1U Servers - Make them quieter

S

Seemund

Gawd
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Aug 31, 2007
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634
Hello,
I have 3x IBM x335 servers (1U - rack mountable), and they're extremely loud.

The case has a total of 8x TA150DC (C34957 - 3PIN) fans, which are rated at 29dbA on the manufacturers website.

What can I do to make them quieter?
I've been looking for quieter fans, but the best I've found was rated at around 19dbA (not really an improvement, right?) and it doesn't even push half the CFM the currently fan does.

I was thinking about leaving the top covers off, and replacing the little 40x28mm fans with 120mm fans, but I'm not 100% sure on what to do yet... Any suggestions, comments?

I need the servers, so please don't tell me to sell them.
Also, buying 2U cases is not an option.. I need a quick and cheap solution.

This is how the server looks like:
33766206_1.jpg
 
If you want them really quiet and don't mind modifying the top of the case, you can always find a nice squirrel cage fan that blows plenty and rig up some ducting so everything gets cooled properly.

Leaving the top cover off is a very bad idea as the air would not flow properly to cool the system.
 
29dBA would normally be perceived as twice as loud as 19dbA, so I think it'd be a big difference. If you could find a fan that's 22-23 dbA, it might make a huge difference for you while providing a bit more airflow than the quieter one.

Another thing to keep in mind is the air being pulled through vents and heatsink fins is going to contribute to noise as well.
 
ryan_975 said:
29dBA would normally be perceived as twice as loud as 19dbA, so I think it'd be a big difference. If you could find a fan that's 22-23 dbA, it might make a huge difference for you while providing a bit more airflow than the quieter one.
Click to expand...

10dB is a much bigger perceptual difference than 'twice as loud'. 3dB is about a doubling, so 9dB is about 8 times louder. 10dB works out to approximately ten times as loud.

These quieter fans should make a pretty substantial difference, but 1U servers will be loud, period.
 
keenan said:
10dB is a much bigger perceptual difference than 'twice as loud'. 3dB is about a doubling, so 9dB is about 8 times louder. 10dB works out to approximately ten times as loud.

These quieter fans should make a pretty substantial difference, but 1U servers will be loud, period.
Click to expand...

+3db is a doubling of sound pressure, but our ears don't respond linearly with changes in pressure. It takes about 10db to perceive a sound as being twice as loud, despite there being an order of magnitude difference in pressure.
 
ryan_975 said:
+3db is a doubling of sound pressure, but our ears don't respond linearly with changes in pressure. It takes about 10db to perceive a sound as being twice as loud, despite there being an order of magnitude difference in pressure.
Click to expand...

Yeah you're right, for some reason I was under the impression that it was only frequency dependent and not with a screwy base scale too.
 
I'm having trouble finding a cheap/quiet fan.
The one I previously found is out of stock and I can't find it nowhere..

The only under 30dbA fan I was able to find was the "Scythe Mini Kaze 40mm - 14dbA" for around $8/each shipped.
If I do replace all 21 fans with those, it would cost me $168 (out of my budget).
I was thinking about finding a solution that would cost me under $50.

Any ideas? Thanks for all the replies so far..
 
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Ok lets have a look see.
http://www.nidec.com/fanpdfs/ta150dc28.pdf

10.6K rpm 15CFM 39.2 dbA and likely that is at one meter. These are typical 1U server fans they will sound a lot louder than the db spec indicates although I do trust the number slightly more than 99% of the other db ratings given for fan. 8 of them will sound like bees in your head. CPU passive heatsinks (no fan on cpu heatsink so airflow is critcal. )

1U is major issue as airflow is critical for the low profile design but there is no room/height to use anything but small fans and they must scream to move much air. Using lower rpm fans might help a little but anything much slower/quieter would severely compromise the airflow and likely cause heating/temp issues especially on the power supply as it is unlikely that could be monitored. The big problme

Ok Major Obvious has reported.

I dont see any chance in hell of doing anything for $50. Even just doing something like 7Ving the fans (not sure that would work as Nidec specs says min voltage is about 10V but worth a try) and putting a $20 active 1U heatsink on the cpus would kill your budget for one machine. Fan controller to turn them down is also too expensive even if you found one you could lay in there someplace and eiter way you risk burning up the power supply from lack of airflow as there is no way to force air through the power supply with its dedicated fans and no baffeling. Airflow is designed to be a straight shot front to back across the CPU heatsinks with the power supply having its own fans.

