Server Cooling Advice With Regards To Noise Levels

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Hey there, i recently picked up 3 servers from a well known auction website.
i am looking to kill some of the noise coming from the fans.

being somewhat realistic i dont expect silent as no one is even in the room but we dont like hearing them from the kicthen :rolleyes:


honestly as loud as a normal computer would be nice but they sound like they are going to hover across the room.


1 server is a 1u sized dual xeon - this server has around 8 fans in it, this server is rather loud!

4 of the fans are to cool the xeons - (mounted just before the motherboard and blow air towards the xeons with just heatsinks) are just 40x40x28mm in size

model number c34957 - they produce 39.2dBA acording to
http://www.nidec.com/ta150dc28/ta150dc28.htm

that rateing doesnt mean a whole lot to me

1 of the other fans is around the same size but slightly thinner maybe by 2 or 4 mm

the rest of the fans seem to be attached to the psu

any advice on changing any of those?

when the case is closed all and i touch the case around the cpu fans and the cpus them selfs is cold to touch

around the psu its slightly warmer than room temp

something to note is that one of the cpu fans failed on me when unplugging it while it was switched on doh so i need to replace at least one anyway!


the 2 other servers are dual p3 boxes (3u i think)

they are exactly the same boxes,

they have dual psus (each with one fan at the rear (2 in total lol)) but only one psu will be in use so thats just one fan spinning - i dont fancy taking apart any psus so lets leave that fan alone.

there is a 92mm fan which from a guess must be around 40mm thick, this fan connects to the back of the psus in a weird bracket (i got nothing agaisnt a bodge job which consists of tape etc to stick on a thinner fan if its going to do the job)

the two p3 (700ish mhz) proccessers just have heat sinks and i havent done much testing for heat (due to the nosie coming of the boxes - they are switched off) on the back of the case there is another 92mm fan but it is a fair bit thinner at around 26mm but this isnt in any bracket it just uses standard screws to connect to the case - this fan provides the cooling for the cpus i guess as there is little room between this fan and the cpus.



keep in mind that these are rack mount servers and are probly designed to work in rather hot conditions such as 30 or so on top of each other etc and well i only have 3.

so i need at least 4 fans for the xeons at 40x40x28mm and i am wondering if more standard thinner ones would do the job and produce less noise?

40x40x28mm size seems to be harder to find and seem to be a lot more expensive!

any advice? maybe 4 tiner fans and a pci exhaust thing also?

the p3 boxes i dont think will be much hassle to sort out just have to pick other 92mm fans really nothing fancy here

but will these more standard fans provide the same kind of cooling as the orignal server ones? if not how much diff are we talking?

i noticed some fans pick up their own speeds when temp rises (not a software thing - this isnt an option) which would be a really big plus for me as a lot of the time the servers will be sitting idle and in the warmer weather they should pick up speed themselfs also.


sorry for the rather cryptic long message (formatting also seems gimped on the post)! :o
 
Sorry but you're not going to like my answer.

Server manufacturers build their servers as efficiently as they can. What that trasnlates to is that the fans provide the airflow necessary for the computers to run witout overheating. As they are servers, the assumption is that they will run at high loads and so the cooling is geared for that. If you're not going to run at high loads, you could probably slow the fans but 40mm fans don't push much air unless they run very fast. Since very few mass-produced computers use 40mm fans, they are not readily available nor produced in silent/quiet versions.

A similar post appeared here not long ago and the general consensus is that the only way to quietly cool 1u servers is with water-cooling in order to transport the heat out of the very small case and into a nice big radiator that can be cooled with large slow 120mm fans.
 
define quietly though?

i dont mind it being "heard" in that room but other than that i would like to not hear it outside the room - downstairs - upstairs etc :(


Still trying to decide what to do.

Fans in general just seem really over priced everywhere over here.
Lots of american companys are selling them for what seems to be much better value but wont ship over here.

Its going to be to expensive to do this with trail and error.


Does any one understand the measurement CFM?

the orginal xeon fans that i got are rated at 15CFM (39.2dBA) and i have found replacement ones by Delta rated 8.05CFM (23dBA)

Could those delta fans at 8.05CFM (i dont know how much of a diff that is compared to 15 really?) and a exhaust fan in one of the pci slots do the job do you think?

What about the sound diff from 39fdBA to 23dBA is that a big deal?
 
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Ever been in a datacentre? You need ear defenders if you're going to be there any length of time or you will get tinnitus. Additionally, servers like these are designed to be rack-mounted which makes a big difference to them being on a flat surface. I once had an HP 2u Xeon server on loan and tried to just keep it on a desk but soon had to turn it off as the entire open-plan office started complaining.

