I think everyone remembers the first time they went from "I think I can tolerate some server fans. How loud can they be?" to "I had no idea a small 12V fan could be this loud"
I think everyone remembers the first time they went from "I think I can tolerate some server fans. How loud can they be?" to "I had no idea a small 12V fan could be this loud"
LOL.. for home use I go either fanless (very low power), or 4U chassis even if I don't need the space, just to fit large quiet fans.
1U or 2U at home with fans is not what you want.
(personally, I have wondered why people didn't do pc system cooling with a car radiator with huge slow fan, a giant reservoir like 5-gal homer bucket with lid or a 55gal drum, and maybe an submersible aquarium pump or two.)
Early PC water cooling was like this. The popular target was heater cores, not giant radiators. Similar idea though.
The reason it’s not popular today is that a 2x140mm AIO can be nearly silent if you’re not obsessing over minimizing temperatures. Even the big air coolers we have today are so good that you barely hear the fans.
You can find some setups with very large radiators (look up the MORA radiator) but it’s all diminishing returns. For a home PC you don’t need anything excessively huge to cool it at reasonable volumes.