Quiet Xeon Cooler

pcy · Post by **pcy** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:02 am

Hi,

I'm looking for a quiet cooling solution for Xeon's. There does not seem to be one.

First, though I agree it's a niche subject, I was hoping to find a section on socket 771 coolers in "Recommended Heatsinks"

Secondly, I'm interested to know if other people think this is something that should exist?

Thirdly, if I've missed something, and a suitable socket 771 or socket 1366 coolers exist I'd be delighted to be proved wrong and told what to do.

As I see, it the problem is space and orientation. Any decent sized cooler with its fan attached is likely to intersect with the other CPU cooler on most (if not all) Xeon Motherbaords. It does not help that the layout of different Dual Motherbaords varies quite a lot.

I know that Thermalright make the HR-01X but often you cannot easily fit fans, or the coolers intersect; and the aiflow is constained or convoluted.

I think the problem might be soluable, but I'm interested in what other people think.

Peter

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:06 am

Noctua has Xeon line for their tower cooler but I am not quite sure how much there are differences between LGA 771 and LGA 775...

Noctua tower for Xeon and Thermalrights HR01x series are both excellent performers and are based on top dogs of SPCR coolers.

pcy · Post by **pcy** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:57 pm

Hi,

Nice Coolers.

Shame they don't fit.

Peter

petecool · Post by **petecool** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:04 pm

As shown here http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productv ... =19&lng=en, they do fit. The design is modified so air goes through both coolers, the airflow is bottom-to-top. Both coolers are rotated to make it possible. The model from that link is for Socket 771 Xeons.

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:31 pm

I've got to second the Thermalright HR-01X series, those heatsinks are phenomenal, with Xeon specific brackets.

Compared to just about every other Xeon heatsink, i'd put Thermalright as #1

petecool · Post by **petecool** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:59 pm

Come to think of it, I do have a Thermalright HR-01X here!

I've had it for a year on single Irvindale 3.2Ghz Xeon (single core, HT, 110W TDP!). I have a Scythe Kama PWM on it, it's been working great, can't hear it over the many hard drives in the file server.

pcy · Post by **pcy** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:31 am

Hi,

petecool wrote:As shown here http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productv ... =19&lng=en, they do fit. The design is modified so air goes through both coolers, the airflow is bottom-to-top. Both coolers are rotated to make it possible. The model from that link is for Socket 771 Xeons.

That's interesting. Thanks

You could probably do that with other heatsink, including the Thermalrights

The one question I have about that design - dosen't the second CPU run a lot hotter than the first? You'd get about 20 CFM through the coolers in that configuration (for quiet operation) and at 100% load each Xeon would be producing 80W (say), so the air exiting from the first cooler woud be 8C hotter than the air coming into it.

The other problem, of course, is that if the CPUs are not in line, the setup won't work.

It's an excellent start, but I really looking for something that keeps both CPUs equally cool and works with all Xeon boards.

Peter