Your budget pretty much eliminates any fan replacement or modificaions and the physical design is such that the cooling integrity would be severly compromised with about anything you do and there is no room to do much of anything anyway.

----------------

The only option I can think of is to build an enclosure to baffle/muffle the sound. Basicaly since they are server room units, build a mini sever room. Stack the units together and construct a box to house them with baffels and foam to attempt to kill the noise. You could use acrylic windows that hinged open to see/access the front panels and would require longer cableing in the rear to exit all AC and other connections in one place at the back.

So baffled box, larger than stacked units with front baffle below the lower unit and rear baffle above the top unit. HDF (high density fiberboard) if you can or MDF otherwise plywood with stiffeners glued and screwed, as thick as you can (it will weigh a ton) with divider type baffles, open cell foam lined. Hinged for access and/or 1/4 inch thich or 3/8 acrylic window(s) in front.

You likely cant get the MDF for $50 much less you need a decent workshop and tools to fabricate something decent. (Table saw, clamps, drill, ). Perhaps the materails could be scrounged /shrug.

Just stitting them in a cardboard box (think major appilance box chopped up/modified ) would help.

You cant really easily (or even not easily) do much even if swapping out those fans were in your budget. I woudl go for muffler . Even just a flat panel suspeneded in front of the rack lined with foam to kill the direct path of sound to your ear would help a little. But as mentioned above they are going to be loud unless you enclose them. So you need a mico server room you construct around the units so in their litte world they can make all the noise they want.

I would cut out the rear grills first thing, Wont help much/any with noise its an airflow improvement.

thats all I got,
 
$50 max to replace all the fans huh.... squirrel cage, modding the cases, and rigging up ducting is the only way you are gonna come close to that unless you can find somebody that is throwing out/giving away stuff for free.

Here is a fan that will work... $17.50 a piece. 1 per server would probably work.

http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/12to24vdcfan-squirrelcageblower.aspx

Here are some smaller ones for $10 a piece.. if you could squeeze them into the cases they might work, but it would end up costing more in the end.

http://www.surplussales.com/fans-blowers/fansblow-1.html

Or you could buy some off of Ebay:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkpar...&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1

Or if you can round up some old Microwave ovens, you could salvage squirrel cage fans out of them.. and they would even run on 120v.

If you don't mind going to a salvage yard, you can get some very nice squirrel cage fans from heater / A/C systems. The Honda ones are about the best. But they run off of 12v and pull 140-160w each. Probably the cheapest way if you want tons of airflow for really cheap though.

One more thing.... squirrel cage fans don't whine at all... they just make a whooshing noise from all the air being moved.
 
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Again, thanks for the last 2 replies, I'm going to see what will come cheaper and more effective..
Thanks for taking the time to help me...

In the end, if any of the alternatives listed above don't work, I might just sell the 3 servers on ebay, and get 1 bigger (2u or 4u) unit..
 
It's hard to make servers quiet without compromising cooling, especially a 1U. My rule of thumb is keep server/network equipment away from living space. My servers are in my basement, and when I get the money, I'm building a server room (right now they're just sitting on a shelf next to the patch panel) and I will be sound proofing it as much as I can since the rest of the basement will be the home theatre.
 
I'm not sure if the IBM has it or not but there might be drivers available on IBM's site to spin down the fans once the OS loads.

http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/supp...00008&oldfamily=0&oldtype=0&taskind=2&psid=sp

That said I'm not too familiar with IBM servers as I only really toyed with a couple models. I have more experience with Compaq/HP servers that do spin the fans down once the os loads.

I'd suggest making a thread in the networking&security forum and ask to see if anyone has had any luck in quieting down these servers.

what exactly are you using the servers for??
 
I'm going to use the servers for learning..
Linux, *BSD, Windows, Networking, dns/http servers, etc..

I also need a place to run asterisk
 
Yeah? That sounds exactly like what I did with a few servers for learning on. though I never did try out asterisk.

Again check out the networking & security forums for a bit more in depth help on the quieting of the fans. I would think that most modern servers intel P4 or later would have the option of spinning the fans down once the OS loads.

Another forum that I've found useful is Tek-Tips.
 
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