My P182 is full and isn't as loud as I expected

[Tom Brown]

My P182 is completely full.

Antec P182 with all fans swapped for Nexus RS fans
Foxconn A7DA-S 790GX/SB750
AMD 9850
Skythe Mini-Ninja
4 x 2GB Patriot DDR2 RAM
Seasonic 430W PSU

6 x internal 3.5" bays -> 6 x Samsung 750 GB F1 drives
1 x external 3.5" bay -> media reader
1 x external 5.25" bay -> DVD burner
3 x external 5.25" bays -> Kingwin 4 x 3.5" -> 3 x 5.25" hard disk cage with 4 x 1.5 TB Seagate drives

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=24155 ... re=Kingwin


I thought the 40 mm fans on the Kingwin drive cage would be a problem but I can't hear them, even when the drives are powered off. The loudest items in the system are the Seagate drives. The Samsung drives are the second loudest devices in the box. With the 10 drives turned off, the system is approximately silent.

Overall, it's not as loud as I expected but it's definitely not silent. The P182 case provided a nice sound reduction as compared to the CoolerMaster case I had been using for this server. What's more, the components run significantly cooler in the P182. Temperatures are excellent.

The four Nexus fans are audible, barely. I doubt I will upgrade the Nexus fans. Quieter fans exist but II don't imagine new fans will be all that much quieter. Particularly with the 10 drives screaming away, I don't see the point upgrading fans.

The lesson I have learned is that it would be a huge advantage to run less drives. One day I will migrate my primary array from 6 x 750GB drives to 3 or 4 x 2TB drives. The cost is still a little high on 2TB drives but as it drops, I'll upgrade and enjoy the peace and quiet.


Here is the output from hddtemp. Both arrays have been working hard for several hours. Ambient temperature in the room is 24C.

/dev/sda: SAMSUNG HD753LJ: 27C
/dev/sdb: SAMSUNG HD753LJ: 26C
/dev/sdc: SAMSUNG HD753LJ: 27C
/dev/sdd: SAMSUNG HD753LJ: 28C
/dev/sdk: SAMSUNG HD753LJ: 27C
/dev/sdl: SAMSUNG HD753LJ: 27C
/dev/sde: ST31500341AS: 39C
/dev/sdf: ST31500341AS: 39C
/dev/sdg: ST31500341AS: 40C
/dev/sdh: ST31500341AS: 40C

Note: I've always felt Samsung drives read cooler than they really are. There's no way the drives are 2~4 degrees warmer than ambient when the drive light has been on solid since after lunch (I'm creating a bunch of massive tar balls).

[nick705]

Note: I've always felt Samsung drives read cooler than they really are. There's no way the drives are 2~4 degrees warmer than ambient when the drive light has been on solid since after lunch (I'm creating a bunch of massive tar balls).

That's always been my feeling also - maybe the sensor is in a different place on Samsung drives, or maybe the firmware is just telling porkies. They certainly don't feel any cooler than comparable WDs or Seagates using the finger method - I've got a couple of HD103UJs in the bottom of a P182, and although they're showing 28-29C, the casings are definitely warmer than body heat.

I had an old 120GB Spinpoint that would consistently show temps below ambient, so it's not a new thing.

Congratulations on your successful build, although I don't think I'd want to use a P182 as a full-on server case - cabling is too much of a chore if you often replace or add drives (the lower chamber drives me demented at the best of times)...