Which cooling method should I use for my LGA 2011 dual socket Xeon 2670 home server?

[Hollan_Novik]

Greetings all,

 

This is my first post here, so thank you all in advance for your support. Being in school for network and system administration I am building a home server as a learn on. I plan on running at least 3 OSs at the same time on my machine, some to practice with AD, others for a DNS hole. I have either purchased or decided on everything but the CPU coolers, and as a dual socket E-ATX board with 16 dim slots I am concerned about efficient cooling that doesn’t interfere with the ram slots and doesn’t weigh too heavily on the motherboard.

 

So I am thinking of two 120mm AIOs or two slim heatsinks from Noctua or be quiet, and I would love some feed back on the pros and cons for both and any suggestions are welcome. 

 

Thanks

 

Motherboard:

https://m.newegg.com/product/9SIAGKC9C81469?m_ver=1

 

Case:

https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/cases/full-tower/haf-x/

 

CPU (2x):

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/64595/intel-xeon-processor-e5-2670-20m-cache-2-60-ghz-8-00-gt-s-intel-qpi.html

 

RAM:

https://www.amazon.com/4x16GB-DDR3-1600MHz-PC3-12800-Registered-Workstation/dp/B07D2LDSWP

 

PSU:

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Power-Supply-Units/vs-series-config-2016/p/CP-9020119-NA

[Electronics Wizardy]

Why not get a full uses server like a dell r720 or hp dl380 g8?

 

They normally cheaper, much better supported, have remote access controller, more ram slots, and better hardware support.

 

 

But for coolers, by dual 2011 system just has some cheap deep cool fans, there quiet and plenty cool. http://www.deepcool.com/product/cpucooler/2013-12/7_515.shtml

 

These chips really don't make that much heat and can't be overclocked, so you don't need great cooling.

[Hollan_Novik]

Thanks for the response! I was inspired by this home server build:

This mostly is an educational experience and to add some quality of life to my home network. With the base price of those servers I feel like I am getting a much better deal as I am using my old case and power supply, while buying dual xeons for only $100 and 64gb of ecc ram for $125. The motherboard I got on sale for $299 and it’s a very unique board because it’s dual socket 16 ddr3 slots and in the E-ATX format.

 

As for deep cool heat sinks do you find the weight of them on the motherboard to be acceptable? And with fitting two of them on one board with 16 dim slots do you find they clear well enough?

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, Hollan_Novik said:

This mostly is an educational experience and to add some quality of life to my home network. With the base price of those servers I feel like I am getting a much better deal as I am using my old case and power supply, while buying dual xeons for only $100 and 64gb of ecc ram for $125. The motherboard I got on sale for $299 and it’s a very unique board because it’s dual socket 16 ddr3 slots and in the E-ATX format.

You can get the dual 2011 servers with cpus and ram starting for about 400 on ebay.

 

For homelab stuff, you really don't need that much cpu power.

 

Also thats a no name chinese board, known to have weird issues, Id stay away, and get a used board from like supermicro, asrock, gigabyte or others.

 

5 minutes ago, Hollan_Novik said:

As for deep cool heat sinks do you find the weight of them on the motherboard to be acceptable? And with fitting two of them on one board with 16 dim slots do you find they clear well enough?

The weight is fine. Doesn't cover the ram at all on my board with 16dimms

 

 

Id also look into a ryzen system, its about the same price, faster in many uses, and much lower power.

[Hollan_Novik]

 

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For homelab stuff, you really don't need that much cpu power.

But it’s so sexy! Also, I may be doing some video transcoding down the line so it can’t hurt.

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Also thats a no name chinese board, known to have weird issues, Id stay away, and get a used board from like supermicro, asrock, gigabyte or others.

It is a bit of a gamble, that’s why I got the plan through Newegg. Additionally, I had a hard time finding that board into a E-ATX form factor. If the board does crap out and doesn’t burn out my hardware I can just change out the board with one of the better known boards you have suggested.

 

Additionally I saw Linus’ video about these boards and thought it was worth giving a try.

 

 

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The weight is fine. Doesn't cover the ram at all on my board with 16dimms

Glad to hear it :0)

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Id also look into a ryzen system, its about the same price, faster in many uses, and much lower power.

I have already purchased most of the gear so if I have decide to transition to a newer system I’ll check out AMDs stuff. Though, I am a little POed by AMD at sunsetting my Radeon VII after only 5 months of production...

[Jarsky]

I have lots of power in mine, because its a virtualization lab - and as well as running 2 virtualized ESXi servers, VSA/PSC, 2 DC's and a few test servers, it also has a few linux VM's and my Plex server. So I can understand wanting lots of cores. 

 

I cant see what motherboard that is, but for a server I would avoid AIO's.

They generally are no more efficient than a decent air cooler, but air coolers have the benefit of not being at risk of a leak. 

 

Unlike LGA1366 where you have different mounting between the consumer boards and the server boards, all the LGA2011 boards have the same mounting.  Have you considered a pair of Hyper 212 Evo's? You could also get some OEM Intel Xeon coolers.

Cheap and its not like you're going to be overclocking these chips. 

[Hollan_Novik]

9 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

I have lots of power in mine, because its a virtualization lab - and as well as running 2 virtualized ESXi servers, VSA/PSC, 2 DC's and a few test servers, it also has a few linux VM's and my Plex server. So I can understand wanting lots of cores.

I am excited about the horse power! I plan on having a PLEX server; a Macintosh VM running the server appro backup my Apple products, etc.

9 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

 

I cant see what motherboard that is, but for a server I would avoid AIO's.

They generally are no more efficient than a decent air cooler, but air coolers have the benefit of not being at risk of a leak. 

How often do AIOs leak? Is it actually something worth being afraid of?

9 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

Unlike LGA1366 where you have different mounting between the consumer boards and the server boards, all the LGA2011 boards have the same mounting.  Have you considered a pair of Hyper 212 Evo's? You could also get some OEM Intel Xeon coolers.

Cheap and its not like you're going to be overclocking these chips. 

The Hyper 212 Evos look good, I was think if I go air cool I use one of the slim ones like the Hyper 212s, Be Quite Pure Rock, or the Noctua u12dx 

https://noctua.at/en/products/cpu-cooler-workstation-server/nh-u12dx-i4

[Jarsky]

6 minutes ago, Hollan_Novik said:

How often do AIOs leak? Is it actually something worth being afraid of?

Not often, but do you really want to take the risk of what damage could be done, especially if you have storage for important stuff in there?

6 minutes ago, Hollan_Novik said:

The Hyper 212 Evos look good, I was think if I go air cool I use one of the slim ones like the Hyper 212s, Be Quite Pure Rock, or the Noctua u12dx 

https://noctua.at/en/products/cpu-cooler-workstation-server/nh-u12dx-i4

Much of a muchness really when we're talking non-oc'd chips. I'd consider all of those, whichever you prefer.