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Mike,
Like several others, I have been BIG TIME irritated by the amount of
noise coming out of my new G4 867 Quicksilver. Its even worse for
me, as my previous computer was the wonderfully silent Cube. Ive been
beating myself up over selling my Cube, since the day I took my
Quicksilver out of the box and fired it up.
"Old Howler" as I have come to UN-affectionately call her, had been
really getting on my nerves. For the same company that released the
fanless iMacs, and the fanless G4 Cube, to put this $2500.00 nerve
rattler on the market is inexcusable in my opinion. Doesn't Apple ever
had someone sit in a room and USE the prototypes before they start
building?
Anyway, I checked your site, and did several of the modifications
that others have tried. [See the related links below for those articles-Mike] Namely, cutting away the finger guard on the
power supply, and replacing the main case fan (the big 120mm unit in
the side of the case) with a quieter, Panaflow 120-L1A unit from
2Cooltek:
http://2cooltek.safeshopper.com/6/209.htm?179.
I had also removed the screws that hold my CPU cooling fan in its
shroud, but this didnt seem to make any difference. Other readers had
mentioned that the screws holding the fan in thier shroud were
actually touching the heat sink on the processor. This was not the
case in my computer, so I assume this is why it made no difference in
my case.
While the other modifications did help somewhat, I still had a
persistant howling noise that I could hear from other rooms in my
house, much less while working at the computer.
I had thought about getting a quieter fan for the CPU, or enlarging
the holes in the back of the case where the CPU fan draws its air in,
but I really didnt want to deface the case. It was while I was
examining this possibility that I came up with THE silencer.
If you look at the shroud that holds the CPU heatsink fan, you will
notice it has a large slot in the top of it (see photos).
For the
life of me, I couldnt see WHY this slot was there. If you watch how
the slot is positioned as you close the side of the case, it
basically butts up to the side of the power supply. I cant see where
it draws ANY air from ANY place of consequence, especially with the
fan having that large holed opening in the case to draw air thought.
I also examined an older 733 we have at work, which has a shroud that
completly covers the heat sink, to see if there was ANY good reason
for that slot in the shroud. Nothing I could see or imagine.
Mike, cover that slot (I used a piece of black electritions tape) and
guess what? The gawd awful howling is gone. That slot causes the fan
to try and suck air through the seam where the case closes, causing
the howl. This made an INCREDIBLE difference. I can literally barely
hear my G4 now. Just some very quiet fan noise.. but no howling or
whistling anymore.
I hope this can help with other readers noisy Quicksilvers. I know I
was about to put mine on Ebay and try to find another Cube it was
bothering me so much. Thats pretty bad when your willing to take a 45
percent speed hit to get away from the noise of a Quicksilver.
Kelly
I'm asking Kelly to report if he notices any increased temperatures from blocking this slot. (Unfortunately G4s don't provide accurate temperature reporting and as noted recently on the main site news, the rev 2.1 7450 has the feature removed from the CPU.)
Other Fan/Noise Related Articles:
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