alt Hacker NewsI got a ThinkStation P8 thinking it would be a nice workstation, but the fan noise was just unbearable. Not loud (although it could get LOUD), but extremely annoying. A cooling solution created for a rack mount system where the person buying the machine will never hear it. Absolutely unsuitable at home. I was looking into doing a Noctua Fan Swap here as well, but after reading the fan specs, I found out that this would be impossible, or possibly melt the machine. The 60mm fans on the PSU were rated at something like 25 watt _each_ and push more air at way more pressure than the strongest 120mm Noctua fan.
The Mac Studio that replaced it is practically silent and very energy efficient, while not being significantly slower.
My tinnitus requires loud fans. Also fan noise is always a good indicator of power.
When I was in highschool, I bought a secondhand Poweredge 1800-something hoping to make it my new home server after the Pentium 4 desktop I had been rocking. It was so fucking loud, I couldn't find a place to keep it that wasn't audible throughout the house. My parents were not happy.