Building a "Reasonably Quiet" SSD Rack Mount Server for Office and Home use

[joeschmuck]

Are you using a specific brand of thermal paste? If so, which one?

Can you report again, in one nice posting the CPU temps for the following and using the UBCD:
1. Boot the CD, leave it on the menu that it goes to for a few minutes and using the IPMI, what is the CPU temp and CPU fan speed?
2. Now run any CPU Stress Test, watch the CPU temps on IPMI, what is the temp after 5 minutes and 10 minutes, and the fan speeds of course.
I hope for under 40C at idle and under 75C under full load.

Questions about your build...
1. Do you have the cover on the case to promote proper airflow?
2. Do you have sufficient airflow into and out of the motherboard space?
3. Proper airflow is critical. The CPU fan will only recirculate hot air if clean cool air cannot get in and the hot aid is exhausted.

 

[bollar]

Are you using a specific brand of thermal paste? If so, which one?

Can you report again, in one nice posting the CPU temps for the following and using the UBCD:
1. Boot the CD, leave it on the menu that it goes to for a few minutes and using the IPMI, what is the CPU temp and CPU fan speed?
2. Now run any CPU Stress Test, watch the CPU temps on IPMI, what is the temp after 5 minutes and 10 minutes, and the fan speeds of course.
I hope for under 40C at idle and under 75C under full load.

Questions about your build...
1. Do you have the cover on the case to promote proper airflow?
2. Do you have sufficient airflow into and out of the motherboard space?
3. Proper airflow is critical. The CPU fan will only recirculate hot air if clean cool air cannot get in and the hot aid is exhausted.

I assume the cooler came with the Arctic paste preinstalled. I used Corsair TM30 for the reapplication.

I will burn the CD and do the tests.

As for the build, refer back to this picture: https://www.truenas.com/community/t...er-for-office-and-home-use.109055/post-756029

Yes, lid is on and the shroud is also on, so the center & left fan in that picture are directed over the cpu / cooler. Room temp is 76 F and the air intakes are clear.

Other temperatures seem reasonable to me:

 

[bollar]

There is still that question that at Optimal Speed, the fans don't run full speed -- only as fast as they need to go to keep the CPU at 80 degrees C or less.

 

[NickF]

I the Ultimte Boot CD still maintained?????

I started paying for PartedMagic and will feel silly if thats true...

 

[joeschmuck]

I the Ultimte Boot CD still maintained?????

I think the last update was in 2021 but I did not research it. I suspect updates are slow since this utility only packages free software and free software is limited these days. Here is the link to the download page and also note link on the left to the forums if you would like to check that out as well. Warning, be careful what you click on, lots of ads on the website to fund the website.

Ultimate Boot CD - Download the UBCD

 

[bollar]

Nice that UBCD has a Debian version. I was able to burn that to USB and test. The room is quite a bit colder this morning -- probably 70 degrees F.

Code:

At idle:

CPU Temp: 39
CPU Fan: 420
Chassis Fans: 2520

Five Minutes:

CPU Temp: 70
CPU Fan: 1400
Chassis Fans: 4620

Ten Minutes:

CPU Temp: 70
CPU Fan: 1260
Chassis Fans: 4480

PCH Temp: 38
System Temp: 24
Peripheral Temp: 29

Aside from the room being a bit colder, the big difference is this test doesn't include the GPU. Looking at the Plex logs, it seems it's constantly doing things like looking for TV Show intros that might be using GPU.

System Stability Tester settings for reference. I tried 16 & 32 threads to see if there was a difference. This CPU does 16 threads and there was no difference.

 

[bollar]

I turned off Plex's GPU access and:

CPU Temp: 51
CPU Fan: 840
Chassis Fans: 3080

Turning GPU back on in Plex brings the CPU Temp back up to 73 almost immediately.

I can't find too much about this CPU, but in overclocker forums, there's talk about how the consumer chips with Quick Sync Video run hot.

So, maybe it's normal -- in any event, while I can turn Plex off, I'm still interested in transcoding the work video while keeping the server reasonably quiet, so I'm going to continue to look at the other cooling recommendations.

 

[Davvo]

I would try a 2U tower cooler first.

 

[bollar]

I would try a 2U tower cooler first.

Still looking for one -- the 2U LGA 1200 (or even LGA 115x) supporting the Xeon backplate on the motherboard seems like a unicorn.

 

[bollar]

Alphacool has 2U enterprise water-cooling solutions that can connect to their LGA 1200 water block and claim a 200W TDP. Seems like a complex and $$$$ option. https://www.alphacool.com/enterprise-solutions-produkte

 

[joeschmuck]

while I can turn Plex off, I'm still interested in transcoding the work video

Just so I understand, you are using the GPU to transcode video product for work? I can't imagine you are transcoding all the time. And if you turn off the GPU in Plex, does this adversely affect your work?

Turning GPU back on in Plex brings the CPU Temp back up to 73 almost immediately.

I was not thinking about the GPU when I started commenting in this thread.

So thinking outside the box here, I have a suggestion for you which may be cost effective...
Can you purchase an add-on dedicated GPU card, turn off the CPU-GPU in the BIOS (if that is a thing), and just use the add-on card? Depending on the performance you need, you might be able to get fairly inexpensive card. But to be honest, I don't know enough about Plex and what hardware is likes to use. Some research would need to happen on your part, likely in the Plex forums. the add-on dedicated GPU would allow your CPU to run much cooler.

