Powermac G4 MDD cooling and noise reduction
I have owned an awesome Apple Powermac G4 for about two years now. It’s a 1Ghz with dual processors which is commonly known as the Mirror Drive Door model or MDD for short, due to it’s mirror finished optical drive doors. It has been a faithful servant so far for all sorts of stuff like video editing, music production, photo’s, web surfing, email & business duties to name just a few. I noticed when I first got it that it was a bit noisier than my old G4 533 Powermac, but until my girlfriends mother complained one night that it kept her awake all night, I didn’t really take much notice of it. After that though it started to drive me crazy & I started a long campaign to quieten the thing down.
First thing I did was search google for information of how to do it & I found this page which document in detail how to replace the main 120 mm cooling fan.
Here is a link to Apple’s description of how to replace the 120mm case fan
http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/pdf/g4mirror/fan_power_supply.pdf
After trying one fan that just didn’t cool the G4 well enough I found on a website called FrozenCPU.com, a “SilenX” 120×120x38mm - 18dBA - 90CFM which is whisper quiet & cools the mac just as well as the original Delta fan that came from Apple, only it’s about 300% quieter. It made a big difference.
I also read about a software modification to Mac OSX called ” Nap Mode” which to cut a long story short, basically cycles the processors down into a “mini sleep” sort of mode, reducing the temperature and therefore the noise from the fans is quieter without losing any speed. This made a massive difference, but also now made a new noisy high pitched sound from the power supply fans. For G4 MDD owners you must download version 3.5.2 of CHUD, later versions do not work with MDD Powermacs. Some other models of Macs come with Nap mode enabled as standard like the G5 Powermacs & the PowerBook G4, so it’s not a risk to use.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/MDD_CHUD_feedback.html#storytop
I also created an applescript that I saved as an application & put in my Powermac’s start up items so that nap mode is automatically turned on every time I turn it on. To do this just download the applescript below, unzip it then open up System Preferences - Accounts - Login Items. Then just drag the nap mode applescript into the Login Items Box. Here is the link to my applescript:
An applescript to enable Nap mode
After more research I found that another main source of noise is from the standard power supply fans that come with the MDD G4, so I found the quietest fans on the net to replace them. I chose the fans that come on the Thermaltake Volcano 5 heatsink and fan combination - the Everflow model F126025DH, which spin at 4550rpm with a maximum airflow of 32 CFM and a noise level of 31 dBA. These are actually the same fans as recommended on the above instructions at www.xlr8yourmac.com, so I was confident that they would do the job. The installation is not for the faint hearted so if your not good with electronics & fixing thing’s I wouldn’t attempt it. This made a big difference once again. I also put in a foam insert between the power supply & the case as instructed below.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/g4_mirrored
Finally I put the Powermac down on the floor under my desk which quietened it down again, so after all these measures I now have a Powermac G4 MDD, which is whisper quiet and much more suited to music production.
GREAT POST! I have a single processor MDD Mac and am also very happy with it. Because mine is a second revision it is not as loud as the originals. However it is anything but quiet and very hot. I have 4 drives in it and some of then can get over the 95 degree mark recommended by most manufacturers. Nap mode helps but I’d also suggest keeping the “Put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible” checked. I noted a significant improvement in overall temperatures when this was done. One other thing I use it a program called “Temperature Monitor” that gives you CPU and hard drive temps (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19994)
One last thing: As I understand it, Apple did recall the power supplies on these things years ago. You might still be able to score a new one on Apple.
Did you benefit of the “Apple Pwr Supply Exchange Program” ?
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/feb03/022103.html#S15126
Yeah, I tried ” put hard drive to sleep” option but this causes the mac to not wake up from sleep due to my USB 2.0 PCI card. That’s another long story that I will be uploading soon… but to summarise, the only way I can avoid sleep hangs & the USB 2.0 connection dropping out is to untick this option & to also set the Put computer to sleep” option to never.
I also found that nap mode would be turned off if you let the computer go to sleep or did it manually from the Apple menu. With sleep option set to never & nap mode enabled at start up this works a charm & keeps the G4 CPU at around 105 degrees F ( 42degC) & the bonus is that it also responds instantly with a touch of the keyboard. I also use temperature monitor & a new widget I just found called iStat nano.
I did benefit from the power supply program as the previous owner did all this under warranty, but it was still just too noisy. Best to carefully change the power supply fans with quiet ones. I hate to think how loud it was before they did that power supply exchange.
The IXtreme Silenx 120mm fan has a 3 wire connection. How did you deal with the fact that the logic board connection has only two pins?
Good question, I just basicly used trial & error to see which two plugs were the right ones for the two pins on the motherboard and which combination made the fan spin. The other wire is not needed.
With other fans that I tried it was easier because there was a red, black & yellow wire. With the silenx fan all 3 wires are a cool silver colour, trendy but not very useful. So I just tried plugging different combinations of two plugs into the two pins on the G4’s motherboard.
If you imagine that on the silenx 3 wire plug there is an underside ( with 3 little square holes on it) and a top which is completely flush. It ended up being on the underside with the left hand wire and the middle wire plugged into the 2 pins on the motherboard of the G4.
From checking the molex connector adaptor for connecting direct to a power source it appears that the center pin is the hot and one of the outside pins is the black.
I have a G4 MDD fw 800. Just didn’t want to blow anything on the logic board
Thanks!
Are you sure about the CFM on the F126025DH? The following page shows that the CFM is only 22.74.
http://www.everflowtech.com/products/product_detail.asp?product_no=F6025N
I’m having a hard time tracking down any 60mm fans that can push 30+ CFM. Thanks
yeah try this page for a review & specs:
http://www.slcentral.com/reviews/hardware/cooling/thermaltake/volcano5/index.php
You have to buy the Thermaltake Volcano 5 Heatsink & fan combo. Chuck away the heatsink & use the fans, which put out 32CFM of air.
From above review. ” The fan that came attached is a nicely designed everflow fan. It moves a solid 32 cfm of air at a respectable 31dBa”.
Excellent topic and posts, great info and right on time :O)
Is there a specific Mac OS that Chud 3.5.2 works with?
I am locked into Panther 10.3.4/9.
Gonna try cutting out and eliminating the fan safety/finger guards, where applicable as some say it helps.
I was also thinking of using this Deflex product as well, even inbetween the side panels, just an idea as it seems to work.
http://www.deflex.co.uk
Apparently CHUD 3.5.2 is much more solid on Tiger 10.4. I’d upgrade to 10.3.9 & see how it goes… You could always pick up 10.4 on ebay, it’s a very worthwhile upgrade.
try this link for more info:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/MDD_CHUD_feedback.html#storytop
Hey Bucky Thanks,
I actually have got Tiger and i,m gonna use it on my Digital-Audio for the internet only.
