Quiet 1U cooling

[Attona]

I recently salvaged a rack mountable firewall, and it has a celeron, 2gb of ddr3 ram, and a pretty great 80+ bronze rated 250w power supply. I'm wanting to use it for a home theater setup, but the cooler currently installed is way too loud for that. So, who knows of any good cpu coolers that can fit in a 1U case, and is quiet?

[jj9987]

>Quiet
>1U

 

Pick one. You can't really get silence with 1U rack.

[FastRDust]

18 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

>Quiet
>1U

 

Pick one. You can't really get silence with 1U rack.

Separate room or silenced enclosure is the only way i guess.

[KarathKasun]

1U and Quiet do NOT go together.

 

I had a 1U server repurposed as a desktop at one point, I encased it with pillows and made a cardboard baffle for the front and back.  It was still loud, but had less high pitch whine.

[Sauron]

A 1U as a media center? Good luck... the only thing you can do to try and make it quieter is a custom fan curve. You can't install your own cpu cooler, the fans are used to cool the whole unit, not just the cpu.

[Attona]

29 minutes ago, FastRDust said:

Separate room or silenced enclosure is the only way i guess.

I need it to be in the same room.

 

26 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

1U and Quiet do NOT go together.

 

I had a 1U server repurposed as a desktop at one point, I encased it with pillows and made a cardboard baffle for the front and back.  It was still loud, but had less high pitch whine.

I'm trying to find a better cooler, and I don't feel comfortable using pillows and cardboard in its place.

 

13 minutes ago, Sauron said:

A 1U as a media center? Good luck... the only thing you can do to try and make it quieter is a custom fan curve. You can't install your own cpu cooler, the fans are used to cool the whole unit, not just the cpu.

It uses a standard mATX motherboard, and the cpu cooler is easily swappable, I just need something that'll fit, and not be overly loud.

[FastRDust]

Just now, Attona said:

I need it to be in the same room.

 

I'm trying to find a better cooler, and I don't feel comfortable using pillows and cardboard in its place.

 

It uses a standard mATX motherboard, and the cpu cooler is easily swappable, I just need something that'll fit, and not be overly loud.

I think that if you can ( somewhere ) find fans that are less loud that would be enough...

but i haven't encountered any yet.

[KarathKasun]

1 minute ago, Attona said:

I need it to be in the same room.

 

I'm trying to find a better cooler, and I don't feel comfortable using pillows and cardboard in its place.

 

It uses a standard mATX motherboard, and the cpu cooler is easily swappable, I just need something that'll fit, and not be overly loud.

Good luck finding a 1U cooler that is not loud AF.  They do not exist.

 

Also, the other fans are likely still going to be loud.

[FastRDust]

1 minute ago, KarathKasun said:

Good luck finding a 1U cooler that is not loud AF.  They do not exist.

 

Also, the other fans are likely still going to be loud.

well, seal it tight and fill it up with mineral oil...

[Sauron]

1 minute ago, Attona said:

I need it to be in the same room.

 

I'm trying to find a better cooler, and I don't feel comfortable using pillows and cardboard in its place.

 

It uses a standard mATX motherboard, and the cpu cooler is easily swappable, I just need something that'll fit, and not be overly loud.

All right, can I see a picture of the motherboard? The slimmest cpu cooler I know of is this one, but for it to work properly the mounting holes need to be standard and you'll have to cut out the top plate above the fan (and mount a fan grill on it if possible).

[Windows7ge]

The only thing I can think of is to watercool it. Even then the fans still need to cool the rest of the components.

[Attona]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

All right, can I see a picture of the motherboard? The slimmest cpu cooler I know of is this one, but for it to work properly the mounting holes need to be standard and you'll have to cut out the top plate above the fan (and mount a fan grill on it if possible).

I'll post a picture when i get home, but seriously it's just a standard desktop motherboard, seems to have standard mounting.

[Sauron]

3 minutes ago, Attona said:

I'll post a picture when i get home, but seriously it's just a standard desktop motherboard, seems to have standard mounting.

Well then that cooler should work, it's an LGA115x chip right?

[Attona]

19 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Well then that cooler should work, it's an LGA115x chip right?

I bet that'd work, but the cooler on it now is blower style, and acts as the only case fan. If i did that, do you think i could throw a couple of these in for exaust?

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

All right, can I see a picture of the motherboard? The slimmest cpu cooler I know of is this one, but for it to work properly the mounting holes need to be standard and you'll have to cut out the top plate above the fan (and mount a fan grill on it if possible).

ThermalTake Engine 27 is a bit smaller IIRC

[Attona]

2 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

ThermalTake Engine 27 is a bit smaller IIRC

It's been a bit since i saw the linus video, but isn't the noctua option quieter?

[jj9987]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

The only thing I can think of is to watercool it. Even then the fans still need to cool the rest of the components.

You're not going to fit waterblocks, tubing or radiator(s) in a 1U rack.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

2 minutes ago, Attona said:

It's been a bit since i saw the linus video, but isn't the noctua option quieter?

Yeah, because Noctua, but the E27 can be run at lowish fan RPM

[Attona]

Just now, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Yeah, because Noctua, but the E27 can be run at lowish fan RPM

Eh, they're roughly the same price, so I'll probably go noctua.

[Sauron]

9 minutes ago, Attona said:

I bet that'd work, but the cooler on it now is blower style, and acts as the only case fan. If i did that, do you think i could throw a couple of these in for exaust?

I can't see that link from outside the US, but if it's a normal motherboard with those specs you can probably get away without a dedicated exhaust fan.

[Attona]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I can't see that link from outside the US, but if it's a normal motherboard with those specs you can probably get away without a dedicated exhaust fan.

They're just a couple of 40mm fans

[Windows7ge]

52 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

You're not going to fit waterblocks, tubing or radiator(s) in a 1U rack.

You seem to have misinterpreted what I meant. With very low profile 90° fittings and an PCI I/O bracket that allows for the connection of tubing to outside the PC you could potentially make it work. I never said the radiators would go inside the 1U chassis. Nor the pump.

[Attona]

7 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

You seem to have misinterpreted what I meant. With very low profile 90° fittings and an PCI I/O bracket that allows for the connection of tubing to outside the PC you could potentially make it work. I never said the radiators would go inside the 1U chassis. Nor the pump.

I'm looking to cool with air. Water cooling is a little out of budget for me.

[Windows7ge]

2 hours ago, Attona said:

I'm looking to cool with air. Water cooling is a little out of budget for me.

There are cost effective watercooling kits but you would need something more custom due to size restrictions.

 

As far as air cooling goes you're really limited if you want to keep the lid of the chassis attached. Often the fans on these servers are a non-standard or proprietary form factor so replacing them with quieter ones would be janky (DIY). Not to mention the components may overheat.

 

Your alternative option is a new chassis. A 2U opens up quite a few options to make it quieter and keep it cool.

[Attona]

11 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

There are cost effective watercooling kits but you would need something more custom due to size restrictions.

 

As far as air cooling goes you're really limited if you want to keep the lid of the chassis attached. Often the fans on these servers are a non-standard or proprietary form factor so replacing them with quieter ones would be janky (DIY). Not to mention the components may overheat.

 

Your alternative option is a new chassis. A 2U opens up quite a few options to make it quieter and keep it cool.

As i mentioned, it's a standard mATX motherboard, lga 115x, with a low powered celeron. I'm not trying to keep a xeon quiet in a 1U