Quiet, office friendly NVME NAS chassis?

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im.thatoneguy

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Oct 28, 2020
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There are quite a few good reviews on NVME servers.
e.g. https://www.servethehome.com/gigabyte-r272-z32-24x-nvme-amd-epyc-7002-server-is-a-home-run/
But I watched the build on Linus tech tips and in spite of the 80mm fans, it still sounded like dyson.

Is there anything like the 45Drive Stornado form factor that's 4U and uses 120mm fans so that it doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner? Our storage server can't really be sound isolated, which isn't presently an issue since everyone is working from home, but likely will be in the future when people start returning to the office hopefully next year.
 

BlueFox

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What are your requirements in terms of expansion cards, number/type of drives, etc?
 

im.thatoneguy

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We probably will only need 1 expansion card for 40gbe and would ideally have at least 12 U.2 NVMe slots. Caddies are preferable but if there was a great U.2 motherboard for a full sized ATX we could live without hot swap. The only non-negotiable on form factor would be acoustics.
 

The Gecko

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Jan 4, 2015
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If you can wait and watch ebay, may I recommend that you set up an alert for "(GizMac,XRackPro,XRackPro2)".

A couple of years ago I nabbed one of their 25U models for $600 ($300 item cost + $300 freight shipping). It is currently in my basement and is audible, but is a lot better than open-air servers. A change of air filters are $75, so I went to Home Depot and bought two of those adjustable filter kits and cut them down to size. The adjustable filters aren't tall enough, so I attached some rubber weather stripping to the adjustable filter's plastic frame.
 

BlueFox

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We probably will only need 1 expansion card for 40gbe and would ideally have at least 12 U.2 NVMe slots. Caddies are preferable but if there was a great U.2 motherboard for a full sized ATX we could live without hot swap. The only non-negotiable on form factor would be acoustics.
That's going to be tough. You're looking at ~600W with a dozen drives and modern CPUs. Anything with that many U.2 bays is generally going to be 1U or 2U and not exactly quiet.
 

zack$

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Aug 16, 2018
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Next question....What drive size(s) and how big of a pool are you looking to build?

Generally, the bigger the drive size of each nvme u.2 drive -> more power required ->the more heat generated -> more air flow required -> faster fans required -> greater noise generated.

Even a 4U with some ~7tb size nvme drives will require your 120mm fans to be full-speed, generating loads of noise.

If noise is a main requirement, maybe u.2 drives are not the way to go to begin with??
 

im.thatoneguy

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Oct 28, 2020
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Initial deployment would be 8 x 4TB. Our workstations are all 32 Core Thread rippers with dual GPUs and they are pretty much dead silent even under load of a few hundred watts. We're looking at Intel P4510s which are spec'ed at 15W. So even 24 * 15 = 360W. About in line with a 32core threadripper. And likely they would be idle 99% of the time except to burst. So over any average minute or two likely 60watts.

4x 120mm fans in a 4U should be fine. Especially if we had a few exhaust fans as well.
 

BlueFox

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You may not be using it continuously, but the cooling will certainly have to be able to accommodate it (and 25W drives at that). Don't forget CPUs, RAM, expansion cards, etc, which also add up.

Since U.2 drives are 2.5", there's really no reason to have a 4U chassis for them. The large OEMs also don't use 120mm fans since they don't provide enough static pressure either.

You're pretty much looking at generic rackmount chassis and individually cabling each drive I think.