The reason i am locked into Panther 10.3.4/9 is because of the Protools app i use—-Digi 001 and Protools 6.4.
This is why i got an MDD Dualie, yet i now know that the second proccessor is not so vital on Protools 6.4.
I will try to put your tips to good use and if it is still to loud for recording i will consider upgrading the D.A. and hope it does not increase in loudness also.
Hey - this is great info - funny I was just thinking it was time to fix the fans in my MDD - have you had any problems since the fixes/upgrades?
also - where did you find the Thermaltake Volcano 5 heatsink and fan combination - I’m having some problems finding these
thanks
No problems whatsoever. It’s running like a dream. I found the Thermaltake Volcano 5 heatsink on Google after a fair bit of searching. The online store that I bought it from here in Australia has since shut down, but you should be able to find them somewhere… maybe try ebay too…
It seems as though the fan on the Thermaltake Volcano 6 Cu ( not the Cu+ 7000 rpm copper base model) is also the same as the Volcano 5.
see this page for details.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/volcanoshootout.php
I came across this - (looking for your opinion) what do you think? it should work on the MDD?
http://www.pcsilent.de/en_pd_smartcooler_fan_set_apple_mac_g4_lfs1130m_%20ROOT_APPLESETS_307.html
only has an airflow of 25CFM
thanks
Yeah they dont look too bad, however as far as noise is concerned, the 120 mm fan puts out 38DB compared to 18 DB for the SilenX 120mm at similar air output. The smaller 60mm fans are slightly quieter but have slightly less airflow than the ones on the Thermaltake Volcano 5. Might be worth a try though if you cant track down any Thermaltake fans.
Yeah I went ahead and purchased the 120mm you recommended - just looking for something to replace the 60’s - I like that the DB is lower but worried about the airflow - I have an info email into them asking about the airflow etc.
Bucky, thanks for the great post! I’m tired of listening to my G4 MDD scream, so I’m going to do all three steps you’ve described.
But one problem…
Adroc, I’m facing the same thing you did a week ago — I can’t find the Volcano 5 anywhere … not even eBay, at least at the time I’m posting this.
I was confused … which one did Adroc end up getting? And where could I pick one up? Thanks again!
Actually… I may be REALLY confused!
I already ordered the SilenX IXP 76-18 … 120mm x 38mm. But the Volcano 5 is something different, right? Adroc said “…I went ahead and purchased the 120mm…” is he talking about something similar to the SilenX I got?
If so, I still need that other fan. Is this where you’re saying to try the Thermaltake Volcano 6 Cu+?
Man, I’m really sorry to mess up your forum with a bunch of silly questions…
No worries mate… yes there are 2 different sizes of fans to replace. The first & easiest is the 120mm SilenX fan which you appear to have ordered. I’d wait till you get that & see how you go with that. That may solve all your noise problems combined with installing CHUD 3.5.2 which enables you to turn on “Nap Mode”.
The second set of fans are 60mm fans in the Power Supply.There are two of them in there. I would say that the 60mm fans that adroc ordered are quite possibly not going to put out enough airflow to keep the power supply cool, I hope I’m wrong though. They put out 25CFM of air while the Thermaltake Volcano 5 ones put out 32 cubic feet per minute compared to 37.5 CFM of the stock fans. I personally wouldnt go below 32CFM to be safe.
Ok after a few googles for Thermaltake 60 x 25mm fan heres some links where you can buy fans that will do the job:
here is a Volcano 5 :
http://coolbidnow.stores.yahoo.net/thvo5amdatup.html
Here are some other brands :
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=417
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=419
Hey - yeah I haven’t purchased the 60mm fans yet - I’m worried about the decreased airflow - I asked pcsilent.de about compatibility with my G4 MDD and they said it works….I think I’ll check out the links your found - thanks for the assistance
update - I installed the “SilenX” 120 and for some reason it would barely spin or would just appear to be on low - no air movement. I then connected it to the main power (P5) and now it runs at full speed.
When I had it connected to the 2 pin it was registering in the 70+ (degC) and eventually shut down) now its registering around 58-60 (degC)
The fan is silent - definitely need to replace the 60’s!
what is a good temperature for these MDD’s?
That’s weird that it spun slowly… what’s the P5 that you speak of & where is it exactly? Have you installed & enabled nap mode yet? That reduces the temperature dramatically. With both the SilenX 120 mm fan & nap mode my G4 CPU runs at about an average of 40 - 45 degrees celsius, up to 53 max when doing intensive stuff. This is in Australias summer… at an average of 30 - 40 degrees outside.
It would be interesting to try nap mode & the 2 pin again & see if it runs cool enough… mine does & it seems to spin faster when doing intensive tasks.
I’d go for the first link for 60mm fans. Theyre the same ones I’ve got…. push out heaps of air for the quiet noise they make and are very hard to find.
Sorry the P5 is the last 4pin molex connector (not being used under the front hard drive carrier) - I used the 3-4 pin adapter that came with the SilenX 120 fan to connect it.
I put the original fan back in - I also installed Chud 3.5.2 and am going to monitor the heat (get a good idea what this thing runs at) Once the new 60mm fans arrive I’ll reinstall the SilenX and give it all another shot
I just bought 2 of these delta fans on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290021085689&rd=1&rd=1
They are pretty much the exact fan already in the power supply but with a lower rpm/cfm/db rating. 23-24cfm and 28db. the originals are 40+db. they even have the same 2 pin connector.
its better to use ball bearing as a power supply needs reliable fans.
Great job btw.
A quick question.. Did you have to take the cover off of the power supply to remove the old fans and install the new ones? I ask because Apple warns about opening it and states a high voltage shock risk.
I am very comfortable working with pretty much all computer hardware but I just have no experience taking apart a power supply.
Please share any thoughts.
Thanks!
I have the dual 867MHz MDD btw..
thanks man, yeah you do have to take the cover off, but thats easy. I was very very sceptical about taking apart the power supply, as I had read about the dangers too. However what I did was turn the computer off & unplug it from the wall for a full day before starting.
Then I got organised with all the tools needed & really took my time, carefully taking the cover off.I made sure not to touch any other parts of the power supply at all which is not hard as the fans are down one end.
The hardest bit for me was swapping over the 2 pin connectors from the old fans onto the new ones as they came with 3 pin plugs, but you’ve got the 2 pins allready so thats easy.
thanks for your reply and advice. much appreciated.
