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Author Topic: Video Cards and Fan Noise  (Read 4211 times)

ricwis

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« on: February 22, 2006, 09:00:09 pm »

My family gave me a great birthday present ...Aperture.  I have a 2 year old dual G5 2.0, plenty of RAM at 2.5 Gig, but the older 9800 Pro ATI video card with only 64 Meg of Video Ram.  I decided to upgrade the video card since Aperture is very card intensive.  The G5 is extremely quiet and I very rarely hear fan noise and the box sits right next to me.  I like that.

The first card I tried was the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac addition.  This card requires a separate power hookup for the fan (note the card I have does not have a fan).  When I installed the card, my G5 was no longer quiet and the fan noise was very annoying after a short time.  I sent it back and got the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Special Addition.  This card has a fan but no power hookup requirement.  This was worse the the previous card as the fan noise had a high pitched whine to it as well as the whirr.  I sent it back and put the old card back in.

There is one more card avaialbe in the ATI Radeon X800XT with a fan but no additonal power requirements.  I am hesitant to try this.  Does anyone have experience with this card and its contribution to noise?  In all the reviews I have read on these cards, no reviewer mentions fan noise.  With a machine like the G5 this makes a huge difference.

Thanks for any help, advice, or ideas on this.
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Rich Wisler
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DarkPenguin

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2006, 09:59:30 pm »

Just peel the fan off and replace it with a Zalman.
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francois

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2006, 04:04:42 am »

Rich,
I have an ATI X800XT video card on one of my G5. I'm very sensitive to noise and the OEM fan on the X800XT Mac Edition was a pain in the lower back. Sometimes it rattled like an old fridge. After 3 3 days I decided to do something. I missed the original 9600.
So I took the plunge and installed a Zalman VF 700 Cu fan. Installation was really easy and took about 30 minutes. The result was above my expectation as I had to use a flashlight to see if the fan was working. I've done the swap more than 6 months ago and the Zalman fan is still silent.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2006, 04:20:47 am by francois »
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Francois

francois

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2006, 04:14:57 am »

Rich,
You can find "fan" related step-by-step articles on HardMac.com website.

For a cooler ATI Radeon X800XT
How to silence a Radeon 9800 Pro
How to silence a GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
Quiet NVidia7800 GT
How to cool a Radeon 9600XT

Read all the articles as you will find interesting details (such as the rear brace).
HTH and do not hesitate to write if you need more info.

PS: On my Mac I used Arctic Silver thermal paste instead of the one included in the kit and I used the lower voltage so I get the quietest fan (inaudible).
« Last Edit: February 23, 2006, 04:18:57 am by francois »
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Francois

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2006, 03:30:47 pm »

Turn up your radio.   That will be easier than adding a cooling fan to the video card.
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DarkPenguin

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2006, 03:34:42 pm »

I found it to  be pretty quick.  The only issue I had was when I turned away for a moment and found my cat sitting neatly on the card chewing the molex connector when I turned back.

(I have to think the whole house humidifier did wonders in keeping the static down.)
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ricwis

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Video Cards and Fan Noise
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2006, 04:41:11 pm »

Thanks for all the input.

I ended up getting the X800XT card this morning and installed it.  It is much quieter than the other cards and is really fast.  Being a chicken at heart when it comes to customization work, I decided to get this card knowing I would have to do the fan install if the noise was more than I was willing to live with.

I notice on this card that the fan speed is variable and only revs up when there is a heavier video load.

Did the cat have an anti-static bracelet on or in some other way remove the charge from its body?
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Rich Wisler
Wildlife and Scenic Photogra
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