I've read a bunch of the DS380 threads, and just finished a system in one.  Temps are not good.

 

I've got older drives in there, but the hottest drive is a WD Green, which I would have hoped would run a LOT cooler.  In my old case (an ammo can) with kludged fans, temps were barely above 30C for all drives.  The drive temps shown in the attachment are during an rsync copy operation; I want to run a parity check but with temps like this, a 12-14 hour parity check scares me just a little.

 

I've got the three factory fans installed stock, two side fans plugged into the backplane, rear case fan plugged into the MB, BIOS set to run it at 100% all the time.  Side filter mesh removed on the magnetic cover.

 

Those of you who have this case and experienced temp problems... Did you simply get new fans?  I'm all for better fans, but $140 for the case plus $40 for the power supply is already pegging the wife's interest meter, and a few quality (Noctua) $30 fans isn't gonna help.  I am eventually going to replace all of these drives, probably with 2 or 3TB WD Reds or Seagate NAS drives.  Wondering if the newer (more efficient?) drives will run cooler.

 

To be fair, I think there are two Barracudas in the array right now, along with an age-old (10 years?) Maxtor that runs REALLY hot.  But wishing my temps were better, for sure.

 

Cabling isn't exactly pretty (waiting on a few more parts to complete the build before I button her all up for good) but there isn't anything overtly in the way of airflow over the drives.  And the power supply is mounted upside down to pull air out of the case, not straight through the top vent.

 

Suggestions welcome while I go back and re-read all the DS380 threads again looking for fixes.

 

Awesome case otherwise, really, super nice case.

 

Thanks to all.

Those temps aren't really all that bad during a fairly active set of disk I/O.    A parity check shouldn't be notably worse; and temps in the low-to-mid 40's are "okay" ... not as low as I'd like to see, but not dangerous to the drives.

 

You're correct that WD Reds will run a bit cooler -- my array never gets above the high 30's during parity checks (with a Lian-Li PC-Q25B case).    But the drives are spec'd up to 60, so running in the mid-40's isn't a major issue.

 

Run your parity check and see how the temps do ... as long as drives never hit 50, you're okay (with the possible exception of the Maxtor, which I gather may exceed that.    If it indeed is running over 50, I'd be inclined to replace the drive (sooner rather than later -- no reason to wait for it to fail).  Note that running hot is a key early sign of drive failure.

 

Thanks Gary.  I guess I'm used to (and spoiled by) my primary server, which is silent from two feet away (see attachment).

 

I did not know that running hot was an early sign of a failing drive, good info, thanks.

 

Once I get my SATA card installed I will tidy everything inside up with the usual anal-retentiveness we all probably share.  I also plan on sealing off the back vent holes to make sure the evac fan is *only* getting air from inside the case. 

 

Will post results later, waiting on parts (and just ordered a WD Red 2TB, couldn't wait, ha)

 

Thanks again.