Placing Mac Pro in an enclosed armoire; how hot does it run?

I have to ask why, and hope someone talks you out of this plan. They are quiet, but we have already heard of why FB-DIMMs need their own heat sinks or spreaders and can get overly warm and lead to memory errors w/o proper type.

Have heard of a few people that tried doing so with G4s only to live to regret it.

And of course the 2.7DP which is liquid cooled needs adequate ventilation on all sides. Top, sides, front and back, and not on a carpet.

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Hello kat.hayes,

Placing any computer in an enclosed armoire is a bad idea.
Such a powerful one as the Mac Pro, indeed is an even worse idea.

If you still need complete silence, then the only hole in the back is not enough:
You need to organize a flow of large pipes with an adjusted big fan system that would sit in the next room.

--> air circulation inside the armoire, noise in another room.

HTH
Axl

Cut off a computers or any electronics supply of fresh cool circulating air and your asking for trouble. Placing it in a enclosure is giving it a early death sentance.

G5 processors are hot, the Dual 2.7 is the hottest. Air conditioning to transfer the hot room air to the outside is pretty much mandatory, unless it's so cold outside then you would be welcoming the heat from the G5. 🙂

I keep my room temps below 75ºF as my dual monitors, G5, reciever and other electronic gadgets produce a lot of heat next to my desk. Keeps the G5 fans quiet too.

There is a option you can cut a small hole in the wall and place the G5 in the other room, run the cables. Might have to get a external cd drive. USB/Firewire powered hubs.

1293/3739

Sorry,
it was the only obvious reason I could see.

Perhaps taking the whole armoire's back off then, and placing the Mac alone right in the middle of it? A very large armoire, it is, is it?

Personally I would rather enclose the cables, as much as possible, and enjoy the view of such a great machine (and the easy access to ports).

-- Consider my pipes + fan solution though, it's not so complicated as it seems.

Enjoy your new Mac!
Axl

I don't know about macs, but my dell gets EXTREMELEY hot when i have it in my enclosed desk. (it's a shame; i have a custom built in and did not think of the heat issue when i had it built). When I put the computer on my desk its quieter, cooler, and runs faster (though not that much faster)

Like ds store said, I wouldn't close the front of the cabinet. The Mac Pro needs fresh/cool air to constantly circulate throughout the cabinet and it's enclosure.

I guess you could try it although as others have said, it would get rather toasty without ventilation. If you're prepared to try you can cut two ventilation holes at the back…

1) At the bottom of the armoire at the front side of the Mac Pro. The side where the air goes into the Mac Pro.

2) Right at the top of the armoire for heated air to escape.

Obviously you need to cut these as big as you can although they may provide enough airflow for your Mac Pro. The hot air flow should provide ample natural circulation. You could also install an exhaust fan at the top hole given you're going to have power inside.

What about MacPro running in room temperature 90 F?

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From the Specs (warranty values):

Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: -40° to 116° F (-40° to 47° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum altitude: 10,000 feet (3,000 meters)

What about MacPro running in room temperature 90 F?

Too hot, for any electronic device.

If you want to prolong the life of your MacPro, monitors and other devices, keep the room cool enough so the devices are just barely warm, to the touch or exhaust.

Check out Hardware Monitor, which hopefully will be having a Mac Pro verison coming out soon, does a good job monitoring the fan speeds and temps.

I'm living in Thailand so 90F during the day is normal and i have p4 running non-stop for years now it never crash. But powerbook do feel too hot to put on my lap. I was just wondering if high temperature would affect stablity of MacPro.

I have no idea why it would be a bad idea to put a Mac on a carpet, but yes, the FB-DIMMS are the memory and they do run hot. Lots of computer components run hot, but most of them don't contribute enough heat to deserve special attention -- at least compared to the main offenders, like hard drives and CPUs.

But the FB-DIMMs in the Mac Pro do get very warm, so much in fact that they require rather large heat spreaders.

Anything on or near the floor, hardwood or carpet, will rapidly draw in dust through the fans. Unless you actually ENJOY blowing out dust bunnies into your face and the air you breathe with that can of compressed air, I would keep the MP, or any computer, on a desk.