HP Microserver N54L - Fans

Halestorm

Halestorm

Halestorm

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Sorry if this has already been asked, but I couldn't really find anything (my forum search skills are poor at best)

The OEM fan in my Microserver is noisy, very very noisy.

Has any one ever changed the fan? What fan would you recommend? I thought maybe a Noctua NF-P12?

I've seen reports if the fan RPM goes below 500 the server wont boot? Would I be safe using an aftermarket fan aslong as the minimum rpm is sufficiently high?

Thanks guys :D
 
Sweet, any recommended brands for Pico PSUs or am I looking for the same good OEMs as full size ATX PSUs?

edit: Ignore that, i replied before I googled, so a Pico PSU basically replaces the normal PSU with a power brick?
 
I replaced both fans on mine and it made quite a difference to the noise level.

The replacement PSU fan has now died so I put the original in, which reminded me of why I replaced it in the first place!

You need to disect the PSU to change the fan, not very difficult, but leave it for a few hours after removing the power or you'll get the odd shock off coils etc!

All in, a fiddly job, but works when done right.
 
I think it might actually be the drives that are noisy, got 4x 1TB Western Digital Blue single platter versions.

Plan is to upgrade to some 3TB WD Reds after my current house purchase is done and we are moved in and settled

When I put my ear to the server the noise seems to be mainly from the front rather than the rear where the fans are
 
Super bump! I bought a HP N54L off a user on these forums and although it's perfect for my needs (first basic NAS, homelab etc.) it's just too noisy even in my desk cupboard.

There's some great info here but all the links are broken :o Any updated guides/links?

Silent Bob said:
I changed my fans to the ones below. The power supply fan required a molex to 3 pin converter cable as it couldn't be plugged into the fan header in the power supply.
Click to expand...
Did you change the fan in the PSU? Does that require soldering? :confused:
 
Scam said:
Super bump! I bought a HP N54L off a user on these forums and although it's perfect for my needs (first basic NAS, homelab etc.) it's just too noisy even in my desk cupboard.

There's some great info here but all the links are broken :o Any updated guides/links?


Did you change the fan in the PSU? Does that require soldering? :confused:
Click to expand...

No, it didn't require any soldering. The existing fan can just be unplugged. I couldn't find a replacement fan with the same connector so I ran the cable outside of the power supply and hooked it up with a molex to 3 pin adaptor.
 
I have the Pico in my N54 aswell, only thing on mine was the power adapter connection is just handing loose, I think I was supposed to make a hole at the back of the case or somewhere so you can plug it in. It's never moved from the same spot unless I need to give it a clean. Makes a big difference, only thing noisy now is the 4TB x 4 WD Reds.
 
Last edited:
Im really torn here. I recently upgraded my gaming rig so I have the following spec kicking around (together with a lovely Lian Li cube case);

Intel i5-4690 CPU @ 3.50GHz
Gigabyte H97N-WiFi motherboard
RAM 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
Antec 450W PSU
250GB Crucial SSD
1TB SSD
Lian-Li PC-Q03 cube case
Click to expand...

Having looked into selling it, it's barely worth the effort (I did get £48 for the GeForce 1650 SUPER, thanks CeX!)

Honestly for my uses as an FTP server for my Reolink CCTV (backup, not NVR for now) homelab and a small backup server I feel like I should just use this rather than going through all the effort of trying to make the N54L silent. The above is as good as silent, and if not I'll just need to replace the cpu cooler. Seen as this is going to sit in my office, silent is important.

The i5 will obviously draw a lot more power which is not ideal, but I'm sure there must be things I can do about that :confused:

Sidenote, the HDDs in the HP are Toshiba P300 (7,200rpm) and E300 (5,940rpm) both are pretty loud when spinning. Seems like a losing battle... ? :confused: I duno...
 
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