New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

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bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by bean1975 » Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:11 pm

Here's a passive system:

Xeon E3-1240v3 (80W TDP)
Nofan CR-95C (max 95W)
NZXT Vulcan (mesh side and top and the top bulges nicely making sure the small cooler fits :) )
PicoPSU 150+144W brick
Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H
Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9W Lowprofile White (1.35V)
some random SSD I have around

Altogether a bit above $800, even if I needed to buy a SSD it'd be below $900 which is not too bad for something like this.

Will be a few weeks before everything arrives, I will report back how well it works.

thierry.
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:07 am
Location: Vienna - Austria

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by thierry. » Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:54 am

Hi Bean,
I'm very interested to see this passive build, to get ideas.
You will use the original fans from the case? (Is it one front and one top?)

Please put us some pictures of the settings inside your box.

Why did you choose this case?
With mATX, you could do a smaller one, still with HDD capacity.

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by bean1975 » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:11 am

thierry. wrote:Hi Bean,
I'm very interested to see this passive build, to get ideas.
You will use the original fans from the case? (Is it one front and one top?)

Please put us some pictures of the settings inside your box.

Why did you choose this case?
With mATX, you could do a smaller one, still with HDD capacity.
No fans here. I am trying to go fully passive. The reasons for this case is, as I stated in the original post is the massive side mesh (which is surprisingly hard to find) and similarly, the top mesh + top bulge to make sure the giant of a cooler fits. I don't care much for space as long as it's not a full tower. I was looking at the Coolermaster HAF Stacker 915F Mini-ITX longingly but I doubt you could fit the Nofan in there -- the whole case is just 248.0 mm wide, the CR-95C is 180mm wide. It *would* be insanely cool, however, if it would fit! You'd need an ITX motherboard with the socket placed somewhat closer to the PCIe socket.

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by bean1975 » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:11 am

double post, sorry

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by bean1975 » Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:36 pm

The memory is not yet here and I need to RMA the motherboard but the cooler landed today. It's huge. It absolutely dwarves the AXP-140 and that's not a small cooler. But the impressive size easily clears the motherboard components -- the standoffs are 1.5 inches (!) so the back ports or the "Ultra Durable" heatsink happily fits underneath. I haven't yet fitted it in place just placed it on the MB but there is no doubt the first PCIe won't be usable. But as I plan to run this headless, what do I care, the Radeon X300 I will use for install will run just fine in the electrically x4 slot. Also, the manual mentions that on mATX the first slot is not usable so no real surprises there.

The 150W PSU (I thought I bought a 144W but I won't complain about the extra 6W) also just landed, that's not small either :)

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by bean1975 » Thu May 01, 2014 7:46 pm

This project lapsed a bit; but the Vulcan is not cutting it, there's a HAF 922 on the way in. The Nofan hangs off the motherboard a little (I suspected it would) but the bulge on top of the Vulcan is not entirely side-to-side so it doesnt accomodate it. Dangit. Looking at actual pictures of builds with the HAF 922 most importantly http://cdn.overclock.net/e/e0/e04de82f_ ... 37012.jpeg shows space above the motherboard where I need it. I could have chosen a top PSU arrangement case especially because of the picoPSU but there doesn't seem to exist a (affordable) case with lots of mesh on the side and top and a top PSU. It just doesn't.

The LP memory is quite helpful cos the cooler covers the memory slots and also the first video slot. I will try to furnish pictures. I have tested the system on the table and despite sporadic reports of the picoPSU and Haswell having starting problems, I had no problems.

xan_user
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Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 9:09 am
Location: Northern California.

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by xan_user » Fri May 02, 2014 7:41 am

you might want to consider getting some small heatsinks for the bare VRM and the other little heat producers on that board.
the main factor in longevity will be your ambient temps. Id never try fanless, my office can easily be over 95*f in august.

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by bean1975 » Tue May 06, 2014 1:47 pm

I believe the Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H has heatsinks on its own http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/prod ... 18_big.jpg plenty enough. Also, the HAF chassis arrived and it's so big the cooler fits even with the top fan left in; of course I removed it cos I don't need it. The overhang is not much and the HAF is quite big :)

Image
Last edited by bean1975 on Wed May 07, 2014 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

xan_user
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Posts: 2269
Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 9:09 am
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Re: New passive (!) home server based on an E3-1240v3

Post by xan_user » Tue May 06, 2014 3:26 pm

im talking about the bare ones right under the words "ultra durable". weird they omitted heat inks there, but put them everywhere else. especially that close to the CPU.

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