... G4 servers. The specs are as follows:

120 x 120 x 38 mm

12v dc

3.3a

9 wire, 8 pin connector

The server has six of these and sounds like a jet engine. I'd really like to lose these. I've searched but have been unable to find any good info. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm sorry, but:

- servers are build to last, not for silence
- HP uses proprietary cabling
- the server will refuse to start with 3rd party fans not mimicking the electronic signal of the original fans

If you tax this server it will run way to hot without these fans. Afaik you have to move the G4 to a server room.

Everything Pappnaas said I agree with. Something to consider if you want to make it quieter would be putting it in a sound quiet rack enclosure. There are a couple of enclosures like this out there which are lined with sound absorbing materials.

What are you using this system for? If the purpose has changed so that it is no longer really a server system then perhaps you could reconfigure it to work without these fans connected but don't expect this to be easy. Perhaps the BIOS can be a good palce to start? Does it offer any fan control options in the BIOS? Also have you tried any software to control the fans? Maybe Speedfan would be useful to at least try?

Thanks for the replies guys.

It is still being used as a server in a home office setup. Also, the walk-in closet of the converted bedroom office is the server room and it is installed in an enclosed soho server rack. All of this does reduce the noise but this thing is still incredibly loud. I was just hoping to take advantage of these low cost, low noise options that I just recently discovered on sites such as this one.

Also, the fans actually plug into a hot-swappable container and that container plugs into the motherboard. So does the proprietary cabling issue still come into play?

I had a Google and couldn't come up with much info on this or useful pictures. Could you perhaps give some more details of what fans are connected and where/how they plug in?

Replacing fans with standard computer fans won't give you anything like the airflow as silent fans are far far lower output. It might be worth getting hold of a standard computer fan and swapping in place just to see if the system boots OK or not?

Let me third what Pappnaas said, you are not going to be able to silence something like that.

Have you considered how much power such a beast consumes? Servers from that era were not built for efficiency. The payoff for replacing it with something more efficient might be much shorter than you think. While I didn't have DL580 G4s at work, we had the equivalent IBM xSeries and they used about 480W at idle!

I work for HP's HTS team... configuring and installing servers is what I do... stick with the original fans.