HP Proliant DL380 G5 server for home use?

I've run 50 ft. VGA cables before, so your only issue there is getting a cable long enough. You may have to order them on-line.

Should not be any problem turning the case on its side, I've done that numerous times before, there is nothing in it that gravity will bother, unless it causes some cables to drop onto a fan blade somewhere.

Servers are designed to run hard and to keep cool at all costs, so the fans usually run fast and it's no wonder it sounds loud. If you can find slower fans that fit in place of your current fans (probably small), that will help, but you should monitor temperatures after replacing them to ensure that the CPU and system do not get too hot. Even better if you get variable speed fans, the kind that have a little switch attached to them with a low, medium, and high settings. The problem with server fans is that they tend to be small, high-speed fans, and therefore noisy. Normal desktop towers cases use larger, 120 mm fans which, being larger, can move more slowly to move the same amount of air, and hence they are quieter.

Sorry, but I can't answer your graphics card question, but I know there are lots of people here who know enough to give you a good answer.

How big are the fans? Are they 80 mm fans? 90 mm? 120 mm? All you need is the size in order to get quieter replacements. 12 volt fans are pretty standard. Since we don't know what the exact specs are for those fans, in terms of rotation speeds, cubic feet per minute of air moved, and the decibel level of sound at each rotation speed, your best bet would be to buy a quiet replacement fan and see how it works. If it works well and is significantly quieter, then you buy more of them.

If you provide me with the size of your fans I can suggest replacement fans.

There's this website for obsolete and discontinued Nidec Beta V fans, but they are listed by size (e.g., 60x10mm, 60x15mm, 40x15mm, 40x20mm, etc.). Measure the width and depth of your fans so we can figure out what their ratings are, if possible, and find quiet replacement fans.

http://www.nidecamerica.com/nidec_links.htm

There isn't much to choose from. The 60mm size is pretty freakin' small, hence they run very fast in order to move much air and are very loud. That's why it's better to use fewer, much larger fans, instead of a lot of small, noisy fans.

The best I could find is this one, which doesn't move much air, but your current case fans are probably moving more air than you need anyway. At least that's my experience with older, tower server cases and their array of small, noisy fans.

You could try these but it would be a gamble: they might not move enough air through your case. If the noise bothers you enough, I would try them -- they're not very expensive ($12 each).

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4271/fan-232/SilenX_60x60x25mm_-_16dBA_-_18CFM_iXtrema_Pro_Fan_IXP-34-16.html?tl=g33c165s354&id=Psyxp9HZ

I don't know enough about your hardware to help you any further. If I had your server to play with I might be able to do something with it, but not from a distance. It's quite old and I am not familiar with it. Sorry.

Hi,
I recently got the same sever as well as the bigger brother. The problem with what you are trying to do is that normal PC fans uses cables to connect to the motherboard or directly to the power supply connections. HP made the fans different. They don't have cables. the connectors is on the fan and they slot directly into the connector beneath the fan. To get a normal PC fan, you would need an additional power supply to run the fans. But you still sit the BIOS problem. If a fan is not detected through it's connector, it will either register as a faulty fan or no fan at all and you won't be able to boot it. HP made these fans special for the servers as they are rack mount servers. The only option I can give you are either one of the following.

1. Keep the case as close as possible to an air-con outlet. This will ensure that the top part of the case is cooled down, which effects the air inside, thus the BIOS will run the fans at a much lower speed, thus reducing the noise level. keep in mind that if the air-con drips water from condensation, it might short out the server if the water gets in and then you can throw it away.

2. Put the case in the next room, drill a hole through the wall and run the cables through the hole. Make sure you have a USB HUB also connected for plugging in USB HDD or other USB devices. This will dramatically reduce the noise for where you are keeping the screen, keyboard and mouse. Though the next door room will be noisier, so be warned.

3. The silver PCI slot covers in the case, doesn't allow for air to go through. I took those covers out, drilled a few holes in each and put them back, this increased the noise very slightly, but it helps running the system a few degrees cooler, thus insuring the BIOS runs the fans at a lower speed for longer, thus reducing the noise.

These blade servers are designed to take up far less space, to be mounted in racks inside a specially cooled server room. They are basically there for deployment server, virtual servers, etc. to form a backbone of an organisation's network. This room is usually in the basement or ground level of a building, located so the noise doesn't bother anyone.

As for the sound card, you can pick up a USB sound card which you can plug into the USB connection. Though most USB sound cards have only a mic input and a single connector for speakers. So you won't be able to plug in a surround sound system, unless you get a splitter which you can hook up several output connections and then just emulate surround sound through software.

As for the graphics card, i am in the same boat as you. The graphics card needs to be an 8x compatible PCIx card. You should be able to pick one up second hand. Though make sure it doesn't require an additional power connections or you would need an additional power supply which you have to open a PCI slot to run the power cable through. From where I am, to get a graphics card like this is very difficult, sort of looking for a needle in 10 hay stacks.

Im borrowing this thread.

Great inputs, and Im wondering if it would be possible to install W8pro or 7 Ultimate?

One issue about the fans, on most ProLiant servers, that until you install SNMP service and then the HP Insight Manager agents it'll be very noisy with the fans running full tilt. With the Insight Management Agents installed, they'll regulate cooling/fan speed. You can download the agents for this server using the link below. It still might be a bit noisy though since they're designed to run in data centers. Check the quick specs for the server and that'll show the power requirements.

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=1121413&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=1005

Im running Windows 8.1, no issues, and trying to get a 8550 workimg with an additional psu
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Most of the increased fan noise I had was caused by one of two power supplies. I unplugged 1 and removed it, no change. When I did the other one the change was immediate. I reseated the PS and it is still on low speed and bearable.
If your expansion cage supports PCI-E cards you can try the following. 'Nvidea' 8000GS 1GB PCI-E card. Mine is in slot 4.
I have an 'inateck' PCI-E USB3.0 card 'KT4004' in slot 3. And I have a 'Sound Blaster' Audigy Fx card with the low profile adapter in slot PCIe 2.
Currently running Windows 10, 64 bit, with Two quad core CPU's and 32 GB of memory.
Good luck.