Recently snagged for peanuts a dysfunctional (blasting fans) and somewhat incomplete dual 1.8ghz G5 tower. It needed a few parts as it had been deprived of the front fans and RAM, but I decided to see if it could be rehabilitated by swapping bits and pieces in, since the case was in excellent shape. Then, if still no workie, I'd strip it for parts myself.
The first port of call with these things is a hardware test, followed by a thermal calibration via ASD software (v. 2.5.8, if I'm not mistaken). It passed all tests, but the calibration did not do the trick, as the fans still ramped up. So I did the next obvious thing for a 9 year-old machine: I took out and disassembled the processors and applied new heatsink compound. I have done this on several G5s.
The old heatsink compound did not look bad, truth be told, but the new stuff, followed by a fresh thermal calibration (which is essential) worked a treat. The processors are now hovering around 30 Celsius and there's not a fan-sound to be heard, even under benchmarking loads.
People seem to look down on them, but I like these dual 1.8ghz units, as when properly set up, they run considerably cooler (in the order of 10 degrees Celsius) and therefore quieter than the faster machines. The speed difference is not very noticeable, given how I use computers; the silence, on the other hand, is very noticeable, certainly by comparison with my dual 2.0 unit.
The machine is now destined for midi use by the kids with GarageBand. I might even see if I can find an older version of Logic to run on it, and a pci card to help the music along. Any recommendations for a sound card for a lowend G5?
I don't understand why people fear opening these (air-cooled) G5 machines up. It is easy enough to be more or less idiot-proof. Forget all that stuff you read about the dangers of cracking processors. It is misinformation.
The first port of call with these things is a hardware test, followed by a thermal calibration via ASD software (v. 2.5.8, if I'm not mistaken). It passed all tests, but the calibration did not do the trick, as the fans still ramped up. So I did the next obvious thing for a 9 year-old machine: I took out and disassembled the processors and applied new heatsink compound. I have done this on several G5s.
The old heatsink compound did not look bad, truth be told, but the new stuff, followed by a fresh thermal calibration (which is essential) worked a treat. The processors are now hovering around 30 Celsius and there's not a fan-sound to be heard, even under benchmarking loads.
People seem to look down on them, but I like these dual 1.8ghz units, as when properly set up, they run considerably cooler (in the order of 10 degrees Celsius) and therefore quieter than the faster machines. The speed difference is not very noticeable, given how I use computers; the silence, on the other hand, is very noticeable, certainly by comparison with my dual 2.0 unit.
The machine is now destined for midi use by the kids with GarageBand. I might even see if I can find an older version of Logic to run on it, and a pci card to help the music along. Any recommendations for a sound card for a lowend G5?
I don't understand why people fear opening these (air-cooled) G5 machines up. It is easy enough to be more or less idiot-proof. Forget all that stuff you read about the dangers of cracking processors. It is misinformation.
