Getting a server silent? | The Coffeehouse

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

I got an old IBM eServer xSeries 336 today. However that thing is annoyingly loud. You can hear it through the whole house, just because of the fans. So I'm wondering if anyone here has some experiences with silent server fans for 1U servers.
Currently there are 5 SanAce40 fans (28mm deep) and three weird 56mm deep ones I can't figure out by whom they were made. They're ball bearing fans (cheap and noisy).

You can find a lot for gaming PCs and multimedia stuff, but I can't find anything for servers. If anyone knows quiet 40mm fans, preferably with fluid dynamic bearing, I'd really appreciate it.

W3bbo
The Master of Baiters

Top-tip: don't use fans. Use some kind of watercooling system if you want total silence.

Otherwise I don't think it's possible since 1U servers live in racks in closed datacentres where people don't mind the noise.

Sabot
My name is Dave Oliver. I'm a Technical Architect.

Dodo ... buy yourself one of these ...

http://www.comms-express.com/products/12u-1115mm-deep-office-styled-server-cabinet-rack/

... it really does cut down the noise to next to nothing.

A cheaper option is this ...

http://www.comms-express.com/products/12u-600mm-x-1100mm-sound-proof-server-cabinet/

... which would be the one I'm getting. Smiley

JeremyJ
The pioneers would be appalled!

You could also try here:

http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/index.asp

They sell quiet fans for PCs and servers. They also offer different fan mounting hardware (like fan gaskets and mounts) to reduce vibration which can also help.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to Sabot

#Jun 4th @ 5:08 AM

That's a bit expensive for a single server. I was thinking of putting it on a shelf or something like that, using it for web and email.

It has an Irwindale 3.0GHz Xeon SL7ZF. Do those run hot? I might think about dismissing a few fans and replacing the CPU cooler (seems to be passively cooled with the three 56mm long 40mm front intake fans). Would it be fine to go with 6CFM fans? because according to some specs I found, the fans have like 40dB(A) and 20-35CFM... and that means 11 fans would be at around 70-80dB(A) (which is noisy).

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

The server is only worth $600, why spend $1500 on a sound-proof cabinet? Would be more logical to resell the IBM eServer and buy a Dell Outlet PC that is quiet by default.

Let's assume: 2x 2.8 Ghz XEON 800 FSB / 1 GB RAM / 800 GB Hard Disk?

Dell Outlet:

$529.00
Intel Core 2 Duo processor E8400 (2MB L2, 3.0GHz, 1333 FSB)
4 GB DDR2 NON-ECC SDRAM 800MHz (4 DIMMs)
500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM) Windows Vista Home Premium, 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450, 16X DVD RW

edit: PS - Posted this before the above reply naming the CPU Smiley

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to ManipUni

#Jun 4th @ 5:44 AM

Well, I think replacing the fans would be more fun.

By the way, it's an 8837-15Y with 1x Xeon 3GHz, 2GB ECC Chipkill RAM, 2x 73.4GB Ultra 320 SCSI 15K RPM HDD and Windows 2008 Enterprise Server x64. I'm sure you'd get more than $600 for that, even though it's low-end. Big Smile

The thing is just, maybe some people here want to be able to sleep and with the fans at full speed that's hardly possible, especially not in the room, where the server is.

I'm currently blocking the fans (just unplugging them doesn't work) to see if I'll be running into heat problems under full load. That's going to be fun (despite it's noisy for now).

bureX
Always a step ahead in stupidity.

I have a 2U IBM eServer that let's you remove all the fans if you want, and it won't complain about it (in contrast to a 1U HP ProLiant that refuses to boot even if one single fan fails) Smiley

You can try hacking the whole thing open, removing all the coolers and replacing them with some of your own quiet ones (which will be difficult, since it is a 1U server after all, and space is limited). Even if the server starts complaining about the lack of coolers connected, you can only use one, and then connect it's speed monitor pin via small wires to other empty fan monitor pins so the server thinks that all of 'em are connected (tried it once on the HP I mentioned before, worked just fine). You could also try to control the fans using a software solution such as SpeedFan, but that probably won't work.

