Quiet cooling options for Xeon in 1U and 2U

[networktheorist]

I have several servers with dual Xeon 3.2 Ghz processors, all in 1U chassis. The fans are very loud, rated at 60 db each. I want to move a few of them to my livingroom, but the noise is a hangup for me. I wouldn't mind moving them into 2U chassis if that gave me significantly better cooling options.

Price is also a concern as each motherboard has two sockets and I'm planning on doing this to four or five machines.

They all have this motherboard:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon800/E7320/X6DVL-EG2.cfm

I've seen some review sites, but it seems that most of the products mentioned are hard to find, or no longer available.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[scorpinock2]

Checkout Noctua, they have server class cooling and they are crazy. They are mini versions of the Noctua NDH 14, think bringing performance desktop cooling to a server. I am almost certain they fit in 1U form factor but if not they definitely fit in 2U form factor.

 

[networktheorist]

Hi @scorpinock2, thanks for the recommendation. It looks like you're referring to models NH-U12DX 1366 and NH-U9DX 1366. They look pretty impressive, but they appear to be much too large to fit into a 1U.

As a workaround, I purchased a couple of PCI slot fans, and removed the grill so that they would fit. They seem to be doing the job just fine and are much quieter. Each cost me about $10 after shipping.