Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

mac pro 2010 front fan makes a low drone noise

S

Sossity

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 12, 2010
1,360
32
I just set up my "new" mac pro mid 2010 quad core 2.88, and notice a very low sort of drone vibration from it, sort of like a military helicopter in the distance, and notice when it goes into sleep mode, and the large fan I can see through the grill stops spinning is when it goes silent.

Is this normal? I would guess that there will be some noise from a pc like this, it is the biggest computer I have seen, it sees like a giant.

I have it set up on a hard desktop, and it has a mechanical hard drive as the startup drive, I had planned to put in an SSD drive in it, and boost the ram.

It is the pro with the 5770 card.
 
Try SMC Fan Control or MacsFanControl to increase the fan speed a little bit, that can help to confirm if the noise is actually coming from the front fan, but not GPU fan, or even HDD etc. Vibration noise usually only happen at particular RPM, it's easier to identify the source by increasing the fan speed when the Mac Pro is actually running.
 
  • Like
Reactions: m4v3r1ck
m4v3r1ck said:
Something like this? :eek:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/137518766/MacRumors/Bearing cMP 5.1 - INTAKE rattle/Audio.mp3
Click to expand...
whoa, goodness me, that sounds like a tow truck, tractor or something, no mine has not gotten like that yet, I hope.

it is more like a very low growl or drone.

I hope it does not get loader when I start using it more, I plan on placing an ssd drive in it.

what kind of hard drive is in that?
[doublepost=1462053930][/doublepost]in addtion to the fan control, would placing something soft underneith where I have it on my desk help with vibrations?

should I run some diagnostic apps?

right now it is running el capitan on a spinner hard drive with 6gb of ram.
[doublepost=1462054057][/doublepost]
h9826790 said:
Try SMC Fan Control or MacsFanControl to increase the fan speed a little bit, that can help to confirm if the noise is actually coming from the front fan, but not GPU fan, or even HDD etc. Vibration noise usually only happen at particular RPM, it's easier to identify the source by increasing the fan speed when the Mac Pro is actually running.
Click to expand...
if inincreas the fan speed, what speed? and on which fans?
 
You can control each fan individually, which can help you decide for sure which fan is making the most noise.

An SSD is a "solid state drive", so has no moving parts.

When you put the Mac Pro to sleep, the hard drives also stop turning, along with the fans.
You MAY discover that the hard drive is making that droning noise. It does happen, perhaps because of the slide-in mounts for the drives.
 
Guys, it's the bearing of the INTAKE/EXHAUST fan(s) of my cMP 5.1 (2012) that's making this terrible sound. I bought it in 2014 (new open box) so I'm getting it replaced with my Apple Care Plan. The more frequent ticks you hear is the SMART check by Mac Fans Control every second. When the app is hidden, that noise will go away!

Cheers
 
  • Like
Reactions: owbp
owbp said:
Something like this maybe?:D

https://app.box.com/s/dnc8hh911wv1bdgmxbff0e255woifki5

I assume this is a front fan but didn't isolate one. It can only be heard sometimes, and only on stock RPM (500-600).
If i speed it up the noise disappears. So i think that's the thing that @h9826790 was suggesting. Experiment with the speeds of each fan and see when the noise changes.
Click to expand...

I isolated the problem by cranking up the speeds of each fan with MFC too! So even for this troubleshoot purpose, MFC is a great application!

Cheers
 
  • Like
Reactions: owbp
Some users just crank up the speed a bit, but I'm going to get new fans, because I'm afraid they might just die on me. Causing my MP to heat up! Not a very pleasant idea for me!

I want my MP to run cool, using the best balance in RPM and noise level!

Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back