I am using a G4 with passive cooling, too.

There is just a case cooler which is quite slow and makes no noise. Even without the system works quite stable. It was added to ensure warm air gets out of the case.

I am now using a 16GB compact flash card as system drive and when the harddrive goes to sleep, it is silent.

Pictures can be found on http://www.geit.de

Geit


[ Edited by geit on 2010/12/8 2:05 ]

hey guys. perhaps this helps anybody. also replaced the fans in my MDD's. ill got like 31 degress in my single 1.25ghz MDD after 3 days of stresstests using dnetc :). the fans are very quite and cheap compared to other kits(verax). actually i only hear my old diamond hds inside the case. this are the fans i used:

1x SilenX iXtrema PRO IXP-76-18, 120 x 120 x 38 mm, 153 m³/h, 18 dBa <- for the CPU unit

2x SilenX iXtrema PRO IXP-34-16, 60 x 60 x 25 mm, 31 m³/h, 16 dB <- for the power supply unit

install procedure should be very easy. in short:

1. remove the drive case, clip out the orginal 120mm fan and clip the new in. connect em to the mainboard (just use the 2pin connector at the mainboard for the 3pin connector at the fan, no problem its controlled by voltage)
2. get the power supply out of the case, open it up by lifting all screws, change the 2 coolers, same thing with teh connectors
3. build all together and ur done :)

hint: put some plastik foil between the power supply and the case and the last bit of vibration to the case should be gone to


!this combination only work for PowerMac MDD's!


[ Edited by manga on 2010/12/9 13:49 ]

@manga

nice one, thx!
for my cpu card in my mdd i have only a big passive heatsing w/o fans, but the ones inside the powersupply are very loud, and i think the case also got one other fan.
is it possible that you post some pictures about the powersupply and its fans/cables? its sound a bit scary to me to take a ps apart:)
i guess any silent 60mm fans would do for the ps right?

@saddam

dont get me wrong i also have a passive heatsink. there are 4 fans in a standard powermac mdd. 2 inside the powersupply, one at the bottom of the case, wich blows directly at the passive heatsink and one fan to blow to the optical drive case. u dont need to care the optical drive fan because its a small one, wich doesnt run all the time and makes very low noise. the one at the bottom is the cpu cooler i described in my post before. sorry for teh confusion.

mainly i followed that guide, wich includes some pictures to:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/g4_mirrored_drive_doors/noise_reduction/g4_ddr_noise_reduction.html

changing the fans in the powersupply is like opening a case and changing a graphic card with just more screws. if youre able to do that. dont be scared. its more easy than it sounds.

any other 60x60x25mm fan would do it for the ps. BUT would not risk to go a lot under the standard ps fan airflow amount of 38cf/m. :) problem is there is no standard for the manufaturers how to measure i think. the IXP-34-16 does a good job since some weeks :)