That's just one step in shutting it up... If it's still loud enough, the second would be to enclose the whole damn thing in some homemade rack, in your basement - preferably, where it won't be heard, and then somehow extend the VGA, mouse and keyboard cables over to your desk.

If it's still loud - sell the damn thing. There are plenty of businesses out there that want to cut some costs, or folks that have turned their backyard sheds into homemade server rooms and would be happy to purchase it. It is a server after all, and it is barely upgradable with everyday consumer components... there's no sound card, and it's graphics card is probably less powerful than any other integrated solution you can buy on the market today. In short, it's probably not worth the trouble.

Bas
It finds lightbulbs.

Water cooling still has noise from the pump and the cooler, so it's not entirely noiseless. A lot quieter than most fan solutions though.

If they can't get larger than 40mm, that might be a problem. I have two 120mm Nexus Real Silent case fans in my media center, and they're almost inaudible when you're not right up close to them, but those are never going to fit in that server. I've seen some fan adaptors though that basically look like one of those duckbills you can put on shotguns, only square. One end would be 80mm or something, and another end would be 120mm, and when you'd put a 120mm fan on it all the air would get forced through the 80mm hole. Perhaps you could get something like that for 40mm, and mount it externally?

Sabot
My name is Dave Oliver. I'm a Technical Architect.

The problem with one server ... is your always gonna want another, then some NAS box and then a nice gigabit switch.

The the wife is gonna complain about the noise and "don't they look messy". then suddenly a nice cabinet for less earache doesn't sound like such a bad idea. $1500 or moany wife?

DON'T TAKE THE FANS OUT! I mean doooh!

Just goes to show if you can take FANs out of a rubbish IBM and it still works says allot about how rubbish they are. I would want it to stop to protect the hardware not continue on, short it's life and become a fire-risk!

So put the fans back in and don't be a muppet! geeez!

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to Sabot

#Jun 4th @ 9:17 AM

haha...

I already put them back the CPU got too hot. It still runs if you take them out before you boot it. If you take them out during runtime, it powers off after 5 minutes, except if you put them back in.
That server has some weird fan plugs, too. the case fans have normal plugs, but the positive and negative wires are swapped (red and black) also, it doesn't detect the other fans I plugged in as fans, if I swap those to get them working (missing fan light is still on then)

Yes, it's just one server, I'm planning on putting up more (I just can't afford a wall full of those), but this one is too friggin loud. It sounds like someone's drying hair... with a fan. This should just be a nice tiny web and email server... for now, until I get to something better than that Tongue Out

If those were just FDB fans... :\ It's ridiculous, they've got silicon mounts to dampen vibration, but the fans are so loud, you wouldn't even notice...

I'll just have to bear with earplugs for a week, till new fans arrive, that I can try and RMA if they're not good enough, eh?

figuerres
???

In reply to Dodo

#Jun 4th @ 12:03 PM

you in a house or an apt?

what about in the garage? (if you have one)

just get 2-3 sheets of plywood and make a box , cut out some vents and cover them with screen. put a fan on top to draw out air.

not perfect but not to costly and then you can put in a cheap relay rack later if you want to stack up some stuff.

if your a/c has enough colling run 1 duct into the bottom of the box..... then you have cooling and venting.

and it's not in the main home areas...

stevo_
Human after all

Watercooling sounds like a maint~ nightmare, personally the last few computers I've built have been almost entirely passively cooled.. just a slow running 120mm fan or two to keep air moving through giant heatsinks.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to figuerres

#Jun 4th @ 1:02 PM

I'm living at my Mom's and I have a single room. I could put the server in the basement or the attic, but then I'd have to use wifi for the connection, because we don't have network cabling throughout the whole house (PCI cards can be used in PCI-X right?) and that would suck... I only have 54b/g wifi... which does fine for just surfing the internets. Smiley

AndyC

In reply to Dodo

#Jun 4th @ 1:51 PM

Pop it somewhere out of the way, like the basement, and get some of those Ethernet-over-power adapters and use those instead of wireless. That's what I did with my home server and the end result is fantastic. It's bound to be cheaper than trying to make the server run quiet, they just aren't designed with that in mind.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to AndyC

#Jun 4th @ 2:10 PM

cheaper? not really... new fans are like 150EUR max, the power adapters are about the same, and I'm sure they don't like changes in current drawing either, if they even run with electricity on. I'll just try to cramp a lot of those in there and see how it goes.

