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HDD server cooling

L

lordsegan

Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
624
I am going to use an Antec 1200 for a high density 12 disk array.

I either plan to use these http://www.sigwell.com/Store/tabid/59/CategoryID/14/List/0/Level/1/ProductID/85/Default.aspx
http://www.sigwell.com/images/products/SNT-125SATA_4_x400.png
http://www.sigwell.com/images/products/SNT-125SATA_7_x400.png

Or the standard Antec drive cages:
http://store.antec.com/Product/acce...dd-w-air-filter-and-fan/0-761345-30146-6.aspx

I am worried about power use, heat, vibration. The SNT-125 hotswap bay has a small fan which will increase power use, and per the above pictures, does not appear to offer excellent cooling (<1mm airspace around the HDD in the tray).

The Antec bays on the other hand cause all three HDDs to vibrate against each other, but may offer better cooling, with three fairly efficient 120mm fans.

What do you guys suggest?
 
Lian-Li makes some nice basic adapters to mount 4 3.5" drives in 3 5.25" bays. I have their 3-in-2 model and am debating replacing it with a 4-in-3 for the bigger fan.

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...dex=279&cl_index=2&sc_index=5&ss_index=12&g=f

That'd give you one more drive per 3 5.25 bays, and the hard drives are spaced out a bit to let air flow through them fairly easily. Looks like that case already has 3 fans in the front, so you can either leave them as-is and add the 3 extra fans with those adapters, or you could remove the fans/grills from the adapters and use the fans already in your case to blow air over them.
 
I "think" its better to blow air over a hdd instead of suck air over, but i guess it really doesn't matter if there is air passing over them to keep them cool.

Fan's don't take up that much power to be concerned about, don't worry about it.

Main goal to think about is do you want hot swap/pull out or do yo uwant stationary drives that you have to unscrew to remove.

do you have your mind set on this case 100% or could you go to a better case for this project ?
 
I would actually suggest this Lian Li (different from the above unit) http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=559&cl_index=2&sc_index=5&ss_index=12 It is actually a 6-in-3 (you can put 4 3.5" AND 2 2.5" drives in 3 5.25" spaces) and you can choose what fan you would like as an aftermarket item (depending on if CFM or noise is the more important item to you). They are an ingenious system and include rubber vibration damping grommets for all the drives. I have used a number of them and they are great.
 
We use Lian Li's 3-in-2 drive bay adapters for our home/office server and the 80mm fans in front keep green drives within acceptable temperature ranges, even in summer where it's over 35C in the room. They're also very quiet and do a good job of isolating vibrations.
 
dashpuppy said:
I "think" its better to blow air over a hdd instead of suck air over, but i guess it really doesn't matter if there is air passing over them to keep them cool.

Fan's don't take up that much power to be concerned about, don't worry about it.

Main goal to think about is do you want hot swap/pull out or do yo uwant stationary drives that you have to unscrew to remove.

do you have your mind set on this case 100% or could you go to a better case for this project ?
Click to expand...

I'd potentially be willing to use another 12bay case.
Do you have one in mind?

Thanks
 
Hey guys,

I decided to stick with the Antec 1200. Nothing beats a large full tower for cooling capability. The smaller server cases just have too much density to make me comfortable.

I decided to splurge and get 4x of the following: Lian Li EX-332N http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...dex=329&cl_index=2&sc_index=5&ss_index=12&g=f

The Lian unit has removable trays, and it's low density, which again makes it better for cooling.

Thanks for the tips!
 
lordsegan said:
Hey guys,

I decided to stick with the Antec 1200. Nothing beats a large full tower for cooling capability. The smaller server cases just have too much density to make me comfortable.

I decided to splurge and get 4x of the following: Lian Li EX-332N http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...dex=329&cl_index=2&sc_index=5&ss_index=12&g=f

The Lian unit has removable trays, and it's low density, which again makes it better for cooling.

Thanks for the tips!
Click to expand...

i expect pictures of the build :)
 
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