Quiet 2U socket 2011 cooler

[nry]

I know rack mount kit isn't exactly designed to be quiet, but I have done a pretty good job at keeping my servers very quiet. Having just bought the following:

• Asus Z9PE-D8 WS dual Xeon board
• 2x Xeon 2660 CPUs

Which will be going in my spare 2U case which is currently fitted with 4x Arctic 80mm F8 PWM fans blowing air from front to back, I need two suitable 2011 socket CPU coolers which will be reasonably quiet at low loads, so far I have found the following:

Intel E94315-001 - £13 each - Only problem is they blow air down, not ideal for 2U - Genuine Intel LGA 2011 Socket E94315-001 CPU Heat Sink Fan 4 Pin | eBay
Supermicro SNK-P0048AP4 - £30 each - spins up to 8400 rpm, that's not going to be quiet! - SNK-P0048AP4 2011 - Scan.co.uk
Supermicro SNK-P0048PS - £24.99 each - passive, doubt those little Arctic F8 fans will create enough airflow through the chassis to cool passive heatsinks - New SuperMicro SNK-P0048PS 2U (+) Passive CPU Heatsink for X9 DP/UP Systems | eBay
Intel BXST200C - £27.79 each - Had a pretty bad review on Amazon - Intel BXSTS200C Intel Thermal Solution STS200C - processor cooler Shop UK : Ballicom.co.uk : Buy
Dynatron R5 - £33 each - Specs on this page says at low fan speed its 21.8dBA - Pc Cases UK Dynatron R5 2u Active cooler socket 2011 & 2011-R by Dynatronfor £22.50 Pc Computer Cases

Don't think this will fit as its 80mm tall
Apline 20 Plus CO - £10ish each - ARCTIC | Alpine 20 PLUS CO | Intel CPU Cooler for Quietness | wide compatibility | quiet air cooling solution | efficient heat transfer | best performance | low noise | server cooling

Anyone here got any suggestions to cooling these chips quietly?

 

[T_Minus]

Just because a fan can go to 8000RPM or higher doesn't mean they run that all the time, or even often if kept in a cool environment.

The SuperMicro 846 can be loud as hell, but when it's in the 60*s I can hear it like a normal computer practically, just the air-noise is more.

If your motherboard has PWM fan connects then the max RPM is not important other than if things get REALLY HOT the max RPM should be sufficient to keep the components safe, and in use.

The Dynatron (I believe) are popular and affordable 2U. I don't think they're that loud either, but neither are the 4U SM CPU coolers, they're practically silent all the time.

The chassis fans are what's really loud moving air over the other components on the board is important for SM boards, not too sure about ASUS.

 

[Jeggs101]

Don't think this will fit as its 80mm tall
Apline 20 Plus CO - £10ish each - ARCTIC | Alpine 20 PLUS CO | Intel CPU Cooler for Quietness | wide compatibility | quiet air cooling solution | efficient heat transfer | best performance | low noise | server cooling

I asked @Patrick about that exact cooler. His google hangout chat said something near "STAY AWAY" but I'm not remembering why.

I wonder if you can fit a zalman cooler? 2U passive needs so much airflow from the case fans that it won't be quiet. If I were you I'd move to a 4U case to open up to many more options.

 

[nry]

Thanks for the input, the active Supermicro fan and the Dynatron fans are at the top of my list currently as I'm assuming they will both spin down enough to be fairly quiet.

I'd love to move to a 4U case but I'm trying to keep my rack as compact as possible without compromising currently. Too many servers

 

[Patrick]

So I have never seen a really quiet 2U cooler. I have 2 of those Alpine 20 PLUS CO coolers @nry. What @Jeggs101 was saying is that I found out that their mounting did not work on xeon boards. So you could screw them in but I kept finding the heatsink did not make contact with the CPU.

Hyper 212 EVOs though... now on my second 2P workstation with them and they are fabulous. I think this one has 66% more cores (20 total v. 12 in the old one) and is actually quieter now.

 

[T_Minus]

@Patrick I've seen that CPU HS problem on some SM units too, same motherboard, same heatsinks one CPU didn't even come in contact fully with the HS the other worked fine. These were passive SM 2U heat sinks off 1366 SM boards, FWIW.

 

[Patrick]

Odd - never had that issue.