The w2100z is loud, no two ways about it. And someone claimed that you can't make it quiet.

Well, I have a nice w2100z and I want to use it as a test server at home. I'm tired of the constant buzzing. So, I've ordered some things to help quiet it.

There are basically 3 things I can do to reduce the noise footprint:

1. Replace the loud components.
   1. CPU fans
   2. Case fans
   3. Power supply
2. Put the computer in a data closet.
3. Add some noise absorbers inside the box.

I've actually already relocated the w2100z and it still pollutes the ambient noise in my house:

You can see where I've pulled the w2100z off of that half-height telco rack mount cabinet. And I cleaned off that dust from a remodeling job in the house! Okay, I keep the closet door open all of the time to keep air flowing and I also have added a bathroom fan to push air through the closet:

I bring this up because closing the door or turning off the fan are big improvements. So, even with any improvements I make, I'll have to keep this in mind. One thing I have done is add a remote digital thermometer to the room. I'm trying to get an idea of how hot it really gets, but I won't know until summer time really hits.

Also, if I put the w2100z inside the cabinet, I might be able to leverage any sound insulation it will provide.

Okay, the real thrust here is that I ordered some replacement fans for the case and cpu. I like Scythe and I like to order it from NewEgg, except the Scythe Mini-Ninjas were out of stock. So I got them from EndPCNoise:

I went with the Mini-Ninja because space inside the w2100z is limited:

I've put a full height Scythe Ninja in a couple of Antec P180 cases and I've been leery of doing that for a dual-cpu system. I.e., one in a case is tight.

Anyway, the first thing I did was take some pictures of the current CPU fans in place, in case I wanted to add them back:

This also showed me where the fan connectors went. I thought I was screwed, as the current fans had a 3 pin connector, but the cpu fans that came with the Mini-Ninjas (and some quieter replacements:)

were either 3 pin or came with converters.

I pulled out the heatsinks, which was a bit of chore, but I followed the directions at Sun Java™ Workstation W1100z and W2100z User Guide. We can see the thermal grease on the bottom of the heat sink:

I used some alcohol pads to clean off the gunk:

Note that some has gotten on the "fins" and it appears there is small ding. I think that happened trying to get it loose from that last connector.

The CPU also starts out dirty:

And cleans up nicely:

Note that I'm not as concerned with getting this perfect yet. You can see the grime in the plastic retainer bracket and I'll only be worried when I get ready to add it all in.

Before I do anything else, I want to do a dry run to see if the fit is right. So I just place the towers on the cpus:

Amazingly, the daughter board has a better fit than the motherboard. Also, I'll probably not put a CPU fan on it as the case fan will do a lot of work there. Or if the CPU fan is quiet enough, perhaps I'll make sure to push and pull air across that CPU.

With the motherboard CPU, it looks like it will fit okay, but there are some connectors underneath which may cause complications:

The real problem is that the CPU fan retainer bracket that Sun has used is not standard! The 940 socket adapter has nothing to grab onto:

Hmm, we see that the Socket 478 assembly clip almost works:

Except that the CPU hole does not line up correctly!

If we pull the bracket, attach the clip, then we can see that we now know the dimensions needed for a replacement retainer bracket, and dang if it isn't a close fit:

But we can see that the mounting holes are just a bit off center and I'm not sure if the metal assembly might now be touching something else on the motherboard. If I knew for sure that it was not, I could probably bore new holes for the mounting screws. I'll have to think about that.

By the way, a quick search for replacement brackets showed that the Sun ones were not compatible with standard 940 brackets.

If I line up the holes, we can really see the gap:

It is about 3mm off and it doesn't look like there is any place to get that back.

I need a good solid connection or the thermal seal could break.

Does anyone know of a good replacement bracket? It seems proprietary brackets don't work well and the Scythe Universal Retention kit will not work.

I need to think about what I'm going to do before I make any modifications. :->