SHHHH!! Is there an echo in here? (Cooling Opteron/SCSI rig)

isochar · Post by **isochar** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 10:55 pm

I've been browsing all sorts of forums for an answer to the dilemma for my soon-to-be upgrade: how to quietly cool a fairly high-end Opteron rig with two 15k SCSI drives and two 7.2k IDE drives while minimizing ambient case temperature w/o the use of watercooling? (I'm running dual 2.8 Xeon's in a Silverstone Temjin TJ-03 at the moment... and I have to leave the room to be able to read.)

Case
It begins by compartmentalizing the components into two separate sections through the use of the "pedestal" server cases. The candidates I've found so-far:
Power Supply
Seasonic Super Silencer 400/460 PSU (SS-400AGX/SS-460AGX)
SilentPC's Review seems to glow with praise.
CPUs
They'll need large, low-rpm heatsinks, so the newly released Thermalright XP-120s should do the trick.
Hard Drives
Since all the above four cases have plenty of 5.25" bays, I have the option of doing almost anything here. However, I'm extremely hesitant about raising the temperatures of any of the drives, since hard drive failures and their resulting data loss are a PITA - even with backups. I could definately use some suggestions here. (Considering SmartDrive for the 7200rpms... but what about the 15ks? Waiting for answers in this thread.)
Miscellaneous
Since modding isn't much of an option for me, using the low-rpm Panaflos or Nexus. Money permitting, AcoustiPack'ing as much of the case as possible.

isochar · Post by **isochar** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:37 am

Well, I think I'm sold on Yeong Yan YY-0221B after some research on the modding work several people have done on it. Most of it looks like it shouldn't be too hard to do w/o annoying all my apartment neightbors. Some of the cool mods I saw for it:

In addition, this looks like the only listed dual compartment case that is not monstrous in size.

cansan · Post by **cansan** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:42 pm

I hate to spoil your plans but, two XP-120's will probably not fit. Most dual cpu boards that I have seen seem to have a tight fit with two 80mm fans. I don't think its possible unless you have one huge motherboard. You could try the XP-90 though.

You might want to check out Quiet MP Dual-CPU Workstation article if you havent already.

For the harddisks, I think you could build a silencing enclosure:
(Front view)

Code: Select all

   _________________
--l                 l--
--l H A R D D I S K l--       Use two large aluminium heatsinks for the sides
--l                 l--       Use ~5mm aluminium plates for other surfaces 
--l H A R D D I S K l--       Sides of the harddisk would be hard mounted
--l                 l--       to the heatsinks 
--l H A R D D I S K l--       Leave a small hole for cables
--l                 l--       Fill the gaps between disks with some sound
--l H A R D D I S K l--       absorbing material
--l_________________l--

It would block the noise of those 15k's (I think).

isochar · Post by **isochar** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:20 pm

It's better to get a weather forecast and reschedule a parade rather than blindly holding the parade only to be rained out.

According to my rough measurements the XP-120s should fit horizontally and vertically. I'm not sure about the clearance over all the other stuff on the mobo.

The suggestion for the hard drives is enticing, but seems a like a bit of a hassle to remove drives I want to replace... I'd rather spend the money on the SmartDrive's, if they work.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:37 pm

Looks like a good fit except for the whatsitsname slot (PCI-Express???)

isochar · Post by **isochar** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:45 am

Yeh, that first PCI-express (VIDEO CARD!) slot looks like it will get very close to that 2nd cpu fan. I'm also taking into consideration there is a margin of error in my mockup, so it's possible it won't work at all. Although, at this point, I'm willing to take the chance since it looks like there is a possibility.

cansan · Post by **cansan** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:34 pm

isochar wrote:It's better to get a weather forecast and reschedule a parade rather than blindly holding the parade only to be rained out. According to my rough measurements the XP-120s should fit horizontally and vertically. I'm not sure about the clearance over all the other stuff on the mobo.

You DO HAVE got one HUGE motherboard there!
Sorry if I sounded negative the first time, I really think dual XP-120's would be fantastic, its just that this is the first time I have seen a board with enough distance between the two sockets.

The clearance issue with the videocard may or may not happen depending on which way you install / CAN install the XP-120. Because if I'm not mistaken, it is not symmetric.

isochar wrote:The suggestion for the hard drives is enticing, but seems a like a bit of a hassle to remove drives I want to replace... I'd rather spend the money on the SmartDrive's, if they work.

I agree this is quite a hassle, but some people find even the raptors unsilencable, so I think for a 15k drive, you need some extreme measures.

A bit off-topic, but: I just had a reaalllyy stupid idea: So if you want a doable/smart idea, this isn't it!

Would it be possible to suspend the harddisk with elastic in a vacuumed out airtight container to substantially reduce the noise? I can find lots of reasons why it wouldn't work, can anyone think of reasons why it might work?

isochar · Post by **isochar** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:50 am

I ran across some interesting commentary while doing some more research on the hard drive cooling:

Looking for a hard drive enclosure that not only quiets your hard drive, but also DECREASES your hard drive temperature? See the Smart Drive 2002 Copper. The Smart Drive 2002 Copper is safe even for your hottest hard drives (10,000 and 15,000 rpm drives).

It specifically points to the Smart Drive 2002 Copper. Thoughts? Any way you guys could get one and test the claims?

Ultraliner · Post by **Ultraliner** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:12 am

A bit off-topic, but: I just had a reaalllyy stupid idea: So if you want a doable/smart idea, this isn't it! Very Happy Would it be possible to suspend the harddisk with elastic in a vacuumed out airtight container to substantially reduce the noise? I can find lots of reasons why it wouldn't work, can anyone think of reasons why it might work?

I can't give you a reason for it to work, but I can certainly guarantee that it won't. This is because hard drives rely on air to float the read heads over the platters as they spin. If you remove the air completely, the heads will simply grind on the platters, and you'll end up with a very dead hard disk, very quickly.