Built when Netflix first took away password sharing. Thanks for the heads up Netflix! Would not want to start this project now 😂
Edit: adding temp and specs
I9 11900k Z590I Vision D ITX mobo 64gb memory The 16x lane is bifurcated to run: Intel a310 & Lsi 9305 16e into a hp dl380
Drives are 10x 14 tb wdd in raidz1, 6 256gb sata ssds in a pair of 3 wide mirrors for special vdev metadata, a 512gb nvme for read cache, and a 64gb optane for slog
I am guessing the egg-shell foamed enclosure is for the sound, but you probably have a bunch of sound coming from the fan port, nessisary for ventilation. You can cut a lot of the sound but maintain the airflow by cutting an s-shaped ducting spanning the width of the enclosure. The shape will drop the sound, while then ducting keeps the air flowing. I would not recommend any sorts of filters to block the sound because they are a bit too restrictive for an enclosure in your style.
I get about the same affect by placing a layer of the foam on the wall behind the fans. But you’re totally right. Without that lil bit the fan noise from the intake and exhaust was a lil noticeable
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters NAS Network-Attached Storage Plex Brand of media server package SATA Serial AT Attachment interface for mass storage SSD Solid State Drive mass storage VPN Virtual Private Network
[Thread #138 for this comm, first seen 17th Oct 2026, 20:50] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
An…interesting approach to noise-proofing your system :D
Still rocking my fractal R3 nothing beats it for disk space and sound proofing
Here’s mine : )
Oooo, cute mini system! I’ve always wanted to start a cluster with tiny towers like that
For anybody not doing generative AI with it and not running massive loads on it, if you’re going to use an old gaming PC as a home server, at least replace the graphics card with a cheap one with no fans or use the integrated graphics on your CPU (something I believe pretty much all consumer CPUs of the last two decades have) and underclock the CPU if you don’t need full processing power since even small reductions in clock speed can significantly reduce the maximum temperature.
I want to point out that for a media server, OP’s GPU is excellent.
Sparkle ARC cards are the way to go for sure. The fans are a pain in the ass on Linux, though. They like to start and stop a lot.
I actually have a Mini-PC with an N100 CPU and no dedicated GPU as media server and it uses very little CPU (less than 20%) whilst playing 1080p video even with a torrent server over a wireguard VPN running on the background.
You don’t really need much CPU or GPU for playing or streaming videos from compress video files as long as you have hardware decoding on either processing unit (just make sure it implements all the way up to the AV1 coded).
You only need lots of CPU or GPU power if the codec you’re decoding from or encoding to is not implemented in hardware since in that case it will use software decoding or encoding so it’s down to raw CPU or GPU power.
In fact if all you want is a media server that solution I have is probably one of the best ones, mainly because it uses very little power (tops at 25W, usually much less) and runs silent, which is why I can have it in my living room using it as a media player connected to my TV, and with a wireless remote people can’t really tell it’s a PC since it just looks and works like a store bought media player rather than one I put together myself.
However that option means buying new stuff, and I can see the value in using old hardware if you have it around, plus the old hardware will still likely be more powerful so you can also use it for more demanding stuff or just more stuff at the same time, which is why I didn’t suggest it and instead just suggested some tweaks to make that old hardware consume less and make less noise.
Looks like with the doors closed its going to be smokin.
The one fan in the left will do the trick
Plus the other fan hiding behind the system 😉 posted temps in a comment of you eye curious
i love the toxic kiddies on selfhost these days “its too hot the fans wrong” op explains and gets downvoted. whats the saying?, “not my circus not my monkeys”. if this is the energy your going to bring to this community go back to reddit and be a toxic pos there.
I mean… Look at the setup, though.
Nobody is trying to be mean, it’s just a pretty rough setup where thermals are concerned. And OP appears to be dismissing every joke about it and claiming it’s not an issue.
Good luck, OP. Hope this is the hottest your place ever gets, in which case you might be alright. Just keep an eye on those temps since servers need to run very cool to avoid long term damage and wear and tear. Be extra cautious of your large array of HDD’s. Those can get hot and people don’t always think about that.
Edit: OP mentioned lower in the thread that they are pulling 300-350 watts from the wall. That is a lot of heat. Maybe they live in Alaska and keep their place at 55 degrees, though. We don’t know… But for those looking on and considering their own setup, a lot of red flags are here for those who have higher temps in their homes.
I keep my place at 74, and basically have a per room heat pump to never have the temp be an issue even on a 108 day. I’ve been running the setup for over two years now and have monitored thermals the whole time and have never had an issue. I understand the concern, and had the same concerns at first too, but the results don’t lie. It’s just very well tuned for it’s environment
I’m choosing to focus on the positive comments, and giving info to those who doubt. In the end I know there’s a few people at least who saw this and got some inspiration for a fun project
I hate hearing fans and computers and have always wanted to do a project like this, but have always been concerned about heat buildup, like anyone would be. And while it LOOKS like it would be an issue… If it works, it works.
