Looking to cool a Supermicro X12SDV-14C-SPT8F in a 2U case.

[PedanticAvenger]

So I got this board via a bailiff auction and want to use it for a combined homelab/NAS application.

I have a 2U case and I am having huge challenges keeping the CPU cool (still working on building a new duct and improving case fans for more static pressure) but I would also like to pursue a more direct active cooling option for the CPU.

I have a mount/shroud I've managed to model up that fits well and gives me an 80mm hole but now I have only 37 to 42mm of space above this adapter. This I feel eliminates many of my high static pressure fan options (but maybe not) and leaves me with centrifugal blowers. But I'm having a challenge finding something that I can feel comfortable selecting.

I cam handle building a support platform up to a 120mm footprint with an ~80mm through hole and hoping folks here have some suggestions for good options.

 

[i386]

Maybe some inspiration: https://www.servethehome.com/near-silent-powerhouse-making-a-quieter-microlab-platform/

 

[mattventura]

Delta AFB0812SH-TP12 maybe? I hope you aren't going for "quiet", because cooling a ~100w CPU with a single 80x25mm fan doesn't leave many options.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

Quiet was pretty much immediately discarded from consideration.
My rack is out in my garage so I'm not bothered by noise.

Is the ~10mm of clearance above the fan likely to be sufficient to not restrict airflow? I guess it will be inflowing from all sides.....

Delta AFB0812SH-TP12 maybe? I hope you aren't going for "quiet", because cooling a ~100w CPU with a single 80x25mm fan doesn't leave many options.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

Replacing the heatsink is also a viable option if one can be found with a matching mounting screw layout. I've struck out there so far.

 

[mattventura]

Replacing the heatsink is also a viable option if one can be found with a matching mounting screw layout. I've struck out there so far.

Speaking of heatsink, might be worth checking the thermal paste.

 

[nexox]

If you're making a shroud you probably want to try to turn the fan 90 degrees and mount it in front of the board to blow down the length of the CPU cooler, rather than from the top and out both ends. Not the easiest thing to design, but it will be a whole lot more effective and give you space for a deeper 80mm fan, or even two. I'm fond of the Arctic P8 Max for 2U applications, idles down silently when the CPU isn't loaded and ramps up to pretty good static pressure when needed.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

Yeah, I was kind of hoping I could avoid that path but I may just check clearances and built that. Then I can open up some rather ridiculous realms of airflow.

If you're making a shroud you probably want to try to turn the fan 90 degrees and mount it in front of the board to blow down the length of the CPU cooler, rather than from the top and out both ends. Not the easiest thing to design, but it will be a whole lot more effective and give you space for a deeper 80mm fan, or even two. I'm fond of the Arctic P8 Max for 2U applications, idles down silently when the CPU isn't loaded and ramps up to pretty good static pressure when needed.

 

[nexox]

You may be able to angle an 80mm against the front of the heatsink, above the board, keeping the whole thing shorter and still mostly getting the air to flow in one direction down the length of the fins, clearance to the VRM heatsink looks tricky though.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

If you're making a shroud you probably want to try to turn the fan 90 degrees and mount it in front of the board to blow down the length of the CPU cooler, rather than from the top and out both ends. Not the easiest thing to design, but it will be a whole lot more effective and give you space for a deeper 80mm fan, or even two. I'm fond of the Arctic P8 Max for 2U applications, idles down silently when the CPU isn't loaded and ramps up to pretty good static pressure when needed.

This board/case combo unfortunately won't give me space to do that. too many things in the way for it to fit

 

[nexox]

What's the overall width between the memory slots? You might be able to find a centrifugal blower that could fit on top of the board and blow into the heatsink, but they tend to be pretty low static pressure except at quite high noise levels, and at that point I think I'd put a pair of medium-high speed 40x28mm fans in the same location instead.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

What's the overall width between the memory slots? You might be able to find a centrifugal blower that could fit on top of the board and blow into the heatsink, but they tend to be pretty low static pressure except at quite high noise levels, and at that point I think I'd put a pair of medium-high speed 40x28mm fans in the same location instead.

