Hi there. Newbie to board here. I have a server with serious heat issues(occasional lockup),despite prudent use of heavy duty air coolers (>75CFM)where possible to make the best use of airflow. Case flow has been checked and is optimal.There comes a time when this is insufficient, and needs must migrate to something else. I have included a spec of my system : 1xLian-Li 2100+ Case 1xASUS M2n32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard 1xPhenom X4 9850(not overclocked) 4x2GB corsair RAM(8GB total) 1xAMCC 9650se hardware RAID card 16port 1xTerratec 2400iDT TV Card 1xNVIDIA 8800GT gfx card 1xCreative X-Fi sound card 16x1TB Samsung H(E)103UJ Raid class drives(RAID 6 array) 1x1TB Samsung H(C)103UJ consumer class drive(Boot drive) It runs about 85% loaded, running VMWare ESX Server, dual running Suse Linux Enterprise Server+Alternatively Windows(thin client) or suse linux(thin client)(depending on whether i need to play or work). Most of the heat comes from the hard drives loaded into the machine, this is why I have doubted water cooling/Phase Change cooling(extreme piping) would be suitable So all suggestions appreciated/considered from phase change cooling down apart from dropping it in peanut oil Many Thanks Emma
You could have blow holes cut in top of the case for 120mm fans, or add grills to the side panels for the bottom section. Adding 120mm fans every-so-often, especially over the GFX card and the like. What PSU are you running? It could be that your drawing too much power off.
Just to cover the basics. The cables are all tidied. The air flow has been specially checked by dedicated engineers to ensure maximum flow through case and speed.(It sounds like a jet). So it sits in a cupboard by itself thats air conditioned.The CPU is 1KW enermax galaxy, and is to all intents isolated from the case.i.e. the heat from the PSU vents externally to the case.The point is from what i can see that air cooling isnt sufficient+liquid cooling is incredibly complex to vent enough heat to make it workable.
You call this a server? Get a REAL server case with hot swappable and actively cooled HD cages, Blade severs come to mind... http://www.supermicro.com/products/SuperBlade/
Air cooling is more than sufficient for that hardware, but a desktop case isn't going to get the best from it. As Glider stated, server cases are more suited to dealing with the kind of heat that 16x hdds kick out. A hefty 5U case with oodles of hotswap bays would do the trick nicely. Blades really aren't what you want - huge money, industrial power requirements and really only necessary when rack space comes at an absolute premium
Yes in an ideal world it would be nice to have thousands of pounds to spend on top of what I already have for real server hardware. However its a server on the cheap, that just about covers the spec I needed in designing it, saving me a bundle.I'm thinking maybe water cooled gpu,cpu,raid card etc. then peltier cooled drives with existing air flow. To maybe use the watercooling to take the sting out of the heat by drawing off the cpu,gpu,raid heat etc.Since the incoming air when i can afford to air condition the area is about 15deg c, its not too bad(during the day). When the air con goes off room temp rises to 30-40deg c+. Then obviously ambient air is almost pointless as it contributes to heating the case. Samsung drives dont seem to be as cool as what is reported.Checking the SMART status reveals them to be about 60 deg c instead of the advertised 42 deg c using various software temp monitors. flat out RAID produces awful heat+drive cages seem to cause more aggravation in forcing array degradation than in solving the heat issue. Case temp rises to over 50 deg c frequently.
So wait, is the cupboard air conditioned or 30-40C ambients. If its the latter you've got no chance of keeping it chilly. Peltier cooled hard drives is an incredibly bad idea, get enough airflow on them and they will be fine if your ambients are acceptable. I was running 12 in very close quarters with minimal air flow (2x undervolted 92mm nexus fans) with SMART reporting temps in the mid 30s. The 2100+ doesn't seem to have great airflow though, quite restrictive. If you're willing, attack it with a dremel/jigsaw and remove any restriction from that front intake. Water cooling could help in bringing most of the heat outside the case and you could just throw some high flow 120m fans on a large rad, but you'll still need to get the heat out of the cupboard somehow.
Air con during day/summer when hottest.Non a/c at night. Heres a thought since the case is in cupboard next to exterior wall, i could knock out the air brick(wall vent). And use something akin to tumble dryer hose to convey heat exhausted from case out of the house.And use another to pull in cool air to the room via maybe a fan?(Always looking to do it cheaply +have cheap running costs) That'd deal with ambient air+save pounds+pounds on air/con electricity 12/7.I think with water cooling on the superhot bits in heat order, raid processor,gpu,cpu, it would probably come down to the target of ambient(outside air temp avg 13deg c) +10 extra deg c case heat. Now wheres that sledge hammer . . . .
Heat buildup is the main problem you're going to have in an enclosed space unless you run the AC 24/7. Definitely get some airflow through there somehow - 160mm+ fan in the top of the cupboard sucking air outside with just a vent in the bottom of the door would do the trick nicely - don't rely on the case fans to circulate the air. I don't think water cooling is really necessary considering all you don't have noise constraints. Get a decent third party CPU cooler and make sure all of the case fans are running at full pelt. Once you get ambient temperatures in check, provided you have plenty of airflow in the case the rest will sort itself out.
I have to agree with the others and suggest your PSU, it's the only thing you have not stated. All those HDD's are going to be sucking a lot of juice.
