Is there a way to shut off PCI fan on G5 PowerMac in OSX?

[Kyle Nerder]

Ok. I have a head ache fom listening to the full blast fan in the PCI bay. My new used PowerMac G5 runs a ATI Radeon X800 256 vid card. This fan rans full rpm from the second I turn on the machine.

I was wondering if there is something out these to shut it off/reduce its rpm.

The vid card does have it's own fan, why does this one also have to run?

 

[Counterfit]

If I were you, I wouldn't mess with it, as it gets cooler air from in front of the G5 to the back where the card is. Of course, that does nothing to help with the speed problem. See if you can reseat it.

 

[Kyle Nerder]

but why is it that that fan is the only fan working so hard? From what I hear, the fans are regulated by the amount of power they withdraw. I don't believe other video cards do this.

 

[Makosuke]

It's not supposed to work that way, but I'm fairly certain I've read about an issue like that when the computer doesn't properly identify the graphics card, and so cranks up that zone's fan to full just to be safe. At least on the first-gen G5s, the firmware update resolved this issue, as explained in relation to the 6800 Ultra here:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/mac_6800ultra_review/

This may not be the case for you, but if there's a firmware update have you installed it? Also, if there's any updates/drivers/firmware updates available for your card for download from ATI, have you installed them?

Turning that fan off would be a bad idea, and you can't do it anyway, but there's something amiss in your situation.

(To a degree I envy you, though; I have an OEM 9800 in my G5, and that thing's tiny little WHINY built-in fan makes more noticeable noise than all the other fans in the G5 put together.)

 

[Kyle Nerder]

actually I finally fixed the problem. I dug through the ATI site and they did have a MAC update driver. I had to reboot in SAFE mode and install and now it's dead quiet...unless I do video intensive stuff and it spools up, but it drops as soon as the temp drops.

 

[JDOG_]

actually I finally fixed the problem. I dug through the ATI site and they did have a MAC update driver. I had to reboot in SAFE mode and install and now it's dead quiet...unless I do video intensive stuff and it spools up, but it drops as soon as the temp drops.

That's good, although it's odd it didn't get included in 10.4.3. Sometimes it just takes Apple a while to get 3rd party fixes in their updates unless it's something critical.

Hope your computer doesn't melt.