DL380G4 - Fan Noise

[MTC]

Anyone have any ideas on this?

I am at a complete loss.

[Ralph Burkhardt]

I have the same problem with a DL380 G3, W2k3 PSP 7.30 and latest Bios. Is there really no solution for this problem??

[Kevin Brown_4]

I too have the exact same issue with my new DL380 G4.
I have the fan option installed so I have 6 of them in the server.
The room it is in, is climate controlled by three 5 ton AC units. It's a constant 67 degrees in there. Still the fans are running at a high rate.
It seems that this is a normal condition for these servers?

[David Claypool]

First, everyone should stop assuming what speed their fans are turning at and (as suggested in the first post of this thread) check Insight diagnostics or the Insight agents to see if the fans are in fact spinning at high speed or at normal speed.

Secondly, don't be surprised at the amount of air that needs to be moved through the chassis (which is directly related to fan speed)--the DL380G4 produces almost twice the amount of heat the DL380G3 did, primarily due to the newest processors:

DL380G3 BTU Rating: 1,475 BTU/HR
from http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11473_div/11473_div.HTML#Technical%20Specifications

DL380G4 BTU Rating: 2,508 BTU/HR
from
http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12028_div/12028_div.html#Technical%20Specifications

[Scott Maxwell_2]

Has anyone ever found a resolution to this problem, and I mean problem.
I have 6 DL380's which all exhibit very loud fans. So much so that it is nearly unbearable.

We also used an IBM server in the same form factor with identical CPU's. the IBM servers were nearly silent in comparison. If we weren't pretty much a HP House I would have used the IBM servers.

I am running W2K and a colleague has 2 running W2K3 and both are at the same volume.

Mine has a single Xeon 3.4Ghz proc, his has dual 3.4Ghz

All are in a server room that stays at a constant 21'C.

The reason it is a problem is that I want to run a redundant unit in a remote location that happens to be near office staff. They are rather unhappy at present.

Cheers

[David Claypool]

Scott, what do the Insight agents report the fan status as?

[Scott Maxwell_2]

Hi

Sorry for the delay, I'm still attempting to find this information from Insight manager.
Cheers

[Scott Maxwell_2]

I've been trying to find an actual CPU/System temperature or fan speed in rpm but am not having any luck.

All insight manager is telling me is that the temp and fan is normal.

This is the same for all of the servers. ;-(

[tobias.schmidt]

Hey David,
please install the new PSP 7.5 from the download site. please check that the newest healthdriver is installed. the health driver send the commands to spin down the fans

[Scott Maxwell_2]

I've tried the 7.50 PSP, I personally couldn't detect any difference. I would be interested to see if anyone else found an improvement.

I am beginning to think this is simply by design, The Xeon processors used, do run very hot and HP are taking no chances with longevity. The IBM design probably allows the processors to run at a higher temperature, still with Intel's guidelines which are also rather high.

Maybe the next gen processors based around Woodcrest will allow for a far more quiet 2RU server

Cheers
Scott