I'm currently in the middle of a large (multi-terabyte) rsync between two ZFS servers. The source server is using a Supermicro X8SIL-F / Xeon X3440 and is in a Norco 4020 case with the stock fans exhausting out the back. It's not the best ventilated case in the world, but the two rear fans plus the PSU give pretty decent airflow and the overall system draws probably around 150W when it's loaded like this.
With an rsync server running, the Supermicro IPMIView application is reporting a system temperature of 75C(!), and a CPU temp of "medium". The other server, which is only a few feet away, has almost the same hardware specs, except it's an X8SIA-F motherboard, and it's in an Antec P180 case with a Supermicro 5-in-3 holding most of the drives. This system only reports 37C.
Should I be concerned? What exactly is the System Temp measuring? Is it the northbridge?
Another difference is that the primary server is running OpenIndiana virtualized on top of ESXi with two LSI controllers passed through. The backup server is running FreeBSD 9 on bare hardware.
Could the virtualization overhead (VT-d and all that) be putting a lot of stress on the motherboard chipset? As I've been noticing this for a while, I actually rigged a slow 80mm fan into position over the northbridge heatsink, but it doesn't seem to help much, which makes me wonder if the temperature is accurate.
With an rsync server running, the Supermicro IPMIView application is reporting a system temperature of 75C(!), and a CPU temp of "medium". The other server, which is only a few feet away, has almost the same hardware specs, except it's an X8SIA-F motherboard, and it's in an Antec P180 case with a Supermicro 5-in-3 holding most of the drives. This system only reports 37C.
Should I be concerned? What exactly is the System Temp measuring? Is it the northbridge?
Another difference is that the primary server is running OpenIndiana virtualized on top of ESXi with two LSI controllers passed through. The backup server is running FreeBSD 9 on bare hardware.
Could the virtualization overhead (VT-d and all that) be putting a lot of stress on the motherboard chipset? As I've been noticing this for a while, I actually rigged a slow 80mm fan into position over the northbridge heatsink, but it doesn't seem to help much, which makes me wonder if the temperature is accurate.