Silent, or near silent, cooling for file server

[adamthekiwi]

Hi folks,

A slightly unusual request, based on the reading I've done so far...?

I'm building a low-power, always on fileserver - based around a Supermicro mATX server board (LGA 1150) and a Pentium G3440 - so TDP only 53W, I think. That may eventually get upgraded to a Xeon. Drives are TBC, but likely to be SSDs - 4 initially, rising to 8, packed quite tightly into 2 4x2.5" hotswap bays (occupying the 5.25 bays). Case is a Silverstone Sugo SG02B. No GPU. Power supply will be an existing Seasonic X-400 fanless.

I'm building myself a custom arduino-based PWM cooler with a temperature probe (or maybe several) that will be mounted just behind the drives - that will power a 140mm fan to cool the drive bays if necessary. It will also blow air over the CPU area - but I'm not anticipating it being on much.

I'm not sure a passive CPU cooler is necessarily a good idea, given how little other cooling there is around. It's not going to be high-load at any time (which may mean the drive fan almost never comes on), but I don't want a burnt-out CPU - so, I think that means I definitely want a fan-driven cooler. Any advice? Budget not a consideration (unless it's crazy) - but silence (or as near as possible) is: this machine is always on and based in the home office. Lastly, based in the UK.

Thanks - Adam.

[CA_Steve]

Welcome to SPCR.

The SG02 is limited to a 82mm tall CPU cooler. You could go with the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev B for the Pentium and if/when you upgrade to a Xeon, replace the thinline fan with a std 25mm one.

There is also the Noctua NH-L12 with the top fan removed to make it height compliant.