As to the question about fans, the difference between 39 dba and 23 dba is huge but your problem is that unless the measurements were taken by the same company, the numbers mean nothing. At what distance was the measurement taken? Without that, you know nothing useful.

Have you tried using any kind of software to control the speed of the fans? Or using a resistor on the fan wires to slow them down? You need to know the cpu temperatures, the case temperatures, to know whether they can be slowed down, either electrically or through software.
 
Thanks for the reply Mike, i was wondering if i did buy a rack would it make much diff but they cost a lot to find out!

I havent tried to do much at all on them becuase the sound is just horrible.
I guess i will throw windows on all of them tomorrow (Working late tonight) and start to measue the temps etc.

Like i said though i fried one of the xeon fans and the rest have picked up their speed a lot to cover for the failed fan which makes the test slightly unfair!
The heatsinks of the xeons barely even felt warm when it was last powered up and the case above the xeons actually felt cold to touch which is why i sounded so sure i could do something about the noise.

Slowing them down with out actually replacing the fans sounds like a very very good idea to me.

Some kind of crude home made varible resister aka fan speed controler would be perfect if such a thing could be done at a low cost?

I appreciate your input cheers.
 
as an alternative,
maybe think about an enclosure for them,

you could rig up a plywood box and line it with fibreglass soundproofing batts (Wickes ~£30)

make sure there is no direct path that sound can escape from the box (ie use baffles)
and it should reduce much of the fan noise. (40mm fans are never going to be quiet - that's the big downside of 1U servers....)


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you'll get some heat increase, but some 120mm exit/entrance fans should
keep the temps reasonable.

google for "soundproof server rack" to see how others do it
.
 
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bitslice said:
as an alternative,
maybe think about an enclosure for them,

you could rig up a plywood box and line it with fibreglass soundproofing batts (Wickes ~£30)

make sure there is no direct path that sound can escape from the box (ie use baffles)
and it should reduce much of the fan noise. (40mm fans are never going to be quiet - that's the big downside of 1U servers....)


.._______________
.|......................|
....|..========...|
....|..========...|
....|..========...|
....|...................|
....|__________...|


you'll get some heat increase, but some 120mm exit/entrance fans should
keep the temps reasonable.

google for "soundproof server rack" to see how others do it
.
Click to expand...


Interesting idea - i did look up a few soundproof racks and they all seemed to cost £1000s so i didnt even consider i could rig one up for the kind of money you mentioned!

Will be looking into both ideas as soon as i get some benchmark temps later
 
Do you need them to be rackmount?

You haven't really said why you have purchased them or where they are to be used. If it's home use you could follow the above DIY suggestion but also de-case all of them and mount them in slots in the DIY case with larger but slower and quiter fans on the DIY case used to replace the small 40mm case ones.
 
I bought them just to have really ;)

One will be replacing our current network gateway (400ish mhz fanless p3) running natd etc.

No general plans as of yet for what they all will be used for..

but right now they are just too loud to do anything with.

Cant really be removing them from the cases that would be a extreme really. these p3 compaqs seem to build upon them selfs etc riser cards connecting into riser cards building a box shape.

Nice suggestion though i might actually try it with one of the 3u compaq p3s just for something to do but the 1u xeon id rather not kill it :p



Hmm having problems reading the temps/fan speeds with any windows program.

"speedfan" app just shows my hdd drive temps and no other info.
"CoreTemp" app seems to think my xeons arnt intel proccesses which is new to me :D


hopefully one of these other apps i am downloading will do the job
 
I have a few rackmounted servers in my garage. The 1U/2U servers I have are Noisy as hell, there's not much you're going to do about it as they need high airflw through them to get them cool.

The bigger servers 5U+ are much more ear friendly.


I can hear my DL320 from down the bottom of my street, it's that noisy. :(


So get ear defenders and get used to it. ;)
 
Ouch bottom of the street? never thought of that!

always wondered about putting computers outside in garage etc but i thought the moisture would mess with them? we only got a shed now so thats not an option any more :mad:



Well maybe i could just build ontop of the 1u case instead of ripping it all out of it, if that made sense.

The "lid" slides off, and in its place i could just put four walls made from what ever and a roof there and some vents and bigger fans? same idea but less work? wouldnt mind doing that as much as gutting the full case.


Can anyone tell me how i can make the motherboard think that the fans are still connected when they are not?
Going to guess i could throw a jumper over two of the pins that the fan plugs onto - thats a big guess though
 
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