Goal - make the server quiet enough for apartment use, and reduce power draw.

Server will be purchased from ebay seller - X9 board with dual cpu. I don't know how much RAM I should get?

 

I'll replace PSU with the SQ version. For fans, which of these is a better option - 

 

1. get alternate chassis fans from SuperMicro such as FAN-0074L4/FAN-0044L4. Drop in replacement

2. remove fan wall and put 3x 120mm fans. much more work

 

For cpu I'm thinking of low power Xeon such as E5-2630L. Will it make a big difference vs E5-2620?

Do I need active cpu cooler vs the passive heatsink server comes with?

 

What changes do you recommend?

I replaced the dual PSU in mine with a single standard atx quiet Platinum rated PSU. This made a huge difference in noise. A bit of work as it's not drop in. I never touched the fan wall as that would have only made a minor improvement.

Regarding the low power CPU, don't waste your time on that. Especially if the low power version costs more. At idle they are about the same, they just don't have the headroom. Why pay more for slower.

Your disks during parity checks are where most of the heat will come from

Sent from my chisel, carved into granite

I have no interest in a consumer ATX PSU. The SQ versions from SM are quiet enough from every account and not audible over the fans/disks.

 

Did you use active cooling for cpu's or just passive heatsinks?

On 9/18/2019 at 3:24 AM, tr0910 said:

Regarding the low power CPU, don't waste your time on that. Especially if the low power version costs more. At idle they are about the same, they just don't have the headroom. Why pay more for slower.
 

Except the E5-2630L is both lower power and also higher passmark than the E5-2620. Cost difference is minimal.

8 hours ago, c_n0te said:

Except the E5-2630L is both lower power and also higher passmark than the E5-2620. Cost difference is minimal.

tldr; L does not mean lower overall consumption, possibly more power over time because the CPU stays at full (limited) throttle for longer to accomplish the same task. The only reason to favor the L version of the SAME PROCESSOR NUMBER is if you don't have the heatsink and fan capacity to dump the peak load.