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How to keep a rack-mount server from overheating

Tags:
  • Intel
  • Rack Servers
  • Servers
  • Fan
  • Disk Drives
  • Xenon
Last response: in CPUs
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September 15, 2014 10:16:21 AM

I'm setting up a new server in the rack in our closet. I started with a surplus Rackable 1U system with 2 Intel Xenon E5472 @3.0 GHz, 4GB ECC, and no disk drives. The motherboard is a Tyan Tempest i5400PW.

It had a bank of 5 24CFM fans, one of which had failed (seized-up). These fans were unacceptably loud for our office environment, so I replaced them with 5 8.5CFM and 1 5CFM fans.

I also added 28GB ECC memory and 2 1TB drives.

The system worked fine when sitting on a box in my office, but when I moved it to the rack, it ran for about 8 hours and shut down. All indications are that this is being caused by overheating, because the CPUs and BIOS have a temperature monitoring screen, which initially shows that the CPUs are running about 40° below Tmax, but after a few hours, this reading goes lower until it says N/A. If the machine is turned on within an hour after it shuts itself down, then it will only stay on for less than an hour. The air flowing out of the back of the case feels cooler than a hair dryer, but warmer than a residential heater register.

Question: Can I simply replace the CPUs with more modern (and green) models that take less power and thus will not overheat?

More about : rack mount server overheating

September 15, 2014 10:27:04 AM

What is the ambient air temp rising to in the closet. Rack servers are meant to run in an air conditioned space. Not to mention you cut its cooling by changing the fans.
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September 15, 2014 10:28:23 AM

What kind of ventilation do you have for the closet? You need to get some air movement through the closet, if you put anything in a small room and close the door eventually it will overheat.

We have our servers in a small room at work and have a 110cfm bathroom exhaust fan installed in the ceiling, that draws enough heat out off the room and cool air under the door for the servers to stay nice and cool.
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September 15, 2014 2:43:50 PM

price_th said:
What is the ambient air temp rising to in the closet.

I don't have a thermometer handy, but it seems about 80° in there. A coworker said: "It's cooler than Bikram."

faalin said:
What kind of ventilation do you have for the closet?.

We had a fan in the ceiling, but it broke. I should probably get another one.

I still don't like running the server that close to the edge. Isn't there a easier hardware solution?

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September 16, 2014 8:59:58 AM

If your server space is reaching 80 degs. you're not going to stay running very long before reaching overtemp conditions internally. You need to weigh the costs of lost business vs. not having an adequate server environment. As for a simple hardware change to reduce heat, it's not going to happen. Rack server get hot, period.
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