1U silent server enclosure

Syjeklye · Sep 21, 2009

Has anyone ever tried to sound proof a 1u server with an enclosure? My friend and I are going to try and build a box that I can put this HP server in to make it quiet.

1 major obstacle is going to be blocking the sound, but still providing enough cooling to the server. I was thinking about some sort of baffling design so the sound would have to bounce around multiple corners in order for it to escape.

Pics of server:

It would also be cool to make it a generic 19" mount inside the enclosure so I could put a different server in there if I every upgrade.

For sound deadening material i was thinking of a layered approach:
starting from the enclosure's walls:
1. Wooden Box
2. Plastidip on the Wood
3. Dynamat (or generic version) on the plastidip
4. Foam Rubber on the Dynamat

And does anyone know of any alternative to dynamat, I would really like to use a generic copy of the stuff, since dynamat itself is expensive.

jackeyjoe · Sep 21, 2009

it'd probably be easier to just go with silent 120mm fans and some sound proofing materials around anything that vibrates (HDD's, fans ect.).

Its a nice idea but don't expect to be able to get a server silent, its a very hard thing to do.

Syjeklye · Sep 21, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackeyjoe

it'd probably be easier to just go with silent 120mm fans and some sound proofing materials around anything that vibrates (HDD's, fans ect.).

Its a nice idea but don't expect to be able to get a server silent, its a very hard thing to do.

I'm expecting it to be hard, that's part of the fun!

I don't think 120mm fans are going to be helpful at all, since it is a 1u server, the fans can't even fit in the case.

bobfig · Sep 21, 2009

if im thinking right, its the fans that make most of the noise next would be the hdd's. at least thats what i think. i have a cisco switch and the fan on the back is like a leaf blower... i wouldn't mess with plastic dip, its messy and it peals off easy. only thing i could say to do is use egg crate foam for dampening and a long vent that is in a "S" shape lined with the foam. stuff like dynomat is for vibrations not so much for sound waves.

Open1Your1Eyes0 · Sep 21, 2009

All you need: Apogee 1U Server Waterblock

Along with a few other things of course.....

Syjeklye · Sep 21, 2009

Yeah, the fans are the real killer. The plus to the fans are, if there is an area of cool air infront of the server, it'll take all the air. They are very high pressure and will move a ton of air.

The plastidip and the dynamat are there for density. The only way to get rid of some sound frequencies is to have a dense absorbing material, and dynamat and plastidip are the dense products I was hoping to use.

Your S design is what I have in mind for the intake and exhaust. Only the "S" will be on it's side.

bobfig · Sep 21, 2009

if your using wood i think that would be hard enough yet soft enough to absorb those sound waves.

Syjeklye · Sep 21, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Open1Your1Eyes0

All you need: Apogee 1U Server Waterblock

Along with a few other things of course.....

I don't think I'll have to water cool it at all, The server itself is highly optimized for air cooling, The fans have plenty of power to push air through the server, and there will be vents to let cool air in one side and hot air out the other. I might even put slow 120mm fans on the exhaust to ensure movement of air out of the server.

DuckieHo · Sep 21, 2009

Well... what are the components?

Syjeklye · Sep 21, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo

Well... what are the components?

Dual 2.8ghz intel xeons, 2 threads each
3gb pc 2100 ecc
2x 34gig scsi U320's in raid 0
4x gigabit ethernet
2x 10/100 ethernet

Windows server 2008 (for now, learning all the active directory and exchange stuff)

I ran orthos on it for a while and really doesn't get hot. Max temp i've seen it at has been 48 celcius, which is less than my sig rig's load temps.

the_beast · Sep 22, 2009

Is transplanting the innards an option?

If the mainboard is a standard ATX board (some are, some aren't - newer stuff tends to be more ATX-like, older servers are really bespoke inside) you could just buy a 4U case & stick the stuff in there. You will then have a much easier job of silencing everything. You can add nice big heatsinks on the cpus & chipset (and even the NICs & HDD controller if necessary), and suspend the HDDs or replace them with quieter modern drives. Add a few quiet 120mm fans & some damping material to the panels and you'll be all set - and much quieter than a boxed 1U server will ever end up.

Syjeklye · Sep 22, 2009

I think people are missing the point of this project.

