Im running a Q9550 that is typically running up at 70-72c.

Not comfortable with that, any suggestions what I could downgrade to without taking a huge performance hit?

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With

I agree most all cpu's are rated for 60C max.
Well a cpu should have the s suffix.
That means it is a lower wattage or temp.
I have a q9540s still ran hot not as much as yours.
good luck finding a q9450s or q9550s
It is important to keep the dust and lint cleaned out of the server as well as a clean well ventilated location in a conditioned space.
As well as confirming that all three fans are working.
The small one for the board and the two large ones behind the drives.

And the poor mans way is place a small fan in front of the server and open the drive access door.

After that then the vga debug board to allow bios access to modify the fan speeds.
It requires you to change several settings in bios to change it.
This option is what I use.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

Q9550S SLGAE- Intel Core 2 Quad 2.83 GHz

My bad for leaving off the "s"

I'm just trying to cool off my operating temps in the hopes of increasing drive life. I already have a 140mm fan mounted in the back of my media center furniture case (where the WHS is) blowing on the back of the case but occasionally see a hard drive temp warning on my primary drive in HSSMart.

Debug board is installed. Anything special that needs to be done in BIOS besides just changing the fan speed settings?

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With

all three existing fans in the server exhaust out the back.
If you place a fan behind it to blow at the server , it is restricting the air flow.

Place the fan in front and open the drive access door.
You will need it very close to the server to do much good.
If your cpu goes above 60c for very long it will start crashing on you till it dies.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

High temps could be the cause of your connection issues. You posted prior.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

The case fans have been reversed to blow fresh air over the drives and CPU cooler.

The existing design pulls air thru the front, thru the drives and PSU and over the CPU cooler.

But I can try to reverse them as well as the external fan so they all pull instead of push and check for changes first.

Do you know if there is a way to see hard drive temps from the console?

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With

That would be the S.M.A.R.T. addin.
It shows each drive with temps.
At the bottom of the page

I would just pull air out the back or force air in the front with the external fan.
The existing fan blades are designed to work the way they do direction wize .
I would not modify the direction of airflow.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

To clarify I didn't change the fan blades, just turned the fan assembly around so instead of pulling preheated air over the CPU cooler, the cooler was getting cooler air over it. I've done this with other passive CPU cooler systems and lowered CPU temp successfully. I'll go ahead and swap it back, measure the differences, and post back.

Thanks for the advice Ruben.

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With

Just so we are clear.
By design
The server itself pulls air in from the front and blows out the back.
If you flipped the fans internally they should go back to default.
If as I understand the server is in some cabinet with a external fan in the back.
And the server is facing forward.
Then the external fan should do the same suck out the air in the cabinet and exhaust out the back.
So fresh air is drawn in the front of the server.
I hope the cabinet(furniture) has some venting in the front to allow fresh air in.
Or you are just recirculating hot air in the area the server is in.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

the most critical issue now is you need to get your cpu below 60C
whatever it takes.
Then deal with your drive temps.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

Yes it does.

I'll flip them as suggested and see if that lowers temps. But as I said, fans blowing cooler air across a passive cooler as opposed to pulling preheated air across it has given me positive results in the past...

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With

if you reversed the fan mounting then you are defeating the design built in filter.
The front of the server is a filter even though it has no removable screen.
The access door on hinges is the filter.
Sucking in air from the back lets all the dust and lint in the unit.
That will get trapped behind the door of the server.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

You sure about that?

With the fans reversed, the air being pulled thru the small hole grid that's in the back of the server seemed to trap dust bunnies much better that when the fans were configured to pull and dust entered thru the front.

This because I clean it.

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With

I will recheck the factory default air flow today and get back with you.
But every device hpserver,readynas and desktop I own.
Is designed to suck air in from the front and blow out the back.
Except for one silverstone case that the fans blow in but there are filters before the fans.

_________________
EX-490
WHS v1
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Q9450s CPU
Stock Ram
ESATA Sansdigital Towerraid TR5M-B
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

Factory default is in thru the front and out the back.

Before putting this ex49x into service, I swapped out the OE sleeve bearing fans for a pair of fluid bearing fans and reversed them to push instead of pull.

At the same time I changed the CPU to the quad core so I don't have a frame of reference. But as I mentioned, I'm swapping them back and will post the result shortly.

_________________
EX-495 w/ WHS v1
VGA / PS2 Keyboard_Mouse debug board
Q8200s CPU w/ two 30mm cooling fans
4gb G.Skill CL5 Ram
7200 RPM WD Gold
Rear Case Cover Mod

Plus a Few Spare EX490's to Tinker With