Cooling Are there any ~60mm(?) fans that are not the loudest things ever?

[zovc]

I'm trying to migrate my home server computer into a smaller case (not SFF), and I have realized that while my SSI-EEB board is listed as compatible, that's a very loose claim.

I had to take a dremel to the removable HDD cage in order to keep it from interfering with one of my two CPU coolers. Then, there wasn't enough clearance between my (overkill) EVGA Supernova 1300 G2 and my HDDs that were mounted in the drive cage, I couldn't fit them and the cable headers (both the SATA Power and the modular cable connectors)...

It's been a headache assembling the system, but I eventually made it work with that case mod and a smaller power supply.

As one might expect, forcing a bunch of hardware to fit in a case--having to go so far as cut things and shrink the power supply--my thermals stink. Interestingly, it's my three HDDs that seem to be causing problems. On open air, the case runs fine. After a day of leaving the case closed on top of a table with the system running (under no load), I came home to the CPU coolers running noisily at full blast. My best diagnosis is that the HDDs are at the front of the case with little-to-no circulation and eventually this heat starts to spread through the case and it's more still and dense than the few fans I have in the system can manage.

So, the only places I can attach fans to help circulate things are the bottom filtered intakes and the rear exhaust. I could theoretically mod more mounting points, but I'm trying to avoid that if I can since the only real places are two visible panels (front and top) and the top panel is the only removable one, which could be a hassle to have a cable plugged into the motherboard on.

The bottom intakes, are--of course--obstructed by my motherboard, but there seem to be holes to mount tiny fans in the exposed portion of the filtered intake areas. According to the specifications, this is "6 x 60mm fans." I think 6 sounds noisy and miserable, but I believe I have that many front PWM connectors on my Mobo...

Are there any 60mm PWM fans I could use in this case that won't be extremely loud?

The long story short is that this is my home server, but the plan was for it to be in my living room and double as a HTPC. This case is one of the only ones I could find that could fit my motherboard AND fit in my entertainment center.

 

[Ceros_X]

There's a Noctua for that. Sadly you will pay the tan tax at $15.99, but I am currently running two of them in my yet to be reviewed new case. They are super quiet, bordering on silent. Probably don't move a bunch of air unless you turn them up but with a few..

Had someone swing by today and had the case lid removed. 2x 60mm Noctua and 1x LH9I Noctua. My buddy said he couldn't hear them.

Edit: Also your case specs say "2 x 120mm intake fans, 900rpm, 18dBA
(backwards compatible with 1 x 120mm fan + 3 x 80mm fans, or 6 x 60mm fans)" can you do the 1x120 + 3×80?

 

[Sean Crees]

It's just physics. The less surface area on the fan blades, the less air it pushes, the faster it has to spin to push enough air for it to be useful. The faster it spins, the louder it gets and the higher the frequency of noise it makes. Most people will find higher frequency noises to be more bothersome and consider them loud as apposed to the same sound level of a lower frequency.

A better alternative would be to get a small NAS enclosure, or make your own with an old computer case. That removes all the hard drives from the computer all together, and now you don't have to worry about keeping them cool.

Then just have a single boot SSD for your computer, and all your mass storage that is heat sensitive can be somewhere else in the home.

 

[zovc]

Edit: Also your case specs say "2 x 120mm intake fans, 900rpm, 18dBA
(backwards compatible with 1 x 120mm fan + 3 x 80mm fans, or 6 x 60mm fans)" can you do the 1x120 + 3×80?

Yeah, I'm staring the tan tax in the face at the moment. It might be worth it to just go with a NAS like Sean Crees is suggesting.

I'm going to try tidying up my cables (they're definitely a mess) and spacing out the hard drives and see if that helps with my thermals any, then make a decision after I pay February's rent and bills.

Regarding those intake fans, they're choked off by my entertainment center. When I measured everything before ordering the case I saw about 0.5" clearance in the compartment, but there's practically 0.0" of space on the sides of the case when I eyeballed it earlier. If the side fans can take in air, I don't think it'll be the proper amount.

 

[Ceros_X]

Yeah, I'm staring the tan tax in the face at the moment. It might be worth it to just go with a NAS like Sean Crees is suggesting.

I'm going to try tidying up my cables (they're definitely a mess) and spacing out the hard drives and see if that helps with my thermals any, then make a decision after I pay February's rent and bills.

Regarding those intake fans, they're choked off by my entertainment center. When I measured everything before ordering the case I saw about 0.5" clearance in the compartment, but there's practically 0.0" of space on the sides of the case when I eyeballed it earlier. If the side fans can take in air, I don't think it'll be the proper amount.

For what it is worth, I don't regret buying them! Those two 60mm fans are the only case fans I am using on an 8TB 3.5" Hdd, i6500k, and 2.5" SSD (GPU out for a while). Case stays cool although my drives spin down when not in use.