As some background, there have recently been a bunch of slightly older (but still new [as in not refurbished] and fast) Xeon server CPUs dumped onto the market. I've bought some of these for several machines including a server and workstation. I was wondering if some people might have some good advice on a few details that I've run across. In both machines, I have a relatively large amount of room, so I can use large cooling options. Just to be clear though, water cooling doesn't make sense for this setup.
Server: This is pretty much finalized, but if anyone wants to chime in I'm all ears. This had to be a 4U chassis because we are using co-processors for HPC which are full card height. I'm using Arctic Freezer i11's since the airflow needs to go front to back, and 120 mm fans are generally too tall to fit in a 4U chassis. I think that this is fine in general. The one major hiccup is that the "front" CPU cooler blows its warm air on to the "rear" CPU cooler. Therefore the "rear" CPU tends to run 5-8 degrees C hotter. I think this is okay because both CPUs stay below 65-70 C which is actually really good for the kind of torture we put them through (it's pretty similar to running something like fold@home 24/7 for potentially years at a time).
Workstation: This is the main question. I'm using Hyper Evo 212's with this machine. In order to deal with that 5-8 degrees warmer thing I mentioned above, I've set the direction of airflow to be perpendicular for the two processors (this isn't an option in the server since all heat needs to be vented from the rear). The "front" CPU cooler is blowing UP while the the "rear" CPU cooler is blowing BACK. This makes sure that both CPUs are running at approximately the same temperature in the workstation (and I've verified that this works while the system is running). After setting this up, I realized that the Hyper Evo 212's fan actually uses a sleeve bearing type, and I know that sleeve bearing fans have reliability issues when mounted horizontally. Normally I would have no issue with keeping the Hyper Evo 212's fan, but I'm wondering whether this will cause problems in the long run. In addition, I like the idea of the hot air from one CPU not blowing onto the other, but does anyone have any intuition as to whether this is going to cause more issues than it solves by creating an odd airflow in the case? If the sleeve bearing fan that comes with the 212 should be replaced, does anyone have a good replacement suggestion? It would need to be a very reliable 4-pin non sleeve bearing fan with sufficient airflow (the 212's fan maxes out at ~80 CFM).
Update:
A picture as requested. Note that the front intake fan on this case is a 200 mm fan which you can't see in the photos. Currently the front cooler is pushing air into some porous noise cancelling material on top, but the panel above is removable if it eventually becomes an issue. There is a lot of room in the case though eventually there is going to be some sort of GPU/co-processor (or possibly two). And I also forgot to mention that while the server will be in a server and therefore noise simply isn't an issue (it has a total of 12 fans I think and sounds like a jetliner taking off when it starts up), the workstation is more limited by the fact that people need to remain sane while working near it. I'm planning on adding one more intake fan I think, but that will probably be it.
Server: This is pretty much finalized, but if anyone wants to chime in I'm all ears. This had to be a 4U chassis because we are using co-processors for HPC which are full card height. I'm using Arctic Freezer i11's since the airflow needs to go front to back, and 120 mm fans are generally too tall to fit in a 4U chassis. I think that this is fine in general. The one major hiccup is that the "front" CPU cooler blows its warm air on to the "rear" CPU cooler. Therefore the "rear" CPU tends to run 5-8 degrees C hotter. I think this is okay because both CPUs stay below 65-70 C which is actually really good for the kind of torture we put them through (it's pretty similar to running something like fold@home 24/7 for potentially years at a time).
Workstation: This is the main question. I'm using Hyper Evo 212's with this machine. In order to deal with that 5-8 degrees warmer thing I mentioned above, I've set the direction of airflow to be perpendicular for the two processors (this isn't an option in the server since all heat needs to be vented from the rear). The "front" CPU cooler is blowing UP while the the "rear" CPU cooler is blowing BACK. This makes sure that both CPUs are running at approximately the same temperature in the workstation (and I've verified that this works while the system is running). After setting this up, I realized that the Hyper Evo 212's fan actually uses a sleeve bearing type, and I know that sleeve bearing fans have reliability issues when mounted horizontally. Normally I would have no issue with keeping the Hyper Evo 212's fan, but I'm wondering whether this will cause problems in the long run. In addition, I like the idea of the hot air from one CPU not blowing onto the other, but does anyone have any intuition as to whether this is going to cause more issues than it solves by creating an odd airflow in the case? If the sleeve bearing fan that comes with the 212 should be replaced, does anyone have a good replacement suggestion? It would need to be a very reliable 4-pin non sleeve bearing fan with sufficient airflow (the 212's fan maxes out at ~80 CFM).
Update:
A picture as requested. Note that the front intake fan on this case is a 200 mm fan which you can't see in the photos. Currently the front cooler is pushing air into some porous noise cancelling material on top, but the panel above is removable if it eventually becomes an issue. There is a lot of room in the case though eventually there is going to be some sort of GPU/co-processor (or possibly two). And I also forgot to mention that while the server will be in a server and therefore noise simply isn't an issue (it has a total of 12 fans I think and sounds like a jetliner taking off when it starts up), the workstation is more limited by the fact that people need to remain sane while working near it. I'm planning on adding one more intake fan I think, but that will probably be it.
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