If you’re looking for the best quiet server that will power up your home-based business or your growing startup company, then I have the answer to what you’re looking for. In this article, we look into details some of the best silent servers for home and other small sized businesses.
While it can be quite tempting to use cloud-based servers, especially if you’re just starting out, on-site servers have the upper hand. They give you more control and give a sense of security over your businesses’ critical information. Much like silent hard drives, noiseless servers allows for silent computing experience.
Quiet Server for Home & Small Businesses Reviews
In this guide, I have picked the quiet servers that offer everything that home-based and small business ventures need to get a lift off the ground without breaking the bank. These servers are easy to operate and maintain, and the best part is that the manufacturer should give you the needed suppose in case something goes wrong. I have categorized my review into two different sections. The first section deals with a quiet home server and the second with quiet small business server.
Quiet home servers
Dell PowerEdge T20 Mini-Tower Server
While it might be an old Dell PowerEdge T series, the T20 mini-tower server is a great choice for anyone looking for a simple home-based silent server. The T20 is the predecessor to the PowerEdge T30 (only available on Amazon) and gives plenty of servers only at the price of your average computer. I will only recommend it for home based computing and storage operations.
Some of the advantages with this mini-server are: it’s equipped with plenty of USB ports, easy accessibility to internals, On-board RAID enough room for up to six internal hard disks, and a fast quad-core Xeon processor. You can expand the RAM from the standard 4 GB up to 32GB RAM. If you’d wish to have more computing power for multitasking purposes, I’d recommend the upgraded version- PowerEdge T30.
Dell PowerEdge T30
The Dell T30 server is the upgraded model of the T20 and one of the servers that don’t make noise. I had the T20 installed in my bedroom, and most of the time I would forget that I had a server in my bedroom. Sadly the T20 version isn’t available on the market anymore. But since the T30 is an upgrade, I’d expect it to be quieter than the previous model.
The minitower server comes with a 3.2 GHz Xeon E3 1225 processor, a 4 GB SDRAM DDR3, 1 TB (2) 1TB 7200 RPM HDD and 10 USB 2.0 ports. Besides performance, the other key difference is that the T30 can accommodate a max of 64 GB RAM compared to the previous 32 GB RAM. Under normal load, the earlier version of this mini tower server was pretty quieter than my gaming console.
HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10
HPE’s primary goal is to design servers that meet the demands for small offices, retail and high end working environments. The company designed the ProLiant to meet the needs for those looking for energy efficient servers that offer high storage capacity and silent operation even when on load.
From the pictures I took (see them below), you will notice that this unit comes with two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and power input. It’s equipped with two Display Port headers and one VGA port (see image below). Other features include 1GbE network ports. It’s important to note that this isn’t a heavy compute platform, but it’s great for basic storage and network services the reason I recommended it in my quiet home servers section.
Supermicro SuperServer 5028D-TN4T Intel Xeon D-1541
The Supermicro TN4T is a compact server measuring 9.45″ x 8.27″ x 11″ (HxWxD). It’s a server ideal for home use and also can be used by small scale businesses who want to keep their server onsite rather than in the cloud. Its equipped with four 3.5 inch drive bays to make it easy to service and replace the magnetic disks.
The AST2400 BMC ensures that you can administer this system remotely through the dedicated Ethernet interface. The only downside I’ve noticed with the Supermicro server is that adding the SSD or replacing the DIMMs requires you remove screws and apply some force to remove the cover of the chassis.
Quiet small business server
Lenovo Think Server TS140
A good alternative to the T30 minitower is the Lenovo TS140. It’s lighter than its competitor (T30), and its reliable, robust and affordable solution for small businesses. This enterprise-class tower server comes with reliable features such as onboard storage controller and error correcting code (ECC). Its energy efficient and whisper quiet with manageability tools that make it easy to deploy, monitor your business.
This minitower is powered by an Intel Core i3 3.5GHz Dual-core processor to meet your small scale business requirements. Unlike the T30, this unit comes with a 4GB stock DDR3 which can be expanded to 32BG to make multitasking on tedious projects smooth and an HD Graphics 4400 to deliver superior graphics for multimedia projects.
HP Z620 Workstation
The reason why I’ve recommended the Z620 workstation is that it’s a unit that gives near silent computing and ideal for small spaced offices. The tool-less chassis makes servicing and upgrading tasks simple than ever before. Unlike the previous generation, the HP Z620 delivers 4times storage capacity, support for dual or single socket processor configurations and a larger power supply.
In addition, like any other HP workstation, the Z620 is specially designed to meet the needs of ever-growing professionals who work with complex 3D models, datasets, or for businesses that require reliable and efficient systems for their workers. It’s equipped with up to 24 processor cores making it a reliable powerhouse when it comes to visualization and computing horsepower.
PowerEdge T330 Tower Server
The Dell PowerEdge T330 is a high-performance single-socket tower server for small businesses. Delivering powerful performance and versatility without a huge budget price tag, this tower server is the ideal choice for hosting, distributed applications in SBM or entry-level workloads.
It comes with twice memory capacity compared to the previous generation Dell PowerEdge T320 and can be scaled up to 64GB DDR4 RAM giving 33% faster transfer than previous model. The best part is that it comes with a 3-year comprehensive warranty.
How to choose a quiet server for home and small businesses
For you to pick the most silent server, there are several factors that you should take into consideration. By default, rackmount servers are noisier than tower servers. That said, other factors will determine how loud or quiet a server is. The configuration of the CPU/drives and location also determines how loud the server is.
At room temperature, when the CPU load is normal, most servers will be quiet. Additionally, some hard drive models are loud such that you can see the drive activity several feet away. Others are quieter than laser and printer copiers. For best results, I’d recommend you to invest in a tower server with sufficient computing and storage capacity and invest in quiet drives.
Final thoughts on a quiet server
Finding a silent server for your home/business is both easy and hard than ever. While you will get so many cheap options on the market today, finding quiet one can take some legwork.
From my list above, the quietest server I would recommend is the Dell PowerEdge T20 and its newer model, the T30. They give decent storage and computing power and much quieter. For small enterprises, I’d vouch for HP Z620 Workstation as the most silent server. Read other guide of the most quiet shop vacuums, quiet bed frames and most silent window air conditioners.