Curious if PCI-E x2 SATA III card will work

[rvassar]

Regardless, I need space for 8 3.5 drives and one 2.5 SSD

Looks like room for 10 drives in the config Chris just posted. On SSD's... I know it's not professional, and probably voids warranties, etc... But... SSD's have no moving parts, and generate negligible heat. You can stuff them pretty much anywhere they fit.

 

[Chris Moore]

Looks like room for 10 drives in the config Chris just posted. On SSD's... I know it's not professional, and probably voids warranties, etc... But... SSD's have no moving parts, and generate negligible heat. You can stuff them pretty much anywhere they fit.

I have 8 drives in the system I use at work. You could easily do 10 if you wanted. It has a 1200 watt power supply too, so no worries about having enough juice.

 

[pro lamer]

Looks like room for 10 drives in the config Chris just posted. On SSD's... I know it's not professional, and probably voids warranties, etc... But... SSD's have no moving parts, and generate negligible heat. You can stuff them pretty much anywhere they fit.

Some 5,25 -> 3,5 adapters have 2,5" bays to the sides too.

 

[SangieWolf]

The blue drive trays have integrated rubber anti vibration grommets and pins that fit in the screw holes so you can mount 4 x 3.5 drives in the space under he power supply and behind the 5.25 bays with no tools

These pictures are helpful. Thank you! Isn't there drive bays at the bottom of the case too? I thought I remember there being slots to at least fit cages to.

 

[SangieWolf]

I have 8 drives in the system I use at work. You could easily do 10 if you wanted. It has a 1200 watt power supply too, so no worries about having enough juice.

While I appreciate all the feedback, I ended up going with an HP Z800 and I'm super happy with it! I got the box for $200 with 24 GBs of ECC RAM and my four drives fit in the front without modification. I also have four slots inside. What is so weird about how this is designed, the processor doesn't have a heatsink on it. I checked takeapart guides and it relies on an air tunnel... weird.

I'm using the IT mode LSI controller perfectly! I'm all up and running. Just trying to get Plex Media Server working now with some issues. Thanks to everyone for their help!

 

[rvassar]

Very nice. How's the noise level?

 

[Chris Moore]

What is so weird about how this is designed, the processor doesn't have a heatsink on it.

It either has a heat-sync, as as can be seen in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRmtwJW1g0o
or it has a radiator like this:

It would not be able to work without a mechanism to dissipate the heat of the CPU.

Very nice. How's the noise level?

I actually considered this when I was deciding what hardware to use at one point. They are very quiet because they are meant to be high-end desktop / workstation computers. It is missing IPMI for remote management and you must have some kind of video card installed in it, so that is a waste of a expansion slot, but they are not too bad.

 

[SangieWolf]

Very nice. How's the noise level?

It's not too bad! The noise is mostly from the hard drives whirring away. Otherwise, it's pretty quiet and hasn't blown the circuit breaker yet (despite the color laser printer, 44" plotter, and Hackintosh all running on the same circuit lol)

For the price I got with the amount of RAM that came with it all for $200, super worth it. I still had an expansion slot for the LSI card so that's 8 drives and it's fine. I'm running FreeNAS off the SATA II controller which seems fine so technically will be 9 drives.

I will be adding four more drives as another vdev to the pool once I move the data off them.

It either has a heat-sync, as as can be seen in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRmtwJW1g0o
or it has a radiator like this:

It would not be able to work without a mechanism to dissipate the heat of the CPU.

Weird. It does only have one CPU (a 6-core though) so maybe it needs less cooling. There's just a fan and a bracket that moves air over the CPU. But as for what's on top of the CPU physically? Just a plastic piece. I may take a photo layer because it's super weird. But as you see from the temps I posted, everything SEEMS fine.

Now if only I could figure out how to push the hard drive cage all the way in so it locks :< Kind of annoying with it sitting out an inch. If I tip the workstation, they all slide out.

 

[Chris Moore]

Now if only I could figure out how to push the hard drive cage all the way in so it locks :< Kind of annoying with it sitting out an inch. If I tip the workstation, they all slide out.

I had a system that did that. For me, it was the drive cage hitting the edge of the system board. I carefully made a hole and added a screw that keeps the drive cage in the chassis.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[rvassar]

Now if only I could figure out how to push the hard drive cage all the way in so it locks :< Kind of annoying with it sitting out an inch. If I tip the workstation, they all slide out.

