1U Rackmount Cases

ci_newman · 28 Mar 2007 at 10:47

Morning all,

The managers at work have asked me to investigate the possibility of building a PC (with a typical HDD, not solid state such as flash memory) into a 1U Rackmount unit. I am aware that server units are available, but we don't need anywhere near that much processing power (plus, it's on a budget).

Does anyone know what kind of cases I'll be looking at to do be able to do this?

masslac · 28 Mar 2007 at 10:48

http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/mini_client_2500.htm

Oh wait, you said budget.

Dave M · 28 Mar 2007 at 11:50

Of course you can, you'll need a 1U case, which is pricey sadly, but then just grab a micro-atx board (onboard, so no card which wouldn't fit anyway) and a 1U heatsink (ocuk sell them).

If you want cards then you'll need risers, which generally means server boards and more expense.

ci_newman · 28 Mar 2007 at 11:54

Has anyone had an experience of using 1U cases? I've done a quick Google, but there are so many available and the prices vary a lot.

The states seem to sell *loads* of them and at a price similar to that of the Uk prices but in Dollars!

Dave M · 28 Mar 2007 at 11:57

Thats normal, just make sure it's not for a special motherboard and can take standard atx boards (e.g. check it has the standard atx blanking plate hole on the back).

And of course get one with enough watts for your needs - you won't be able to upgrade the PSU as it won't be standard.

a1ex2001 · 28 Mar 2007 at 13:12

I worked at a place that got custom made rackservers made up quite a lot, we wanted the 1U form facter but not the expensive overspec hardware like SCSI etc if you google rackservers it will give you some good options expecially if your on a budget.

Adz · 28 Mar 2007 at 13:25

The problem with building a 1u rackmount is the cooling. You need to ensure adequate and direct airflow through the (preferably passive) heatsink, not forgetting about the hard drives which also won't benefit from overheating. 1u 'active' heatsinks aren't really suitable for modern CPUs.

I would personally scrap the idea and spend a few hundred pounds on a Poweredge 850/860 instead*. It'll be far more reliable, far less hassle and only cost marginally more than a decent rackmount chassis if you don't need a big spec.

* Note to dons, since you don't sell rackmount servers and I didn't mention the manufacturer, I'm hoping this doesn't count as a competitor </disclaimer>

ci_newman · 28 Mar 2007 at 13:36

The reason is being built 'on a budget' is because there is potential to fit one of these units at each one of our 50 sites. The difference between a few hundred escalates quite a lot with that number of units.

Cooling will, of course, be a high priority as non air-conditioned cabs aren't renowned for their airflow anyway. I still need to get the full spec from the managers as to what they want the unit to do but from the sounds of it they need something at least capable of running a basic OS to run packet handling and firewall software with plenty of HDD storage space. Traffic will be fairly low with ~ 30 users (at most normally) sharing a simple ADSL line

Dave M · 28 Mar 2007 at 13:41

Tried a netgear DG834?

Adz · 28 Mar 2007 at 13:49

ci_newman said:
The reason is being built 'on a budget' is because there is potential to fit one of these units at each one of our 50 sites. The difference between a few hundred escalates quite a lot with that number of units.

Cooling will, of course, be a high priority as non air-conditioned cabs aren't renowned for their airflow anyway. I still need to get the full spec from the managers as to what they want the unit to do but from the sounds of it they need something at least capable of running a basic OS to run packet handling and firewall software with plenty of HDD storage space. Traffic will be fairly low with ~ 30 users (at most normally) sharing a simple ADSL line

Speak to the company I suggested and ask for a quote on 50 units. You'll find the price is far cheaper than you could possibly build the systems for.

ci_newman · 28 Mar 2007 at 14:02

Those units seem to be serious overkill for what we need it for though..

The 'cheapest' or lowest spec'd unit is still more powerful than my own Desktop PC with a cost of ~£550 (we'll need a single unit beforehand for testing). As I said, there is potential for every site to have one of these fitted so costing needs to be worked out on a per-unit basis.

Cheers for the help so far though

BoomAM · 28 Mar 2007 at 14:36

If you can buy your test unit, configure it, test it, ect; and then make sure that the other 49 are all identical in spec, you can cut back significantely on time and effort by just ghosting your test unit, and then blasting out the image to all the others, with minimal to no extra config required on each one.

joeyjojo · 13 May 2007 at 15:15

Might as well revive this. I have a dream of building a 1U workstation/gaming machine. Based around a dual 771 board with 2x clovertowns. Is this going to be at all possible? For example, finding a suitable mobo/chassis combo is proving difficult, as CEB is bigger than ATX isn't it? And then there's the issue of riser cards and thickness of the graphics card attached to said riser card.

BoomAM · 13 May 2007 at 15:26

joeyjojo said:
Might as well revive this. I have a dream of building a 1U workstation/gaming machine. Based around a dual 771 board with 2x clovertowns. Is this going to be at all possible? For example, finding a suitable mobo/chassis combo is proving difficult, as CEB is bigger than ATX isn't it? And then there's the issue of riser cards and thickness of the graphics card attached to said riser card.

Not going to be possible.
Unless im getting mixed up, 1U is the smallest of all the rackmounts. Your gonna need at least 3U if not 4U to make gaming/workstation machine.

.

daz · 13 May 2007 at 16:44

joeyjojo said:
Might as well revive this. I have a dream of building a 1U workstation/gaming machine. Based around a dual 771 board with 2x clovertowns. Is this going to be at all possible? For example, finding a suitable mobo/chassis combo is proving difficult, as CEB is bigger than ATX isn't it? And then there's the issue of riser cards and thickness of the graphics card attached to said riser card.

1) You're not going to get a decent graphics card in a 1U case
2) 1U cases/servers tend to use small sized, high RPM fans - i.e. 4+ 40mm delta screamers etc... it will be disgustingly loud.

daz · 13 May 2007 at 16:45

ci_newman said:
Those units seem to be serious overkill for what we need it for though..

I think with bulk you can get the prices down to something like £350 a unit.