The task is to silence, or dampen a 1U hp server. Using a type of enclosure for the entire server, like those hard drive enclosures, except for the whole computer.

This server is basically just a big toy, it has no purpose yet, other than to be a time waster

. So, to recap:

I know the hd's and fans are the noise makers
I do not want to take any components out of the case
the server its self is highly optimized for air cooling
the enclosure will be constructed out of wood

questions:
what kind of baffling, or channeling would be the best to dampen the sound?
What kind of material would be the best at absorbing mid to high pitch constant sound?

the_beast · Sep 22, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Syjeklye

I think people are missing the point of this project.

The task is to silence, or dampen a 1U hp server. Using a type of enclosure for the entire server, like those hard drive enclosures, except for the whole computer.

This server is basically just a big toy, it has no purpose yet, other than to be a time waster

. So, to recap:

I know the hd's and fans are the noise makers
I do not want to take any components out of the case
the server its self is highly optimized for air cooling
the enclosure will be constructed out of wood

questions:
what kind of baffling, or channeling would be the best to dampen the sound?
What kind of material would be the best at absorbing mid to high pitch constant sound?

Not missing the point - you wanted to quieten a 1U server. The easiest way to do that is move the stuff to a bigger case. It is also probably the cheapest way.

If you leave the current fans in the case, the cooling will be fine, providing you don't impact too much on the air path outside of the case. But it will NEVER be quiet. Quieter, maybe. But it will always give you a headache unless you make a seriously HUGE case with many layers to put it in.

Similarly the HDDs - unless you make a massive case, they will remain audible.

To be honest, any kind of baffling will work. You mainly need to get a lot of layers of decoupled mass between you & the noise source. The denser the better - it is decoupled mass that absorbs sound. You will need multiple layers, each isolated from each other, and probably intake fans as well as exhaust fans as the current ones are only designed to push air through the case itself - not pull it through multiple baffles on the intake & exhaust. The case NEEDS huge airflow as the heatsinks are, by necessity, very small inside a 1U case.

You will be fighting an uphill battle if you try and stick with the current enclosure.

Syjeklye · Sep 22, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_beast

Not missing the point - you wanted to quieten a 1U server. The easiest way to do that is move the stuff to a bigger case. It is also probably the cheapest way.

If you leave the current fans in the case, the cooling will be fine, providing you don't impact too much on the air path outside of the case. But it will NEVER be quiet. Quieter, maybe. But it will always give you a headache unless you make a seriously HUGE case with many layers to put it in.

Similarly the HDDs - unless you make a massive case, they will remain audible.

To be honest, any kind of baffling will work. You mainly need to get a lot of layers of decoupled mass between you & the noise source. The denser the better - it is decoupled mass that absorbs sound. You will need multiple layers, each isolated from each other, and probably intake fans as well as exhaust fans as the current ones are only designed to push air through the case itself - not pull it through multiple baffles on the intake & exhaust. The case NEEDS huge airflow as the heatsinks are, by necessity, very small inside a 1U case.

You will be fighting an uphill battle if you try and stick with the current enclosure.

heheh, uphill battle = what I was aiming for.

I was thinking of doing the layered approach like you said, what materials would be the best for this layerd job? I know those build at home soundbooths aren't sound proof, but they work very well, and the walls are not too think that it's impossible to build one yourself.

As for the size of the case, I was thinking it would have a dedicated space for the server, and then either on top or below that, the channeling and baffling for the intake and exhaust. Basically two equally sized sections, 1 for the server mounting, and the 2nd for the air flow and dampening. The dampening/proofing material would be layed all throughout the server mounting location and the channeling/baffling. As for fans mounted on this enclousure, I was thinking it would only need exhaust fans to help move that hot air away from the server. I had a dryer vent duct taped to the front of the server and ran it to another room, and it didn't effect the cooling all too much. I'm afraid though, that once the air is through the server, it has no where to go, and I will need something pulling the air out of the back of the case.

