[HECnet] My newest toy

[Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman-]

Mark Benson <md.benson at gmail.com> writes: 

On 13 Jan 2013, at 15:26, Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman- wrote: 

2x rx2600 1.5GHz/6.0MB with dual PSU, 16GB RAM run here in my =
basement. > They are, for their size, the fan-noisiest of the boxes.=20 

The trick with those is to buy zx6000s - they have a quiet fan mod in =
them which makes them much quieter. I think the zx6000 has a side vent =
in it that the rx2600 lacks too maybe? It's in the lid behind the CPUs.
= The only problem is they are also designed to run stood vertically in
= pedestal config, not laid down in rack-ount mode. Mine is a zx6000
with = no skin. I bought (from HP!) a metal pedestal stand but don't
have any = other casings for it at all (including a front panel). 

...but I don't BUY systems. ;)



To be fair, it's not surprising the rx2600 is loud when you look at what
= it's cooling. Have you stood behind one when it's running? It's like =
sticking your head in a toaster oven!! 

I have.   There's quite an air volume but I would hessitate to call it a
toaster oven. 



Also, for what it's worth, I used to have 24GB of RAM and a (useless for
= VMS) FireGL AGP card in my zx6000 and it used about and extra 150W.
the = RAM seems to suck up a LOT of power. I knocked back to 8GB which
is = about what most consider minimum for a dual Itanium. Notably I
removed a = CPU from it and that only scrubbed about 40W off the power
at idle, but = I guess it uses a LOT more at full usage. 

FWIW, it was incredibly quiet and COLD in my basement for about 10 =
days > late Oct. and early Nov. post Sandy without all of the space
heaters. 

I have just the opposite issue. Small room with a LOT of gear in that I
= also have to sleep in comfortably. On COLD days it's not an issue. I =
just rely on my Mac Pro (2x dual-core Xeons and 6GB FB-DIMM RAM) to keep
= things warm. On hot days I have to have   fan running and use my
MacBook = Air as it's too hot to do anything else! This is in the UK
too, not = Florida... 

I'm not in Florida. ;)
-- 
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker       VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG

Well I speak to machines with the voice of humanity.