I am having a small issue with the script you linked to.. every 2-3 reboots it won’t launch at startup. it gives an error msg but only to say it wasn’t able to launch. what I do for now is replace the file by dragging it into the same folder and choosing to replace the original. this resolves the issue but only for 2-3 boots as I said. I have been booting more than usual to test how things are happening.
any thoughts?
That’s strange I havent seen that at all… although I only reboot about once a week, maybe every 2 weeks.
Maybe try making your own login script with this hint:
( Save it as an application then add it to login items)
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040601142834620
Well… I ordered fans for both places as recommended. Got a SilenX 120mm and a Thermaltake Volcano 6Cu+ for the 60mm power supply fan. Got both new on ebay.
Just one goof. This morning I got everything disassembled and then discovered I should have ordered TWO 60mm fans. You made it perfectly clear in your description, I just read it wrong.
****
So for those replacing the power supply fans … be sure to order TWO OF THEM! Lest you want to make a mess on a Saturday and then not be able to finish the job.
****
I wrote my own script and replaced the one from the link you posted. problem solved..
bucky: I checked out your flickr gallery. cool stuff.
I am on flickr also if you want to check out my stuff: http://flickr.com/photos/zen_state/
I got the fans yesterday and installed today. System is running well and is a decent amount quieter but still a tad loud. In NAP mode the new fans are a bit louder for some reason but its still better than the old wind tunnel sound of the old fans
Thanks a lot bucky! ..for all your help and inspiration.
hey thanks dude, nice photo’s Jeff, i partculary liked the abstract inside MDD ones… good to hear you’ve had some luck changing the fans. I did have the Powermac on the desk, but after moving it to the floor, it’s even more quiet.
yes, I always keep towers on the floor and under my desk.
I did a small mod to help make up for the lower airflow of the new fans.. I removed the built in speaker on the front since I don’t use it anyway and the hole is so close to the ps fans. the side and back of the ps seem a bit cooler now.
I am still not satisfied with the noise level from my MDD..
I want some thoughts on using 3 x 60mm silent x fans. you may be wondering on how I plan to use 3
2 in the power supply and one mounted on the back of the MDD right over the ps exhaust.
these:http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16829&vpn=IXP-34-16&manufacture=SilenX%20Corporation
they are only 16db loud but they only blow 18cfm which is why I want to use 3. I figure that 2 x 18cfm fans will take care of the capacitors at the top near the front and the fan mounted at the back will suck heat off the coils that reside close by.
I already have an 80mm silent x mounted on the back outside the heatsink and it sucks a decent amount of air out.
my only concern is that there may not be enough air flow even with 3 fans since as I said they only blow 18cfm.
still not quiet enough? mine is fine for me now…
I’d be very careful putting fans in that only put out 18CFM. The original fans put out 38CFM 7 the ones I put in put out 32 CFM.
Simple maths says that 18 + 18 + 18= 54 total CFM which about 70% airflow of what the original fans put out. I dunno mate, you could try it & monitor it closely however I’d say it would reduce the life of your power supply dramatically. Personally I wouldnt try it.
Did you put insulation material between Power supply & case? Maybe also try insulation material all over the inside of the case first like this person did:
“I went back in and removed the perforated plastic panel on the rear, completely disconnected the small fan in the door that blows into the optical bays, and revamped the plenum completely using more cardboard and aluminum duct tape to seal all gaps and holes that interfered with smooth airflow through the case. Then I covered every surface — sides, bottom, top and interior parts like the optical bays and sides of the psu — with some dynamat (a very dense, self-adhesive vibration-damping material commonly used in car audio) that I had lying around. After reassembling it, I lined the corner where it sits with acoustical foam to further absorb any remaining high-frequency noise.
You can no longer tell it is running at all unless you are sitting right next to it, *censored* your ear and concentrate hard on listening for it. From 4 feet away you can not hear it at all. I can record spoken-word with a hot condenser mic ~10 feet away and have no problems. And all of that is in a completely silent room. With the heat or AC running, or normal house noise, you don’t even know it is there when you are right on top of it.”
where did you buy your fans? I can’t find those thermaltake models. I think my new fans still seem a tad loud because they are dual ball bearing. durable but loud..
I have had a thermaltake 80mm die on me in the past when only about 3 months old. it was a sleeve bearing though.. but still I am now a tad skeptical about the quality of their fans.
I got mine off an aussie online seller who has since closed down but heres a link to a Volcano 5 :
http://coolbidnow.stores.yahoo.net/thvo5amdatup.html
what I ended up doing was just adding lots of anti vibration material on the backside of the power supply where the fans are exposed. they make direct contact with the metal case wall.
worked VERY well and my MDD is now very quiet. Maybe 26-28db overall. i’m happy
I just got a used 1.25Ghzx2 MDD and it’s quiet until about ten minutes of use ,then there’s this sort of chunt-chunt-chunt sound that appears, a bit like a diesel or something. I’ve tried putting silencing padding behind the Power supply fans and under the CPU cooling fan but it made no difference - did yours sound something like that before fan replacement? I even sampled the sound as per the xcelerate-your-mac site suggestions but it doesn’t seem to match their sound analysis. Any suggestions?
Chunt chunt chunt like a diesel eh? It could be a vibration, or maybe it’s the CPU fan, but who knows. I’d try changing the CPU fan with one of those SilenX 120 mm fans first & then go from there as they’re pretty cheap & it’s a 5 minute easy job. They make a big improvement anyway, so you cant go wrong.
Come to think of it, it sounds like your G4 might be warming up for ten minutes & then the big 120 mm Delta CPU fan kicks at full speed to cool it down. Mine was insanely noisy before I changed it.
Also have you tried the Nap mode software fix? You can read about how to do both these things above.
I am currently using a Antec 120mm in my MDD. It has 3 speed settings and blows 39/56/79 CFM for each setting. I run it on low (25db) as its loud above that. I also have a 80mm Antec in the back HD bracket (mounted in front of boot drive) that also has 3 speed settings and I set it to medium which blows 26 CFM @ 24db.
Even though I only blow 39 CFM from the 120mm I also have the 80mm blowing another 26 right through the fins of the heatsink for a total of 65 CFM. Very decent airflow when using NAP. In the mornings when I go to my mac its almost always below 40c and sometimes as low as 29c. Even under heavy load I hit maybe 54c tops. Great fan scheme all round..
I have a question about the SilenX fan you use. do you find it blows the listed CFM and runs at the listed db rating? I ask because some say that they exaggerate their specs.
