Building a quiet server for personal use

Nemesis · Post by **Nemesis** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:17 am

I'm currently designing a "server" to be used for my personal projects and uses. Planned uses include:

- Xen virtualization (other uses are actually virtualized servers under Xen)
- Fileserving
- Webmail/calendaring (with Hula, perhaps)
- LDAP
- Generic stuff

Now, some generic tower-PC or server-case is not suitable. The machine would be on my bookshelf for all the world to see, so there is a need for good looks. And since it would be almost at the ear-level, it needs to be as silent as possible. Performance is a secondary-issue (even with relatively low-end CPU, it would still propably be mostly idle). Here's what I have in mind currently:

Case: Silverstone LC-17S. A HTPC-case, but it has lots of room for storage and it looks good. And the price is reasonable.

PSU: Silverstone ST30NF fanless PSU. Like I said, noise (or lack of it) is of utmost importance.

MoBo: Undecided. Socket939 with 4 RAM-slots, passively cooled chipset and integrated vid-card (if possible, I could buy some low-end vid-card instead).

CPU: Athlon64 3200+, 0.09micron, maybe underclocked. CPU-performance is not that important right now.

CPU-heatsink: Silverstone NT01 V2

Plan so far

Take a look at the internals ot the case here. The plan is as follows:

The CPU-heatsink will be installed in such a way that the heatsink will be facing the case-fans in the lower-left corner. I will enable one of the case fans and lower it's voltage to silence it. It will be blowing air through the CPU-heatsink. I will also construct a "wind-tunnel" from the fan to the grill on the side of the case (next to the CPU). This way the CPU is isolated from the rest of the system, and the hot air is ejected through the vents next to the CPU.

The PSU goes to the lower-right of the case. Notice the grill right next to the PSU, so the hot air is ejected through it as well, besides the rear of the PSU. I will also isolate the PSU from the rest of the system. Notice the screw-holes (that sounds dirty, but it's not my fault

!) on the bottom of the case immediately to the left of the PSU. The "wall" that isolates the PSU from rest of the system would run along that line, all the way to the HD-cages.

The HD(s) would be located on the left and middle drive-cages. This way they are not close to the PSU, and they should stay cool.

All in all, the system would have one slow-moving fan, and all the heat-generating components would be isolated from each other, and the rest of the system.

Does this plan sound feasible? Am I overlooking anything? Any advice/improvements?

EDIT: one option when it comes to fans is to replace one or both of the case-fans with this. Generally speaking, does 1x 1500rpm fan generate more noise than 2x 1000rpm fans would? maybe it would be possible to put one of those 1000rpm fans to blow air on the heatsink, and have another 1000rpm fan sucking the hot air out.

Pate · Post by **Pate** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:22 pm

Hi, and welcome to SPCR!

Your plan sounds interesting!

Just wondering, what are your plans regarding the hard disks? I understand you are building a file server, yet you do not mention the number and type of the hard disks, nor any technique about keeping them cool and quiet?

In my experience, everything else is relatively easy compared to silencing and cooling the hard disks. Of course, going to 2.5" disks helps a lot, but also becomes much more expensive (for the same capacity).

I'd just be interested to hear your plans with the hard disks, hopefully you haven't forgotten them!

Pate

Nemesis · Post by **Nemesis** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:44 am

Pate wrote:Hi, and welcome to SPCR!

Thanks

! A fellow Finn, it seems....

Just wondering, what are your plans regarding the hard disks? I understand you are building a file server, yet you do not mention the number and type of the hard disks, nor any technique about keeping them cool and quiet?

In the beginning, there would be just one 200GB HD. I have no urgent need for massive storage at this point. But the case has 6 slots for HD's, so there's room to spare. Although if I add more HD's, I might need to add cooling to the system (the case does support front-mounted intake-fans).

