Deafening roar - DP 1.25 G4?

I have the first generation MDD DP 1.0 g4. I bought it when they were first announced, well within a few days anyways.

Let me start off by saying that I love the performance that I get out of this computer, and besides the drool factor of owning a new g5, this computer will suit me for a couple of years.

With that stated, let me say that this is the loudest computer that I've ever owned.
Depending on where you locate your computer (or what type of background noise you have in your working environment), it might not be an issue for you. But seeing how you are annoyed by the sound of a Rev. B iMac, I'm sure the sound will bother you as well.

Now I've been told that the second generation MDD computers had quieter fans, the noise level has still been found unacceptable by users. In fact there has been a website dedicated to the noise problem.

www.g4noise.com

I myself finally broke down and went with a solution that I found on this site, from a company in Germany called verax.

www.verax.de

Although somewhat pricey, I feel that in my case it will be worth the price ($300.00 US) if it brings the sound level down to where they claim.

http://www.verax.de/verax.php?SID=79683f8e140f72359&template=cms_entry_technik&groupid=1&entryid=27

There is even a posting from what seemed to me a very satisfied customer on the g4noise.com site.

http://www.g4noise.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=18&t=703

So depending on how much money you are willing to spend, or what you need/are looking for in a new computer, I'd keep this in mind and do a little more research.

Hope this helps
 
Apple will replace the noisy fans with quieter fans for free.

If by any chance you intend to do any sort of audio editing, save up more money and get a G5. Not only will it be quieter, it will perform better.
 
I did the upgrade program from apple, and although it did make a difference, it is still very noisy.

In my case (as I can't speak for anyone else's MDD) I went from a VERY loud fan with a high pitch whine, to a loud fan with a lower pitch whine.

My latest attempt at silencing my MDD is the kit from verax.

I just received my kit today, and I will reserve any judgment(s) on the kit, until I receive a replacement part.

The plastic connector for the main fan was broken, either during shipping, or from the factory. I have order a replacement from where I got the kit, and am waiting on a reply.

But from what I've heard so far........WOW!!!!

I went from a very noisy (almost vacuum cleaner like) sound to the only sound I could hear was the sound of the hard drive head moving.

The only draw back? Well like I said before, I'm holding off on any type of judgment, until I receive my replacement fan. But I went from averaging 58.5 C to 62.2 C (the highest temp I had seen before powering off and replacing the fan with the broken end, which I 'fixed' and put the old 'apple' upgraded main fan in.)

I'll update further, when I have anything new to add.
 
You could always encase your computer in thick styrofoam casing... of course, the drawback to this might be overheating due to severe insulation. :)
 
I'm sure the roar can't be as loud as my pc...with 6 fans...a case window...2 7200 rpm hdds....heh...you can however sometimes use sound absorbing material....like matting to silence some of the sound, though it may cause some heat issues. Pc users have been glueing the stuff to the inside of their cases for a while now to silence their loud fans and case vibrations.
 
Noise from an iMac? What exactly about that iMac makes noise apart from the hard drive? iMacs, the older ones, are some of the quietest machines I've ever worked on because of the complete lack of fans and noise making things inside them...

Yes, the MDD machines are quite noisy. They produce an audible fan hum constantly. A buddy of mine has one and it's quite a bit louder than his B/W G3 machine, but it's not so loud that either of us are annoyed by it. I guess it's all a matter of personal preference -- my suggestion would be to try and find one in a store somewhere near you (some CompUSAs still have some on display) and see if it's something you can live with -- otherwise, you're making a blind purchase.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Noise from an iMac? What exactly about that iMac makes noise apart from the hard drive? iMacs, the older ones, are some of the quietest machines I've ever worked on because of the complete lack of fans and noise making things inside them...
Click to expand...

The original iMacs (tray-loading CD-Rom, known as Rev A - D, 233-333 Mhz) have an internal fan (definitely noisy on some). The newer iMacs (slot-loading CD, 350-700 Mhz) have no internal fan. I'm not talking about any flat panel models here, only CRT....
 
Do they really? That's new information for me! I thought ALL the iMacs (up until the G4 lamp iMacs) had NO internal fans at all!

Well, you learn something new every day, dontcha? Hehe... thanks for the info!
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Do they really? That's new information for me! I thought ALL the iMacs (up until the G4 lamp iMacs) had NO internal fans at all!

Well, you learn something new every day, dontcha? Hehe... thanks for the info!
Click to expand...

Yep, they sure have a fan...

And whats more, the noise reverberates in the casing (being the shape it is) and is magnified! And the inbuilt monitor makes scary humming, and popping, and whizzing sounds while its running... kind of liek a degauss, but without actually degausing the screen. And this is while I'm using it, not when I turn it on!
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Noise from an iMac? What exactly about that iMac makes noise apart from the hard drive? iMacs, the older ones, are some of the quietest machines I've ever worked on because of the complete lack of fans and noise making things inside them...

Yes, the MDD machines are quite noisy. They produce an audible fan hum constantly. A buddy of mine has one and it's quite a bit louder than his B/W G3 machine, but it's not so loud that either of us are annoyed by it. I guess it's all a matter of personal preference -- my suggestion would be to try and find one in a store somewhere near you (some CompUSAs still have some on display) and see if it's something you can live with -- otherwise, you're making a blind purchase.
Click to expand...

Hehe, CompUSA... woudl take me a while to get there ;)

In Perth, where I live, there are 4 AppleStores... all of which are NOWHERE near me! Which sucks.
 
Ah, I see... there's TWO Apple stores close to me... hehe... in Houston, about 2 1/2 hours away, and in Dallas, about 4 hours away. Used to live in Arlington, which is about 20 minutes from Dallas, and you bet I was there first when they opened that store!

CompUSA can ship stuff to you from their online store, and I'm sure they'd ship something to you if it wasn't in the online store but it was in their brick and mortar store. Of course, the MDD are discontinued, so you might just start calling various stores around you to see if they have any old display models or something. You never know, that's where my buddy got his MDD 2x1GHz!
 
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