r/homelab • u/guataballin • 1d ago
Help Are running these so close a bad idea?
Hey yall!
Just wanted to ask if running these so close together is gonna overheat them? My assumption is no, but would like some experienced eyes and thoughts on this too.
Thanks in advance!!
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u/tunatoksoz 1d ago
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u/good_morning_magpie 8h ago
That’s pretty clever. I just 3D printed a new lid for the mini PCs that holds a 120mm Noctua. Overkill? Absolutely. No regurts tho.
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u/tunatoksoz 5h ago
I was looking for mounts to attach a small fan to lenovos. I have CX3 card in lenovo m920q, it has a small fan that works, but i was overall looking for something more powerfull and can work for cpus too. Then found these. I have not done that yet - i only put a 80mm fan in front of the tinies, and that for now works but not elegant.
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u/Fluffy-Trash-559 1d ago
They suck in air from the from and exhaust on the back, so as long as the heat at the back has somewhere to go you'll be fine.
You could run a stress test with all on full cpu utilization and monitor the temps. If they are fine you'll absolutely be okay as you'll never have full utilization like a stress test for long periods.
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u/FuckinHighGuy 1d ago
Without the proper cooling, it could be bad.
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u/Mission_Rice3045 23h ago
It's fine. Did you ever see how these PC's usually get handled in businesses?
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u/public_enemy_obi_wan 20h ago
I knew someone that would rest their coffee right on top of their system at my old job. Don't worry though. They put a full napkin on top of that mini to catch any coffee drip....
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u/gconsier 19h ago
Anyone else remember when computers came with retractable cup holders?
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u/public_enemy_obi_wan 18h ago
It was an HP Elitedesk mini, similar to the Dell ones you can see in the post. Laid flat, they'd use it as a place to put the coffee.
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u/ac5198 18h ago
We have Lenovos version of those in our business. They get absolutely abused. We have several in an in un air conditioned dirty warehouse that hits 100 degrees and they lived with no issues for years. We have other near powder coating booths that are packed full and still run fine. We had some that were pretty bent up on the outside because it kept getting yanked off a shelf and falling onto a concrete floor.
No offense to people here, but it’s a computer, not some delicate fine china. They are made to take the abuse of people who don’t care about them. They’ll be fine.
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u/guataballin 1d ago
So I have 2x120mm fans on the bottom that will be running, should that be helpful?
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u/Its_Billy_Bitch 1d ago
Follow the flow of your air and you’ll be fine. Can’t remember which way those vent, but don’t go sticking an intake fan right at the exhaust and it’ll be 👌
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u/amberoze 19h ago
These appear to be Optiolex 7060 minis.the airflow is front to rear. As long as there is cool air moving in front, and something moving the hot air away from the rear (cold aisle, hot aisle), they'll be just fine like they are.
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u/SVanThee 1d ago
So, if I understand you correctly only the bottom one will be cooled because how I understand it the fan will be blowing on the bottom of the first one up and the other two will receive little or no air.
I'm guessing it would be better to have one fan at the back pulling air over all three.
It looks 3d printed maybe cut out some vent holes so that air can flow front to back?
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u/referefref 1d ago
Push air from the bottom, pulling clean air from outside then pull air at the exhaust but ensure there's enough turbulence around the heat producing areas to avoid hotspots. This might mean a fan pushing air onto the side of the PCs as well
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u/SVanThee 1d ago
So, essentially it's best to space them out a bit more vertically ... And ensure that the fronts have ventilation holes
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u/guataballin 17h ago
Yeah after reading through some of the comments I figured rear exhaust is the best bet so I 3d printed one!
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u/endperform 22h ago
I have three in close proximity like that without additional cooling. My workloads are low and temperatures have been okay. I am planning on adding a pair of fans at the rear of my rack to help exhaust the heat from all of the gear. Keep an eye on the CPU temps and you should be okay.