In case anyone wanted to know, you can get Thermaltake Everflow 60mm fans (just the fan, not a CPU cooler too) at maplin.co.uk in the UK using the product code ZT88, and they cost £7.99. The exact model is the F126025BH (not the DH), but the specs on the Everflow site are identical.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=zt88&source=15&SD=Y
Marcus: The fan at that link only blows 21 CFM and is NOT the same one people have been using.
Just letting you know..
Jeff, good to see you sorted out the noise problem, I think I have a small vibration that hums a low frequency hum now & then.. I’ll try & fix it one day. Regarding the SilenX fan, I’m not sure how to measure the CFM, and it’s very very quiet( no I havent measured it’s db either).
It keeps the Mac as cool as the original Delta which pushes out a total of 152 CFM, so the Silenx seems to put out about the amount of airflow that its manufacturer says it does. I tried a 72 CFM fan before that didnt cool it enough, so it’s gotta be pretty close to 90 CFM.
hi. i’ve followed everything posted here on trying to quiet my MDD 867. but i’m still having problems.
i replaced to the 120 silenx fan, replaced both 60 power fans, covered the power fan slot, added padding to any possible rattle area, downloaded chud 3.5.2 and have the napmode script loaded for startup. but the noise level is still only slightly better than what it was. i’m not sure if i’ve done everything right…
i can say that the temp of my two hdrives are down to 118-127 from 130+. so it would seem that all the fans are working correctly. i’m not seeing how nap mode is helping out, though i do see it activate at bootup… and i’m only finding the nap option in my system prefs/other/hardware. is this correct? also, my comp goes to sleep now, drives shutdown and i have to press the power button for it to come back. and so far, when i do, i get the black box of “hold the power button for restart” everytime i do.
any help?
Hi ej, i’m surprised that these mods didnt make much difference. Maybe the MDD 867 isnt as noisy as the 1GHz MDD G4’s cause mine was sooo noisy. Like the sound a fan forced oven makes. So these mods made a massive difference for me.
Try also putting the G4 down on a carpeted floor. Some people have even padded the entire inside of the case with DynaMat on every possible metal surface after taking everything out.
It sounds like you’ve done everything right. Can you tell me what temperature your G4 CPU is at? This is the critical temp reading as if it gets to about 70 deg C, the computer will shut down with that black box alert that you speak of. It should be around 40 degrees celcius ( 105 F).
I have set my computer to never sleep as sleep seems to turn off nap mode, then the CPU would heat up & the 120 mm fan would get noisier to cool it down. Maybe your MDD is heating up when it goes to sleep cause nap gets turned off & then when you wake it up it is too hot & so it crashes with the black box alert. Also make sure your running at least OSX 10.4.3. And yes nap mode is in system preferences/ Hardware.
hey bucky, thanks for the help.
well, i’ve had it running now for 4 hours and both drives are now reading 131 & 137F respectively. I suspect that somethings not right then. i installed the silenx first and tested it. the computer was quieter after that install. then the power supply fans. after that, it was back up tobeing fairly noisey. i guess that’s the problem there.
this dual 867 was/is loud as hell.it’s my pro tools computer with a digi 001 interface… which means i can’t push my OS above 10.3.9. 001 won’t work in 10.4+. i’d just really like to finally hush this puppy up. i get excess noise on all mic work which usually i can reasonably gate out, except for dynamic mics on amps. this machine lives close to where all the amps are.
the power supply fans i installed are Delta 2 pin 60mm x 25mm 4250 rpm 23.38 CFM Noise 28dB ball bearing.
Hi there,
coolbidnow.com has been giving me a “Requested quantity not available” when trying to buy either the volcano 5 or 6 cu+. And, I can’t find any way to contact them.
Has anyone found any other place to get these fans? Or have any knowledge as to weather they will come back in stock at coolbidnow? I definitely want a fan that does at least 32 CFM, and the only other fans I can find are just about as loud as the ones that came with the computer.
ej what is the temperture of your G4 CPU reading, not the hard drives? The original fans in both the power supply & the 120 mm CPU fan are delta. Your delta 60mm fans puts out 23 cfm of air but the original ones put out 37 cfm, this may not be enough airflow. Delta dont make the quietest fans so maybe this is where your noise is coming from. If your still on 10.3.9, then there are reports of people having problems with Nap on panther, read it here:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/MDD_CHUD_feedback.html#storytop
Like I said before maybe turn off sleep in system preferences and also uncheck “put hard disks to sleep when possible”.
ej: I am using those exact same delta fans on my mdd’s power supply. because they do only blow 23.3 CFM each I added a 3rd 60mm (silenx 16 db 18 cfm) that I mounted right over the power supply exhaust to help suck out heat.
my power supply now feels cooler now than it did with the original fans. I think it got warmer before because there was more stagnent warm air sitting at the back near the coils. a couple days ago after about 3 hours of heavy system load I opened up the mdd while running and the power supply was hardly warm.
apple is known for overkill when it comes to cooling. look at the giant heat sinks they use or the 9 fan G5. I am VERY confident that with those 2 23 cfm delta fans plus the silenx on the back that I am getting all the cooling it needs and then some.
I just did the math.. 2 of those thermaltake fans blow a total of 64cfm where as the stock fans blow a total of 76 cfm. my setup (3×60mm) blows a total of 60.6 cfm.
even with the super powerful stock fans I hardly ever felt much air coming out the back as once the air blows through the ps and all its capacitors and wires there isn’t much left moving at the back. I like and trust my cooling scheme very much
thanks everyone for the help. i appreciate it.
anyway, i’ll try anything to get this computer quieter and running cooler.
when i get home from work i’ll get the computer up and running for a couple hours and get the temperature reading.
i’ll also make sure sleep and hard disk sleep are off.
as for a third fan, this makes sense looking at the cfm’s of these new fans to the stocks. but how do i go about mounting a fan over the ps exhaust? you’re taking about the cut angle with grill right? and how would i go about powering that fan?
i’m pretty comfortable pulling apart pcs from a stint as an IT guy in the late 90’s. but i only know PCs really… even though i’ve personally have only owned macs for over 20 years now. haven’t ever really had to do much to macs besides add ram or harddrives. never had one breakdown on me
I actually used crazy glue
it works quite well for small fans. since the fan is so quiet to begin with there are no vibration issues. I mounted it directly above the power connector. I also took off the back plastic panel so I could mount the fan as close to the exhaust as possible. I simply ran the wire right through the seem that opens when you open the mac and I secured it with some black tape then ran the wire down and plugged the fan into one of the molex connectors for the back HD bracket.
