13

I have two Dell T320 servers, which work great. But I'd like to have some more CPU power, so think about upgrading to the T420. It is almost the same, except that on the T420 main board, which seems to be otherwise the identical PCB, the second CPU socket is actually installed. (In the T320 it's just empty soldering points.) My question is: Is the air baffle the same, or do I need a new one if I swap out the main board? I am aware that I will need a second CPU heatsink.

Thanks.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Hopfgeist@feddit.de -1 points 1 year ago

It's much more than a fan shroud. It's a baffle specifically designed to guide cooling air over the CPU heatsinks and the RAM modules. This kind of airflow design is very common in servers. I wouldn't trust it without, especially since the CPU heatsinks have no dedicated fans, but rely on the aerodynamic functioning of the baffle.

And yes, I know they are very similar, in fact I am quite (but not absolutely) certain that they are identical except for the actual second CPU socket. It's almost as if you didn't read my post. Even the soldering points for the second CPU socket are there in the single-CPU T320. They certainly won't have different PSU connectors. They even share part numbers for the case.

[-] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

It's a piece of plastic that guides air. Shroud, baffle, duct, whatever you want to call it. I've run plenty of servers without them just fine. The fans push enough air on their own. You really only need it if you're running hot due to a lot of drives, cards, or sustained CPU or RAM usage.

And honestly, I'm not sure that this one would be doing very much anyway, considering the other CPU and RAM won't have one.

[-] Hopfgeist@feddit.de -4 points 1 year ago

Clearly you neither read my post nor looked into what the air baffle in the T320 actually looks like. So whats your point?

[-] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I both read it and looked up a picture of the part as used in the T320 and T420. My points were in my first comment.

I don't understand why people ask for advice, and when someone gives their thoughts and experience, they get combative.

this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
13 points (84.2% liked)

Selfhosted

40198 readers
431 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS