[HECnet] My newest toy

[Mark Benson]

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. 

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).

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!!

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...

-- 

Mark Benson

http://DECtec.info
Twitter: @DECtecInfo
HECnet: STAR69::MARK

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