Cooling a 4u case.

[Bhoot]

I am currently running a 8disk RaidZ2 freenas server inside a Fractal R5 case. I have seen a lot of rack mount servers selling on ebay (preowned) which are coming out cheaper than purchasing a new unit. I am also looking at norco 4224 if I just replace the case, slap on a HBA for 24 bay server in the future.
I am utilizing the present server as a Home server for backup/media hub/ftp. I live in warm/hot climate with temperatures in the city touching ~45C in the summers. I have to make efforts to keep the disks cool especially in the summers during a scrub. It is a home environment and I can't/don't want to keep the air conditioning running 24x7. I am guessing a 4u 24 bay case with very dense HDDs will definitely get hotter than current setup. I am also guessing the server fans get very loud.
I currently have the NAS box in my entertainment room and its fans are barely audible. Current Corsair SP120 are giving me 57cfm for 26dbA which seems reasonable for temps and sound for my room. Are there any better solutions for my current/future builds? I am looking for solutions to cool current future setup especially the disks.
Thank you in advance for the suggestions.

 

[Stux]

Pretty much everything you need to know:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...24-supermicro-x10-sri-f-xeon-e5-1650v4.46262/

 

[Kevin Horton]

I'm running a Norco RPC-4224, with the same set of fans as @Stux has in his build. The system is fairly quiet, but it lives in my basement, and it has been quite cool in there the whole time since the server was put in service. I'm not sure of the temperature inside the cabinet, but it feels like 25C or so, and the average drive temperature is controlled to 36C.

Keeping the average drive temperature cooler than ambient temperature + 10C during a scrub or long SMART test will require a lot of airflow, and that means noise. Even ambient +5C is really warmer than you'd want to subject the drives to when it hits 45C.

I think you are going to have to budget money for an air conditioned server cabinet, or budget money to replace failed hard drives regularly. Pick your poison.

 

[Bhoot]

Pretty much everything you need to know:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...24-supermicro-x10-sri-f-xeon-e5-1650v4.46262/

I did read your thread a day or 2 back. Actually I thought about a 4u build once again after reading that. I was just hoping for solutions with a hotter environment and a 24 disk fully populated case. Since yours still has a few bays empty the only heat you need to worry about is the ambient air. With a fully populated case the heat from other hard disks will make it hotter and then this hard disk will get hotter and emit more heat. It's like a infinite loop till the disks cook. :(

I'm running a Norco RPC-4224, with the same set of fans as @Stux has in his build. The system is fairly quiet, but it lives in my basement, and it has been quite cool in there the whole time since the server was put in service. I'm not sure of the temperature inside the cabinet, but it feels like 25C or so, and the average drive temperature is controlled to 36C.

Keeping the average drive temperature cooler than ambient temperature + 10C during a scrub or long SMART test will require a lot of airflow, and that means noise. Even ambient +5C is really warmer than you'd want to subject the drives to when it hits 45C.

I think you are going to have to budget money for an air conditioned server cabinet, or budget money to replace failed hard drives regularly. Pick your poison.

I did have a look at the air conditioned racks. The smallest I think is a 20u. I am also guessing the air conditioned cabinets do cost a bomb to buy and costs small sticks of dynamite to run? No kind of duct cooling/passive coolers like they have on the raid card? Even my raspberry pi has small little passive coolers. I am not saying they will be efficient but I am sure they will decrease the temps a bit? During summers I generally open the front door of the case to let maximum air flow in. Also run the AC a few hours a day to keep the disks at or below 42-43C. Like I said I do try to keep them cool but it really isn't practical and with the summers coming again for the third time since the deployment of the server I was hoping for a more permanent solution. :)
I was hoping some one has attached a small compressor and a duct (like they have with those portable ACs) feeding cooler air to the front of the case. They aren't the best for cooling rooms but I was guessing they would work well for servers. ;)