older 1u units with LOUD fans when they get going)

1U servers tend to have loud fans regardless of age. Small fans that spin. very quickly (to get decent airflow) will do that. They’re also designed for use in data centers where noise is less of a concern.

Sometimes you can replace server fans with Noctua fans, but the small Noctua fans generally have less airflow than the stock ones (usually made by Delta) so you’d have to check they’d be sufficient for your use case.