Also, since there are clearly marked intake and exhaust vents on the server, I would thermally isolate the front and back of the server with some simple foam inserts, so the hot air coming out the back would not be recirculated.

mazza- · Sep 23, 2009

this seems like a good idea, if you are mounting it in a rack than i would think that you would but 1U of dampening under the server and 1U of dampening above the server. the problem is that 1U servers are so loud!, i would think that rubber grommets of some sort would at least help keep the vibration down, the only thing really making almost all of the noise is those noisy fans.. i would use foam for anti vibration but fan noise... i would put it in another room or get a 2U chassis with bigger slower fans.

Syjeklye · Sep 23, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazza-

this seems like a good idea, if you are mounting it in a rack than i would think that you would but 1U of dampening under the server and 1U of dampening above the server. the problem is that 1U servers are so loud!, i would think that rubber grommets of some sort would at least help keep the vibration down, the only thing really making almost all of the noise is those noisy fans.. i would use foam for anti vibration but fan noise... i would put it in another room or get a 2U chassis with bigger slower fans.

If it was a production router, i most likely wouldn't care about the noise. I would either have it our server room, or in the datacenter and do everything remotely. It's more of a toy since it's out of warranty and we can't really use an out of warranty item in production anymore.

Basically I want to make my own cabinet that can house a 1u server and stop most of the sound from leaking out into the surrounding area, since it is a toy now, it resides in my house.

I totally agree with your anti vibration techniques, but it hardly vibrates at all. HP really does an awesome job with their servers (really it's compaq that makes them, but hp bought compaq) and the things hardly vibrate, but their fans do make alot of noise. If the thing wasn't so loud, you could barely tell it was on due to the almost non existant vibration.

trueg50 · Sep 23, 2009

The trouble is, enclosures need airflow, and something well ventilated would let out lots of noise, so you have to find a balance.

However foam and anti-vibration stuff makes no difference at all if the source of the noise isn't reduced. In this case (no pun intended) that would be the very loud 40mm fans. I would find a way to give the fans 7 volts instead of 12, that should drastically cut back on the noise. Or you might be able to do something like leave and rear fans alone, then remove the front fans and cut 2 or more holes for 120mm fans on the top of the case, and have the fans blow down into the case, preferably at a slight angle.

edrex · Dec 24, 2009

Hi Syjeklye, have you made any progress on this project?

I'm very interested in finding a simple, effective design for reducing the noise from 1U servers to tolerable "closet or garage" levels.

How does this sound:

Form a sleeve from two layers of cardboard, with some soft fill between, around the whole unit and a few inches beyond in back and front (maybe a sealed plywood/particle-board box would be more effective for high-pitch 1U fan noise?).

Connect intake and exhaust to S-shape ducts (particular kind, PVC plumbing stuff or metal? 4 inch diameter?) lined with eggcrate. Put a larger fan on the exhaust.

Suggestions for improving this recipe? Links to existing builds?

Syjeklye · Dec 28, 2009

Actually your idea is not too far off from what I was planning. Only I would hide all the S-Shaped channels inside a larger case, probably wood; since my uncle owns a wood shop and has all the tools you would ever dream about using. I think my problem now is, I don't know how to mount it inside the enclosure.

Racks are all standard, and the server's mounting kit is measured to fit these standard racks. And this one in particular is held in place by an adjustable spring loaded sliding rail. So the rails will be pushing against the enclosure to support the server.

I'd like to see it mounted vertically, so the back of the server faces the ground, and have casters on the bottom so i can wheel it around. Another option is to put molding and a nice top mounted like a normal rack mount server, with all the vents on the bottom and use it as a coffee table of some sort.

eh, i don't know where to take the idea, but i haven't given up yet.

gtippitt · Mar 6, 2011

This is an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone ever came up with a working solution for this problem. I've got 2 old TYAN GX28 1U servers for $25 each. They each have 2 AMD Opteron dual core 2 GHz CPUs with 4 GB memory, but as everyone has said, their fans are loud.

I was thinking of a MDF box with shelves within another MDF box. The inner box would be wrapped with layers of the sound absorbing foam that goes under laminate flooring. I was thinking of having a "U" shaped maze for intake for cool air and similar outlet for hot air. These end baffles would be detachable for access to the servers inside. Wires would pass between 2 layers of foam to prevent sound from getting out with the wires.

