Lian Li PC-Q26 and ASRock E3C224D4I-14S

[intelligence]

It does make a bit of a difference, because BP2 uses one power line for 2 drives, and BP3 uses two power lines for 3 drives. You do the math :p I used 5 x BP2, using one fewer power line.

Fair point! But probably much more expensive?

 

[Ericloewe]

It does make a bit of a difference, because BP2 uses one power line for 2 drives, and BP3 uses two power lines for 3 drives. You do the math :p I used 5 x BP2, using one fewer power line.

Does the case take all of Lian-Li's sizes? That'd be interesting, since the backplanes they have specifically for this case are unsuitable for hot-swapping, since they're missing the capacitors they're silkscreened for. The full bays they sell for generic ATX cases (or their huge-ass 12x 5.25" bay cases) do have the capacitors installed.

 

[j_r0dd]

@j_r0dd: What sort of setup did you opt for with the backplanes? Figuring 2xBP3 and 2xBP2. Not that it won't matter that much, just curious!

I used BP2's

 

[depasseg]

How have the drive temps been, and what was the fan setup?

 

[j_r0dd]

How have the drive temps been, and what was the fan setup?

I stay around 35 with (10) 7200rpm drives. Using (5) 120mm Cougar PWM and (1) 80mm Noctua Redux PWM fans. I woke up several times with my drives cooking though when I first built this because the ipmi module in freenas was flaking out. Seems to be an issue with some ASRock boards. Never had an issue again after setting it to unload preinit. Maybe it's been patched since, but I would rather not take a chance again.

 

[Glorious1]

I didn't even know FreeNAS had an IPMI module. I thought that was all in the motherboard.

I have much less heatload in there, and the four Noctua PWM fans are more than adequate, but I've been increasingly unhappy with the ability of the board to regulate temperature through the fans. So I'm working on a script that basically works like a simple thermostat. I have it set for a max drive temp of 36. If it goes lower, it drops down to Standard fan mode; if it goes higher, it kicks up to HighIO fan mode. If it gets up to 39 it will switch to Full mode, but that hasn't happened.

Log shows each drives status (spin/standby) and temp, max drive temp, fan duty cycle, and current and new fan mode.

Code:

Thursday, May 05
          da0      da1      da2      da3      ada0     ada1     ada2     MAX  Fan%  Fan Mode Curr -> New
12:04:23  Spin 35  Spin 34  Spin 36  Spin 35  Spin 32  Spin 33  Spin 32  ^36  70    HeavyIO -> ==
12:09:24  Spin 34  Spin 34  Spin 36  Spin 35  Spin 32  Spin 33  Spin 32  ^36  70    HeavyIO -> ==
12:14:25  Spin 34  Spin 33  Spin 35  Spin 34  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^35  70    HeavyIO -> Standard
12:19:26  Spin 34  Spin 33  Spin 35  Spin 34  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^35  40    Standard -> ==
12:24:27  Spin 34  Spin 34  Spin 35  Spin 35  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^35  40    Standard -> ==
12:29:28  Spin 35  Spin 34  Spin 36  Spin 35  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^36  40    Standard -> ==
12:34:29  Spin 35  Spin 35  Spin 36  Spin 36  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^36  40    Standard -> ==
12:39:30  Spin 35  Spin 35  Spin 36  Spin 36  Spin 31  Spin 33  Spin 32  ^36  40    Standard -> ==
12:44:30  Spin 35  Spin 35  Spin 37  Spin 36  Spin 31  Spin 33  Spin 32  ^37  42    Standard -> HeavyIO
12:49:31  Spin 35  Spin 35  Spin 36  Spin 36  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^36  70    HeavyIO -> ==
12:54:32  Spin 34  Spin 34  Spin 36  Spin 35  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^36  70    HeavyIO -> ==
12:59:33  Spin 34  Spin 33  Spin 35  Spin 34  Spin 31  Spin 32  Spin 32  ^35  70    HeavyIO -> Standard
13:04:34  Spin 34  Spin 34  Spin 35  Spin 35  Spin 31  Spin 33  Spin 32  ^35  40    Standard -> ==

 

[intelligence]

Trying to buy this chassi, I put in the order well over a month ago and now I just saw that the distributor estimates that the chassi will be in stock in late july. Why is it so hard to find?

Anyone know of a store that ships to the Europe? (Sweden).

 

[keyser]

Trying to buy this chassi, I put in the order well over a month ago and now I just saw that the distributor estimates that the chassi will be in stock in late july. Why is it so hard to find?

Anyone know of a store that ships to the Europe? (Sweden).

I'm not sure why they stopped making them. I guess it is expensive.. I emailed Lian Li about a month ago and they say due to popular demand for that model they will be releasing some more in July. I'm 50/50 between this case and a more sensible Fractal Design. I really want a hotswap case, but I've read on this forum that it's not proper hotswap. If it's not hotswap, then why would I want it, etc.

If you email Lian Li they should be able to let you know where you can buy one when they're due in stock.

 

[Peter Hjalmarsson]

Sorry to wake this thread up again, and with a slightly offtopic question to boot!

I like the idea of SAS ports on the ASRock board to be able to use all 12 drive slots in the chassi. But how does it work in practice?

In the pictures from @j_r0dd and @Glorious1, I can see a ton of SAS cables(?) on the backside. And just two ports on the motherboard. How does that work?

I know that there's some kind of interoperability between SAS and SATA. Once the cabling problem above has been explained, can I use SATA drives with SAS cabling and the ASRock motherboard, or must it be SAS drives?

If not, what do I need to do if I want to use SATA drives?

 

[Ericloewe]

Sorry to wake this thread up again, and with a slightly offtopic question to boot!

I like the idea of SAS ports on the ASRock board to be able to use all 12 drive slots in the chassi. But how does it work in practice?

In the pictures from @j_r0dd and @Glorious1, I can see a ton of SAS cables(?) on the backside. And just two ports on the motherboard. How does that work?

I know that there's some kind of interoperability between SAS and SATA. Once the cabling problem above has been explained, can I use SATA drives with SAS cabling and the ASRock motherboard, or must it be SAS drives?

If not, what do I need to do if I want to use SATA drives?

A quick look around the forum would've answered that.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...-sas-sy-a-primer-on-basic-sas-and-sata.26145/

 

[Glorious1]

How does that work?

In case it's not clear, the relevant part of the post that Ericloewe directed you to is Cabling. You plug a SFF-8087 breakout cable into one of those mini-SAS ports, and you plug the other ends into 4 SATA drives (you still need to connect power of course).

 

[Peter Hjalmarsson]

A quick look around the forum would've answered that.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...-sas-sy-a-primer-on-basic-sas-and-sata.26145/

Thank you for the pointer - I did search, but...well...obviously failed. ;-)