 

[Davvo]

Still looking for one -- the 2U LGA 1200 (or even LGA 115x) supporting the Xeon backplate on the motherboard seems like a unicorn.

But you don't have the backplate, otherwise the Alpine cooler wouldn't have fitted.

Alphacool has 2U enterprise water-cooling solutions that can connect to their LGA 1200 water block and claim a 200W TDP. Seems like a complex and $$$$ option. https://www.alphacool.com/enterprise-solutions-produkte

I can't read german, but do you even have space for liquid cooling?

Supermicro's solution.

 

[bollar]

Just so I understand, you are using the GPU to transcode video product for work? I can't imagine you are transcoding all the time. And if you turn off the GPU in Plex, does this adversely affect your work?

Yes, we do video transcodes for work. Each one takes several hours and being able to do them on Scale is helpful. Ultimately, we can live without Plex HW transcoding, but our work transcodes also use FFMPEG, so they also spike the temp.

So thinking outside the box here, I have a suggestion for you which may be cost effective...
Can you purchase an add-on dedicated GPU card, turn off the CPU-GPU in the BIOS (if that is a thing), and just use the add-on card?

At this point, I can't add another card -- the X12STH-F has three slots and they're used by HBA, 10GBe & NVMe. The desired design for portability and mixed work / home use over the next two years led us down this narrow road of Xeon processors that support Intel Quick Sync Video, which gave us a very small selection of SuperMicro motherboards that support the LGA1200, further limited by Debian drivers in the current version of TrueNAS (this April release of Bluefin is apparently the first version that supports this CPU's QSV driver).

If I can't figure out something reasonable with managing the CPU temperatures, I can permanently turn off the GPU -- it's not the end of the world, but I'll feel like I've lost some sort of challenge...

But you don't have the backplate, otherwise the Alpine cooler wouldn't have fitted.

I do have the backplate -- the cooler link you recommended gave us the Arctic I selected and it has some pushpin arrangement that holds the fan in place. Would be helpful if other coolers could use the Arctic header. Lolz. See the back of the motherboard here: https://www.truenas.com/community/t...er-for-office-and-home-use.109055/post-754116

Otherwise, the SuperMicro fan you linked to *should* work, though they don't expressly say it works with the LGA-1200. I might get one to see.

I can't read german, but do you even have space for liquid cooling?

I think so. With the MicroATX motherboard, I have 10 cm between chassis fans and board. Radiator needs 6. If I go that route, I'll need to talk to them -- they offer a design service (more $$$, no doubt).

 

[Davvo]

I do have the backplate -- the cooler link you recommended gave us the Arctic I selected and it has some pushpin arrangement that holds the fan in place. Would be helpful if other coolers could use the Arctic header. Lolz. See the back of the motherboard here: https://www.truenas.com/community/t...er-for-office-and-home-use.109055/post-754116

In that photo there is no backplate (there is the socket one, but that's not it) as you have the passthrough holes free; with the backplate installed you wouldn't be able to install that kind of cooler, because those holes would be blocked by the backplate's mounting threads.

 

[bollar]

In that photo there is no backplate and you have the passthrough holes free; with the backplate installed you wouldn't be able to install that kind of cooler, because those holes would be blocked by the backplate's mounting threads.

Then we're talking at cross purposes. A number of coolers (like the entire Noctua series) have their own backplate which can't be installed over the CPU backplate in the picture. This eliminated a fair number of otherwise promising solutions.

 

[jgreco]

led us down this narrow road of Xeon processors that support Intel Quick Sync Video, which gave us a very small selection of SuperMicro motherboards that support the LGA1200,

Yeah, this is very disappointing. On one hand, there are a lot more GPU options out there today than ten years ago, but on the other hand, some of us just don't have a lot of use for GPU and only need it for a single application. It's almost like Intel wants to force you into buying a discrete GPU by frustrating you with the lack of good options.

 

[Davvo]

Then we're talking at cross purposes. A number of coolers (like the entire Noctua series) have their own backplate which can't be installed over the CPU backplate in the picture. This eliminated a fair number of otherwise promising solutions.

Yes, but since there is no backplate preinstalled on the motherboard it's not an issue and you can install whatever backplate you want.

 

[bollar]

Yes, but since there is no backplate preinstalled on the motherboard it's not an issue and you can install whatever backplate you want.

In my experience, that is not correct that I can install whatever backplate I want. Some cooler backplates form an X pattern across the socket backplate and do not fit (e.g. Noctua). Arctic gets around this by not having a backplate at all and some, like AlphaCool, use tape to place their cooler backplate on top of the existing socket backplate.

 

[Davvo]

In my experience, that is not correct that I can install whatever backplate I want. Some cooler backplates form an X pattern across the socket backplate and do not fit (e.g. Noctua). Arctic gets around this by not having a backplate at all and some, like AlphaCool, use tape to place their cooler backplate on top of the existing socket backplate.

Compatibility is another thing, my point was you can fit a backplate since you don't have the one glued to it.
For noctua's honestly I think you shouldn't have an issue, but haven't really looked into things.

 

[bollar]

Compatibility is another thing, my point was you can fit a backplate since you don't have the one glued to it.

Okay.