When would you consider actively cooling a CPU in a rack-mount server, say 4U?
Super Micro or Gigabyte system; AMD Epyc CPU.
Configuring a 4U right now and thinking, “Hmmm… I have room for a Noctua active cooler in there…” 
Passive cooling HS, be more reliant to chassis airflow [insert wall of turbofans]
Strongly dependent on your load against the processor, to dictate “is this sufficient?”
Are you making a desktop style build thas rackmount friendly? [suitable int. clearance]
In this stock-challenged times, it is super tough building systems. Ideally wanted 1U but good luck… at this time was able to find this 4U in stock:
And this MOBO which looks perfect:
You can see why I started thinking about all that clearance and which solution to best cool the CPU. I’d get the rails for the 4U and rack-mount it.
Judging by that strap running along near centre of mainboard eq., your actual HS clearance might be 3U<HS<4U
IF that centre strap isn’t [structurally] necessary, then a 4U HS would be non-issue
But you’re probably right - just let the server airflow do it’s thing and get a passive?
I have “normal” 120mm fans in my 4U chassis, so I actively cool my CPU’s.
The cases came with high airflow fans, but I wanted a quieter half-rack, so downgraded.
If your fan wall only has industrial style fans, and air flow is fine, then passive is okay.
But a low profile active cooler wouldn’t Hurt, even in that situation.
You are right to be aware of the size, not all coolers will fit in size, especially with the unusual mounting for epyc (not a lot of SP3 mounted coolers, or whatever the socket is
System will be racked with other noisy beasts so quiet ins’t a goal! 
Interesting - looks like it comes down to TDP when it comes to Super Micro SP3 coolers.
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