Mac G5 Cooling Fan upgrade for HD PCI Cards?

[Jaylaca]

Hello,

Is there a better replacement fan for the PCI Card zone?

I have a Mac G5 single 1.8GHz CPU system. The PCI slot 2 is very close to the AGP slot (slot 1). This system contains an ATI Radeon 9800pro video card. The video card's fan & heatsink practically touch the HD Core card if installed next to it. I've moved my HD core & HD process cards to slots 3 & 4. This puts slot 2 between the ATI card and the HD Core card. I've done this for heat reasons.

Things are already really hot in there and I know the Core Card will melt if I put it too close to the video card. I've done a bit of web searching and have not come up with anything except the Apple part# for a replacement fan. Most searches return the G5 iMac fan problems.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in Advance,
Jaylaca

[Lee Blaske]

From what I've seen, fan management on G5's is pretty complex. I doubt that there's an after market replacement.

Is your computer in an open rack with lots of room for air circulation? Is the temperature of the room reasonable? This is probably not a system you want to put in any kind of ISO box.

Lee Blaske

[blumediaprojekt]

I've kind of wondered about this as well....putting the core in slot two so close to the agp card.....

i figured that "everyone else is doing it" so i might as well too

is this actually the truth? are people running HD3 all inside a g5 like i am?

[Jaylaca]

My G5 is in an open closet that was originally desinged for amps. I don't keep the door on it for circulation, but it keeps the computer away from me while mixing. I have silent fans intalled at the top of the closet to blow out heat buildup. The control room it's in is air conditioned. I'll get a thermometer behinde the unit and see how hot it still might be back there.

I believe I did cook my core card by having it in slot 2 (next to the AGP). I started receiving DAE Error-1. That's equal to the Microsoft BSOD. Digi overnighted a replacement core card for $500. I have not been able to confirm this. It was the only logical conclusion seeing how Digi didn't really have much to say before telling me I needed a replacement.

I would like to put another process card in there (HD3) but feel hesitant to do so at this point. The only other thing I can think of is to get another graphics card that's A LOT cooler. But it's still hot in the PCI zone.


Would attaching an exhaust fan at the back of the G5 (behind the PCI zone) to help suck out heat be alright for the G5?

Cheers,
Jaylaca

[atomicbusdriver]

I run HD3 Accel in a Quad G5 and my new PCIe core card just crapped out.

Digitest:

TDM-II SAT Test (Xmit Echo A) DSP H : failed
TDM-II Data Transfer Test (Bus A) DSP H : failed


Tech support told me that the card seems to be bad and I sent it in. After reading this post and having wondered about this myself,
I asked about any known issues related to heat and Core card sitting right next to graphics card,
but he said he was not aware of this causing any problems.

Yeah, I feel very protective of my precious (meaning: very expensive) Accel cards, but you'd think (hope) apple made and tested their computers with various combinations and a full load of cards installed and I have to say that my fans don't seem to run very often, although, when opening the case, it 'feels' hot in there, and it really 'looks' like the cards are too close to each other, both purely subjective and quite meaningless statements. Sure, my expertise is at the 'bloody amateur' level, and I don't run my gear day and night like you pro people, that needs to be considered.
I'm just doing all this in my spare time while I make a living with airplanes: talk about heat in the avionics there (all cards and computers), and that stuff takes a good beating on a daily basis (24/7) and just keeps on running.... well, most of the time : )

[Jaylaca]

My G5 has an ATI Radeon 9800pro AGP graphics card. It's not that thick, but the heat sink (with fan) protudes enough to leave only an 1/8 of an inch between it and the HD Core Card. It's just blowing all it's heat right onto the Core Card. It feels too hot in there. The TDM cards are big cards, close together.

I have a PC music system with more cards (audio, UAD-1, Graphics) and it's not as hot in there. The case has a fan on the top, sucking heat straight out (a good idea I think.) And the slots are further apart.

I'd be interested to see what AGP cards people are using and if it might be necessary to 'downgrade' to a cooler card for a HD3 system to run smoothly in a single G5 (no expansion chassis)

Cheers,
Jaylaca