some pics:
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/9660/im000307az7.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/79/im000316qi2.jpg
i’m using temperature monitor and it’s telling me that my CPU board sensor is “disconnected”. the program is only giving me the temps for the drives.
jeff, i ordered the fan you recommended for external installation. should get here in a day or two.
in that second image it looks like you have a fan on your drive… both my drives live in that area, sans fan…. i suppose the power supply is my main concern at the moment. the computer is pushing a lot more air out the back than it was with the stock fans. hotter air.
the fan in front of the HD is pointed at the heatsink and blows air through the fins. I do this because I run a low cfm 120mm (39 cfm) that is very quiet. the loudest fan in my system now are the 2 deltas in the power supply. they are 28db..
my 2 case fans are 24 and 25 db with the silenx only being 16 db.
btw.. check your daughter card to make sure nothing is loose. very odd that it won’t read the cpu temp.
here is a better angle:
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4792/im000321ma0.jpg
the reason I really recommend putting the fan right above the power connector is 2 part.. in that spot its pretty much right at the halfway point in the hight of the PS so it will more evenly remove heat. the other reason is that once you take the plastic panel off there is a perfect ledge on top of the power connector that is exposed. this ledge is great because that along with a good amount of glue (although not too much) will hold the fan secure for as long as you need.
as for putting the glue on.. what I did was put a thin line all the way around the back contact edge of the fan itself and then once on I pushed down with even force while I glued the seem around it on all the metal (non-hole) areas. just be sure you don’t get any glue inside. you should also have the mac sitting face down so that the back is pointing up. you may have to lean it on something. once all the gluing is done put something small and heavy with a flat edge on it right on top of the fan and leave it for 10-15 min.
one last thing I want to share for everyones reference is the extreme (min. and max.) temp values of my system after 3 days of use.
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8849/picture1wq6.jpg
yeah, my comp is just not getting enough cooling. it shut itself down again last night. on start up, it actually is pretty quiet until it starts warning up?
i’m thinking here at work… what if i opened my available bay door and attached like 40mm fans to bring cool air into the comp? as well as attaching the external to help draw air out?
very odd that you keep getting random shutdowns.. I think the best place to add another small fan is where the speaker is on the front. I have my speaker out and just have the hole open. the hole is the perfect size for a 40-50mm fan.
are you running nap mode? if not you really should. nap is a must for ANY mdd.
I bought a used a dual 867 MDD about a month ago, was shocked at the noise, and promptly replaced all the fans as outlined here and on xlr8yourmac.com (thanks to all concerned).
The difference is phenomenonal, but here’s a slightly dumb question: is the 120mm case fan meant to spin all the time or just under heavy disk usage? Mine is motionless right now, but the temperature seems well within the ranges mentioned here.
(I picked up two of the elusive Thermaltake fans on eBay just in the past week, by the way.)
hey george, good to see you had some luck. The 120mm fan is supposed to spin all the time, did it ever spin? if not maybe you’ve plugged it in the wrong 2 slots (as there is 3 to choose from). Or maybe it has died. Mine does vary in it’s spinage! Usually its just silently slowly spinning but under heavy usage it spins up a bit to the point that you can actually hear it.
To ej, the random shutdowns are definitely because The G4 CPU is getting too hot, but I dont see why? That 120 mm silenX fan should be all you need as long a Nap is on. I’d make sure the fan is spinning properly & spinning in the right direction ( ie towards the back of the computer & over the G4 CPU). & also check nap mode in System Prefs - Hardware to see if its checked on after start up. Someone else here said that the nap applescript didnt work for them.
Also, If I was you I’d back up everything on your Mac, just to be sure. I nearly lost everything 2 months ago due to a dead hard drive.
i’ll run my comp open cased when i get home and take a look at all that. after reviewing the problems it would most likely seem like i could have screwed up on the prong placement of the 120mm connector to the board and it’s not working.
judging by the air coming out the back, i’m guessing i have the power supply fans in right. plus they were 2 prongers: black up, red dbottom i think.
i’ll try to locate what’s wrong with the CPU sensor on the daughterboard as well.
napmode: i put napmode script in my startup items and it does launch on startup. shows up in my menu for like 3 seconds and disappears. so i’m assuming it’s working… nap has been left checked in my hardware system pref.
i found that article on removing the front speaker for fan placement yesterday. that seems like a good idea. worthless speaker anyway.
I just bought the same 120mm silenX 90 CFM fan off frozencpu.com. the antec 120mm I have now only blows a max of 79 cfm and it does it at 30db. I will lake 18db and 90cfm any day
I have also become a bit of a fan of silenX fans because of the great 60mm of theirs I have mounted on my ps exhaust.
Following up on my question yesterday, I tried reconnecting the 120mm fan in a variety of different wire/prong combos, but to no avail. Instead, I followed Adroc’s method above (March 18/19) and hooked the SilenX fan to the P5 molex. Et voilà. Perhaps now I can get back to work…
George: Is your goal to have the fan run at system controlled speeds based on heat? I think its best to just power it via the 4 pin molex as the fan is so quiet that you won’t hear it even at top speed.
following up: i only had about an hour to mess about with the comp yesterday.. the silenx is not working with the 2 pin connector on the logic board. I’ll try it with the P5 tonight. Hopefully that will work.
I also have no idea where my temperature sensor is. The daughter card connections appear to be sound.
those fans are x86 hardware based (as virtually all are) and should be used with a 4 pin molex on pretty much all macs.
the fans will work 100% if you do that.. trust me.
Reagarding the Silenx 120mm fan (big one in the bottom of the case), I got one from FrozenCPU, installed it in my MDD Dual 867 and watched the temperature spike to 79C before the machine shut down, pretty disappointing. Yanked it out and stuck the stock Delta back in, temperature normal again. Then I read the posts above, reinstalled the Silenx using the provided power passthrough adaptor instead of the direct fan plug on the motherboard, rebooted and all seems to be well - sitting at 61.4C right now - not exactly cool, but my machine is completely populated (4 drives plus 2 optical drives) and a whack of video cards, SCSI cards etc. - not a lot of room for air to move around in there.
Hah, my setup is similar to Michael’s above. Does the Silenx fan make a lot of difference in noise? (as I assume it’s running at full speed most of the time).
I’m thinking maybe I should remove some of the drives and put them in external cases simply in the interest of noise.
Oh, another thing, isn’t there enough space between the PSU and the optical drives to stick another one of those 120m Silenx fans? Then couldn’t you build a simple little thing out of plastic or even cardboard to divert that 90CFM of air into the PSU therefore getting more air through it than the two fans could a fraction of the noise level?