You are a bigger person than I <3 what youre doing is a great solution to noise in a living space and if you have no thermal throttling its designed exactly for what its intended for. Thanks for sharing you have given me some ideas for managing my own noise issues regarding homelabbing.
I just think no one’s really coming at it in a way they think it’s rude, and most had been out of concern, just worded rough. I definitely can be rough with my words sometime so I can’t be too mad. Also thanks for engaging ❤️ love you and all the lurkers following along
lolz that’s wayyyy too much emotional maturity for the internet. we need more of it :)
For those worried about temps. The cpu never goes past the 80s when being ran hard, and drive temps are comfortably in the 40s
You left in your IP no0b! Now I’m gonna pwn your server with my super hacker skillz xoxoxoxo
P.S. That’s is one hell of a setup! I am surprised how well ventilated it is
I just sent a ddos attack to his ip. In an unrelated event my doorbell camera has stopped working?
Means you got the wrong ip…the correct one is 127.0.0.1
127.0.0.1 sweet 127.0.0.1
Bet it’s quiet as fuck tho
Super quiet, and had been running non stop for over a year no with no problems 😊 also that i9 runs super hot. When it was in my lil gaming rig it was always running up near 90. So retiring to the server had been much more gentle on it, lol
And it isn’t thermally throttling? If not, that’s awesome. Have you ever taken a sound meter with a spectrum analyzer and seen if there’s any frequencies you can try to kill?
With the big tower cooler it now has in the server it barely touches 80c under load. As for sound, I can take a recording when I get home later this week if anyone’s are still interested
The reason I bring that up, is I have a little knowledge in acoustics and just wondered if your pc was putting out more lower frequency noise than that wood is realistically able to absorb. So, not personally interested, as all projects like this are case by case (ha, no pun intended), and moreso just if you wanted to fiddle with it more, like adding a piece of slate or sheet of rubber to the exterior or something.
I’m CURIOUS what it sounds like, but I doubt a phone recording or speaker is gonna be worth much to satisfy my dirty nerdy needs.
Always in 90s? Did you remember the thermal paste on reinstall? Lol
It just had a very undersized cooler at the time (pics of case are hiding here somewhere lol). It would idle normally, but load put it near throttle. Moved to the 9800x3d though in the same case and that performs like a dream
Oh, and if anyone is curious on specs. This is my old gaming rig but it’s: I9 11900k Z590I Vision D ITX mobo 64gb memory The 16x lane is bifurcated to run: Intel a310 & Lsi 9305 16e into a hp dl380
How are the temps?
Added them in another comment, but I’ll put them here to. This is while I have plex and frigate running with tdarr rencoding 8 files into av1 at a time
*hella
If it’s just a media server that spends 99.5% of its life idling, temps might not actually be that bad.
Yeah, seems a second fan would help with air flow into/out of the case. Depending on how air tight everything is when it’s closed.
There are actuality two fans. There’s an intake on the bottom full cold air, and the top is exhaust. I posted temps if you wanna see how it is at full tilt
Makes sense, looks like a good build then.
Thanks! Has been alot of fun playing with
Seems cozy
Excellent heat retention! Doubles as a stove top
There’s actually two fans built into the cabinet! Pulls more fresh air then if it were outside of it. 😎❄️
There are two fans built into the cabinet. Temps stay nice and cool
thanks for sharing, nicely done, would love a video or dB reading. noise wise, my rack doesn’t get too bad running mini-itx boards and quadro p2200s; my gaming rig, on the other hand, could benefit from this. SFF case with a deshrouded rx 6650 xt and 80mm server fans from arctic (max 8000rpm). it sounds like a jet engine spinning up when i play anything, despite the 3000rpm limit i put in fan control.
aside, would you mind sharing your av1 settings? i currently pass everything through ffmpeg to mkv in an attempt to save space with my plex library
Here’s my tdarr flow. I have redundent paths to handle if qsv fails and to retry in software if you’re curious of why it splits
Also, here’s my lil gaming rig too. Runs warm, but it’s tiny.
It’s a 9800x3d paired with a 6800xt
I just built a new rig and was soooo close to going mITX, but I just didn’t want to deal with the cramped build space. And the selection of MoBo’s was abysmal compared to ATX and mATX.
I still always get a bit jelly when I see people do it, as they are clean AF. Good on you!
And as others have said: you’re taking the criticism on the chin like a champ. It’s fun to experiment with weird things and you found something that works for you. That’s all that matters.
Enjoy the weekend!
It’s alot of fun. NSFW makes some really easy to build in ITX cases if you ever want to dabble. My req though is too put a baffle made of stuff foam to force cool air in for the gpu. I’ll post a Pic of my main setup when I get home later this week if you want
bro built an expensive radiator that hosts movies
Thankfully all either used, or bought before the Ai drive prices
