How hot do servers typically get?

[tom2u]

I notice the style of most horizontal rack mountable server cases as being long front to back and short in height so many can't use larger fans. Looks like a terrible way to cool components. As they're in a separate room nobody cares how loud they are so they can run their fans higher than most consumer users could stand so that helps. I was wondering how well they are able to cool those case styles though. Many are using dual CPU's with rather small CPU heatsinks in a very long case. So that air is just getting hotter and hotter as it travels from one end to another. Doesn't logic direct us to exhaust hot air as quickly as possible? If they simply re-oriented the case so the air moves sideways (yes I realize it would be a headache to rack mount) you'd think it would be way easier to exhaust the heated air resulting in much lower temps. Attempting to cool a component with heated interior air doesn't sound very smart.

So I'm wondering even with high fan speeds, what temps are they comfortable with? And do higher temps result in shorter life of the components or are they engineered to be OK with those higher temps?

 

[USAFRet]

They are in that room not only because of the noise, but also the hardcore air conditioning.
They are short vertically, to fit many systems in one tall rack.

 

[jankerson]

They run high speed fans and they ARE LOUD and move a lot of air.

Normally server rooms are kept very cold also.

 

[k1114]

The horizontal airflow isn't bad even with small fans and the cpu max operating temps are still the same as other cpus. If temps was a problem they would have a better cooling setup.

Normally server rooms are not kept very cold since it just raises running costs and is unnecessary. Most keep room temp ~70f and data centers will run the rooms hotter up to 80f to save money. I only know a few that run them a bit cooler at 65f but I wouldn't call that very cold.

 

[tom2u]

In areas of the country where its cooler than typical room temperature do many companies choose to just pipe in air from outside and exhaust it as soon as possible? That would seem to be the cheapest way of keeping things cool.

This brings up an interesting point. Cases should be designed to muffle fan noise as much as possible so we can run the fans much faster. If you read about noise in ducting they deal with these issues. If so they wouldn't look anything like they do today.

 

[k1114]

The majority of commercial buildings; offices, businesses, stores, restaurants, etc., do that except for the "as soon as possible" part because that doesn't make sense.

Sounds isn't an issue with servers. There are no fan mufflers exactly even for hvac. The fans are mounted on rubber or spring mounts more for vibration although it helps for sound. If using metal duct, it's connected to the air handler with a flex adapter, again for vibration. Sound is vibration but these are bigger movements that won't be making sound. The ducts get insulation which also helps but that's not the purpose of insulation. For pcs the vibration is less of an issue but it does result in sound as it's smaller and similarly you do see rubber/foam pads between the fan and case on most silent type cases. Those cases also have sound deadening material and these cases still look similar to regular cases. Look up the fractal r series. They are good silent cases.

 

[tom2u]

k1114 said, The majority of commercial buildings; offices, businesses, stores, restaurants, etc., do that except for the "as soon as possible" part because that doesn't make sense.

By "as soon as possible" I meant to vent the heated air away as soon as possible. In the typical server room they are drawing in heated air from other servers to cool their components. Ideally you want the input air as cold as possible. So by drawing it in from outside and exhausting it outside as soon as possible you aren't trying to cool your system with air that has been heated by other systems. Sort of like having all your computer components generating heat then the CPU fan uses that warmed heat inside the case to attempt to cool the CPU. That probably won't work very well compared to drawing air straight in from outside the case straight to the CPU heatsink. The lesson learned is to never use warmed air to try to cool something. Rather unproductive.

The Fractal R case has the hard drives mounted horizontally so it traps heated air that would naturally rise. This is very generic case design. I'm talking about cooling and being able to run your fans much faster because the ducting going in and out of the case is insulated, muffling the fan noise. The same principle could be used with liquid cooling having a central radiator. Maybe the new Mac Pro will use this principle if they ever get their heads out of the 20th century. Might take a few more decades. But there idea of a central heatsink is very good though it needs to be expandable. That is always the failing of Apple. Their immense ego allows them to think that they will never need anything better than what they create today. A few weeks after the release they are proven wrong.

 

[k1114]

No that's not how a typical server room cools. They are not drawing heated air from other servers. The cool supply air flows under the floor to the cold aisles. This air goes in the front of the racks and exhausts hot air out the back to the hot aisle. That hot air goes to the return ducts. If the supply air is coming from inside or outside the building is irrelevant for cooling better. The supply temp is controlled and maintained. The only way it helps is cost. But you don't want the supply air as cold as possible because condensation.

Hot air rising is irrelevant with active cooling. Some of the fractal cases have vertical mounting points in them as well. The generic layout is what's going to give the user the compatibility needed for different people's components choices. I won't deny there are better ways to layout the case and have better cooling without unique limiting designs. There are cases with rotated mobos, vertical airflow vs horizontal and any other idea for better cooling. Many times it's just not needed and introduces other complications. Part of the reason is the atx form factor. The industry is very aware of the downfalls of it when it comes to cooling and is the reason btx was made decades ago. But that died off with the need for it. The ideas for better cooling and sound aren't new. Having a central heastink like the mac pro isn't a new idea either.

As far as sound, even with the mac pro, the fan is mounted on the outer edge of the case and that's where most of the sound is going to come from, directly from the fans to your ears. The sound from fans becomes indirect and muffled when there is a cover in front of the fan like any silent case has. Other silent cases are also insulated on the panels or outside edges for any sound inside; similar principle to insulting an air duct when it is essentially being the air duct. You can jack up the fan speed and the sound is muffled. But rather than increasing fan speed, there's the other options of adding more low speed fans or using larger fans. You won't have sound concerns but have the same increased airflow. There's also increasing the size of the heatsink and that's where wc comes in at when you can position a rad in different places. That also adds the benefit of having direct cool outside air.