Thanks,
Greg

the_beast · Mar 6, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtippitt;12629767
This is an old thread

Yes it is...
Quote:

Originally Posted by gtippitt;12629767
but I was wondering if anyone ever came up with a working solution for this problem. I've got 2 old TYAN GX28 1U servers for $25 each. They each have 2 AMD Opteron dual core 2 GHz CPUs with 4 GB memory, but as everyone has said, their fans are loud.

I was thinking of a MDF box with shelves within another MDF box. The inner box would be wrapped with layers of the sound absorbing foam that goes under laminate flooring. I was thinking of having a "U" shaped maze for intake for cool air and similar outlet for hot air. These end baffles would be detachable for access to the servers inside. Wires would pass between 2 layers of foam to prevent sound from getting out with the wires.

Thanks,
Greg

And the answer really hasn't changed - it'll be cheaper, easier & more effective to transplant the innards.

You best bet would be to sell your 2 servers & try and make enough profit to buy something worth using instead - a single Phenom II quad would be much faster than both of your units together, could be made almost silent pretty easily, and would likely pay for itself inside of a year when you look at the power savings, the money not needed to do the silencing and the money you can get back if you sell those servers...

gtippitt · Mar 17, 2011

I'm looking at the cost of transplanting the innards of my two 1U servers, which will cost me a few hundred dollars for new cases when I include cost of case, PSU, CPU heat sinks, and quite fans. By looking at local recyclers that may have old server cases, I can cut some from this cost.

Partially because of their noisy reputation, you can't sell these out of warranty 1U servers for much more than the shipping costs. About a year ago, I paid $5 each for them with $40 shipping for the two together. I knew they would be noisy, but they were a great deal as I was using a 10 year old 250 MHz Pentium that was on its last legs, and I didn't have much money to spend. They each have a pair of dual core 2 GHz AMD-K8 CPUs, 4 GB RAM, and a pair of 200 GB SATA drives. You can regularly find similar configurations for under $100 on eBay, while comparable desktops cost 5 to 10 times more. Other than noise, the biggest shortcoming I've found with these machines is that they have 64 bit PCI-Extended (PCI-X) slots rather than PCI-Express (PCI-E) slots. The only cards ever made for PCI-X were for LAN, RAID, and Fiber Chanel, so you must use regular PCI video cards. Although the TYAN Thunder K8 motherboards used in my two servers have 5 PCI slots, the 1U case, limits me to a single PCI adapter,.

As far as performance for a home server and a workstation, the Opteron 270 HE CPUs are about the same speed at the Phenom, core per core and MHz per MHz. A 3 GHz Phenom quad core will provide almost 30 percent more processing power than one of these servers. The built in graphics on motherboards are never great. I added a dual VGA PCI display card with nVIDIA GeForce FX5200, which gave me all the graphics boost I needed for the one I use for a workstation, and the other is a headless server. I don't play any graphics games except the old Star Trek Armada II from 2001 which only required DirectX 8 support. Having the second server as a spare is really nice, as I've been able to set up folders to maintain backup copies of all my important data on both.

They both run BOINC doing analysis for a few research projects, so the higher duty cycle of the Opteron is better than a Phenom, which is built for only light duty cycles of occasional usage. The savings in power is somewhat of a concern, but as the CPUs are always run at 100% busy they will need cooling regardless of case. A larger case with room for slower large fans would be quieter, but still use a bit of electricity.

The project I have in mind to build is a DIY cabinet similar in function to sound proof server cabinets made Kell Systems, who makes the top of the line sound proof cabinets for rack servers.

I would like to have enough room for a couple of more 1U servers to use for MythTV and media servers. While commercial sound proof cabinets are expensive, I'm hoping to keep my cost in the $50 to $75 range for materials. I'm retired and enjoy woodworking so labor time isn't an issue for me. By incorporating an HVAC air filter into the air intake part of the cabinet, I can also prevent the machines from sucking up dust, smoke, and dog hair. They not only sound like a vacuum cleaner, but also suck up nearly as much dirt. For the comparable cost of transplanting the innards of one server to a new quieter case, I'm hoping to build a cabinet that will hold 4 or more servers. If I can come up with a DIY solution, it could be of use to others that want an inexpensive source of CPU power. If an inexpensive and functional cabinet could be designed, someone could have a modest second income building the cabinets and selling them to small businesses that want an affordable cabinet solution for 1U servers in small offices. I was wondering if anyone has any positive or negative experiences trying to build any sound proofing enclosures for 1U servers.