And another question I just remembered: Are there temp sensors in the PSU that will prevent it from overheating? Because of all the power my drives are drawing, I’m wondering if it’s best for me to just stay away from the PSU until I get some of them external.
er, right. well the P5 works, but it seems that my 120mm silenx is also defective. it wouldn’t move without a push then stops before a half rotation. i broke the fan case some to get it some give. well now it works, but is the most noisy fan you’ve ever heard. hilariously loud. like a single propeller engine, lol. gonna try to break it more to make it work right.
you broke your fan and its loud? I think you’re cursed
you should only be able to hear any silenX when you’re within a couple inches of it. I would say send it back for a new one if you hadn’t broke it.
Chris, I would have to say I don’t notice a huge difference in noise after installing the SilenX fan, but it’s probably just because the PSU fans are so damn loud. Plus, the CPU is running an average of 5-6C higher than it was with the stock fan, so I’m not convinced it’s worth the effort yet.
Michael: you must still be using the stock psu fans. any one fan over say 32 db is going to make it useless to have a silent fan.
personally I find anything over 26-28 db loud. the stock psu fans are 40 db+
As far as I know, the PSU and its fans are stock - I’m not the first owner of this machine, it used to be a server at a graphic design studio, and I suspect because of its duties and (presumable) remoteness from any human beings other than the occasional techie, the original owners may not even have taken advantage of Apple’s PSU replacement program.
I think you might be right about the Maplin fan specs - but I think you might be wrong about the spec on your Thermaltake fans. The F126025DH you say you used is also rated at 22cfm, according to the Everflow site: http://www.everflowtech.com/products/product_detail.asp?product_no=F6025N Given that the other bits of the fan spec you give (4550rpm, 31db) agree with their site, I suspect your fans may be pushing less air than you think. If your Mac is still happy, I guess that’s good news…
Anyway, my 120mm Silenx just arrived, so it’s going in.
Hm, I just realised someone else posted the same comment - I’d be inclined to trust the manufacturer’s specs rather than a mention in an article. What’s more, you can *just* make out the product code on the picture of the fans in the article - it looks like they are the F126025BU model, which are 4900rpm, 24cfm, 33.5db.
Silenx is in. I don’t think anyone has mentioned that it’s quite straightforward to connect the 3-pin connector straight onto the motherboard 2-pin. There are only two positions it can go, and one of them will work, the other won’t. You don’t need to extract pins at all.
Overall it’s quieter than it was, however, I think it is still pretty noisy - and I’ve got some soundproofing material in there too, and minor ducting around the PSU intake. Nap mode is noticeably louder, and more annoyingly, variable - PSU fans change speed by small amounts every few seconds. If I turn nap mode on and off manually, the 120mm fan speeds up and slows down immediately - nap mode definitely runs the fans faster.
I think a 120mm mounted sideways in front of the PSU might work better than the 2 60mm fans - one of the links on here showed someone doing that. Need to make ducting for that to work properly though.
Marcus: it makes sense.. I wondered how they could blow 32 cfm at only 400 something rpm. I know this because any 60mm fan that can blow 30+ cfm has to spin @ 6000+ rpm like the stock fans
Well, after opening my computer up it’s clear than another 120mm SilenX fan could easily fit in front of the power supply and a simple rectangular piece of plastic will force all the air it puts out into the PSU (and maybe a couple more pieces to make sure). I’d probably remove the fan so that it would more easily get colder air, but the main point here is that with the 120mm fan you would get 18db for the PSU pushing 90CFM through which is MORE than the stock fans do together. I just don’t want to try this out if the PSU doesn’t have an autoshutoff so the only question remaining is:
Does anyone know if the PSU knows when it gets too hot and shut the computer down?
Yes Marcus & others I think your right about the Everflow fans on the Thermaltake Volcano 5 heatsink being falsely rated at 32 cfm. The Model number on mine is F126025DH and like Marcus said if you go yo their website:
http://www.everflowtech.com/products/product_detail.asp?product_no=F6025N
You’ll find that fan is rated at 22.74 cfm. That seems to be fine in my Dual 1GHz MDD, so I’d say to everyone else that any 60mm fan that pushes out more than 22 cfm will do the job.
Heres a few links to fans 22cfm & over - The first one is the same as the fans as I am using with no problems:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=zt88&source=15&SD=Y
This one looks good too:
http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=58K2927&CMP=AFC-GB100000001
http://www.hardwarecooling.com/product_info.php/prod/720/Sunon_60×25mm_Fan?s=9dec024898e084f8d068c35910e00a67
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=419
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=417
I think the delta fans that I used are a good choice as they blow 23.36 cfm and they are 2 pin so you don’t have to modify its wiring at all.
opps, forgot the link:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290021085689&rd=1&rd=1
they are 3 db quieter than the thermaltake models
yeah those delta fans do look like the easiest option due to the 2 pins.
Chris, I’d just play it safe & use these everflow or delta 60 mm fans if I was you. I dont think there would be sensors in the PSU to shut it down if it overheated, I’d say only the CPU has them.
To Michael J & others, I noticed a big difference when I replaced the 120 mm fan with a SilenX fan as the original fan was incredibly loud. However once I replaced the 2 power supply fans & enabled nap mode it made a dramatic difference.
My main concern is that I have my PSU maxed out (i.e., it doesn’t even have enough power to power an external drive through FW) so I don’t know if I want to take any chances. It just doesn’t seem like a great idea to me to replace the fans with other fans that would only push half as much air. If anything I suppose I can just buy a heat sensor and stick it in the PSU exhaust
Chris: keep this in mind.. my stock fans were covered in built up dust and dirt when I replaced them. that will lower their cooling ability by quite a lot. I live in a very clean home and the original owner of my mdd did also yet after 3-4 years of use they are VERY dirty. it would be very hard to clean them also.
trust me chris.. I am using 23 cfm delta 60×25mm that hum along at only 28 db. very quiet compared to the 40+ db of the stock fans and my power supply feels a good amount cooler now than it did with the stock fans.
my mdd runs like a dream in that its very stable, cool and quiet. if you make the effort you can have the same.
Hey, all. Been reading this discussion of the noise issue in MDD G4s and wondered if you might be able to help solve the problem that brought me here in the first place.
Came home today to find my dual 867 MDD G4 DEAD. Yes, DEAD. Left it in sleep mode while the wife and I went out for a few hours to run some errands, came home and, by instinct, hit the power button on the monitor (17″ Studio Display LCD) to wake it. I didn’t hear the drive spin up, and I also noticed the power button wasn’t pulsating as usual. Then I noticed it wasn’t ON. Neither was the power light on the G4. @#$%^&*!!!
