The tiny Noctua was the first fan I bought, actually with all the components. I bought it largely because of the size (and I know Noctuas to be quiet). I did not have any small fans laying around and anything over about 50 mm is going to have to rest on top of the DIMMs. I didn't really care for that idea, so I forked out $15 for the tiny Noctua. That said what D4nthr4x said. All you gotta do is get some air flow over it and you'll see your temps go down. Without the fan I was running in about the mid 50s C, with it, I'm in the low 40s C.
Regarding the other question, I replaced all three stock fans, however in hindsight, I probably only had to replace the front fans. As in all thing YMMV.
Having played with the system for a little now, I find that the front fans are where all the noise really comes from. It's a small space, and you're trying to move air through it. At the moment, I'm running my front fans at one "notch" below "full on" and it's making about as much noise as the stock fans, but the drive temps are lower. I also turned the rear fan down to about 60% I think and saw nothing "bad" happen in terms of drive temps. The CPU was unaffected.
I'm sure it would be quieter if I set the fans to PWM, but I'm not yet that brave.
As for satisfaction, over-all yes:
- The Avoton is a very capable little device (and it is shockingly small):
- I really tried to find something wrong with it, and really can't.
- There are some nits:
- It doesn't have the "polish" of some Supermicro stuff I've used.
- It whines if you don't turn off C states.
- Oracle has really "fixed" Java. Getting into IMPI is a repetitious series of annoying clicks (but that has nothing to do with the board itself.)
- It is not a Xeon, don't expect it to be. It is capable, and I haven't yet been able to get it to "stall".
- The memory is well, just memory. Getting memory off the ASRock QVL list is next to impossible, so I went with a recognized brand, staying away from problems (justified or no) that I'd read about.
- I like the PSU, Seasonic has always been a good brand. They put some nice touches on their products that perhaps do not make a difference in the end, but make them a pleasure to work with. That said, please note that they make a partially and fully modular models. They're hard to tell apart; you have no need for an eight-pin connector on the ASRock Avoton board. Just sayin'. I do feel that it is one of the quieter PSUs I've worked with.
- The drives. Well, they're drives. I elected to go with the the reds instead of the greens. Yeah, that cost me about $120 more in the end, but I didn't have to "do" anything to them to make them acceptable for NAS use. I am watching them as described here, for signs that the heads are "parking" too much, but that's not a big deal. Yes, I could have just run WDIDLE3 on them first, but it was honestly going to be a thorough pain to do so.
- The case. Ah, the case. OK, so let me start this by saying that I'm a bit of a Fractal Design "fan" (no pun re: the other things in this thread.) All my existing personal machines are in Fractal cases (two XLs and an R4), and when I spec "personal use builds" for those who seek my advice I invariably list a Fractal Case (unless the recipient is an incorrigible gamer or OCer who wants to see the inside of their rig.) That said, I find myself being surprisingly indifferent about the case. In the end it's fine, but I wonder if I wouldn't have been better served by the Bitfenix or the Silverstone offerings. I don't regret the choice, but it's the one thing I sort of question.
So that said, I'm sitting here probably 1.5 feet from both my FreeNAS box (it's living on the desk until I think it "settled" enough to go live in the intended space for it across the room) and a similar distance from one of my XLs that houses my office desktop. I hear the XL way more than I hear the FreeNAS box. With music playing, I can't hear the FreeNAS box unless I put my ear right up to it.
My struggles right now are with getting sharing working. ;) There's always something. I live in a "mixed" household, with both Winders and *NIX, more or less, peacefully cohabiting. Unfortunately, that "cats and dogs" thing is about to rear its head, again.
Whatever you choose, if you can afford to do so, build according to the recommended hardware guidelines. And once you've build take the time to actually test and burn-in your system. Trust me, I've done my share of "budget builds" and rushed through things because I was anxious to get a working system. Let's just say that I've learned, and that the comfort of not having to question any decisions is really worth the small premium I paid.
Also, I don't think that it gets talked about enough, but get a UPS that's just for your server. You'll be thankful sooner or later.
If I were doing this over, I would consider a DOM for a boot device.