My 7800's fan is really loud; is yours??

Mine is the same. I've been told that the 7800GT has two fan speeds. Loud and Louder. But I haven't noticed it change. Since my last computer had three 15k RPM SCSI drives this one isn't that bad in comparison.

That's very surprising to hear. I have the Quadro FX 4500. The total noise level of my Quad is no different from the Quad in our lab with the GeForce 6600 (no fan).

If it does make a noise, I can't even hear it above the Quad's fans -- which usually run a 42db. Even when I was running Deep Shredder for 30 minutes (using all four processors), the noise level never got over 50db.

I've also run a series of OpenGL 3D and Core Image graphics tests that should have stressed the 4500 but no noise issues developed.

If this is systemic with the 7800 GT, it may be that you will have to research aftermarket heatsink/fan assemblies for the 7800 GT.

Hi k2director;

I have the Quad with 7800 video card in it. So far it has been very quiet. I hear the sound of air moving very slightly. If I really do some heavy disk activity I can hear the heads moving if I listen carefully. Oveerall, I have to say my Quad make less noise then my old G4.

Allan

Hi k2director;

I have the Quad with 7800 video card in it. So far it
has been very quiet. I hear the sound of air moving
very slightly. If I really do some heavy disk
activity I can hear the heads moving if I listen
carefully. Oveerall, I have to say my Quad make less
noise then my old G4.

That's interesting. Now you have me wondering if I might have my fan running on high the whole time. I can't hear my heads at all. What size monitor do you have your 7800 running? I'm on a 30" running full resolution. I wonder if that's pushing it enough to trigger the higher fan speed.

Hi PictorGuy;

I only have the 20" Cinema Display. I have tried to run everything I can to hammer the graphics card as much as I can though so far I haven't heard any fan noise except during boot before the system is alive enough to control the fans. That is about the only time I have any fan noise.

Allan

In trying to find a utility that will help me pull the fan speeds from either ioreg or else where I ran into this script at http://cutup.org/code/sh/tp (if you use the script remember to 'chmod 744 <filename>'). While it didn't give me a fan speed I did get a gpu-diode temp of ~49C. Any idea if that's higher than `normal'?

Power Mac G5 Quad PowerMac11,2 PowerPC G5 (1.1)
33 DRIVE BAY Celsius
21.375 MLB INLET AMB temp
23.375 BACKSIDE Celsius
58 KODIAK DIODE Celsius
41.25 TUNNEL Celsius
40.125 TUNNEL HEATSINK Celsius
49 gpu-diode temp
0.00190 Slots Power power
1.2207 CPU A0 VCORE volts
1.24023 CPU A1 VCORE volts
41.9375 CPU A0 DIODE TEMP temp
43.0312 CPU A1 DIODE TEMP temp
13.793 CPU A0 CORE CURRENT Amps
13.793 CPU A1 CORE CURRENT Amps
1.19629 CPU B0 VCORE volts
1.2085 CPU B1 VCORE volts
43.2188 CPU B0 DIODE TEMP temp
42.6094 CPU B1 DIODE TEMP temp
12.5703 CPU B0 CORE CURRENT Amps
11.2305 CPU B1 CORE CURRENT Amps

Allan,

I'm wondering where you found your 7800 for your Dual Core. I'm running the G5 Dual 2.7 with a 9650 and I'm trying to upgrade to a faster graphics card (The 8700 GT or GTX) for Apple Aperture, and I'm unsure of where to purchase the card. Any ideas? (Thanks in advance.)

John Eckert

Hi John;

I ordered my quad with the 7800 directly from Apple so I can't be much of a help with finding an upgraded graphics card.

I don't know of any card called the 8700 GT or GTX. Did you mean to say 7800 instead of 8700? If so, the 7800 uses the PCI Express bus instead of the AGP bus. That means your G5 Dual 2.7 will not be able to use a 7800 even if you are able to find one that has been flashed with Apple firmware because the Dual 2.7 has an AGP bus.

I did notice that we both have the same last name. I didn't know of any Eckerts from California. I am from New Jersey original. Stayed in Colorado when I retired from the Air Force.

Allan

Hi Allan,

Sorry for the typo. Yes, it was the 7800 not the 8700. 🙂

That's disappointing to hear that about the bus and vailability. The machine is only 6 months old. Sigh. The 9650 processing power is only about 1/3 the speed of the 7800. The extra power would be really helpful using Aperture.

Yeah, I noticed the name. The family is opriginally from Yonkers. We moved to the Los Angeles area in 1956.

Kindest regards and Merry Christmas.
John

That's disappointing to hear that about the bus and
vailability. The machine is only 6 months old.
Sigh. The 9650 processing power is only about 1/3
the speed of the 7800. The extra power would be
really helpful using Aperture.

You should be able to get either a 6800 Ultra or X800XT from Apple for the AGP Macs. Either would be faster than the 9650.

Here's a link to the 6800 Ultra DDL sold at CompUSA
http://www.compusa.com/products/productinfo.asp?productcode=313913&pfp=BROWSE

And the 6800 GT DDL
http://www.compusa.com/products/productinfo.asp?productcode=317937&pfp=BROWSE

Hi John;


May I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year also.

As you can see from my profile I am heavily into photography and I ordered the 7800 for exactly that reason. It should run Aperture fairly nicely from what I have read. I have heard a couple of people with AGP G5 saying that they thought the X800 might be a better match for Aperture instead of the 9650.

My grandparents lived in the section of Newark, New Jersey called "down neck". I have no idea why it was called this but it was a section of town that was mostly German.

If you are interested one of cousins did a genologic tree of the Eckerts. If you interested in have a couple send me an email at eckertallanp@frii.com.

Allan

Allan, just sent you off an email.

Best regards,
John

Hi John;

Just in case you are interested, here is a thread that talks about using Aperture with the X800

Allan

My GPU temperature is 49 degrees and the fan is making a rather annoying whine. 49 isn't a particularly hot temperature for a video card so it is kind of annoying. The rest of the fans are barely purring.

I will try and find out at what temperature the fan kicks in at...

I too have a Quad with the 7800 and a 30" monitor. And, I was surprised by how loud my Quad was when I started it up. (I mean, I'd read that it is "silent" or near silent...) I don't know of my actual dB levels, but it's all fan noise. The only time I can hear the HD is if it's sleeping and then I wake it, if I listen really hard I can hear an initial "click" of it waking and accessing. I can't hear anything else over the fan noise. And I haven't researched if it's the Quad fans or the 7800's fan. I'll see if I can tell when I'm on it, I'm on a different machine right now. But, one question, would the fan on the 7800 keep spinning when the monitor is sleeping? The noise on my Quad is constant, whether the monitor is awake or asleep. Also, anyone guess- could this be "fixed" using firmware or is it probably permanent due to the limitations of the 7800?

William