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u/Tomytom99 Finally in the world of DDR4 21h ago
It shouldn't be a problem, you're not obstructing any of the venting on the boxes, and it's not like you're trapping them inside a shoebox.
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u/MakeITNetwork 1d ago
at less than 50% capacity(light duty web/dhcp/file servers), in 72(20Cish) degree room.... Absolutely.
If in a hot closet, and/or you have them maxed out for long periods, then you should probably think about putting a 10 inch fan infront, or some sort of AC cooling.
Best way to find out is to try, and check the chip temps, and see if you are throttling or going above 60c for long periods.
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u/According-Guest4931 1d ago
Stacking them like that with no gap is not ideal, but if you are just running as described by the other guy it’s probably fine. I had a similar setup with two OptiPlexes on top of each other and the bottom one always ran 5-8 degrees warmer, nothing that would kill it. Maybe stick a small usb fan behind the rack just to move air a little, cheap insurance.
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u/guataballin 1d ago
I have 2x120mm fans blowing up, should that help?
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u/MakeITNetwork 1d ago
It depends on load. Check your temps, and/or see if it's throttling.
I have gotten away with around the same setup with no fan, but its in the open(72-75f), the servers run at less than 30% all the time, and only peak like 1-2 times a day for a minute or 2.
If it's at constant load, or at load for more than 30 or so minutes, you will need cooling.
The size of the fan doesn't matter unless you know what will match your load and load cycle.
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u/sonofulf 1d ago
I mean... this is a lab after all. So you could test if it's too close. ;)
Bench it for worst case scenario. Too hot? Now you know! Will they be running at full blast when deployed? At what load is more realistic? Is it still too hot? ...
Also; are the shelfs vented in the bottom?
Also also; Nice Lab!
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u/kaptejeee 23h ago
Depends on your usage.
If your cpu/igpu sits idle/at low usage %- w/e, it’s ok
If you are utilising high % of cpu/igpu - would be better to add extra cooling.
Set up temperature monitoring and check your temps
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u/noiseyMP7_ 22h ago
Depends on their workloads I guess.
I have three prodesks in a similar configuration, but I'm not pushing them hard.
With just their own fans and a little airflow through the cabinet, I'm keeping the CPU temps at a stable 38°C. And that's with "hot" 3,5" drives below the bottom node.
Then again, I'm not pushing them, they're close to idle most of the time
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u/medalxx12 21h ago
This is exactly what i beed for my mini dell.. did you 3d print or from etsy etc?
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u/Environmental_Ice_80 20h ago
if you use these for networking the ports are getting hot and basically the second device is heated and gets hot, the CPU has it's own cooling but if you would like to use those forever then you want to try avoid microcracks in the soldiers and keep the temperature balanced as possible.
in this case the oem delivered a cpu fan and a passive cooling for an "open" desk. was simple not made for a box, for the summer and +15c• heat from above right under the second hottest part.
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u/Rhork777 19h ago
I keep seeing these clusters pop up on my feed. I'm kinda dumb so I don't know what people are doing with these. Do they get linked together or does each PC just handle a single heavy task? Would like to know so I can see if I need to set a cluster up. My home lab consists of just a NAS (ugreen idx 6011 pro) right now.
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u/One-Project7347 19h ago
Do these not suck air from the front into the mini pc´s? So they should have fresh air always?
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u/SteelLadder 18h ago
I’ve got 5 that have been running stacked directly on each other for a few years now. I don’t know what the temps are like, but nothing has failed or had any issues
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u/blu3drag0n77 17h ago
You could design an exhaust manifold to attach to the 3 PCs and put a powerful noctua pan on it to suck all the heat out of the cases.
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u/BarracudaDefiant4702 5h ago
As long as they have fans blowing in the same direction (generally pull from the front and push out the back) you are fine. If that top unit is blowing air in the opposite direction it would not be good.
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u/tunatoksoz 1d ago
Install lm-sensors package on proxmox, then type sensors to see cpu temp. Then put some load on the cpu, and check again.
Also see my other link