Thanks,
Greg

citruspers · Mar 17, 2011

I have the perfect soundproof enclosure for my rackservers, it's called a basement.

gtippitt · Mar 18, 2011

I cut my noise in half by putting one of them in the laundry room and access it using X2GO running on Ubuntu 10.4. It works great if you don't need fast graphics.

DragonM · May 6, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtippitt;12763695
The project I have in mind to build is a DIY cabinet similar in function to sound proof server cabinets made Kell Systems, who makes the top of the line sound proof cabinets for rack servers.

I would like to have enough room for a couple of more 1U servers to use for MythTV and media servers. While commercial sound proof cabinets are expensive, I'm hoping to keep my cost in the $50 to $75 range for materials. I'm retired and enjoy woodworking so labor time isn't an issue for me. By incorporating an HVAC air filter into the air intake part of the cabinet, I can also prevent the machines from sucking up dust, smoke, and dog hair. They not only sound like a vacuum cleaner, but also suck up nearly as much dirt. For the comparable cost of transplanting the innards of one server to a new quieter case, I'm hoping to build a cabinet that will hold 4 or more servers. If I can come up with a DIY solution, it could be of use to others that want an inexpensive source of CPU power. If an inexpensive and functional cabinet could be designed, someone could have a modest second income building the cabinets and selling them to small businesses that want an affordable cabinet solution for 1U servers in small offices. I was wondering if anyone has any positive or negative experiences trying to build any sound proofing enclosures for 1U servers.

Thanks,
Greg

It seems quite feasible to duplicate a Kell Systems cabinet, especially because Kell Systems is kind enough to include a plan view and side view CAD drawing of all of their cabinets. The 12U cabinet looks ideal for your purposes. Kell's design even includes air filters, though you'll see they're more like vacuum cleaner HEPA filters than HVAC filters. The reason being the design of the air path.

You're possibly thinking the air intake would just be a big open grill on the front. That's not at all helpful. If you look at Kell's drawings, you'll see that there are at least two 90 degree bends in their air intakes and exhausts plus long flow paths. It's those bends that provide much of the sound dampening. Combined with Quiet Barrier soundproofing material lining the interior of the cabinet (shown as the inner lining in the plan drawing) and some judiciously placed chunks of Soft Sound sound absorbent foam (mostly to sandwich ethernet cables as they leave the cabinet, but possibly also at the bends in the intake and exhausts), such a cabinet goes a long way towards reducing machine noise from even tiny 1U fans.

Unfortunately, you'll see that there are reasons Kell Systems cabinets are expensive. Quiet Barrier costs $54 for 32 sq ft of the thin stuff or $106 for 32 sq ft of the thicker version and Soft Sound costs $158 for 32 sq ft of the pyramid stuff (the anechoic shape might work better in this application, but it's not available in 32 sq ft packages). While each cabinet probably wouldn't use a whole lot of Soft Sound, lining the interior with Quiet Barrier could easily use up 40 sq ft (just ballpark estimating by the dimensions quoted in the drawings). That blew out your material budget right there, and we haven't even started talking about the internal rack hardware, the three large DC exhaust fans and their power supply, the heavy casters on the bottom, or the office-type laminates that make up the outer shell. I think the "modest second income building ... and selling to small business" is... Kell Systems.

As a DIY, it could be somewhat cheap, aside from the soundproofing materials. Use any old wood for the cabinet, omit the casters since you're building it on site, and build the interior with inconvenient but cheap plain old shelves, and ignore the labor to build it, and you could put a serious dent in Kell's price. But I don't think the result is retail-ready.

On the other hand, Kell Systems wanted $1500 USD for a rack rail-equipped 12U cabinet in January of 2009, so perhaps I underestimate your ability to reduce costs...

cherbst · Dec 15, 2012

I build custom sub-woofer boxes and enclosures for years. You can get a lot done with inexpensive egg crate foam packing. We also used rubber spray undercoating in many cases instead of expensive coating. Be sure to round all edges of the corners and exposed openings to avoid air 'whistle', if you are moving a lot of air.

1U silent server enclosure

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