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Synology RS1221+ Noctua Fan Swap

8:56 video

I’m really enjoying my Synology RS1221+: a rack-mount NAS with a short depth that fits my closet rack, with eight bays that can extend to 12, just what I need for file storage and backups. Since migrating a couple of weeks ago, I’ve had no issues; it’s fast enough, has room to expand, and sits mostly out of the way in my master bedroom closet. My one complaint is fan noise. I expected it to be loud for a rack-mount unit, and I don’t hear it during the day, but I hear it from my bedroom, and I don’t want to keep the closet door closed. So I swapped the fans for hopefully quieter Noctua fans.

Thanks to a Reddit post about changing the RS1221’s fans (linked in the description), and a comment from Dwn2Clwn, I ordered 80 mm Noctua NF-A8 PWM fans. A note: any modification like this could affect your warranty, so proceed at your own risk. My closet is temperature controlled, has little equipment, and I don’t push the NAS hard, so I’m not worried about a slight temperature increase from lower airflow.

Baseline measurements

  • Room noise without the NAS: about 34 dB (as my Apple Watch hears it).
  • With stock fans in quiet mode: about 50 dB.
  • Temperatures under load (a Windows 10 VM running a disk speed test, Plex streaming to my iPhone and a backup, all at once, with fans in quiet mode): CPU about 40°C, and my IronWolf 6 TB drives about 30°C.

The swap

With the NAS off, remove the eight screws on top and open the case: you’ll see both fans at the back. One fan’s cable runs under a piece of tape and then up and around; the other comes up from the bottom and plugs into the motherboard. It’s a simple swap: a couple of screws on the back, pop the old fans out, unroute the cable, route the new one in. I routed the cords away from the fans and taped one down like the original.

When I powered it on, there was a buzzing: the power supply fan was hitting a cable. I fixed it by undoing the tape and routing the wire twice through it.

Results

  • Right away, the fans were quieter, and after a few seconds, almost inaudible.
  • Noise in quiet mode: about 37 dB, versus the room’s 34 to 35 dB: a huge improvement over the stock fans.
  • Temperatures in quiet mode: drives about 32 to 34°C (three to four degrees higher than before) and the CPU about 61°C (up from 40°C), which may concern some.
  • Cool mode: only a slight increase in noise. I could hear the hard drives churning, which I couldn’t hear at all over the stock fans (which were super loud in quiet mode, and insane in cool and full speed).
  • Full speed mode: about 45 dB, still quieter than the stock fans in quiet mode. After a few minutes, the CPU came down to about 50°C.

It’s a pretty simple process. Some people may worry about the higher CPU and drive temperatures, but my rack room is temperature controlled and I won’t push the device often. Are you planning this for your 1221+ or another Synology, and is there a fan with more airflow that’s still quieter than stock? If you’re curious how I migrated from a DS420+ to the 1221+ while keeping my data, see my video on that.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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