March 8, 20179 yr I bought one of these off amazon since it seemed like a cheap knock off of the istar units. So far it hasn't been able to keep the temps down on my drives during a preclear. I have it mounted in a P4000 Intel chassis. The istars are in an Antec 1200. Maybe that is the difference but maybe you get what you pay for. Anyway, I didn't see any threads on this particular model and wanted to warn or have someone chime in that they work great and I must have a bad unit. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BMJ1WD6 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
March 8, 20179 yr Well, I guess all of those backplanes work to some extent - more or less. Just have a look how packed those drives are! There is almost no room for a proper air flow! Is there any room between the tray doors at all? Can't tell by looking at the pics. That means you have to have a really good fan to get some air through. If noise is no issue, you can swap the fans for some with higher flow. Another significant factor is the heat you produce in there. Green drives will work significantly better than blacks. I build a server with much more pricey IcyBox enclosures. The guy wanted WD blacks in there. Normal operation would cause moderate hard drive temps. For parity checking the enclosure fans needed to be turned to max, but then you couldn't resist the permanent noise level! Next thing, check the backplates in those enclosures. There are only a few holes in the PCB where air can pass. You can have high quality products, but you cannot fool physics with even higher quality. Just get a proper air flow. I also decided to turn the fans around and let them blow into the enclosure so the hot air is vented outside instead into the server case. Doing so gives some additional air flow through the server which is good for my controller cards. When doing so, make sure there is a way where cool air can flow into the server case. There are perforated slot brackets that i use near the controller card slots so cool air can be sucked in that way. Despite the good look of those enclosures, I decided for myself not to use them any more. Nevertheless I don't like the idea to unscrew the server, taking out drive bays when replacing a disk. But I'm totally fine if the drive plugs are accessible and the drive can be pulled - I'm not doing it on a daily basis after all. That's why I'm using things like the Silverstone CFP52B (unfortunately it is EOL) with a case like the LianLi PC-P80 (unfortunately also EOL) where fans are integrated in the case door. A more packed version of a drive caddy is this, but I have not tested it yet. Sourcing seems only possible form china at the moment. Sorry for the lengthy post.
March 8, 20179 yr 7 hours ago, Fireball3 said: If noise is no issue, you can swap the fans for some with higher flow. When you are shopping for fans, look for static pressure, not flow. Flow ratings are done with no restrictions, you want a fan that generates a lot of pressure differential so it pulls air through the restriction.
March 8, 20179 yr Author I haven't investigated too closely to be honest. I was just a little surprised in the difference in temps between that and the identical [looking] istar units. Maybe the istar have more steel or aluminum in them for heat transfer and these are more plasticy? I'm not sure. Flipping the fan may not be a bad idea. I'm just preclear if drives right now so maybe I'll even just send it back and try the pricier istar unit. I'm still in my return window. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
March 8, 20179 yr I got some similar looking ones and the first thing I did was replace the fans with noctua ones. Did need some replacement screws that were longer to accomodate the increased depth of the noctua fans though.
March 9, 20179 yr 16 hours ago, jonathanm said: When you are shopping for fans, look for static pressure, not flow. Flow ratings are done with no restrictions, you want a fan that generates a lot of pressure differential so it pulls air through the restriction. Fluid dynamics, dynamic pressure tldr: flow and pressure are not independent! I noticed, in the US it seems common to select via static pressure values. Renown manufacturers here usually advertise fans by their flow and noise rating. I guess you're good with either solution. I'm interested if you find a low noise, low flow and high pressure fan!
March 9, 20179 yr 16 hours ago, CHBMB said: I got some similar looking ones and the first thing I did was replace the fans with noctua ones. Did need some replacement screws that were longer to accomodate the increased depth of the noctua fans though. You did this because of the noise or due to the low cooling performance? Quantification of improvement possible?
March 9, 20179 yr 2 hours ago, Fireball3 said: tldr: flow and pressure are not independent! That's correct, you must have flow to generate pressure. However, in the axial fan category, you can design the blades and housing in such a way that optimizes for static pressure vs peak flow. As the blades turn, they take a chunk of air and push it. If there is no restriction, that chunk of air moves nicely out of the way, and the next blade grabs a mostly fresh chunk, and so on. If there is a blockage to the flow, that air pushed by the blade bounces back, and gets thrashed around by each blade in turn. Very little flow happens, and lots of noisy turbulence. If the blades and housing are designed specifically for high static pressure, the amount of air that gets needlessly churned about against the restriction is minimized, lowering noise and increasing pressure at the expense of maximum flow. tldr: Fluid dynamics is a VERY complex science.
March 9, 20179 yr 8 hours ago, Fireball3 said: You did this because of the noise or due to the low cooling performance? Quantification of improvement possible? I've always used Noctua fans, so I had replacements ready from when I purchased the cages. Noise definitely improved. My drives always below 40 degrees. (Ambient house temp 15 - 20 degrees) Server running 24/7.
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