My unRAID server is in a Centurion 590 case. It has two 120mm fan openings opposite the motherboard, two fan openings on top above the motherboard and the rear exhaust fan opening. I have my drives in cages that came with the case with fans in the front of the cages. As of right now I only have an exhaust fan in the server, including the hard drive cage fans, and the side and top openings are empty. The exhaust fan works great and moves a TON of air but it sounds like a jet. What's the best setup for this case for cooling and also being relatively quiet? The server is in a room where the noise now matters but to me it must be sufficient at cooling. Looking for fan recommendations and what's the best set up for cooling.

 

Thanks!

 

My exhaust fan:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054

 

Case:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152

 

A Noctua fan that fits whatever size space you have open is going to move a lot of air while being virtually silent. They're all I use.

The CoolerMaster drive cages with fans in the front ... both the ones that ship with the Centurion 590 and the 4-in-3's they sell independently ... are EXCELLENT at cooling your drives with the 120mm fan in front of the drives.

 

You do NOT need a 3000 rpm fan for your exhaust.  You can either replace it with a slower and quieter fan;  or simply add a FanMate to reduce the speed of the fan you have now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217

 

However, be sure the noise you're heating is indeed from the rear exhaust fan.  Have you opened the case to confirm you don't have a "dust blanket" over the CPU heatsink (which would cause the heatsink fan to run at a very high speed)?    You should periodically blow out the case with a can of compressed air.

 

The CoolerMaster drive cages with fans in the front ... both the ones that ship with the Centurion 590 and the 4-in-3's they sell independently ... are EXCELLENT at cooling your drives with the 120mm fan in front of the drives.

 

  Do the CoolerMaster 4-in-3 cages, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002,  have a filter that can be removed and cleaned WITHOUT needing to remove the drive chassis?  I just can not tell from the pictures I have been able to find.  It looks like it 'might' be possible...

 

  If not, does anyone know of a 4-in-3, or 3-in-3 drive chassis that does have removable filters for cleaning without needing to remove the chassis each time?

 

 

The CoolerMaster drive cages with fans in the front ... both the ones that ship with the Centurion 590 and the 4-in-3's they sell independently ... are EXCELLENT at cooling your drives with the 120mm fan in front of the drives.

 

  Do the CoolerMaster 4-in-3 cages, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002,  have a filter that can be removed and cleaned WITHOUT needing to remove the drive chassis?  I just can not tell from the pictures I have been able to find.  It looks like it 'might' be possible...

 

  If not, does anyone know of a 4-in-3, or 3-in-3 drive chassis that does have removable filters for cleaning without needing to remove the chassis each time?

 

No filter ... but none needed.  The 120mm fan is very quiet, and provides VERY good airflow with no need for a separate filter.    I've never seen any internal dust accumulation with these on either the fan blades or the drives.    Occasionally a bit of dust will accumulate on the screen in front of the fan ... a 2 second blast with a can of compressed air resolves that with no problem.

 

The CoolerMaster drive cages with fans in the front ... both the ones that ship with the Centurion 590 and the 4-in-3's they sell independently ... are EXCELLENT at cooling your drives with the 120mm fan in front of the drives.

 

You do NOT need a 3000 rpm fan for your exhaust.  You can either replace it with a slower and quieter fan;  or simply add a FanMate to reduce the speed of the fan you have now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217

 

However, be sure the noise you're heating is indeed from the rear exhaust fan.  Have you opened the case to confirm you don't have a "dust blanket" over the CPU heatsink (which would cause the heatsink fan to run at a very high speed)?    You should periodically blow out the case with a can of compressed air.

 

I clean out the server regularly, so were dust free. I have two of the 4x3 cages and they do a great job cooling. The CPU heatsink fan is clean too. It's a very old low power Sempron CPU from probably 2008. My server just serves media files, nothing else. Just wanted to make sure I've got adequate cooling going on but looks like if I just slow down or replace the rear exhaust I should be good!

The Centurion 590 case itself has crappy filters in all of the guards on the front of the case but either compressed air or taking them out and rinsing them off does the trick for a long long time. Sometimes random crap wedges itself in the filter so I like to rinse them once a year. If you're using the 4x3 cages purchased separately you won't have these guards. I've got one built in and one bought separately.

 

I have an old Zalman fan controller installed but I don't believe the rear exhaust fan is hooked to it, just to the motherboard itself. I had a few really shitty fans installed but after a few months use they made some bad noises and I took them out and replaced with that huge exhaust fan I had laying around. Never hooked the fan controller back up.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813999251