I've had my MacPro 3,1 for quite a long time now. Lately I noticed it was running pretty sluggish so I've given it a few upgrades to help get a few more years out of it before I finally cave and upgrade to a new machine. I recently put in a solid state drive to boot from, added a USB 3.0 card and threw in some more RAM for good measure. I know just enough to be dangerous when it comes to DIY stuff, I'm not a tech by any means. But the ease of upgrades for these big MacPros has always been a huge selling point for me.
The computer is running like a dream now, I am booted and at the desktop in just over 30 seconds. However, the front fans kick on almost immediately upon boot. So when I open up some video editing software or anything involving some heavier graphics card use, the fans get louder than I've ever heard them the entire time I've had the machine. I thought the heatsink on the video card may need some new thermal paste, or maybe I had a dust blockage. Over the weekend I took that apart and to my surprise the card was relatively clean. I went ahead and replaced the thermal paste which appeases the front fans during boot and once we hit the desktop, but once I open anything up the fans kick on and opening Premiere Pro sends them into jet engine mode.
I've considered a processor upgrade because I'm wondering if these new bells and whistles aren't overloading an older processor, but I'm pretty ignorant about CPUs.I'm also wondering if it's not an issue with the graphics card being underpowered and trying to keep up wit the rest of the machine. I've included a screenshot of my setup (as well as an iStat fan readout during a video editing session) and I was hoping some kind soul might be able to guide me in the right direction as to getting these fans back down to normal speeds/noise. As a video editor, once the fans kick up to a certain level I have to either put headphones on to hear my audio over the fan, or turn my amp way up (which my wife is not a fan of).
I'm happy to provide more information if I've left out any crucial bits, as again, I am not a tech so my knowledge is mostly basic.
![Screen Shot 2020-10-24 at 10.26.38 PM.png]( "Screen Shot 2020-10-24 at 10.26.38 PM.png")
![Screen Shot 2020-10-26 at 4.33.08 PM.png]( "Screen Shot 2020-10-26 at 4.33.08 PM.png")
The computer is running like a dream now, I am booted and at the desktop in just over 30 seconds. However, the front fans kick on almost immediately upon boot. So when I open up some video editing software or anything involving some heavier graphics card use, the fans get louder than I've ever heard them the entire time I've had the machine. I thought the heatsink on the video card may need some new thermal paste, or maybe I had a dust blockage. Over the weekend I took that apart and to my surprise the card was relatively clean. I went ahead and replaced the thermal paste which appeases the front fans during boot and once we hit the desktop, but once I open anything up the fans kick on and opening Premiere Pro sends them into jet engine mode.
I've considered a processor upgrade because I'm wondering if these new bells and whistles aren't overloading an older processor, but I'm pretty ignorant about CPUs.I'm also wondering if it's not an issue with the graphics card being underpowered and trying to keep up wit the rest of the machine. I've included a screenshot of my setup (as well as an iStat fan readout during a video editing session) and I was hoping some kind soul might be able to guide me in the right direction as to getting these fans back down to normal speeds/noise. As a video editor, once the fans kick up to a certain level I have to either put headphones on to hear my audio over the fan, or turn my amp way up (which my wife is not a fan of).
I'm happy to provide more information if I've left out any crucial bits, as again, I am not a tech so my knowledge is mostly basic.
