NORCO RPC-4224 4U

[Jerzy Sobski]

I am in process moving drives from a two 10 bay SATA towers using port multipliers which I have been told is very unreliable due to issues when drive goes bad. In process I of preparing to make a switch over to SAS expander I have also begun to look for a way to combine the towers into a single unit.

During my research I have come across the Norco RPC 4224 4U as being one of the most economical storage cases on the market.

Has anyone in recent years tried this case and how did you like it? What issues did you find or resolutions you made to improve on it?


In my research I have come across having to replace the fans and having to go with 90 degree SAS cables for the connecting to the backplane board. Not sure if there are any other issues that I should be aware of before I pressure the trigger to purchase this unit.

This is primarily being purchased mainly for drive storage and cable run to server. Any other suggestions on other economical solutions that would be better then the RPC-4224-4U?

 

[droeders]

You could have found this with a quick forum search.

In any case (get it?), here's a great build report from @Stux using the RPC-4224:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...24-supermicro-x10-sri-f-xeon-e5-1650v4.46262/

 

[silverback]

I am in process moving drives from a two 10 bay SATA towers using port multipliers which I have been told is very unreliable due to issues when drive goes bad. In process I of preparing to make a switch over to SAS expander I have also begun to look for a way to combine the towers into a single unit.

During my research I have come across the Norco RPC 4224 4U as being one of the most economical storage cases on the market.

Has anyone in recent years tried this case and how did you like it? What issues did you find or resolutions you made to improve on it?


In my research I have come across having to replace the fans and having to go with 90 degree SAS cables for the connecting to the backplane board. Not sure if there are any other issues that I should be aware of before I pressure the trigger to purchase this unit.

This is primarily being purchased mainly for drive storage and cable run to server. Any other suggestions on other economical solutions that would be better then the RPC-4224-4U?

I currently run this case, worked flawlessly from the jump. HBA's and cabling can be a challenge and definitely add cost.

 

[Jerzy Sobski]

You could have found this with a quick forum search.

In any case (get it?), here's a great build report from @Stux using the RPC-4224:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...24-supermicro-x10-sri-f-xeon-e5-1650v4.46262/

I am aware of this build and went through all the posts. There was some good info but I wanted to get input from other with this system including their tips on cabling, issues with the case, etc.

I am 90% sure Ill be buying it and have it already sitting in my Amazon cart ready for me to pay for it. I also have few other items in the cart that I found from other pasts that recommended right angle SAS Cables and Nocturna Fans.

 

[Stux]

I didn’t need to use right angle sas cables. Would recommend you use a sas expander to power the 6 passive back planes from a single HBA

 

[sretalla]

I have one.

It works well. Make sure you get the 3000RPM fans if you want to keep your drives cool (1500RPM is certainly not enough with 24 spinning drives... even WD reds which are relatively cool).

The divider where the drive fans are mounted is sharp on the front side. I recommend removing it from the chassis to mount the fans to it or you will cut yourself trying to squeeze your hand in there like I did, otherwise, all went smoothly with my install and cabling. I followed a lot of the advice from @Stux.

 

[Jerzy Sobski]

I have one.

It works well. Make sure you get the 3000RPM fans if you want to keep your drives cool (1500RPM is certainly not enough with 24 spinning drives... even WD reds which are relatively cool).

Which fans do you recommend? I was looking at replacing the stock fans with Noctua NF-A8 For the rear fans and Noctua NF-F12 PWM for the front fans.

The divider where the drive fans are mounted is sharp on the front side. I recommend removing it from the chassis to mount the fans to it or you will cut yourself trying to squeeze your hand in there like I did, otherwise, all went smoothly with my install and cabling. I followed a lot of the advice from @Stux.

Thanks.

 

[sretalla]

Which fans do you recommend?

Not sure if you are on a device where you can open the spoilers in my sig, so copied these lines from it:

• 2 xNoctua NF-A8 PWM Premium 80mm PC Computer Case Fan
• 3 xNoctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan
• 3 xNoctua NF-F12 PPC 3000 PWM (120mm) * having noted later in Stux's thread that 1500 RPM is not sufficient to cool the HDDs.

 

[Jerzy Sobski]

Not sure if you are on a device where you can open the spoilers in my sig, so copied these lines from it:

• 2 xNoctua NF-A8 PWM Premium 80mm PC Computer Case Fan
• 3 xNoctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan
• 3 xNoctua NF-F12 PPC 3000 PWM (120mm) * having noted later in Stux's thread that 1500 RPM is not sufficient to cool the HDDs.

Thanks, I was going to get the one you have crossed out. How loud is the NF-F12 PPC 3000 PWM fan?

 

[Kevin Horton]

Thanks, I was going to get the one you have crossed out. How loud is the NF-F12 PPC 3000 PWM fan?

If you set up some sort of fan speed control, the fan speed will be adjusted as required to keep the HD temperatures at the specified value. The 3000 rpm fans will run at the same speed as the regular fans, IF the regular fans would have been able to keep the HDs at the correct temperature without exceeding 1500 rpm.

The difference is in the case where the HD temps would be too warm with the regular fans at 1500 rpm. In this case the 3000 rpm fans will be running at greater than 1500 rpm, and louder than the regular fans, but the HD temps will be in the specified range. The regular fans would be running at 1500 rpm, but the HD temps would be too hot.

It is up to you whether you prefer quiet fans and too hot HDs, or cool HDs and louder fans. Even if you purchase the 3000 rpm fans and decide later that you would rather cook HDs than listen to loud fans, you could adjust your script to set a maximum fan duty cycle that limited the rpm that would be commanded.

 

[Stux]

The 3000RPM Fans are only louder when they are spinning faster than the 1500 rpm fans, which if you have speed controls set up only occurs when you need the extra cooling. Which is basically under load.

Also you can relocate the fans onto the board side of the fan wall. This creates a lot of extra room on the drive side.

Would also suggest paying attention to the air flow management. Ie blocking what you can to force the correct airflow

 

[sretalla]

How loud is the NF-F12 PPC 3000 PWM fan?

I would concede that it's quite noisy when running at 3000 (3 of them at the same time, plus the other fans typically doing the maximum also). It rarely happens for me (I have the server on the desk next to me, so I notice when it does).
It is worth noting that running at an average drive temperature of just under 35 seems to mean the fans run at just under 1500 RPM with no real load, so it's very clear that with the original fans, I would have had nowhere else to look when the cooling requirement went above baseline.

Even if you purchase the 3000 rpm fans and decide later that you would rather cook HDs than listen to loud fans, you could adjust your script to set a maximum fan duty cycle that limited the rpm that would be commanded.

This is an excellent point. You could use the script to restrict the fans to 2000 or 2500 RPM. (of course at the risk/expense of more frequent hard disk replacement)

Would also suggest paying attention to the air flow management. Ie blocking what you can to force the correct airflow

I also did this.