Dell Optiplex SFF vs USFF heat?

robertsig · Mar 1, 2018

I have a modest home system of 6-7 cameras and I'm thinking of buying an Optiplex 9020 on eBay for Blue Iris. I'd prefer the USFF version (I'll be fine with a 2.5" HDD recording), but of course slightly bigger SFF version is available too.

These business machines were designed for idling most of the time, not crunching the CPU at a constant 50% (or whatever). If anyone has a 9020 or similar SFF/USFF model, can you tell me what kind of temps you're seeing in Speedfan? How is it working for you?

tigerwillow1 · Mar 1, 2018

Is a 2.5" disk going to be fast enough for recording the video? Not a loaded question because I don't know the answer. I just know that 2.5" drives are dog slow.

robertsig · Mar 1, 2018

Should be. I have a laptop serving the duty now without an issue. It's the CPU I wanted to bring down a bit with a SFF.

Charles Odom · Mar 2, 2018

The loud cpu fan is the only issue I have with SFF PCs. My dad's system is running 5 cams on an all-in-one pc with 0 issues, so it should work fine.

fenderman · Mar 2, 2018

Charles Odom said:
The loud cpu fan is the only issue I have with SFF PCs. My dad's system is running 5 cams on an all-in-one pc with 0 issues, so it should work fine.

SFF is a very general term..however the dell and hp business SFF have fans that are inaudible...the micro's and mini's may be louder...

Charles Odom · Mar 2, 2018

The SFF I have used most recently is an HP8200. The fan on it, as well as a 7020 and Pro Desk 600g3 all have loud fans.

If you never load the cpu up, then the fan will never spin up past about 1000rpm. Let that fan run up to about 3000rpm and then tell me that it is silent. They all sound like a small helicopter trying to take off.

fenderman · Mar 2, 2018

Charles Odom said:
The SFF I have used most recently is an HP8200. The fan on it, as well as a 7020 and Pro Desk 600g3 all have loud fans.

If you never load the cpu up, then the fan will never spin up past about 1000rpm. Let that fan run up to about 3000rpm and then tell me that it is silent. They all sound like a small helicopter trying to take off.

The hp8200 has several case sizes and is an older machine
...the sff is fairly large...I have a bunch of the 8300 and elitedesk/prodesk sff and tower systems in service as blue iris machines using 30-50 percent cpu..and they are supper quite...
you are either using the minis or usdt your systems are defective...the usdt will be quiet at 30-50% use
Even when I test the SFF at 100 percent cpu, they are quiet...

Charles Odom · Mar 4, 2018

I have benchtested hundreds of SFF computers from Dell, and ALL of them have loud fans.

The issue is the size of the cpu cooler, which requires that the fan spin up to 3000+ rpm to keep temps under control.

Let the thing sit and idle all day and sure, the fan is quiet, but run a benchtest on one, or turn off smart fan control if you are lazy, then tell me it is silent.

The laws of thermos dynamics just doesn't permit these machines to remain silent with the lack of surface area on the heat sinks.

You mean to tell me that I could run that tiny little heat sink in my tower with an 80mm fan on a 7700k processor and it do better than the liquid cooler I have on it that barely keeps it to sub 60°C?

fenderman · Mar 4, 2018

Charles Odom said:
I have benchtested hundreds of SFF computers from Dell, and ALL of them have loud fans.

The issue is the size of the cpu cooler, which requires that the fan spin up to 3000+ rpm to keep temps under control.

Let the thing sit and idle all day and sure, the fan is quiet, but run a benchtest on one, or turn off smart fan control if you are lazy, then tell me it is silent.

The laws of thermos dynamics just doesn't permit these machines to remain silent with the lack of surface area on the heat sinks.

You mean to tell me that I could run that tiny little heat sink in my tower with an 80mm fan on a 7700k processor and it do better than the liquid cooler I have on it that barely keeps it to sub 60°C?

that is simple a blatant lie...the dell SFF systems are quiet..
I dont have a dell sff with me - but i have many in service and they are super quiet - running blue iris, but i do have an hp sff which is larger than the dell, and at 100 percent cpu it is inaudible....again you may be confusing the mini's with the sff..only an idiot water cools a blue iris system...with most systems running a 25-50% there is no heat or fan noise issues..

tigerwillow1 · Mar 4, 2018

I have an HP ProDesk G1 SFF. When it's lightly loaded, the fan is nicely quiet. It rarely spins up, but when it does, its 70mm CPU fan is darned loud. Not a BI machine, I'm posting just as general SFF info. My Dell tower uses a much larger fan that doesn't get nearly as loud. The HP BIOS has a setting for the fan speed, making it easy to "preview" the full speed sound level. I've never had it run at its highest speed in real life. Maybe it would have to be in something like a 100+ degree room for that to happen.

fenderman · Mar 4, 2018

tigerwillow1 said:
I have an HP ProDesk G1 SFF. When it's lightly loaded, the fan is nicely quiet. It rarely spins up, but when it does, its 70mm CPU fan is darned loud. Not a BI machine, I'm posting just as general SFF info. My Dell tower uses a much larger fan that doesn't get nearly as loud. The HP BIOS has a setting for the fan speed, making it easy to "preview" the full speed sound level. I've never had it run at its highest speed in real life. Maybe it would have to be in something like a 100+ degree room for that to happen.

