Hi, My name is John and work for Dell as a PowerEdge Product Manager.  Thank you for your question regarding the PowerEdge T310 fan noise.  The Dell Product Team has engaged our Design Center regarding the need to address the nosie concern raised by our customers.  Last month, (October 2010) Dell released a revised BIOS and Embedded Systems Management firmware update to improve the PowerEdge T310's acoustical and thermal performance.   To locate the BIOS and firmware updates, you will want to go to the following link:  [URL] When you go this web page you will want to check your T310 to see if you have BIOS version 1.4.1 and also the Embedded Systems Management firmware for iDRAC6, if needed, version 1.5.4.  The enhancements made to the BIOS and firmware will reduce the fan speed of the server without undesired impacts to the thermal performance of the server.  However, please note that ambient temperature of the room along with the configuration of server will be monitored by the server’s intake thermal sensors and fan speed will be managed accordingly.  For reference, Dell's thermal and acoustical testing is conducted at 23 degrees Celsius +/- 2 degrees (Approximately 73.4o F). If there are further questions that we can help address, please let us know. Again, thank you for question and interest in our products. Regards, John
I know that this topic may have been posted before but I still cannot find a clear answer as to how to reduce the fan noise of Poweredge T310 without having to make any changes to the hardware.  Is there a way of changing a setting on the BIOS?  Our unit sits next to our old Compaq server and there's a huge difference between the two in term of fan noise, when the ambience temperature is not slightly warm (ie. when the air conditioner of the room is turned off). Any suggestion/comment will be much appreciated.
T310 Fan Noise