Home Server Case Recommendation

ChileanLlama · 3 Sep 2009 at 12:27

Hi guys, my dad's birthday is coming up and we wanted to get him an Acer EasyStore H340...but they're not available in UK - and I'm not keen on importing one, so I'm looking at building him one.

I need an attractive looking case, that will hold about 4 hard drives - no DVD/CD required, probably micro-ATX. I don't want a full tower - and many of the small boxes look too small for 4 drives or look crap!

Here's an article on the EasyStore with some pics of the sort of thing I'm looking for;

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/05/acer-easystore-h340-windows-home-server-eyes-on/

I like Silverstone cases, and was maybe thinking on an SG01 or SG02 - Does anyone have any ideas on cases that might fit the bill?

TIA

shadowscotland · 3 Sep 2009 at 12:59

You can get 5 HHD in a LL PC-V350/1 if you don't need optical drives.

ChileanLlama · 3 Sep 2009 at 17:30

Thanks shadowscotland, I'd missed that one entirely, and I like Lian-Li too

I'll take a closer look at it.

CreAtiv3 · 3 Sep 2009 at 17:40

Chenbro ES34069 gets my vote.

Mini ATX
4 Hot-Swap HDDs
Looks nice

Not sure how much power you'll be needing but it comes with a 180W psu which is normally ample for a home server.

Only downside is it does cost a fair buck...

ChileanLlama · 3 Sep 2009 at 23:05

Thanks CreAtiv3

Looks nice - not sure about the external PSU though - I see why they've done it, and 180w would be plenty for what I have in mind, but it does put me off a bit.

Money's not really an issue on this one...as long as it looks the part. WAF/MAF to consider as well

zom247 · 10 Jan 2010 at 13:32

OP, did you get yourself sorted out with a case? If so, what did you get?

I know it's a couple of months old but hopefully someone can help me out. I've been looking at the Acer H340 too but it's a bit rare here in the UK. I have got an Intel D945GCLF2 board and RAM that I could use to make my own server up. Can anyone recommend me a case for it? Ideally I'd like to be able to put 2 HDDs in for now but have expansion for up to 4 in the future. It's going to be used for storage/backup and streaming media to my HTPC so it will be on 24/7. Just looking for a small ish case that'snot going to cost me a fortune in electricity bills!

shaf · 12 Jan 2010 at 10:02

Hi zom247,
I built a Home Server recently and was in a similar dilemma regarding case.

I wanted something small/quiet/power effiecient. iniitally went for a Venus 669 and fitted 4 drives inside it (No DVD drive). But it was the wrong decision as it was loud/power hungry and very difficult to work inside.

I then sacrificed the small factor requirement and bought an Antec P180 mini. Lovely case. It's not as big as I thought it would be.

The server is now quieter (Not silent but I'm working on it) than my previous case, uses less power and it's great when I need to work inside it.

On average:
Venus: 80 Watts
P180M: 60 Watts (Corsair HX650)

Hope this helps.

zom247 · 13 Jan 2010 at 19:14

shaf said:
Hi zom247,
I built a Home Server recently and was in a similar dilemma regarding case.

I wanted something small/quiet/power effiecient. iniitally went for a Venus 669 and fitted 4 drives inside it (No DVD drive). But it was the wrong decision as it was loud/power hungry and very difficult to work inside.

I then sacrificed the small factor requirement and bought an Antec P180 mini. Lovely case. It's not as big as I thought it would be.

The server is now quieter (Not silent but I'm working on it) than my previous case, uses less power and it's great when I need to work inside it.

On average:
Venus: 80 Watts
P180M: 60 Watts (Corsair HX650)

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that although the case is a bit bigger than I want. Out of interest what motherboard did you use and did you install Windows Home Server as well? I'd have to get a new board etc cos the one I currently use only has 2 SATA connections on it.

shaf · 14 Jan 2010 at 11:32

zom247 said:
Thanks for that although the case is a bit bigger than I want. Out of interest what motherboard did you use and did you install Windows Home Server as well? I'd have to get a new board etc cos the one I currently use only has 2 SATA connections on it.

Interesting you should ask.

I use an Intel DG45FC mini-itx board and run Windows Home Server.

I now want a MicoATX board as the above only has four sata ports. The expansion slot has a Intel Pro/1000 Network Interface Card slotted in so can't use a SATA card expansion card. WHS makes it easy to add drives and I have some lying around but can't use.

The reason I went for the above board was because I already had a spare E8400 CPU. I did consider the Intel Dual Core ATOM but did not want another ATOM. I had a single core Atom in the past and the system responsiveness wasn't too great.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.