I'm mocking up the 40x28 option currently in fusion to see how it might look. Might be able to make that work with horizontal airflow with a switchback plenum design.
SMicro optimized the ever living hell out of this MB for reasons I don't really understand. It's only available in 1U chassis builds but has 2 MiniSAS SFF-8564 connectors (plus oculink).... how they hell would you drive 16+ drives using those in the chassis they provide? The most sense with how it is designed is a jump to a 4U case and use a whole new cooler but I cannot find anything with the 45.5x69.5mm (aprox) hole spacing they have for this CPU.

 

[nexox]

Looks like ports for a max of 2 SATA + 5 4.0x4 NVMe or 6 SATA + 4 4.0x4 NVMe drives, Supermicro does 10x2.5" bays in a 1U, seems reasonable.

Are you 3D printing, going for cardboard and tape manufacturing, or something else? A printed duct for 40x28 front intake should be pretty simple, as long as you're willing to glue the duct to the heatsink.

 

[mattventura]

Quiet was pretty much immediately discarded from consideration.
My rack is out in my garage so I'm not bothered by noise.

Is the ~10mm of clearance above the fan likely to be sufficient to not restrict airflow? I guess it will be inflowing from all sides.....

Come to think of it, you don't need a ton of clearance from the fan, because the airflow is concentrated towards the outside of the fan. There's no air flowing through the central hub, so you don't need to worry as much about it.

 

[nexox]

Come to think of it, you don't need a ton of clearance from the fan, because the airflow is concentrated towards the outside of the fan. There's no air flowing through the central hub, so you don't need to worry as much about it.

It's still not great to force the airflow to turn that sharply, it will lead to a low pressure zone on the intake side that will eat into the static pressure capacity.

There's also no airflow on the output in the center, which is sort of right where you want the most airflow on a heatsink like this.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

It's still not great to force the airflow to turn that sharply, it will lead to a low pressure zone on the intake side that will eat into the static pressure capacity.

There's also no airflow on the output in the center, which is sort of right where you want the most airflow on a heatsink like this.

Correct, which is why I wanted as much space between the fan and the top of the heatsink to have a pressure normalizing plenum style space to push air more evenly into the cooler. I can reduce that to between 5 and 7.5mm and then the original delta fan suggestion should fit without undue issues.
I'm measuring to see which ways the 40mm fans could fit. There is potential for something that looks really weird but is able to move a ton of air inside the chassis.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

Looks like ports for a max of 2 SATA + 5 4.0x4 NVMe or 6 SATA + 4 4.0x4 NVMe drives, Supermicro does 10x2.5" bays in a 1U, seems reasonable.

Are you 3D printing, going for cardboard and tape manufacturing, or something else? A printed duct for 40x28 front intake should be pretty simple, as long as you're willing to glue the duct to the heatsink.

I mock things up with construction paper and tape just to check gross clearances then I model it up for 3d printing. Might have been faster at this point if I modeled the entire chassis with MB in it and just built it from there but I like working with my hands and tools once and a while.

 

[nexox]

I have a set of common fan sizes with mount holes printed super quickly (single perimeter, no infill or top layers,) that I use to test placement, lay a straight edge across the top of the case to figure out where the lid is and see where stuff will go.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

I have a set of common fan sizes with mount holes printed super quickly (single perimeter, no infill or top layers,) that I use to test placement, lay a straight edge across the top of the case to figure out where the lid is and see where stuff will go.

Nice.
I do something similar. I print out some cross sectional slices a couple layers thick in solid and use it to judge fit and how things will look. Using silhouettes like this has often saved a lot of time and allowed me quick visualizations of stuff that won't work before I go whole hog printing.

 

[PedanticAvenger]

Looks like ports for a max of 2 SATA + 5 4.0x4 NVMe or 6 SATA + 4 4.0x4 NVMe drives, Supermicro does 10x2.5" bays in a 1U, seems reasonable.

Are you 3D printing, going for cardboard and tape manufacturing, or something else? A printed duct for 40x28 front intake should be pretty simple, as long as you're willing to glue the duct to the heatsink.

16 SAS/SATA across the two MiniSAS (or NVME, options...), plus oculink, plus 2 onboard SATA ports plus on-MB NVME. Either way all the systems I can find (pre-built, not OEM) which they put this board in have like 2 drive bays. Clearly they want other people to build systems with this board.