 2002, 08:58 PM

What is the relative noise levels of the new G4s compared to the Quicksilvers? (Specifically the 867 Quicksilver if possible)

Ricci Adams · Aug 17, 2002, 09:34 PM

I will let you know on Tuesday or Wednesday, when I get my Airvent

This is rather weird though. I have heard a lot of comments saying it is really loud, and other comments (from xlr8yourmac.com) say it is amazingly quiet.

I guess noise is a relative thing to the listener.

mo · Aug 18, 2002, 02:12 PM

I use the 867 at work and often notice the fan, since I have a fanless iMac at home. I was in Washington, DC, this week on business and had time to drop by the Apple store, where they had the new, heavily vented boxes. They didn't sound paticularly louder, but they sounded ... different. It's kind of hard to explain, and I'm no expert on the innards, but I surmised it had something to do with air flow coming from the front of the machine instead of just the back. Or, I'm imagining things.

Anyway, for what it's worth, it didn't strike me as louder than the earlier model.

FYI, nobody at the store knew what happens if you have dual optical drives and press the eject button, but they all thought it was an interesting question.

Skaar · Aug 18, 2002, 07:14 PM

I just picked up a Dual 867 last night at the Apple Store. In the store they seemed very quite. At home though it can be VERY loud at times. It seems that about every 45 seconds or so the big fan blowing over the heat sink kicks into medium speed for about 10 seconds. This is while the G4 is idle or if I'm using Mozilla. If I do anything more intensive the fan kicks into high speed which is easlily twice as loud as my OC'd Athlon rig (which sounds like an airplane!). I counted 5 fans in my Dual! 3(30mm)in the power supply, 1 (40mm) for the optical drive cage. 1 (90mm) blowing over the heatsink.

I wonder if Apple uses noise canceling devices in the Apple Store near the PowerMac display?

Originally posted by mo:

FYI, nobody at the store knew what happens if you have dual optical drives and press the eject button, but they all thought it was an interesting question.

I installed an OEM Pioneer DVR-104 (Superdrive, works with iDVD!) this morning. When more than two optical drives are installed a small icon appears on the menubar next to the volume icon. It allows you to choose which drive to open or close.
Also if you hit the Eject key on the keyboard the top optical drive opens. Option-Eject controls the bottom drive.

Despite the noise I love this baby!

Ricci Adams · Aug 18, 2002, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by Skaar:
I just picked up a Dual 867 last night at the Apple Store. In the store they seemed very quite. At home though it can be VERY loud at times. It seems that about every 45 seconds or so the big fan blowing over the heat sink kicks into medium speed for about 10 seconds. This is while the G4 is idle or if I'm using Mozilla. If I do anything more intensive the fan kicks into high speed which is easlily twice as loud as my OC'd Athlon rig (which sounds like an airplane!). I counted 5 fans in my Dual! 3(30mm)in the power supply, 1 (40mm) for the optical drive cage. 1 (90mm) blowing over the heatsink.

I wonder if Apple uses noise canceling devices in the Apple Store near the PowerMac display?

Skaar,

Thank you for this information. Do you have the powermac under or on your desk? Also, what is the ambient temperature of your room?

I have a feeling that the placement of the new powermac could greatly affect temperature/noise.

Skaar · Aug 19, 2002, 03:11 PM

Originally posted by Ricci Adams:

Skaar,

Thank you for this information. Do you have the powermac under or on your desk? Also, what is the ambient temperature of your room?

I have a feeling that the placement of the new powermac could greatly affect temperature/noise.

I have it placed under my desk, and have had the a/c on for the last couple of days. Nice and cool in here, around 71 degrees or so.

I don't think I could stand the noise if it was on my desk.

CodeWarrior · Aug 19, 2002, 04:01 PM

One way you can quiet down the G4s is to put something on wall behind it that absorbs sound. What a lot of people are probably hearing is the sound from the fans bouncing off the wall behind the Mac. In the Apple stores maybe they don't have walls up close to the Macs or they absorb sound better.