And then I'm doing some design work for silent servers... and try to send them to those evil people...

figuerres
???

In reply to Dodo

#Jun 4th @ 2:20 PM

well as most servers go into data centers and such i think what you will hear back is they want them to be reliable and forget the noise.

i think every rack mounted / built for a server room box i have used was that way.

Ever been in a large commerical Data Center, it's better than the "cone of silence" from Get Smart -- you have to shout to the person next to you most of the time, and use hand signals a lot also Smiley

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to figuerres

#Jun 4th @ 3:10 PM

Reliability includes making them as silent as possible without loosing performance due to the necessity of hardware maintenance. Fans with fluid dynamic bearing are quieter and have a slightly longer lifetime when permanently in use, because the FDB compound has the best performance when the fans are spinning.

Why silent servers? That's why! Now don't tell me making silent servers is bad. And I thought green IT and all that is a hype right now...

AndyC

In reply to Dodo

#Jun 4th @ 3:23 PM

Contrary to popular belief, a long lifespan isn't particularly desirable for servers, it's generally cheaper to let them run hot shortening their lifespan somewhat. It might take their expected lifetime from 7 years down to about 5, but ther overall cost of running and replacing them makes it worthwhile. The costs of air conditioning a datacenter are frighteningly high.

And, in a room that very few people ever go in to, the cost of making it quiet is never going to look good on a balance sheet. Shouting at a disk drive might make for an interesting demo of vibration issues, but all it really highlights is that the background noise from the datacenter has no noticable effect, despite being loud enough to be unpleasant to spend an extended period of time in.

bureX
Always a step ahead in stupidity.

In reply to Sabot

#Jun 4th @ 9:17 AM

Just goes to show if you can take FANs out of a rubbish IBM and it still works says allot about how rubbish they are. I would want it to stop to protect the hardware not continue on, short it's life and become a fire-risk!

Any computer, whether it be a server or just an average Joe PC, turns off when it gets too hot, or sounds an alarm when it gets to the "danger" zone and that goes for the same IBM I use. Personally, I like the option of unplugging any coolers as I deem fit (even if I don't), since I had a bad experience with HPs way of "managing" cooler speeds... One day, when I had to reboot an HP ProLiant, it refused to boot and turned off after 2-3 seconds. After closer inspection, I found out that the front CPU cooling module had only one cooler broken - out of 8! And it still refused to boot! What now? Order a spare? How long 'till it get's here? I thought the sole purpose of servers is to work, work and work, no matter what the hell happens... why can only one tiny cooler disable the whole server? That's just pathetic...

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to bureX

#Jun 5th @ 5:11 PM

Yeah, the funny thing with mine is though, that it has a remote control card in it. This card always runs, and it runs hot, yet hasn't got a cooler. It's also the only way I seem to be able to read CPU temperatures, because from within Windows it's not working.

However, you can turn it on with fans disabled, but if a fan is being unplugged (and I don't really know how it's detecting that) during runtime, it turns off after five minutes. If a fan fails, it doesn't, instead the other fans run at full speed (~24CFM and 53 dB(A) per fan) total overkill... that thing doesn't even run hot, except for the LSI Ultra 320 SCSI 1020 RAID controller, which is located where airflow is the lowest, with a passive cooler. A design failure right from the start I'd say.

If I plug in my normal PC fans, they either don't fit in the plugs either, or they don't work because the witres for positive and negative current have been swapped, and if I swap those out to make them work, it doesn't detect there's a fan. What's so special about those SunAce40 fans, that they get detected properly? It can't be their RPM, because manually slowing the original ones down, till they're almost stopped didn't cause the defective fan light to light up.

I'm soldering fans from Silenx to the power supplies on Monday and see how that goes...