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MP 7,1 The new Mac Pro is not that quiet?
- Thread starter Parzival
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The iMac 27" i7 7700K is much louder (2700 rpm) than the iMac i5 8500 (2200 rpm) under load. Surprisingly the i9 9900K stays at 1200 rpm during load for some time until it starts to spin up to 1800 rpm. Despite being way more powerful the i9 is actually the most quiet out of these three. Probably due to the heatspreader being soldered. At idle all of them are noticeable.
But there the numbers don't tell the whole story. Even though all models' fans spin at 1200 rpm at idle my 21.5" 2017 is much more quiet (almost silent) than the 27" models I had tested.
Of course, this doesn't change the fact that the enclosure is in need of a redesign. It needs better cooling and more silent operation nonetheless.
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in my 25 db room i'm measuring 28db in 1m distance , when the computer sideways
FYI... With my MP7,1 at idle vs. when the fans are running at their maximum, the dB difference is 20 dB. This was measured at a distance of 3 feet from the MP7,1's front face.
After the troubles I've had with the Mac Pro, I've been working on a little side project to capture all the sound info from Apple Desktops and Laptops over the last 10 years to help people make informed choices and plan to eventually put it up on a website.
The info is a little tricky to parse as they way they've represented it on their website varies a lot. One interesting thing I came across (amongst many) is on one spec they defined their operator position as 'Unit on the table' vs 'Unit on floor' (circled below), which seems to confirm what I mentioned previously: The operator positioned is the position you would most likely put it and is a very variable figure.
To show how inaccurate it can be, if you look at the 4th table down you can see a 21.5inch 3.06Ghz [iMac] and 21.5-inch 3.2Ghz one. They both have the same Sound power levels of 3.0 Bels. But if you look at the Sound Pressure Level at Operator Position. The 3.2Ghz seems to be much quieter. This doesn't make sense as they have the same power levels and the quieter one has the more powerful processor. I've had a look at both of those computers and there doesn't seem to be any difference apart from the processor.
So the operator position isn't very standarised and you can get widely different results from it. It's not very reliable, it's just a guide.
The info is a little tricky to parse as they way they've represented it on their website varies a lot. One interesting thing I came across (amongst many) is on one spec they defined their operator position as 'Unit on the table' vs 'Unit on floor' (circled below), which seems to confirm what I mentioned previously: The operator positioned is the position you would most likely put it and is a very variable figure.
To show how inaccurate it can be, if you look at the 4th table down you can see a 21.5inch 3.06Ghz [iMac] and 21.5-inch 3.2Ghz one. They both have the same Sound power levels of 3.0 Bels. But if you look at the Sound Pressure Level at Operator Position. The 3.2Ghz seems to be much quieter. This doesn't make sense as they have the same power levels and the quieter one has the more powerful processor. I've had a look at both of those computers and there doesn't seem to be any difference apart from the processor.
So the operator position isn't very standarised and you can get widely different results from it. It's not very reliable, it's just a guide.
It can make sense. Just take the i9 9900K for example. That iMac is also quieter than the same model with the i5 8500 (under load).
Also the my 21.5" 2017 is much quieter than all 27" models 2017 I've tested so far (3 in total) (at idle). It seems to me that the fan assembly differs between the 21.5" and 27" models so one is louder despite all running at 1200 rpm at idle.
TDP doesn't tell the whole story.
Also the my 21.5" 2017 is much quieter than all 27" models 2017 I've tested so far (3 in total) (at idle). It seems to me that the fan assembly differs between the 21.5" and 27" models so one is louder despite all running at 1200 rpm at idle.
TDP doesn't tell the whole story.
You're going to have to get me some more info on that top example, I'm not sure which generation of macs you are referring to.
The 21.5" 2017 is much quieter than all the 27" models because they use lower TDP chips. Obviously it's a simplification to say lower TDP = lower noise, but it is generally the case when referring to like for like cooling designs i.e. higher TDP chip inside same iMac enclosure will need better cooling, which often means louder.
Here's a preview of what I've been working on quietmac.app
Not quite finished yet (no mobile stylesheet and UI changes), but have a play around with it and you'll have a better understanding of the noise levels.
[automerge]1584438165[/automerge]
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So I noticed something interesting. When my spinner hard drive is cleaning up a time machine back up inside the J2i bracket, there is a fair amount of sound. It sounds like rain falling on metal pitter patter. Anyone else notice this?
Definitely some sound when that happens on mine, but not as noticeable as you describe.
the 27 db are very close to what i'm measuring (28db in 1m distance)
But what your data doesn't tell , the Mac Pro is in average during some heavy use a lot quiter than any other Mac.
I rendered recently several hours with 100% CPU load , the fans started after half an hour to spin a bit more - i actually couldn't hear it just saw rpm values.
After several hours fan 2 was on 1000 rpm and it still wasn't noticeable louder .
Every other Mac , especially recent laptops and the Mini are getting seriously loud after 2 minutes of rendering.
But also iMacs easily get loud... an iMac Pro got noticeably louder after ca 15 minutes.
So this new Mac Pro is the quietest and the loudest machine in Apples lineup.