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19 PowerEdge 14th generation (14G) acoustical performance and dependencies | Document ID | version (optional)
6 PowerEdge T640 acoustics
Dell EMC PowerEdge T640 is a rackable tower server appropriate for typical office environment. However, for
HPC usage with GPGPU, it is recommended to install T640 in an unattended data center environment.
Table 3 summarizes the sound power, sound pressure level, and prominent tone performance of the T640 in
a 23±2°C environment.
Acoustical performance
To capture the breadth of potential customer specifications and deployments, the T640 has been tested in
four configurations: minimum, typical, feature rich, and GPGPU. Table 3 provides a summary of the
configuration and acoustical performance of the PE T640. Each configuration has been tested according to
Dell EMC acoustical standards for tower servers.
PowerEdge T640 acoustical dependencies
 Ambient Temperature. For a similar workload fan speeds (and thus, acoustical noise) may increase
as ambient temperature increases.
 High Wattage CPU. High-power (TDP) CPU parts may result in higher acoustical noise output.
 NVDIMM. Fan speeds may increase under certain workloads and configurations with NVDIMMs
present.
 NVMe SSD. NVMe SSD consumes more power than other SATA/ SAS drives. It requires higher fan
speeds for cooling, and thus increased acoustical output is expected.
 System Thermal Profile Selected in BIOS. The default setting is “Power Optimized (DAPC)”, which
generally means lower fan speed and acoustics. If “Performance Optimized” is selected, fan speed
and acoustical noise may increase.
Methods to reduce acoustical output of the T640
T640 acoustical output is highly depending on system configuration. Except for system configured with
GPGPUs, T640 is appropriate for usages in typical office environments.
 Reduce Ambient Temperature. Lowering the ambient temperature allows the system to cool
components more efficiently than at higher ambient temperatures.
 Optimize Third Party PCI Card Options.
 Replace Third Party PCI Cards with similar Dell Supported Temperature PCI Controlled Cards, if
available. Dell EMC works diligently with card vendors to validate and develop PCI cards to meet Dell
EMC’s exacting standards for thermal performance.
 HDD Quantity. An incremental reduction in acoustical output may be gained by reducing the quantity
of HDDs.