Quiet dual quad core xeon box questions

[rcassettyjr]

I am in the process of replacing my workstation. I share an office and I need to keep the noise down. My current dual xeon HT box is loud enough that the people down the hall call me and want to know what the hell is going on when I have multiple virtual machines running (all the fans turn on full blast and in a Dell 670 there is no way to control them).

This is a low buck build so I am using used parts as I find them. So far I have purchased a Supermicro X7DVL-E dual xeon mainboard which is supposed to be ATX but is actually a little bigger. I got it cheap and it came with the I/O shield and the heatsink brackets for underneath. I have located a couple of pairs of dual quad xeons and I will picking them up Friday. I have a choice between a pair of 1.6G E5310s which come with factory Intel heatsink/fans or a pair of 2.4G E5340s which come with no heatsinks. I am leaning toward the 5340s for performance reasons but I know the 5310s will do the job and there is only $30 difference for the pair. I intend to use aftermarket cooling so the stock heatsinks don't make a difference to me. This leads me to my first question:

Will cooling the 5340s over the 5310s create a significantly higher amount of noise?

I was looking at using a pair of NH-U12DX units with the optional 3rd fan in between for the tunnel effect. They are supposed to be quiet and effective. Is this a good choice for heatskink/fan combos?

For reference I will be using an IDE DVDR, a SATA 3.5" 500G HDD, and a SATA 64G SSD all of which I already have. I have not yet made a decision on a case and I may just build one from scratch and follow the usual sound deadening tricks for it. I will research a suitable quite power supply later. If it matters this is either going to be running ESXi with ubuntu guests or a ubuntu host with virtualbox and ubuntu guests.

I appreciate anything useful anyone here could add.

Thanks

Bob

[kittle]

This sounds like your running into the problem of using server-room hardware in an office.
server room stuff can afford to be loud and nobody cares - just close the door.


As to your questions - the cooling noise depends entirely on your choice of heatsink + fan.
The board you listed appears to use socket 771, so finding an aftermarket cooler for that should not be too much of an issue. but the one you listed "NH-U12DX" looks to be for a socket 1366 -- unless you can see an adapter kit my google search cant.

I also run a dual socket CPU board (see sig).
Investing in an WATX compatible case turned out to be a really good idea. I could fit just about anything inside, and still have room for spcr quality fans and large heat sinks. It was NOT cheap though.
For fan setup, I went for a wind tunnel effect because the CPU sockets were lined up with the exhaust hole on my case. So I took 2 zalman HSFs, REMOVED the fan and just let the coolers operate fanless. I then took a high capacity 120x38mm fan and used that as the exhaust, and it works great to cool things off.
Your board doesnt look to have that option as the cpu sockets are parallel to the back of the case.

The type of cooler you picked looks to be fine, as its tall rather than wide. the only issue is with the mounting hardware. if its socket 771 compatible - then your fine. Otherwise, look over the coolers here on spcr and find one thats tall + thin so you can put 2 side by side.
Normally there is an exhaust fan at the back of the case above where the RAM is on your motherboard. I would set your HSF up to blow across the memory and then out the exhaust hole. If you set things up to blow crosswise, you just create lots of air turbulance (read: Noise) without removing hot air from your case.

The antec p18x series of cases is a favorite around here. Since your board is an ATX format it should fit fine inside of a P183 or P182 -- I highly reccomend getting something like that vs a "server grade" case that may already come with your setup.

[boost]

Will cooling the 5340s over the 5310s create a significantly higher amount of noise?

Both CPUs have the same TDP, and both are well below the maximum speed for an Intel 45nm quad core, so the difference should be small.

I was looking at using a pair of NH-U12DX units with the optional 3rd fan in between for the tunnel effect. They are supposed to be quiet and effective. Is this a good choice for heatskink/fan combos?

It's the best cooler that fits socket 771. Airflow is going to be bottom to top, the case should have appropriate cutouts.

[rcassettyjr]

Well I had a change in plans. I picked up a better motherboard for $115 shipped yesterday. Its a brand new in the box Intel S5000XVNSATAR and it has a better layout and more ram slots. I am working on getting the L5310s ($156 for the pair shipped) for it and I found 8G of PC2-5300 667Mhz REG/ECC FB-DIMM (1Gx8) for $70 shipped.

I am going to run the pair of NH-U12DXs without the 3rd fan and see how they do. I am going to order an extra matching 120mm fan for the case and an 80mm version to cool the 8 FB-DIMMS. They are expensive fans but if they keep it quiet, I will be happy with them. hopefully I can find them at a discount somewhere.

Thanks

Bob

[rcassettyjr]

I was looking at using a pair of NH-U12DX units with the optional 3rd fan in between for the tunnel effect. They are supposed to be quiet and effective. Is this a good choice for heatskink/fan combos?

It's the best cooler that fits socket 771. Airflow is going to be bottom to top, the case should have appropriate cutouts.[/quote]

The case I am looking at has a space for a 120mm fan in the rear. I was entertaining the possibility of reversing the cooing so the rear fan and PSU blow inwards and mounting another 120mm on the bottom of the case to blow outwards. I could turn the cooler fans around and blow the heat right at the bottom fan. I have heard its very noisy to blow the fans out of the top. True?

Is this a bad idea?