[NeverTriedApple]

Hi guys,

Need a PC Server (or powerful desktop) that:

- silent as Mac Pro
- has 4 drive bays
- has 2 x 5.25" for tape drive
- has couple of PCI slots
- sturdy design
- cost 1/2 Mac Pro price
- rackmountable (up to 5U is fine)
- again... silent

Don't need:

- powerful graphics
- it to run Mac OS


Can anyone recommend something? Particular make and model would be good.

[mduell]

Rack mountable servers generally aren't designed to be quiet, so I'd buy a desktop tower and put it on a shelf.

Dell Vostro 420 meets your requirements; I'm sure something from HP would too.

[OreoCookie]

Real servers are rarely quiet! The focus is not to have something quiet, but something reliable, so they won't optimize for them being quiet. There are also `sound proof' racks that help reduce noise considerably, but the way you write, you already have a rack.

Since you haven't really described what you plan to do with your server, how much cpu horse power you need, etc. it's kinda hard to recommend anything.

Also, the price constraint is too tough for a `real' server, server-grade hardware uses the same chips and chipset as the Mac Pro (hence, you need ECC RAM as well, for instance). Most standard manufacturers of server hardware (HP for instance) have cheap servers that are based on (mostly) standard pc hardware (SATA drives, very little RAM, only one cpu socket). They will be as cheap as it gets if you want `server hardware', but still, they won't be quiet. More serious hardware costs about the same as a Mac Pro. Note that the prices don't include storage, tape drives, PCI cards, etc.

If you want it cheap and silent, you should build a carefully chosen system yourself. However, you lose the main advantage: service. If you know your way around pc hardware, it isn't difficult to make a quiet system that suits your needs. Will it be `real' server-grade hardware? No. Will it probably do what you need? Yes.

Alternatively, you can get business-class desktops. Pricewise, workstations cost about the same as a Mac Pro, so they are ruled out immediately.

[seanc]

I'd build one myself.

I just built a 4U rackmount for a client. Quite a cheap case and put standard components in which I know are very reliable.

If you want a list - I can give you one.

[NeverTriedApple]

Thanks guys. I have had a quick look at Dell boxes but it is kinda hard to understand how quiet they are as I am after absolutely silent yet powerful machine that needs to run Windows (SQL Server -> Accounting software).

I thought of getting Mac Pro for the task and running virtualization from Parallels but that would probably be too expensive. Will keep on looking then.

[NeverTriedApple]

Originally Posted by seanc 

I'd build one myself.

I just built a 4U rackmount for a client. Quite a cheap case and put standard components in which I know are very reliable.

If you want a list - I can give you one.

I had a few primarily 4U rackmountable boxes around but had to decommission them because of noise. I have a soundproof rack cabinet too but it works best when machines are silent (just like Mac Pro) otherwise even with soundproof cabinet you can still hear them. A little bit but annoying as hell especially when everything around is whisper quiet. Thanks for the offer though.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by NeverTriedApple 

I thought of getting Mac Pro for the task and running virtualization from Parallels but that would probably be too expensive. Will keep on looking then.

Why don't you run Windows natively on it?

[seanc]

Originally Posted by NeverTriedApple 

I had a few primarily 4U rackmountable boxes around but had to decommission them because of noise. I have a soundproof rack cabinet too but it works best when machines are silent (just like Mac Pro) otherwise even with soundproof cabinet you can still hear them. A little bit but annoying as hell especially when everything around is whisper quiet. Thanks for the offer though.

I'd re-commission them but replace the fans with good quality ones running at a low speed.
A good example of such a fan is the Antec Tri-Speed 120mm fans. On the lowest setting they're barely audible. I hate noisy PCs so build them with components that I know will be quiet. They could be silent if you spend more money, but I'm working on a budget.

[OreoCookie]

Also, you can sacrifice performance a little and not takes the fastest and greatest CPU.
I've once bought an old IBM server off ebay (dual PIII) and I thought it'd be a nice machine, just put it in a corner and use it as a server to toy with. When I switched it on for the first time, I was taken aback at how loud it is. I opened the very sturdy case and found not one, but two 5 cm thick 120 mm fans that would spin at full speed. PIIIs don't get very hot, but I reckon, one of the two running at half speed could have easily cooled the two cpus at full blast. Of course, the harddrives had their own fan and you could install more. Eventually, the server was decommissioned, it was simply too loud. The loudest server I've heard was a Sun Enterprise E10000, when that thing switched on, it sounded as if someone had interbred a really big vacuum cleaner with a jet engine

[goMac]

A few things to keep in mind.

a) As mentioned, a rackmount won't be silent.
b) If you're looking for Xeons, you won't find anything cheaper than the Mac Pro.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by goMac 

b) If you're looking for Xeons, you won't find anything cheaper than the Mac Pro.

Depends if he's looking for single socket or dual socket; the single CPU Mac Pro is using the dual socket platform, so it has higher costs compared to the single socket Xeon platform.

[cgc]

Originally Posted by NeverTriedApple 

...I thought of getting Mac Pro for the task and running virtualization from Parallels but that would probably be too expensive. Will keep on looking then.

If you go this route why not put BootCamp on it or a variant of Linux and boot into that natively?