Mini air conditioner

[cc1]

Every time room temperature goes up -the fan on the G5 turns on. The temperature is not uncomfortable for me but its apparently too high for the G5. Has anyone used some kind of small (quiet) air conditioner -placed next to the computer for cooling? If so can you recommend a brand? I don't like using the regular wall mounted (big) air conditioner due to noise -but the G5's fan stops shortly after turning on the wall mount air conditioner.

Thanks for help,
cc1

[markjohn]

You should consider placing the CPU and associated peripherals in an adjacent room, with a wall between you and the computer hardware. Punch out a 2” in diameter hole through the wall place any kind of conduit or plumber tubing and brace it some how to the nearest stud/beam and viola.

Depending on the size of the room and where it’s located in the building a 10K BTU indoor unit should suffice. Total cost around $600.00 including AC.

Now for the painfully obvious, if the above is not an available solution, your only option that I know of is an iso box in you control room. That’s a pretty expensive alternative (between $1600.00 to over $3K depending in size and vendor) and in my experience, (I can say this because I personally own 4 iso boxes from different manufacturers and I’m not 100% satisfied with not one of my investments), not the very best option.

Iso boxes depend a lot on the ambient room temperature to function as advertised and Control Rooms (when busy) are always relatively hot (with engineering staff, clients, and finally gear, it’s usually between 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit) best case scenario. So, the iso boxes, again, depending on what’s in them (how packed they are with hot gear) in my experience they reach no cooler then the low nineties, on a busy day. That’s still to hot (IMO) for most gear.

A dedicated “machine closet/room” would serve you a lot better.

Sorry if this all blatantly obvious, therefore useless to you.

Good Luck
mm

[Sean Halley]

Check out a ductless mini-split:


http://www.acdirect.com/l5MrSlim8800&10500HP.html



S..

[Jaylaca]

We had a ductless split system installed in our studio. The thing to check out first is how loud that air blower is going to be. It may be louder than your G5, and if that bothers you, go listen to one first.

We had a true install done with a 2-ton condenser unit outside and gave away 1/3 of a iso room to the air handler (which is quite loud in the room, but you can't hear it when the iso room is closed. It was just used for amps so it's very much worth the trade. We did have ducting installed and a couple of unfriendly holes were made. But after it's all done, I can't tell you what a joy it is to have the control room at 70degrees. I'd keep it at 68, but I guess I'm cold blooded, no one like it that cool.

Our install was really exspensive (3 times that other unit in the above post), but it's silent.

Cheers,

Jason

[CMG]

You should consider placing the CPU and associated peripherals in an adjacent room, with a wall between you and the computer hardware. Punch out a 2” in diameter hole through the wall place any kind of conduit or plumber tubing and brace it some how to the nearest stud/beam and viola.

Depending on the size of the room and where it’s located in the building a 10K BTU indoor unit should suffice. Total cost around $600.00 including AC.

Now for the painfully obvious, if the above is not an available solution, your only option that I know of is an iso box in you control room. That’s a pretty expensive alternative (between $1600.00 to over $3K depending in size and vendor) and in my experience, (I can say this because I personally own 4 iso boxes from different manufacturers and I’m not 100% satisfied with not one of my investments), not the very best option.

Iso boxes depend a lot on the ambient room temperature to function as advertised and Control Rooms (when busy) are always relatively hot (with engineering staff, clients, and finally gear, it’s usually between 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit) best case scenario. So, the iso boxes, again, depending on what’s in them (how packed they are with hot gear) in my experience they reach no cooler then the low nineties, on a busy day. That’s still to hot (IMO) for most gear.

A dedicated “machine closet/room” would serve you a lot better.

Sorry if this all blatantly obvious, therefore useless to you.

Good Luck
mm

What size and brand did you install? I'm in LA, Too. Who did the installation?

Thanks,

CMG

[jjw9]

Just a thought before you spend all the time and money on a/c. You said the room is comfortable temp. but not for the G5. Do the fans run loud all the time. You have I'm sure heard about the noisy fan issues on some G5s and eliminated that option. From my understanding the fans kick in when the processor is really busy. I notice this when bouncing to disk with tons of edits in the session and then after converting the fans quiet back down. I believe this is normal behavior for the G5. ( At least I hope it is ). If this is the case then your time and effort could go to isolation of the comp and not air conditioning the already cool room. Hope this helps.

[surroundguy]

has anyone checked out the noise level on the 2.5 ghz G5 (which uses liquid cooling)?

[cc1]

Just a thought before you spend all the time and money on a/c. You said the room is comfortable temp. but not for the G5. Do the fans run loud all the time. You have I'm sure heard about the noisy fan issues on some G5s and eliminated that option. From my understanding the fans kick in when the processor is really busy. I notice this when bouncing to disk with tons of edits in the session and then after converting the fans quiet back down. I believe this is normal behavior for the G5. ( At least I hope it is ). If this is the case then your time and effort could go to isolation of the comp and not air conditioning the already cool room. Hope this helps.

Yes, my fan always comes on when processor gets busy -and then go off when its done, but when room temp goes up a little higher than normal (which is still comfortable for me -maybe I have a biased opinion since I pay the electric bill) the fan always kicks on even in when the processor is not busy -and it will stay on until temp comes down a little: and this is the problem -I always have to shut the computer off everytime I leave the room (or turn the air conditioner on when I leave the room -which I can't get used to doing -turning the air conditioner ON when I LEAVE the room??!! jesus H) or the G5's fans may come on full blast for an extended period of time without me knowing about it.

-cc1