Another not quite quiet server

bolek · Post by **bolek** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 1:14 pm

Here is a dual Xeon server that I recently built in the Stacker 810 case.

More and bigger pictures at http://combolek.smugmug.com/gallery/3606399

Cabling is a mess but it's really hard with 14 drives

murtoz · Post by **murtoz** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 3:13 pm

bolek wrote:14 drives

Talk about overkill

Seriously though, can you hear the cpu fans over the noise of the drive?
And did you realise that both noctua and thermalright (heatsink, conversion kit) now cater for xeons? I don't think you could mount two U120's next to eachother unless they're facing upwards though...

bolek · Post by **bolek** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:34 pm

murtoz wrote:Seriously though, can you hear the cpu fans over the noise of the drive?

Yes, the CPU fans are the loudest components. Actually, only 8 HDDs are spinning all the time. The rest are used for backups etc. and only spin up on demand.

I have to check about Xeon coolers, thanks for the links. But the coolers have to be really slim to fit two of them.

bolek · Post by **bolek** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:02 pm

Hmm, something is not right... According to http://ssiforum.org/Electronic%20Bays/S ... 0v3-61.pdf the distance between the two CPU sockets for dual Xeon configuration is 82.55mm (center to center), which is obviously also the maximum width of the CPU cooler. But the width of the Thermalright cooler (http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main ... _si9xv.htm) is 85mm. How is it going to fit?

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:47 pm

What are the specs?

bolek · Post by **bolek** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 3:11 pm

ddrueding1 wrote:What are the specs?

Asus DSBF-DE/SAS
2 x Xeon 5355 (stock cooling)
8GB RAM
3 x DATOptic MR435 hot swap drive cage (http://www.caloptic.com/cgi-bin/quiksto ... detail=yes)
8 x 500GB for the RAID, random other drives for other purposes
Antec Truepower Quattro 850W
Coolermaster Stacker RC-810
CentOS 5.0
VMware Server 1.0.4

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 3:36 pm

O_O *drools*

i saw dual Xeon and for a second i thought of my P3 Xeon rig, then i saw 5355..that had have cost a pretty penny, and for home use?

if you didn't have so many drive's i'd suggest a smaller case, but obviously not.

with that kind of power you'd think it would be for video editing with Adobe Premier [as its not a mac, therefore FCP-HD is out of the question].

but wowza, thats intense, can i have it when you're done?

bolek · Post by **bolek** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 3:53 pm

It's not strictly home use (although it's not exactly making money either, yet). Originally I intended one 5355 but got the second one as a gift. Also, I waited for the huge price drop in July.

And I wouldn't hold your breath waiting until I am done

murtoz · Post by **murtoz** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:08 am

How is it going to fit?

With either solution, I would have thought the only way it would fit is if the heatsinks are oriented so that an attached fan would be blowing to the top of the chassis, rather than the back. Best to check with thermalright and noctua though.

2 x Xeon 5355 (stock cooling)

Ok, that would probably rule out the thermalright SI-9XV, they say the 5080 and 5060 Xeon's are not supported. These are dual core, and my guess is your 5355 would produce as much, if not more heat. The SI-9XV doesn't seem as effective as a ninja or U120 anyways.
I'd check wth noctua on the installation of two of their heatsinks and if possibly go with that solution personally, or wait for the bracket from TR.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:06 pm

How do you find that hot-swap cage for general usablilty? I've been looking at a hard drive cage for a while now, but haven't really found one that I liked yet.

How does the hard drive activity work? Is that built into the cage, or does it require headers from the drive controller?

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:21 pm

My favorite hot-swap cages are the 5-drive ones from Supermicro. Fan-swaps are easy and drive activity is self-contained. Plus, higher density

bolek · Post by **bolek** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:38 pm

Nick Geraedts wrote:How do you find that hot-swap cage for general usablilty? I've been looking at a hard drive cage for a while now, but haven't really found one that I liked yet.

How does the hard drive activity work? Is that built into the cage, or does it require headers from the drive controller?

I like it a lot. The best part is that it's tray-less. Just slide the drive in and close the door.

Drive activity is built-in but requires that you use their cables (supplied). I can't do that for the on-board SAS controller that uses multi-lane connectors, so I don't have drive activity for these drives. I don't really care, since the server is in the basement and with RAID all drives are active at the same time anyway

My only complaint about this cage is the two small 40mm fans that are fairly loud. They do have separate power though so I just didn't connect them. I covered all the side vents in the case so the only intake is through the front cages and this is enough to keep drives cool (they were in the 35 C range in the summer).

Another not quite quiet server

Another not quite quiet server

Re: Another not quite quiet server

Re: Another not quite quiet server