Holding either power button gets the light to come on momentarily, then it goes back out. As if not enough power is getting to the circuits. Disconnected all the USB and FW peripherals — none were on anyway, but still — and even disconnected the ADC Studio Display to just leave the power cord in the G4. Nothing. I even switched the cord from UPS tro UPS and then to a wall jack. No dif. And I don’t have a different power cord to try. Could it be as simple as the power CORD? Or the power SUPPLY? The BATTERY? Or…gulp…worse?!!???
No signs of a power outage or spike while we were gone — everything’s on APC UPSes — and nothing else in the office was in the same shape, including this “ancient” Power Computing clone I have running OSX via XPostFacto and using to type this now.
I’m no stranger to the innards of these things, but this G4 box — easy as it is to get into — has me a bit intimidated, and that retangular Power Supply is unlike any I’m used to (the old square boxes of old). I’ve checked to make sure the RAM chips and vid card and plugs are seated correctly, there are no dust bunnies or signs of hot/burnt components, etc. I’m scouring the InterWeb for ideas and suggestions, but until I come up with something, I’m kinda screwed. I’ve only had this a year, but I’ve grown to love it, and had hoped to keep it going a few more years before moving on up to a new(er) one.
The specs: Dual 867 MDD G4, 1.5 GB RAM, Tiger 10.4.8, stock 60Gb hard drive, add’tl Maxtor hard drive, 17″ ADC Studio Display (LCD), external Maxtor 200GB FW drive, Belkin FW hub, Apple Pro Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse.
I was hoping to do one of these cool fan mods, add a Radeon Pro vid card and a USB 2.0 card as well, but right now I’m just concerned about getting it back up and running!
Thanks for your understanding and patience with this long OT post.
–Bill
Bill:
Try this.. take out the battery on the mobo by the video card and leave it out for 15 min or so. then pop it back in and try to reboot.
If that doesn’t work then i’m not sure what it could be. maybe the mobo went.
This happened to me on my old G4 533 “digital Audio” a few years back & freaked me out!. It’s exactly the same symptoms and it happened after a big lightning storm. It seemed to be dead, would try to start up then go back off.
I took it into a mac technition who showed me a tiny little black reset button for the PMU - power management unit. One touch of this button & all was well. It’s labelled PMU RESET.
On my 1 GHz machine it’s near where the 2 extra front hard drives( under the optical drives) plug into the motherboard. Right on the corner of the MB near the little flat fan.
Thanks, guys. Prompt responses much appreciated!
The CUDA reset button did nothing, but when I pulled the battery out and checked it with a volt meter, it was weak. Perhaps the reason why there’s only enough juice for the power light to remain on while you’re holding it, but not enough to do anything else?
It’s worth a shot, and definitely the cheapest fix if that turns out to be it. If not, it’s the methodical process of checking the PS, I guess.
from the apple mdd service manual:
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9844/picture1rl7.jpg
Thanks, Jeff.
No luck with the new battery, sad to say. Still the same problem.
Now I guess it’s on to checking the PS itself. It that checks out, is it the mobo?
i’m afraid it doesnt sound good. I’d be taking it to your local mac technician if I was you. By the way, what is the ” mobo”…
mobo = motherboard
Last week I reported that hooking the SilenX fan to the P5 molex had done the trick, and it was humming along. As it turned out, it was another spin-n-stop situation, and with the internal temperature in the balmy 70s, I found more useful pointers at too:http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1983473�.
It turns out that the pass-through connector I received with the fan is a male and connects to the yellow and black wires on the (female) loom, not the red and black as it should. The yellow/black provide 12v, and the red/black only 5v, yet the latter work and the former don’t - despite it being a 12v fan. Then again, I’m not an electrical buff so perhaps that’s normal. Duh.
I did more wire and prong swapping (the middle of the three SilenX wires is the red wire) and got the SilenX going while hooked to the motherboard after all.
Well I recieved my 120mm silenx fan yesterday and it seems to be working well. Here are a couple things I noticed for others trying this:
There are FOUR ways to connect it to the motherboard, not two as stated earlier. And out of the four only ONE works. At least with my silenx fan, I need to plug in the connector upside down to the connector on the motherboard which prevents it from plugging in all the way (though it works), if I decide to plug in in there permanently, I will probably opt to splice on the old fan’s connector in place of the 3 pin silenx one. Currently, I’m just using the molex connector converter which works perfectly.
In my computer maxed out computer, it has made it to 64° after 3 hours and it may be continuing (it’s hard to tell when the line appears to be horizontal). I plan to remove the two hard drives right in front of the fan which will no doubt increase airflow.
using a 4 pin molex will also work and its the method I prefer..
This is true, as I said above. The main reason I think I will opt for the motherboard connection over the molex is that when in nap mode my computer doesn’t need nearly 90CFM of air so it would be able to run even quieter.
Aditionally, I’ve found a 120mm x 120mm x 25mm fan which is variable between 20 CFM and 140 CFM and between 20db and 35db which I’m going to try using with the PSU. It even comes with a temp sensor and can auto adjust itself! I figure if it ends up running at top speed for an extended amount of time then I should probably revert back to the 60mm fans, but with 140CFM I would be surprised if it actually needed to use all that! I can post further information once I get home if anybody is interested.
its been proven by myself, bucky and several others now that you can safely get by with 45-60 cfm in the psu. the stock fans blew a total of 72. in the end though you should always do what your more comfortable with. as long as it gets good airflow you’re golden.
I forgot to mention..
I just bought the guts of a dual 1.42 mdd off a friend in the us. he had them in an atx case. I bought the psu with already modified fans (sunon 26db 30cfm fans), motherboard, cpu board, copper heatsink and 1.25GB ram all for only 500! friends with spare hardware rock
I also just bought an empty mdd case on ebay to put all of it in. soon I will be the proud owner of 2 mdd and I can’t wait. going to use my current dual 867 as a media centre and the dual 1.42 as my main..
here is the case I bought: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=330113497883&rd=1&rd=1
yeah I think the motherboard connection is the best as it is variable speed so 90% of the time the SilenX 120mm fan is hardly making any noise at all. But whatever works for you.
Nice buy Jeff, sounds like it’s gonna be a nice machine once it’s all up & running.
Well, I just finished installing my second 120mm fan and wow, I forgot what hard drives sounded like
and now my hard drives sound TOO loud.
