Quiet Xeon-D in 1u. Has anyone achieved it?

[fmatthew5876]

Hi everyone,

I'm building a new pfsense router for home use and am choosing hardware. I'm currently looking at the 2 options below:

1. SuperMicro 5018A-FTN4 - Intel Atom C2758 cpu
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 1U | 5018A-FTN4

2. SuperMicro F018D-FN8T - Intel Xeon D-1518 cpu
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | 1U | 5018D-FN8T

Long story short, I really do prefer the Xeon D platform. My main concern is noise. This thing will be in my living room and needs to be quiet. In another forum, someone suggested putting an active cooler on the Xeon and removing all of the case fans except 1. I'm not sure if this would work and I certainly don't want to compromise stability of the system.

The Atom solution I understand is quiet out of the box and just works. In all likely hood for a home network it is more than sufficient for my needs. The only thing lacking is 10gig, but that can be added easily with a pci-e card.

Has anyone successfully tamed the Xeon D with respect to noise? Were you able to do it in 1u?

Thanks!

 

[Evan]

C2758 is 20w still, I don't have one but can't be that easy to cool compared to a 35w d1518 can it.
I don't have my D's in 1u cases but I have a 60mm noctua fan sitting on mine that makes it nice and quiet with just a case fan.

I will watch this thread with interest as I wanted do 1u but noise is an issue...

 

[K D]

Active cooler for the Xeon D and noctua 40mm fans should make it pretty quiet. That was what I was planning before I jumped on the dell offer.

 

[Patrick]

That model is a bit better because the 10Gbase-T PHY needs more cooling than the SFP+ one.

I have yet to get one completely quiet, and stable, in 1U.