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I worked in a data center for a decade. None of the neighbors even knew what it was. One actually stopped me to ask. It was very loud inside, but you couldn't
by mapontosevenths 2mo ago
I worked in a data center for a decade. None of the neighbors even knew what it was. One actually stopped me to ask.
It was very loud inside, but you couldn't hear it from outside unless the power failed and the generators came on.
- inigyou 2mo agoThe new AI ones are built below minimum standards as a cash grab and they somehow manage to be as loud as jet engines. I have no idea how they manage to achieve that, but I try to avoid denying reality. I agree that an ordinary non-AI data center is no worse than an office building without the people, but that isn't what's happening right now.
- mapontosevenths 2mo ago> somehow manage to be as loud as jet engines Thats what anti-AI activists say. A decibel meter is about $20. For some reason the people in those videos never have one.
- inigyou 2mo agoI saw one news report featuring a reporter casually holding a decibel meter. 55dB at a distance of about a kilometer.
- mapontosevenths 2mo ago55db is lower than the noise floor in the average office. They were probably just measuring the background noise of regular-ass being outside. For perspective, the inside of your home is probably about 40. When I turn on my box fan it's about 55. That said they can be loud when the generators are running. It's possible that when the grid can't keep up the volume goes up, but thats not meant to be a long term state.
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- StilesCrisis 2mo agoWe're not talking 55dB peaks--it's a constant 55dB _tone_, and not a pleasant one.
- StilesCrisis 2mo agoHere: https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/s/RAUfB2WAMD https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/s/RAUfB2WAMD In this case it's a constant 60dB metallic whine. I would be livid if they built this near my home.
- inemesitaffia 2mo agoThat's a small datacenter with a terrible exhaust fan.
- inigyou 2mo agoImagine how bad the big ones are then. They're not building them any less cheaply, you know.
- inemesitaffia 2mo agoUsually you see a big building without windows and you can't hear it from the fence of the property. You probably don't know what it is unless someone tells you. In another thread someone claimed a town grew around a new hospital and that it didn't have a datacenter. That town has at least one AT&T Datacenter, a supercomputer that's more AI than traditional computing, and of course said hospital likely has one.
- skywhopper 2mo agoYes, the new ones often use dirty generators 24/7, and probably will for years. They are loud and toxic to the local community.
- mapontosevenths 2mo agoThe answer to that is to outlaw running noisy generators. It probably already is. Most places already have noise pollution laws designed to harass teenagers with loud music. They should enforce them. Force them to either install mufflers and proper exhausts on their generators or build their own power infrastructure. They don't now because nobody makes them and it would cost money.
- inigyou 2mo agoIf you outlaw noisy generators the DC doesn't get built, so it's the same as just outlawing the DC.
- mapontosevenths 2mo agoPeople who don't want to spend money doing it right say that, but when the choice becomes "some money or no money" they always pick "some money". A few mufflers aren't going to ruin the economy of a deal that size. It's like when California "destroyed the entire economy" by raising minimum wage. All the jobs are still there, prices are mostly the same. The only thing that moved were the goal posts.