Servers don't need all their fans. Right?

K

kpedersen

Hi all,

Before I go and do anything daft I just wanted to check here first. I have been searching around for some information and have not yet found a decent answer. I recently obtained a HP ProLiant DL385G2 2U Rackmount Server from work and was thinking about using it as a desktop because it has pretty darn good hardware. The problem is that it is so damn noisy. It has 8 fans at the front and 4 on one side. Is it a very dumb thing to do to remove some of those fans in an attempt to reduce noise? I am already only using one of the PSUs (out of 2) to reduce the noise from that fan.

I have underclocked its 2 processors (total 4 cores) to 1.6Ghz.

Will it:
  1. Overheat and gracefully shutdown
  2. Overheat and turn off immediately
  3. Not start up (because it detects issues with fan)
  4. Spin the remaining fans that I leave in there even faster to compensate
  5. Blow up

The idea of removing fans just sounds like a bad idea. Typing into Google "Removing fans to reduce noise" was almost embarrassing!

Any advice would be great :)

Best regards,

Karsten
 
That is an extremely old server. Why the heck would you want to use it as a desktop? Just buy a new computer somewhere or build your own. Removing fans is a very bad idea. This is a server that was designed to run in a data center in a rack. Airflow is very important. You should come up with another idea of getting a computer.
 
Most servers will sound an alarm if a fan stops spinning. Some servers have a "be quiet" button that you can press to silence the alarm, but it has to be pressed at every boot. Others don't let you quiet the alarm. :)

If only some fans are running, there's the possibility that it will start to heat up inside, and the other fans will have to spin faster (generating more noise) to compensate.

Depending on the ACPI implementation, the system will send alerts when it gets too hot, giving you the opportunity to fix the situation (stop processes, power down, etc). If you can't fix it before the temperature hits a critical limit, then the system just powers off. Not a graceful shutdown, but an "oh shit, too hot, pull the plug!" power off. Some servers will kill the power to everything except the fans until the temperature is below a threshold, and then kill power to the fans.

IOW, don't remove fans to try and make it quiet. :) Instead, stick it somewhere where you won't notice the sound, and then access it remotely, or via extra long extension cables. :)
 
Heh, OK thanks for the suggestions.

I will leave the fans alone then and probably see if I can get the thing installed at the university instead. I did try putting it in a different room but it can still be heard pretty much anywhere in the house! I guess I would need to start installing lead lined doors ;)
 
This solution also has the added benefit of attaching it not to your home mains, leading to saves in the energy billing.

But if you remove the fans, you may be able to save on heating costs, yes? ;)
 
Crivens said:
you may be able to save on heating costs, yes? ;)
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I know I do. With usually around 4 or 5 PCs on 24/7 the central heating in my apartment rarely turns on. Even in winter :e
 
SirDice said:
Crivens said:
you may be able to save on heating costs, yes? ;)
Click to expand...
I know I do. With usually around 4 or 5 PCs on 24/7 the central heating in my apartment rarely turns on. Even in winter :e
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I thought more along the line of an indoor BBQ.
 
Yeps, admittedly when the server has been running for a while, it isnt that pleasant to be in the room anymore. It would be perfect for those cold winter nights (if it was quieter).
 
kpedersen said:
Yeps, admittedly when the server has been running for a while, it isnt that pleasant to be in the room anymore. It would be perfect for those cold winter nights (if it was quieter).
Click to expand...

That depends on the room. People will put up with almost anything when the interior is matching. May I suggest a server room made from wood, with a bench and maybe some towels? ;)

And if you keep the machine you will find out in about 10 years down the road, that your new phone will have more processing power that this server. Maybe even much sooner. My 5 year old "smart" brick (as I do not have a SIM in it, use it as PDA) has more steam and memory than the computer I wrote my most loved code on.

But in any case, please do not forget fire alarms around such a machine when the fans are not properly working. Memories of some burned down SPARC hardware are still in my head.
 
You could replace the fans with quieter ones or undervolt them to 7 volts to make them spin slower. You should also be able to trick the motherboard into thinking fans are connected when they are not, Google will help with this.

If your mainboard reports temperatures you can check these to see how much you can get away with.

Also underclocking the CPU gets you only marginal benefits compared to undervolting, but I guess server mainboards don't allow the CPU's voltage to be adjusted.
 
I had tried in the past to make a server less noisy. The idea was good but it still wasn't as quiet as I'd hoped. Have a look at those case-modding fan-controllers. With such a controller you can change the RPM of a fan to about half the speed it normally runs on. That helps but unfortunately even at half-speed they'll still do 2000+ RPM and they're still quite noisy.
 
Get yourself a fishtank of a good size, some plastic fishies, a good lot of destilled water or cooling oil and go for liquid cooling. You may, on such old hardware, try to get it waterproof with transparent spraypaint. If it works, it is a good display in some office or study. If it does not work, well...
 
Crivens said:
Get yourself a fishtank of a good size, some plastic fishies, a good lot of destilled water or cooling oil and go for liquid cooling. You may, on such old hardware, try to get it waterproof with transparent spraypaint. If it works, it is a good display in some office or study. If it does not work, well...
Click to expand...

I saw some videos on youtube (mineral oil), most of them are made by kids, but it's not a bad idea, expecially for servers. For desktops it's not practical if you often plug USB and other devices. Not need to have a good look, only a pump and a radiator to cool oil, perhaps it cost a lot more than air coolers but there is also the advantage the harware is more safe: no dust. I smoke a lot, my machines often dies for this, I have to clear fans often.
 
A slight update to this that I thought was interesting.

Work was decomissioning the remaining two HP ProLiant servers (same models) so naturally I was nabbing some extra RAM modules for my own noisy server. To my suprise, after opening them up I found that the other two servers only had 4 fans at the front and 2 on one side (as opposed to my 8 fans and 4 fans). There wasnt even the mounts for the other fans to be attached.

Since they were the exact same models on paper, I can only logically assume that somewhere along the line, the fans in my server had started breeding.
 
Or the machine had a name like "Justin B.", making for more fans buzzing around. ;)
 
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