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Quieting Your G5?
metajunkie wants to take a bite out of this issue: "I recently set up an at-home recording studio with a DP G5 and a ProTools mBox. Problem is, I can't record (like, say, a voice over) anywhere near the computer because when the cooling fans kick in, it comes in way too loud over the mic. I can't move the computer into another room, and while I'm tempted to throw a blanket over the thing, I don't think that'll help. Does anyone know a place that sells a silencer box for the G5 or some good DIY way to cut out the noise?"
I have been running FreeBSD since the 3.x days. Right around this time Linux became popular but I stuck with FreeBSD for several academic reasons. At that point one was as good as the other, but as time went on this changed. Linux started gathering a huge following and it really hit its stride. The developers made leaps in bounds in hardware support. Meanwhile, FreeBSD crawled from 3.x to 4.x, which was a great improvement to be sure, but not as rapid or large as what Linux had been offering.
Being locked into FreeBSD by familiarity and investment at that point I wistfully watched the GNU community race ahead. I wish something would start a similar firestorm of FreeBSD development. I thought nothing of it when Apple bought NeXT in 1996. The Rhapsody project, which was basically just adding some Apple technology to OpenStep, didn't interest me. When Steve Jobs announced Mac OS X in 1999, however, my ears perked up at the mention of my favorite Unix. Apple was going to update the very cores of OpenStep into something new FreeBSD was going to be a huge part of that.
Since Mac OS X v10.0 was released in 2001, Apple has been filtering BSD code in and out of their kernel, userland, and libraries. This code then makes its way back to FreeBSD. Apple's pattern is to sync every major Mac OS X release with the latest major FreeBSD release. For example, Mac OS X v10.1 corresponded to FreeBSD 4.4 and Mac OS X v10.2 matched up with FreeBSD 4.7. By the time Apple released Panther, their contributions back into FreeBSD had amassed into a new FreeBSD milestone, the 5.x branch. Mac OS X v10.3 contained bits of both FreeBSD 4.9 and FreeBSD 5.1.
Look at it this way, only after Apple started modifying FreeBSD 4.x and submitting their modifications did FreeBSD progress to the 5.x branch. The advanced VM and SMP code that allows Mac OS X to run so efficiently is the very same code that finally put FreeBSD on the level with Linux. I run FreeBSD 5.2 on a four-way Xeon box at work and thank Apple every day. If it weren't for the Mach micokernel from Apple we wouldn't be able to do these nice things with FreeBSD now or probably ever.
It's also kind of ironic how such a big deal was made by Wind River Systems buying out both BSDI and Walnut Creek Software. (Does anyone remember this?) The plan was to merge BSD/OS into FreeBSD and sell a special enterprise edition of the operating system while still maintaining the Open Source project. Sadly this fizzled out. No one ever predicted that Apple, of all companies, would ride in with the cavalry and pick up the pieces. Apple has done much more than Wind River ever managed to.
After such a long and precarious history FreeBSD is finally going somewhere and we no longer have to worry about the latest hardware support of when the next release will be. We're firing on all cylinders now, and within a couple more years there will be more FreeBSD installs than Linux or Solaris! I'm not so proud that I can't see what is behind this. Apple saved FreeBSD and I have no problem admitting or accepting that. I doubt many others who use FreeBSD do, but I just wanted to point it out.
Thank you, Apple, for saving FreeBSD.
Redundant? What?
I have some solid advice.
First, consider replacing your fans with larger fans if possible, or adding fans in those 'optional case fan' locations so many cases have. I'm not sure if G5 cases have these, but you should check. Get your local computer guy to check if you don't know what to look for.
If your fans don't have to work as hard, they won't make as much noise. Remember, two 40dB fans will be MUCH quieter than one 50 or 60dB fan, since decibels are an exponential measurement: those two 40dB fans should add up to ~41dB.
You could make a DIY extra fan port with a drill, but be careful not to interfere with the direction of airflow in your case too much. That'll definitely void your warranty.
Second, go to your local Staples and see if they carry the Antec noise reduction kit. It should be in the middle of short aisle 1 near the modems and memory, right above or near the Antec power supplies. That's if your Staples is anything like the one I work at. It has rubber mounts for the fans, drives, and power supply. A rubber-mounted case fan is much quieter than one that's just screwed tightly into the metal, since the rubber absorbs the vibrations that the sides of your case would amplify. The product might have been a promotional item for Christmastime but we seem to keep getting them.
Finally: Check out Frozen CPU or read up on cooling at Anandtech, TweakTown, or any of the overclocking forums.
Remember, don't attempt any replacements without matching the voltages and sizes. If you don't know your fan's size, bring it with you when you go shopping. Anyone care to post on how to measure a fan? I seem to remember their size being the length of one side, and they are square.