I did a similar install as the following page, but I removed my speaker for improved airflow, and installed the fan perpendicular to how he has it (mainly because I didn’t want to cut away at the metal of the PSU). I taped the temp sensor to the what subjectively felt like the hottest heatsync inside the PSU.
http://homepage.mac.com/dgiessel/PhotoAlbum22.html
I ended up using cardboard and electrical tape to make a makeshift air diverter, but I hope to replace that with plastic or metal soon. (cardboard can’t be a great thing to use inside a hot computer ¬_¬)
Here’s the fan I used:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999145
Hopefully I’m not speaking of success too soon, but the fan seems to have found a nice speed that keeps the PSU at the same temp and isn’t very loud, and the fact that the fan HAS varied it’s speed is a good sign.
glad to hear things went well, chris. you should use plastic cardboard. not sure where to get it but I know it exists and it would work well as a long term solution.
Awesome info here.. I am the original owner of a mdd dual 867 and have participated in the apple exchange back in the day, however always still wanted a quieter solution and remembered the Verax kit. I just never wanted to spend the price they wanted, but was willing to go ahead and just get the PSU (M11) kit and found they are no longer being made, and am unable to find one anywhere. My searching brought be across this:
http://www.pcsilent.de/en_pd_smartCooler_fan_set_for_Apple_PowerMac_G4_quieten_Apple_Power_Macintosh_G4_quiet_powermac_LFS1130_307.html
And taking the specs from the manufacturers website they claim this “M” kit produces an average of about 22 dbA working noise. They also have 3 other kits for the MDD at varying speeds, but this “M=medium” speed kit seems the perfect solution.
Main mac fans page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/frsce-MACL.htm
MDD specific page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/ProdInfo/PIE-LFS1130.htm
Online shop page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/cgi-bin/deimosos.exe?Kategorie3=KSELFMAC&AltHeader=PHE.htm&AltFooter=BHE.htm
Also great news is these seem to be perfect fit and come with power connector adapters plus all fans are dual bearing design and 100,000 hours MTBF. I for one am very scared to put poor quality fans in my PSU!
So pcsilent.de seems to be about the only online distributer I can find that carries these and will ship to the USA. All told the the price with shipping will be 67.53 EUR = $91.85 (at current conversion)
I Guess that’s not too bad, since I am really trying to make this computer last since I like it better than any of the newer Macs thus far, but am really sick of the noise it puts out.
What do you guys think??
Test
I guess there’s a character limit here, let’s try again.. (part 1)
Awesome info here.. I am the original owner of a mdd dual 867 and have participated in the apple exchange back in the day, however always still wanted a quieter solution and remembered the Verax kit. I just never wanted to spend the price they wanted, but was willing to go ahead and just get the PSU (M11) kit and found they are no longer being made, and am unable to find one anywhere. My searching brought be across this:
http://www.pcsilent.de/en_pd_smartCooler_fan_set_for_Apple_PowerMac_G4_quieten_Apple_Power_Macintosh_G4_quiet_powermac_LFS1130_307.html
And taking the specs from the manufacturers website they claim this “M” kit produces an average of about 22 dbA working noise. They also have 3 other kits for the MDD at varying speeds, but this “M=medium” speed kit seems the perfect solution.
(Part 2)
Main mac fans page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/frsce-MACL.htm
MDD specific page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/ProdInfo/PIE-LFS1130.htm
Online shop page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/cgi-bin/deimosos.exe?Kategorie3=KSELFMAC&AltHeader=PHE.htm&AltFooter=BHE.htm
Also great news is these seem to be perfect fit and come with power connector adapters plus all fans are dual bearing design and 100,000 hours MTBF. I for one am very scared to put poor quality fans in my PSU!
So pcsilent.de seems to be about the only online distributer I can find that carries these and will ship to the USA. All told the the price with shipping will be 67.53 EUR = $91.85 (at current conversion)
I Guess that’s not too bad, since I am really trying to make this computer last since I like it better than any of the newer Macs thus far, but am really sick of the noise it puts out.
What do you guys think??
(Part 2)
Main mac fans page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/frsce-MACL.htm
MDD specific page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/ProdInfo/PIE-LFS1130.htm
Online shop page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/cgi-bin/deimosos.exe?Kategorie3=KSELFMAC&AltHeader=PHE.htm&AltFooter=BHE.htm
Also great news is these seem to be perfect fit and come with power connector adapters plus all fans are dual bearing design and 100,000 hours MTBF. I for one am very scared to put poor quality fans in my PSU!
Smart cooler mac fans page:
http://www.smartcooler.de/frsce-MACL.htm
Also great news is these seem to be perfect fit and come with power connector adapters plus all fans are dual bearing design and 100,000 hours MTBF. I for one am very scared to put poor quality fans in my PSU!
So pcsilent.de seems to be about the only online distributer I can find that carries these and will ship to the USA. All told the the price with shipping will be 67.53 EUR = $91.85 (at current conversion)
I Guess that’s not too bad, since I am really trying to make this computer last since I like it better than any of the newer Macs thus far, but am really sick of the noise it puts out.
What do you guys think??
Sorry about needing to break these posts up, but it’s the only way I can post everything..
Here’s the data sheet for these fans:
http://www.smartcooler.de/proddata/PDE-LFS1130.htm
Specific page for the MDD kit:
http://www.smartcooler.de/ProdInfo/PIE-LFS1130.htm
Online shop showing the 4 different kits available for the MDD (scroll to bottom)
http://www.smartcooler.de/cgi-bin/deimosos.exe?Kategorie3=KSELFMAC&AltHeader=PHE.htm&AltFooter=BHE.htm
However I can only find the “M” kit for sale and I think smartcooler only sells in bulk, which is fine since i think the M kit is probably the best one. I am really considering buying this kit, I’ll report back my results if I pull the trigger once I get it installed.
Sorry about needing to break these posts up, but it’s the only way I can post everything..
Here’s the data sheet for these fans:
http://www.smartcooler.de/proddata/PDE-LFS1130.htm
Specific page for the MDD kit:
http://www.smartcooler.de/ProdInfo/PIE-LFS1130.htm
Online shop showing the 4 different kits available for the MDD (scroll to bottom)
http://www.smartcooler.de/cgi-bin/deimosos.exe?Kategorie3=KSELFMAC&AltHeader=PHE.htm&AltFooter=BHE.htm
I am really considering buying this kit, I’ll report back my results if I pull the trigger once I get it installed.
Sorry about needing to break these posts up, but it’s the only way I can post everything??
Here’s the data sheet for these fans:
http://www.smartcooler.de/proddata/PDE-LFS1130.htm
Specific page for the MDD kit:
http://www.smartcooler.de/ProdInfo/PIE-LFS1130.htm
Online shop showing the 4 different kits available for the MDD: