Build #3...

[rvassar]

Migrated to Build #3 this evening... Had a couple glitches with shifting network interface names and devices, but it seems to have worked out. I'm not entirely happy with the rats-nest of SATA cables, and power adapters, but that's fixable.

ToDo's:
Replace PSU with something that has enough SATA plugs...
Tidy up rats nest of cables...
Upgrade to some kind of Xeon
Utilize second SSD, and extra drives
5-1/4 hot swap chassis?

My home office is so much quieter! Drive temps are down ~5 - 10deg/C... :D

 

[joeschmuck]

Do you have both fans in the front of the case to keep all those drives cool? I run my fas at 7VDC, just enough to make them turn and slowly flow cooling air to keep the hard drives cool. I have the same case, love it! I have my drives turned around where the cables are on the other side of the case and it's a much cleaner look. Also you can see the drive serial numbers (well for my drives) easier so you can loacte a suspect drive easier. Depending on your SATA cables, you may be able to work it or you may need to buy some with a right angle connector to make it all fit. I know that i have two drives connected using straight connectors but they are short molded connectors. In my system I have a lot of SATA connections, I use 4 pin Molex to double SATA power connectors for my SSD devices.

Good luck!

 

[rvassar]

Do you have both fans in the front of the case to keep all those drives cool?

I installed a second 120mm fan in the front to cover both drive racks. The two that came with the case are 3-pin, which runs at full speed, the one I added is a 4-pin, but I haven't done anything with the motherboard fan controller yet. The bottom two drives are not even part of a pool. I dropped them in mostly to test the PSU and staggered spin up settings. There's actually two hot swap trays installed in the lower two 5-inch bays as well, but they're empty.

I have the same case, love it! I have my drives turned around where the cables are on the other side of the case and it's a much cleaner look. Also you can see the drive serial numbers (well for my drives) easier so you can loacte a suspect drive easier. Depending on your SATA cables, you may be able to work it or you may need to buy some with a right angle connector to make it all fit. I know that i have two drives connected using straight connectors but they are short molded connectors. In my system I have a lot of SATA connections, I use 4 pin Molex to double SATA power connectors for my SSD devices.

Good luck!

I actually originally bought the case to build a gaming rig for my wife. I was working on her system a couple weeks back and realized I could stuff 6 drives internally, and still have 4x 5-1/4 bays, for a potential of 12 drives. I doubt I'll ever get that many, but... Always nice to have a little extra room, and they're $59 on Amazon these days...

The top 4 SATA cables are SAS fanouts. They fit, but it would be nice if they were 90 deg ends. The bottom drive, is plugged into the motherboard SATA, and has the older style long plug. It's tight, I had to fold it under a bit to get it to fit.

 

[Chris Moore]

I actually originally bought the case to build a gaming rig for my wife. I was working on her system a couple weeks back and realized I could stuff 6 drives internally, and still have 4x 5-1/4 bays, for a potential of 12 drives. I doubt I'll ever get that many, but... Always nice to have a little extra room, and they're $59 on Amazon these days...

What kind of case is it? Do you have a link to the product?

 

[rvassar]

What kind of case is it? Do you have a link to the product?

It's literally a gamer case... But somewhat flexible...

https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Maste...4734959&sr=8-1&keywords=Cooler+Master+HAF+912

 

[joeschmuck]

To me it's a server case.

 

[Chris Moore]

To me it's a server case.

I wouldn't throw it out but it is a little dated styling wise.

I actually originally bought the case to build a gaming rig for my wife.

Did you buy this recently or a few years ago?

 

[joeschmuck]

Chris,
This is a very solid case, heavy metal. Unfortuanetly that means heavy to move as well. If I had a need for another server then I'd buy this case again.

 

[Chris Moore]

Chris,
This is a very solid case, heavy metal. Unfortuanetly that means heavy to move as well. If I had a need for another server then I'd buy this case again.

I am certainly not criticizing it, not really, I joke.
I have an old one that I still use, I think it was made by Ennermax, that I bought back around 2005. It has 80mm fans, front, back, top and side and an integrated fire-wire port. Very dated looking, and one of the doors broke off by my daughter when she was two, but the case still works for what a case is supposed to do and I use it. I did replace the original 'full blast' fans with some PWM fans that are supposed to be quieter and that helped. It has six internal bays and four 5.25 bays where I could mount more drives, and it is very heavy, even empty, but almost unmovable when loaded. I don't think anyone would buy it from me, so I am probably stuck with it until it rusts away, the thing is galvanized steel though, so it may take a while. It is already on the third or fourth system board, I lost count.

 

[rvassar]

Did you buy this recently or a few years ago?

Both. I bought the original one back in 2013, and used it for a PC build. I had to do some work on it a couple weeks back and noticed how many drive bays it had. So I bought a second one just a few weeks ago, specifically for my Supermicro X9SCL build. There is a minor difference between them. The new one has USB 3.0 support on the front panel, which my motherboard of course does not support. But $59 vs. $100+...

Approximate Totals:

X9SCL - ~$50
4 x 4gb ECC UDIMM's - $75
Case $59
CPU (I had this from build #2, but wanted to keep the chassis useable, so I bought i3-2130 and swapped them) - $28
Disks: n/a - moved from previous build
SAS HBA - Moved from previous build.
Total: $212

In retrospect I probably should have gone for the -F motherboard and picked up IPMI. I was expecting to spend significantly more on the case.

 

[joeschmuck]

I am certainly not criticizing it, not really, I joke.

I never took it as if you were being negative at all, I don't think the worst of people when I read postings unless it's obvious they are flaming someone, or similar and I don't see you doing that. So think nothing of it, seriously.