I have tested prodesk and elitedesk machines to 100 percent cpu usage and they are not loud at all...you simply cannot hear the fan noise..

robertsig · Mar 5, 2018

Well I have a USFF Optiplex 9020 coming and I plan on using the WD AV-25 HDD which should be good enough for my needs. I only do motion based recording. I'll find out how loud (or hot) it is soon enough!

tigerwillow1 · Mar 5, 2018

Just FYI, the stock CPU fan in the ProDesk G1 SFF has a maximum speed of 5,500 RPM. At that speed the noise spec is 45.4 dB and the airflow spec is 49 cfm. Even though its idle speed noise in the machine is pretty reasonable, I replaced it with a compatible fan having specs of 4600 rpm, 38 dB, and 42 cfm. It made a noticeable difference. The fan spec is only part of the equation, with the heat sink, ducting, and case design all being factors. OP, apologies for annoying you with HP-specific info when you asked about Dell.

fenderman · Mar 5, 2018

tigerwillow1 said:
Just FYI, the stock CPU fan in the ProDesk G1 SFF has a maximum speed of 5,500 RPM. At that speed the noise spec is 45.4 dB and the airflow spec is 49 cfm. Even though its idle speed noise in the machine is pretty reasonable, I replaced it with a compatible fan having specs of 4600 rpm, 38 dB, and 42 cfm. It made a noticeable difference. The fan spec is only part of the equation, with the heat sink, ducting, and case design all being factors. OP, apologies for annoying you with HP-specific info when you asked about Dell.

These machines are quiet and inaudible...you are misleading the op...you must have had a defective fan...I have a bunch of hp's ans well as dells in service...you cannot hear them..

tigerwillow1 · Mar 5, 2018

fenderman said:
These machines are quiet and inaudible...you are misleading the op...you must have had a defective fan...I have a bunch of hp's ans well as dells in service...you cannot hear them..

I don't want to be picking a fight over this. I hear even the brand new CPU fan at its lowest idle speed, just not as loudly as the stock fan. I can hear the fan in my Dell tower, too. Could it be that your location has more ambient noise, or that the hard disk is louder than the fan? I run SSDs, so no noise there. I always try to report solid facts, and if I haven't personally verified them I point that out. I am not making a blanket statement that these machines are loud. Most of the time they are very reasonable. It's just when the fan spins up due to a hot CPU, it gets pretty darn loud.

fenderman · Mar 5, 2018

tigerwillow1 said:
I don't want to be picking a fight over this. I hear even the brand new CPU fan at its lowest idle speed, just not as loudly as the stock fan. I can hear the fan in my Dell tower, too. Could it be that your location has more ambient noise, or that the hard disk is louder than the fan? I run SSDs, so no noise there. I always try to report solid facts, and if I haven't personally verified them I point that out. I am not making a blanket statement that these machines are loud. Most of the time they are very reasonable. It's just when the fan spins up due to a hot CPU, it gets pretty darn loud.

Nope... that is simply not correct...

tigerwillow1 · Mar 5, 2018

I surrender! If anybody else wants to prove me wrong, in HP setup go to Power/Thermal/Fan Idle Mode, increase the fan idle speed and observe that the fan is inaudible. HP allows several idle speed levels. Dell setup has a similar option in Power Management/Fan Control Override. It doesn't provide levels, only automatic and full speed. In override mode, the fan doesn't spool up until after windows is booted. Ignore where setup says "WARNING: The system fan is very loud at full speed".

fenderman · Mar 5, 2018

tigerwillow1 said:
I surrender! If anybody else wants to prove me wrong, in HP setup go to Power/Thermal/Fan Idle Mode, increase the fan idle speed and observe that the fan is inaudible. HP allows several idle speed levels. Dell setup has a similar option in Power Management/Fan Control Override. It doesn't provide levels, only automatic and full speed. In override mode, the fan doesn't spool up until after windows is booted. Ignore where setup says "WARNING: The system fan is very loud at full speed".

No, the proper way to test is to run the system on default settings and see if it makes noise, not to set the fans to max...
Its really simply these do not make lots of noise, there are hundreds of folks here using dell and hp sff systems with no noise issues...to say they are loud is an outright lie..they are inaudible...want to hear lots of noise? use a dahua or hikvision NVR...

fenderman · Mar 5, 2018

I see where you have gone wrong...you have set your idle fan speed at the highest settings or close to it, rather than the default (lowest settings)...that is just user error...With default settings my prodesk test system here has been sitting at 100 percent cpu usage for 10 minuets quiet as a bell...you purposely set it to the fastest and loudest settings despite the fact that the pc never commands the fan to that setting even during 100 percent load....silly.

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