Yesterday I made a trip to a local video editing studio and I really wondered how they kept everything nice and cool. The main server system with the shared HDD resources (>10TB) consisted of ten 1U rackmount PCs stacked in a single rack. I looked at the rack from behind and the excessive amount of heat getting out reminded me of sauna! Using software based temperature monitors I saw that the CPUs would run at 60C with high load (that is, 2TB file streaming). The load was shared between the CPUs with each rackmount hosting 2 CPUs. That's 20 CPUs running at higher than 45C idle due to very low airflow.
I said, awesome! Is heat any issue then actually?
How are rackmount servers kept cool?
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LodeHacker
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matt_garman
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But was it quiet? 
In my experience, rackmount systems are loud, loud, loud. Especially 1U systems, they usually have an array of tiny (60mm I think) fans that run at full speed.
Note that file streaming generally doesn't tax the CPU too much, particularly on "server grade" hardware (they usually have better/smarter disk and network controllers that require very little assistance from the CPU).
Where I work, we have a room dedicated to our rackmount systems. The room wasn't originally designed to be a server room, so we had to have the building install a fancy air conditioning unit in the room. That room is cooler than the rest of the office, and kept that way independently. And it's still quite loud. But between the tiny high-speed fans and our massive AC unit, the machines don't overheat.
In my experience, rackmount systems are loud, loud, loud. Especially 1U systems, they usually have an array of tiny (60mm I think) fans that run at full speed.Note that file streaming generally doesn't tax the CPU too much, particularly on "server grade" hardware (they usually have better/smarter disk and network controllers that require very little assistance from the CPU).
Where I work, we have a room dedicated to our rackmount systems. The room wasn't originally designed to be a server room, so we had to have the building install a fancy air conditioning unit in the room. That room is cooler than the rest of the office, and kept that way independently. And it's still quite loud. But between the tiny high-speed fans and our massive AC unit, the machines don't overheat.
My thread regarded a 5U server with larger fans, but the same principles apply. Very loud, very powerful blowers with proper room heating, cooling, and humidity control - that's how to keep a rackmount cool.
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LodeHacker
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Actually, the acoustic performance of the rack was the most interesting part of the trip! Can't believe I didn't describe how *quiet* the system was!matt_garman wrote:But was it quiet?
Like I said the system was set up for video editing use and they don't use headphones. Instead, they had monitor speakers installed just next to the rack. If I had to name the noisiest part of the system then it would have to be the TV they use for timecode monitoring (some kind of old CRT like TV) or the master metronome clock. The rack was virtually silent from a single meter.
I forgot to ask which kind of HDDs they used though, but they certainly were not SSDs. All other rack systems I've seen were loud as in *LOUD*.