A dangerous game.

[uberlad]

The 'On or Off' thread in the Lounge has just reminded me that I need to quieten down my linux server.

The poor thing is only a P133 and it doesn't even have a heatsink (although I might glue one on as it does run pretty hot). The only fan running in it is in the power supply, which itself is many years old.

The fan is very noticable if you're sitting in the chair that the machine lives behind.

Question is - is it safe to remove the fan in the power supply? The HD is barely ticking over, the processor can barely be pulling any juice, and there's only two network cards in it.

Should I just get myself a big fan (120mm) and have that blowing out through the power supply.

Edit - Actually finish the post, dammit

Uberlad

[CHHAS]

You could see if the fan will run at 5 volts, it'll be a lot quieter than before, but it will still move some air.

[az]

I'd swap the fan for a new one, preferrably papst or, if you can afford it, verax. older fans tend to get loud as a sign of failing bearings. A quiet fan will be barely noticeable over the sound of a hard drive.

AZ

[uberlad]

The hard drive barely runs - although it should be filling the squid cache so it may run more when I'm on my machine.

Does anywhere sell cheap speed controlled fans? I suppose it is just a case of wiring a resistor into the fan cable and even someone of my limited electronics knowledge should be able to manage that.

The power supply has a six year supply of dust which should be a pretty effective heatsink as it is 8-)

Uberlad

[UtwigMU]

Zalman fans come with resistors, they're less than 5€ (~1000 SIT) here.

You cand also get Zalman RPM control thingie or Zalman Molex splitter with 2x 12V and 2x 7V.

[az]

I wouldn't get a fan with variable speed - a relatively slow fan should suffice for your server, and it'll be less annoying than a fan constantly changing its speed (and thus, noise pattern - your brain starts to filter out background noises after a while, but this can't be done with a constantly changing noise, of course!)

AZ

[uberlad]

I'll try breaking out the screwdriver over the weekend, and also try and avoid getting a massive shock.

Uberlad

[rugger]

Its not too dangerous inside power supplies ... if its disconnected from everything AND you are careful. There are capacitors in the power supply that could still give you a shock.

However, you should be fine just removing the dust with a brush and replacing the old fan with a new quiet model. Don't bother soldering the thing in, just plug it into one of the molex connectors.

I also think you should put a HSF on that CPU. Get the cheapest Socket 370 HSF you can find and run the fan at 5V. This should give the processor more than enough cooling.

[uberlad]

It's a P133 that's run for the last five years without a heatsink 8-) I'm sure it will be fine.

But I suppose I have an old Orb heatsink - I'll pick up some thermal epoxy and glue that badboy onto the middle of the pentium heatspreader.

I can get a 55W external PSU from www.mini-itx.com that's designed for EPIA boards. Utterly silent and fanless, like a laptop power supply.

Surely a P1 doesn't pull much more wattage than a 933EPIA-M? I only use the CD drive when I'm reinstalling smoothwall and the harddrive surely isn't much of a draw.

I'm asking for trouble aren't I?

Uberlad

[az]

Orb heatsinks are really, really poor performers when the fan isn't running. get a cheap (or used) p1 heatsink and dismount the fan.

AZ

[uberlad]

I can just about convince myself to spend some cash on a fan for my server, but trying to source a P1 heatsink may be just outside my 'can be bothered' threshold.

Unless theere's anyone in the Bristol are who wants to drop me one off that they have cluttering up their house? 8-)

The little thing has quite a hefty ceramic heat spreader that has done it proud for years. I should prolly not mess with the natural order of things.

I'll strap a slow moving fan blowing out through the power supply and kill the fan in the power supply.

that should drop the noise to acceptable levels.

Uberlad

[az]

Don't just kill the fan, take it out. It blocks air flow and creates turbulence noise

AZ

[borat]

uberlad off topic, because i have no fans knocking about, what area of bristol are you in because i am a student living in stoke bishop

[uberlad]

I am currently cowering behind barricades in southmead, waiting for local kids to steal all my stuff.

It's a hard life when you try buying a house in a tech recession

Uberlad

[Wulfman]

about the epia: my epia 800 is running fine without a fan on the cpu, although I changed the hs to the zalman northbridge one - and the psu-fan (7V) is blowing directly on it. might change that to an airtunnel & sucking in the future. maybe I'll get a pic of the custom case up soon.

the whole system (draws 30W power under normal conditions, serveral watts less if the hdd is powered down - although I run mine without a optical drive. loss by the psu is included.

mfg
wulfman