Server silencing

MasterPlan1 · 24 Apr 2012 at 10:06

I'm looking at buying a ML150 G6, but the fans are going to be the noisy deltas that ship with servers, I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with silencing these beasts? Or would I just be better off looking at putting in some 1366 coolers (dependant on the board) and northbridge etc heatsinks?

Skidilliplop · 24 Apr 2012 at 11:07

If you want quiet, don't get an off the shelf server. They're not designed for it.

If you want a quiet home server, build one yourself so it's designed that way or get a purpose built home NAS type box. Trying to convert a small business server to be a silent home server isn't going to be cost effective.

Essexraptor · 24 Apr 2012 at 11:10

Ditto

If you are set on getting a step up from your Micro... you'll have to think long and hard about where you are going to locate it.

MasterPlan1 · 24 Apr 2012 at 12:48

Decided to go with building my own.

i5-2400, 32Gb RAM, 1Tb storage, MSI IB mATX board, fractal mATX case, should do the trick. Then down the line I'll add in a 6770 for RemoteFX testing.

anything I don't mind · 24 Apr 2012 at 13:57

The gigabyte server boards are nice. If i had loads of money i would like to build my own as well, using gigabyte server mb.

MasterPlan1 · 24 Apr 2012 at 14:07

I basically need grunt rather than a fully blown server, the i5 should provide enough to run DC\SC*M\Exchange\MSSQL for lab purposes for me to learn them.

Skidilliplop · 24 Apr 2012 at 17:56

If you're looking to run VMware to lab up multiple boxes, check the NIC and SATA controllers. ICH10 etc should be fine, but ESXi support for NICs can be flakey. I'd recommend splashing on a decent intel NIC to be safe.

TNGL · 24 Apr 2012 at 18:02

I'd also recommend building yourself a server, it's practically whisper quiet and you can only hear it slightly, if the room is silent and you're near to it. Other than that, it's really quiet.

Essexraptor · 25 Apr 2012 at 00:28

I'm old and stupid.... but what's this ?

MSI IB mATX board

must be something hefty to accomodate 32GB of RAM

nrh1703 · 25 Apr 2012 at 00:46

i've got an ml110 g5 and a lenovo td230 (tower) both of which are very quiet except in the first few moments of startup. the specification for both stated noise output was around 30-32dB but I think they're quieter. not easy to know what you'll get unless you hear one in action though.

PistolPete · 25 Apr 2012 at 09:07

Essexraptor said:
I'm old and stupid.... but what's this ?

must be something hefty to accomodate 32GB of RAM

It's an Ivy Bridge micro ATX motherboard made by MSI (at a guess)

Essexraptor · 25 Apr 2012 at 10:40

PistolPete said:
It's an Ivy Bridge micro ATX motherboard made by MSI (at a guess)

DOH!!!!

told ya I was old and stupd!

thanks

jake108 · 25 Apr 2012 at 10:52

They are quiet after the bootup sequence which sounds like a jet engine however you can cut the noise by configuring the fan in the BIOS, I have one and once booted you can only just hear it.

MasterPlan1 · 25 Apr 2012 at 11:00

Planning on building it around a second hand i7 920, take an 8Gb hit in RAM, but I'll survive. Also going to be using Hyper-V not ESX.

I want to use Hyper-V as I want to become a well versed in System Center stuff. So I can use SCVMM, OM, CM, DPM, Orchestrator etc.