Re: Reducing fan noise on an E420R

On 12 Apr 2006 08:30:58 -0700
"Bruce C. Miller" <bm3719@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've recently purchased an E420R server and have set it up for use as
a server at home. All is well, except that working in the same room
as it gives me a serious headache from the insanely loud fan noise
generated by the fan assembly's 3 120mm fans. In fact, it's so loud
that it's audible from other rooms as well. I've checked the fans
themselves and they are completely clean and seem to be functioning
properly, so I can only assume that this level of noise generated is
by design.

The E420R is designed to operate in a server room. It's, like most
servers, quite noisy.

It uses the same motherboard as the Ultra-80, which makes
significantly less noise for the same level of performance.

Now, I am aware that this kind of server needs a rather steady airflow
and the air that it expels is quite warm. The box heats the room up by
several degrees within a few hours.

It might be using less energy than you suspect; my Blade2000 with 4GB
RAM, two 900MHz CPUs and 2 73GB disk drives draws, together with an
18.1" LCD monitor (according to the Liebert UPS it's connected to) about
310VA.

The E420R power supplies are rated at 380W each, and the unit can run
with a single power supply. I'd be amazed if a fully loaded E420R would
use more than about 300VA.

Does this seem like a reasonable idea? Is there a better way to
connect the new fans?

If the fans are less noisy, they'll provide less airflow. This might or
might not be a problem depending on the ambient temperature.

Is it possible to remove two of the CPUs to
reduce the cooling requirements of this box, and if so, which ones do
I pull and can I leave all 4GB of RAM in with only 2 CPUs?

You can remove the CPUs without affecting the memory capacity of the
box.

Here's how to install the CPU modules (from the E420R manual):

| The first CPU module is inserted into CPU slot 2 (J0301); two CPU
| modules are installed into CPU slot 2 (J0301) and into CPU slot 1
| (J0201); three CPU modules are installed into CPU slot 2 (J0301), into
| CPU slot 1 (J0201), and into CPU slot 3 (J0401); while four CPU
| modules occupy all the CPU module slots.

Take care,

--
Stefaan A Eeckels
--
The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself.
-- Winston Churchill
.

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