Loud graphics card Mac Pro

[pga]

Chris, the graphics card in my 2008 Mac Pro 2.8 has gotten noisy (ATI HD 2600 XT 256 MB) with the fan running all the time. I even suspect the fan itself got damaged.

 

Any suggestios? Should I upgrade to a newer card? Which one? Should I mod this one to be fanless? Can I buy a fanless card that will work. I'm not a gamer, but would like good dvd/bluray capabilities.

 

This is a music server with a Lynx card and a 1T RAID driving a BADA.

 

Thanks for your help

 

Paul

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Paul - Ah yes, the ATi HD 2600 XT 256 MB. This card shipped from Apple as a very quiet card. However when one downloaded all the Apple updates there was a firmware upgrade for this video card. This specific upgrade made the card much noisier. As far as I know there is no way to downgrade the firmware on the card, but a replacement card could certainly be the secret to silence. Let me take a look around to see what I can find. I have a feeling this is something others would like to know as well.

 

[DSD_mastering]

There are plenty graphics cards out there without fans. Put one of those in.

 

 

Regards,

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Bruce - This is a challenge for a Mac Pro.

 

[lamarzocco]

My 2006 Mac Pro came with a nvidia 7300GT which was fanless. Not a powerhouse by any stretch, and probably won't handle blu-ray. Then again, we'd have to wait for BD support from apple. There are aftermarket fan replacements from active fans to even fanless...

 

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/main.php?cPath=2

 

 

 

[pga]

I ended up replacing the ATI 2600 with the new NVidia GT 120, which is the standard graphics card in the 2009 Mac Pro.

 

The NVidia GT 120 is totally plug and play in the 2008 MP (understand it does not work in previous MPs), and although is does have a small fan, it seems much quieter than the ATI. Also I believe it uses less power, which will generally help keep the fans at a lower speed in the Mac Pro.

 

I understand Apple does not officially supports the GT 120 on the 2008 Mac Pro. So I do hope updating to Snow Leopard does not problems, but for now this seems like a very cost efficient update.