Mac Pro Noise Culprit x1900Xt Dust.
So it turns out all the fan noise that has been driving me nuts for the last couple of months was caused by dust clogging the vents on my ATI X1900XT. It took more than a few squirts from the compressed air can to get the card sorted. I’m I cheap or is$6.99 a bit much for a can of air? I ended up spending $4.99 in target on a can that went tepid before i was even done dusting the graphics card.
Update:
It turns out these cans do not contain air but hydroflurocarbons which are heavily taxed ozone depleting gases.
“In Europe 10 % of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air. This amounts to 80 terawatt hours per year.[1][2]“
I had this same exact problem. My Mac Pro was ridiculously loud and it was driving me nuts. Lo and behold I pop it open and there is a giant wad of dust clogging my video card. *facepalm*
@B-Nice
I see a ton of people on boards blaming their snow leopard upgrade and graphics programs as the culprits but I bet a good percentage of them just have their pro cages clogged up.