Fan noise on Thunderbolt PCIe enclosures

[ianmiller]

I keep reading about loud fans in these devices and am wondering what the best device is? The thread below says both the Sonnet and Helios are too loud so I wonder if the Magma is worth the extra cost? Can users of that comment? I am also interested if disabling the fan in the Helios is broadly done (as per the post below) and is safe?
Thanks for any advice.

[Faulk33]

Hi Ian,

Ive setup a couple of rigs with the Magma Express Box 3T. As shipped the fan speed is set to '2' (Medium). To be an AVID 'Qualified' system you need to set it to 'F' (Fastest). Not what you'll want to hear but I was amazed at how loud position 2 was, but 'F' is a joke! If you need to go down this road and have mac mini or getting new mac pro I'd suggest move the computer + chassis to a machine room then use a KVM extender for display and mouse. If you're on an iMac or MBP i think at present your best option is a nice long optical thunderbolt cable which are finally coming to market (I think Corning have released some).

Worth noting that the AVID 'qualified' system is for HDX (presumably on the assumption that if your going HDNative you'll buy their thunderbolt option, which is wonderful and silent btw), I guess if you've only got one HDX or HDN pcie card in the EB3T then it makes sense that you could probably get away with setting a much slower, or dare I say it No fan. Problem is, once you do that you're no longer running a qualified system, so if it doesn't work out and a card gets damaged getting support, RMA's might be difficult.

Last point, I've not managed to get a look at the new Magma Roben Chassis yet, perhaps these are quieter? .. he said, clutching at straws!