iXSsystem Mini XL experience?

[hmviking]

I bought a Supermicro Tower case two years ago, which in hindsight was a mistake due to exceptionally lousy thermal characteristics for the drive bay. Before I go spend more money on new hardware I would like input on what case to use for six 3.5inch drives. The Mini XL looks attractive, however, with prior bad experience from tower cases it will take some convincing that the drives will actually have enough airflow to stay below 40ºC. Has anyone tested the Mini XL to give a report? Another alternative is a rack mount chassis. The smallest I found at Supermicro has 12 bays. Does it have enough airflow or do I need to put it inside a freezer? Are there better choices?

 

[danb35]

Another alternative is a rack mount chassis. The smallest I found at Supermicro has 12 bays.

My SuperMicro SC826 (2U, 12-bay) has enough airflow to keep the (12) drives under 40C as long as ambient is under ~ 90 F. I could probably kick up the fans a bit more, but they aren't very quiet.

 

[styno]

Before I go spend more money on new hardware I would like input on what case to use for six 3.5inch drives.

Both Fractal Design cases in my signature will be able to cool 6 drives. The 804 has room for 8.
The Cooler Master Stacker case (is huge and) will house 12 drives.

 

[adrianwi]

Another +1 for Fractal Design.

I added an extra fan in mine at the front (so has 2) but have 9 drives that all stay well below 40ºC and generally are around the 30ºC mark (ambient temperature is around 20ºC)

 

[hmviking]

danb35:
I've tried to divine from the online resources how the airflow actually is for the Supermicro SC826 chassis. I found a youtube from the UK, but it didn't clearly show how the SAS backplane is slotted to allow air to the drives. Since you have this particular chassis I'm really curious how there could be enough air going to all the drives with fans being on one side of the backplane and the drives on the other side of the backplane. How the heck can that possibly work?

The fractal case looked cool. I will have to noodle on that one a bit more.

 

[danb35]

I can try to take a look at the backplane. The system is noisy, but I can say from experience that it keeps 12 drives under 40C in a 90F closet, even with scrubs. I doubt that it matters, but mine was the -TQ model. I can't say the same for my current SC847--still working on getting the temps down without making too much noise.

 

[hmviking]

Sorry for pestering on the airflow. I've been going through a number of gyrations without satisfactory results so I want to get it right this time. One question on your setup what drives do you use? I have Seagate 4TB constellation series and they seem to be generating a lot of heat.

 

[danb35]

My drives are one HGST 2 TB, two Seagate Barracuda 2 TB, three WD Red 3 TB, and six WD Red 4 TB.

 

[anodos]

danb35:
I've tried to divine from the online resources how the airflow actually is for the Supermicro SC826 chassis. I found a youtube from the UK, but it didn't clearly show how the SAS backplane is slotted to allow air to the drives. Since you have this particular chassis I'm really curious how there could be enough air going to all the drives with fans being on one side of the backplane and the drives on the other side of the backplane. How the heck can that possibly work?

The fractal case looked cool. I will have to noodle on that one a bit more.

Really ungodly powerful fans is how it cools. Have a couple of SC826s with constellation drives. Drive temps stay around 30c. Most of the time they stay a few degrees under that.

They're loud.

 

[RichTJ99]

I have a Fractal 804 -

Current temps (as of 10pm):

CPU temp :

dev.cpu.7.temperature: 39.0C

dev.cpu.6.temperature: 39.0C

dev.cpu.5.temperature: 38.0C

dev.cpu.4.temperature: 39.0C

dev.cpu.3.temperature: 41.0C

dev.cpu.2.temperature: 42.0C

dev.cpu.1.temperature: 38.0C

dev.cpu.0.temperature: 38.0C


HDD temp :

da3

da2

da1 35C WDC

da0 34C WDC

ada5 34C WDC

ada4 33C WDC

ada3 35C WDC

ada2 36C WDC

ada1 34C WDC

ada0 34C WDC

Very quiet & great airflow with 8 drives.