Supermicro X11SSH-F active cooling guidance

[russella]

I have been wringing my hands about upgrading my TrueNAS hardware from an old repurposed Dell server to something more recent. I finally took the plunge and have on my desk:

• an X11SSH-F motherboard;
• a (used) Xeon E3-1270 (v6); and
• a Node 804 case (actually, that's on the way...)

My current challenge is to figure out how to properly cool this CPU. I thought that figuring this would just be a matter of a couple clicks of the mouse, but...it seems a bit complicated. Here's where I am right now--any help or guidance very much appreciated.

• It seems that Supermicro recommends two different solutions: the SNK-P0046A4 (2U) or SNK-P0051AP4 (4U). Irritatingly, on their own site, they do not explicitly declare compatibility with the E3-12XX v6 family (only up through v5); could something go wrong with this combination?
• Now, it seems that the SNK-P0051AP4 is a bit noisy, and I have a very high opinion of Noctua fans. So, I poked around on their website a bit. It seems that this motherboard has a heatsink backplate already installed that is not directly compatible with any of the Noctura fans (!?), but that there are some adapter kits that can bridge the gap. To be specific, I see that the NH-U9DX i4, NH-U12DX i4, and NH-D9DX i4 U3 can all be coupled with kits for this. Does anyone have experience with this--is it an acceptable solution?
  
• Any comments very welcome (even those that suggest completely different approaches). This is a machine that cannot be locked completely away, so noise is an issue; obviously, I would also like to keep the CPUs comfortable.

Thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

It seems that this motherboard has a heatsink backplate already installed that is not directly compatible with any of the Noctura fans (!?),

What gave you that idea? It's a bog-standard LGA 115x socket. Pretty much any cooler you can buy outside of specialty channels will fit.

To be specific, I see that the NH-U9DX i4, NH-U12DX i4, and NH-D9DX i4 U3 can all be coupled with kits for this. Does anyone have experience with this--is it an acceptable solution?

No, you want the standard versions of whatever cooler you want. I use the NH-D9L and have no complaints, even on my Xeon E5 workstation. You could go with something larger, but you could also go buy a megaphone and it would make about as much difference as the extra cooling to a Xeon E3.

 

[russella]

What gave you that idea? It's a bog-standard LGA 115x socket. Pretty much any cooler you can buy outside of specialty channels will fit.

No, you want the standard versions of whatever cooler you want. I use the NH-D9L and have no complaints, even on my Xeon E5 workstation. You could go with something larger, but you could also go buy a megaphone and it would make about as much difference as the extra cooling to a Xeon E3.

Wow--thanks for your fast reply. My information is from the Noctua X11SSH-F compatibility table.

Did I misread things, or is this just wrong?

Thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

I think they had an intern look at pictures of random motherboards and click "no" on anything that looked remotely liable to not fitting. Everything fits correctly on my X11SSM-F and I'm sure you can find someone around here who's done the same with an X11SSH-F. Not that I expect any differences around the CPU socket.

Fake edit: Found one

 

[Ericloewe]

Did Noctua just Cuningham's Law me into doing their compatibility checking for them?

 

[russella]

Looks like you're right about the intern: They are equally pessimistic about compatibility with your X11SSM-F. Thanks!

 

[neofusion]

I had the same concern with my X11SCH-F + NH-D14 SE2011 (w. NM-i115x-1200 mounting kit).
Their compatibility list is so unintuitive that their own staff is fooled into thinking it won't work.

I suggested changing the red compatibility to a yellow symbol to show that you needed the additional mounting kit for compatibly but they insisted it wasn't compatible, with or without the mounting kit.

You should obviously check and double check when installing but I suspect you will be fine.

 

[russella]

I had the same concern with my X11SCH-F + NH-D14 SE2011 (w. NM-i115x-1200 mounting kit).
Their compatibility list is so unintuitive that their own staff is fooled into thinking it won't work.

I suggested changing the red compatibility to a yellow symbol to show that you needed the additional mounting kit for compatibly but they insisted it wasn't compatible, with or without the mounting kit.

You should obviously check and double check when installing but I suspect you will be fine.

Thanks very much for your post. This sounds as though you actually *did* need the extra mounting kit?

If so, I may have painted myself into a corner--I ordered a NH-D9L for which they do not suggest that there is an appropriate mounting kit. I guess I'd better cancel that and be more careful. Thanks!

 

[neofusion]

Thanks very much for your post. This sounds as though you actually *did* need the extra mounting kit?

If so, I may have painted myself into a corner--I ordered a NH-D9L for which they do not suggest that there is an appropriate mounting kit. I guess I'd better cancel that and be more careful. Thanks!

I did, yes, but I also had a special edition of the NH-D14 for the LGA2011 socket. Of course, in my case, this meant I had to purchase the mounting kit instead of actually getting to use Noctua's "we'll send you a mounting kit for free if you need it"-offer.

Perhaps you can secure the cooler from a local seller that accepts returns should you notice an incompatibility when inspecting the motherboard?

 

[russella]

The NH-D9L is already on its way, so I'll proceed as you suggest. When it arrives in a few days I will know more. I'll post my findings here in case it might help the next person confused by the Noctua compatibility lists.

 

[Ericloewe]

I can’t imagine them removing the LGA115x bits. The bracket is shared and the only unique part are the screws. So, apart from special editions, all Noctua coolers (3000+ pin sockets excluded) should include all you need.

 

[demon]

I just checked what it says for the X11SCH-LN4F, and it says the NH-U12S chromax.black won't fit (or anything else). Funny, someone should really tell my NAS box.