I do not think that I need some specific HD-cooling. I don't have any HD-cooling on my regular hi-powered tower-PC either. And on this "server" the heat-generating components (CPU and PSU) would be isolated from the rest of the system (and that includes the HDs), and the heat they generate would be vented outside the system ASAP. As to noise.... I might use some low-end noise-insulation with the HD's, but I'm not going all out to eliminate the HD-sound. I find occasional HD-noise to be more tolerable than humming of the fans

. That said, I will propably use some kind of noise-killing material inside the case to silence it even more. And that would help silence the HD's as well.

I'd just be interested to hear your plans with the hard disks, hopefully you haven't forgotten them!

Nope, I haven't forgotten them

. I just don't consider their noise to be a high-priority. Although It would be nice to have completely noiseless computer, I'm willing to settle for some occasional sound from the machine. What I wouldn't stand is the constant humming of the fans.

Pate · Post by **Pate** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:07 pm

Thanks ! A fellow Finn, it seems....

Ah, nice!

Although It would be nice to have completely noiseless computer, I'm willing to settle for some occasional sound from the machine. What I wouldn't stand is the constant humming of the fans.

Okay.. I prefer not to hear the hard drive seek noises, as I keep my machines running 24/7 in my bedroom. To me, constant low hum is preferable to occasional or variable noise.

By the way, for the motherboard you might want to check out the Micro-ATX models with integrated graphics on the chipset (for example the MSI RS482M4-ILD I have in my workstation). Many of them are passive and won't cost all that much.

Pate

stupid · Post by **stupid** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:07 am

Hi there,

Since this will be in your bedroom and will be on 24/7 you may want to consider the following:

A 2.5" Hard Drive - Yes, these can expensive for the capacity you get, especially a 7200rpm, but they are very quiet and produces less heat than the 3.5" counterparts. Otherwise, the general consensus it that the Samsung SpinPoints are the most quietest drives you can buy. Look for "smaller" capacity drives since they will have less platters. The more platters there are the more heat and noise there can be. The 250GB drives should only use 2 platters. I believe Seagate released a single platter 160GB hard drive.

Motherboard - If you want integrated video you will have no choice but to go for a m-ATX motherboard which only has the capacity for 2 sticks of RAM. The BIOSTAR TForce6100-939has lots of good user views. And of course it is passively cooled.

Ummm, that's about it. I can't think of anything else to add.

MattHelm · Post by **MattHelm** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:26 pm

[quote="stupid"]
Motherboard - If you want integrated video you will have no choice but to go for a m-ATX motherboard which only has the capacity for 2 sticks of RAM.
[/quote]

Ummm, the 6150 MB base have 4 RAM sockets.

see:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813186086
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128001
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130529

Nemesis · Post by **Nemesis** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:27 am

stupid wrote:Hi there,

Since this will be in your bedroom and will be on 24/7 you may want to consider the following:

It wont be in the bedroom, but in the study.

A 2.5" Hard Drive - Yes, these can expensive for the capacity you get, especially a 7200rpm, but they are very quiet and produces less heat than the 3.5" counterparts.

The price of 2.5" drives make them unsuitable for me. Price IS an issue for me

. And like I said, I don't think that the HD's are going to be a problem. I am going to silence them a bit, but I wont do anything major about them. I will try to eliminate the vibrations caused by the drives, and I will be fitting the internals of the computer with noise-killing material, but that's about it.

Nemesis · Post by **Nemesis** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:29 am

MattHelm wrote:Ummm, the 6150 MB base have 4 RAM sockets.

'

Those seem ideal for my uses

. M-ATX is more than acceptable, and the 4 DIMM-slots make those perfect! Thanks for the links, I just have to find them in Finland somehow (shouldn't be an issue IMO).

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:14 am

Nemesis wrote:
MattHelm wrote:Ummm, the 6150 MB base have 4 RAM sockets.
'

Those seem ideal for my uses . M-ATX is more than acceptable, and the 4 DIMM-slots make those perfect! Thanks for the links, I just have to find them in Finland somehow (shouldn't be an issue IMO).

Verkkokauppa.com has MSI and Asus gf6150 mobos. You will have hard time finding any other brands from Finland.

I had issues with the Asus so I'd go with MSI.

Edit: Those are about 10e cheaper in multitronic.fi