Powermac G5: What are normal temperatures?

Ravi - I do not think you understand the question - he wants to know what the normal operating temps for the processors are - NOT the ambient air temperatures for storage or operating the computer - which is what I think you provided.

Hello all,

I'm using a G5 2,5GHz DP and I recognized also that the CPU temperature was quite high. Also I found the noise of the fans quite annoying. They were spinning up i.e. when opening FileMaker databases over a network or when I was starting an iChat video conference and so on.

Then I found out the following procedure to reduce the temperature of the CPUs and also the noise of the fans:

First download CHUD from the Apple Developer pages and install it.

http://developer.apple.com/tools/download/

After successful installation you'll find a preference pane called "Processor" in the "System Preferences". Open this Preference Panel and activate the option "Allow NAP".
Then please open the Preference Panel "Energy Saver" and there click onto "Options" at the top of the window. Then you'll see a preference for the CPU performance which you should set to "Minimal".

I know that this will cost performance, but if I do really need best CPU performance I can set it to "Maximum". All the time when I just use my G5 for normal office work, it is much more quiet than before. Of course this is not a solution for server or XGrid environments, but it is perfect for offices.

The average CPU temperature of the upper CPU (A) has been reduced from 75° C to around 60° C. The average temperature of the lower CPU (B) went down from around 65° C to 50° C.

Hope this helps.

Juergen

Not sure which utility you are using, but

http://www.bresink.de/osx/HardwareMonitor.html

has upper limits for CPU A/B temps, and upper and lower limits for CPU fan speeds in the Sensor Overview (for this G5 dual 2.0).

There are some user-submitted readings for this utility

http://www.kezer.net/thermographx.html

that you can compare with yours.

Dear Craig,

Welcome to Apple Discussion.

The right temperature are Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: -40° to 149° F (-40° to 65° C).

Hope this helps.

Good Day !

Ravi Dimri.

Craig,

The Dual 2.7 is the hottest PowerMac G5 of the bunch and your CPU temperatures are normal for this particular version.

If by chance the CPU's do overheat, the machine is designed to shutdown.

It's advised to keep your machine in a 75ºF environment to reduce fan noise and prolong it's life.

If you search various Mac websites some have a listing of the average CPU temperture ranges for each machine.

Just looked for temperatures when XGrid Agent started to run and fans went up. Hardware Monitor says 86.6° C on CPU A (187.88° F) - That's only 1.4°C lower than the max. allowed temperature (as hardware monitor says 88°C) - i don't like that.

Keep your PowerMac in a less than 75ºF dust/dirt free enviroment.

The G5 chip is hot, that's where the performance comes from and why we don't see it in a laptop.

The processor industry is struggling to increase performance as they have technically hit the wall getting them to go any faster.

Now "Dual Core" and "Performance per watt" seems to be the marketing rage.

'allow nap' is the default, so you don't need to install CHUD to enable it. In fact, most users who install CHUD do so to DISABLE nap. 'nap' creates some noises on PowerBooks, and can create buzzing noises in some external audio interfaces.

I found out my G5 2.7 heats up CPU A til 179 F, while CPU B keeps the temperature about 50 F under the temperature of CPU A.

Is this normal and if not, what do I have to take care about this problem?

Regards
Mike

If you run both CPUs at a constant level, and the temperatures aren't very close, you should take the Mac in for service.

You can easily run the CPUs at 100% in Terminal. At the prompt, just enter:

yes > /dev/null&

once for each CPU (or core).

You can stop this by command-Q out of Terminal.

I had a similar problem with one processor being much hotter than the other (not past 160 F though) and apple service is reseating the processors right now. They said if it's still there after the reseating, they will replace both processors. It might not hurt to get your's checked out.

Keep your PowerMac in a less than 75ºF dust/dirt free
enviroment.

and what do you suggest in summer? 😉

Move further north. 😉

40-60 C