I have a Dell Optiplex 790, and a Dell SC1430. They both have what appear to be identical drive caddies. But if I drop the 1430 caddies in the 790, the latches will not release. I had to use brute force, a 12 inch flat blade screwdriver to get them out. I haven't tried the 790 caddies in the 1430... Anyhow... My point is, even if the look identical, they might be slightly different part numbers. A millimeter here or there is all it takes.

 

[rvassar]

It's not too bad! The noise is mostly from the hard drives whirring away. Otherwise, it's pretty quiet and hasn't blown the circuit breaker yet (despite the color laser printer, 44" plotter, and Hackintosh all running on the same circuit lol)

Nice!

FWIW... Modern house, 20 amp circuit: 20 amps x 120 volts = 2400 watts.

Older house, 15 amp circuit: 15 amps x 120 volts = 1800 watts (Which is right about the rating of a hair dryer...)

The thing here in Texas is we have "summer power" and December, January, and February. During the summer, the grid operators will switch in "buck boost" transformers to make up for current load sag on the local grids. These boost the voltage a few percent, in order to make sure electric motors in people A/C compressors don't exceed their current ratings and burn up. Electric motors draw the power they need in watts, 746 watts per horsepower. If the voltage is too low, the current (amps) side of the equation goes up to compensate. Example at 115 volts, that 15 amp circuit drops to 1725 watts. If the increased amperage exceeds the wire capacity inside the motor, it overheats and burns up. RV stores sell plug in voltmeters for this very reason, to save people A/C in remote RV parks.

Anyhow... If you're worried about the branch circuit you home tech is on, make sure to monitor the voltage over the seasons. I've had pretty good luck in Oncor territory, but Austin Power may be different.

 

[Zhang-Hokkien]

While I appreciate all the feedback, I ended up going with an HP Z800 and I'm super happy with it! I got the box for $200 with 24 GBs of ECC RAM and my four drives fit in the front without modification. I also have four slots inside. What is so weird about how this is designed, the processor doesn't have a heatsink on it. I checked takeapart guides and it relies on an air tunnel... weird.

I'm using the IT mode LSI controller perfectly! I'm all up and running. Just trying to get Plex Media Server working now with some issues. Thanks to everyone for their help!

View attachment 24486 View attachment 24487

@SangieWolf Hey there... this is "Art of Server" guy from eBay. Just FYI, I've had many Z800 and Z820 machines in my hands before, and I can tell you, it is suppose to have a heatsink. The HP part number is 463990-001. You can find them on eBay if you search for that HP part number. You should also have a fan shroud that goes over the CPUs and RAM. There are 2 active fans in the shroud that cool the RAM, and isolation airducts for the CPUs as the heatsinks have an fan on them and the airduct is to isolate 2 independent air flows so you're not taking hot air from forward CPU over the 2nd CPU heatsink. It depends on what CPU you got, but at idle, one of my Z800 w/ dual X5675, the temperatures are around 30-35C on a warm day.

 

[pro lamer]

Tin scissors? ;)

It is all galvanized steel.

Would a dremel have been enough?

Sent from my phone

 

[Chris Moore]

this is "Art of Server" guy from eBay.

Please post more when you can spare the time.

 

[Beemer533]

....
Now if only I could figure out how to push the hard drive cage all the way in so it locks :< Kind of annoying with it sitting out an inch. If I tip the workstation, they all slide out.

How do you like that Rosewill drive cage so far? I just finished my build using the Rosewill 4U rack mount case (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055EV30W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) and I'm using the supplied drive cages, but it will be a pain if/when I need to swap or add drives.

I've got a similar set of Kingwin cages in my old Windows server that I was going to use, but they have become a bi flaky after 7 or 8 years... An they are kind of loud..

Thanks!

 

[pro lamer]

An they are kind of loud..

Have they always been loud for you?

Sent from my phone

 

[Beemer533]

Honestly, I've had them for long enough and my old Windows server was kept in the basement so I really can't remember if they were always that noisy if that makes sense. I will say that I'm sure they have gotten louder as I wasn't exactly keeping them clean... my issue now is that my new FreeNAS is going in my AV rack which is in a closet in my family room, so I didn't want anything very loud as it will be running 24/7.

I replaced the all the fans (2x 120mm for the HD and 2x 80mm for the case) in the Rosewill case I am using with Noctua and it is pretty much inaudible. If they fit, I'd probably try to replace the drive cage fans anyway.

 

[pro lamer]

would a dremel have been enough?

I should have done my homework. It seems yes
https://youtu.be/wIHwqPAgA9I
Sent from my phone