Home Server case?

Audigex

Audigex

Audigex

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Joined
3 Feb 2009
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Hey

I'm looking for a home server case: I'm upgrading my N54L which, while a workhorse, can't keep up with my demands nowadays. I'm looking at using some old PC bits, to keep costs down, but this means I'll need an ATX case

So... any midi or full size ATX cases around that can hold a regular sized PSU, ATX Motherboard and have some kind of quick-swap HDD system? It doesn't have to be hot-swappable, I don't mind shutting the server down for HDD changes, but I'd like to not have to open the case if possible.

Ideally with space for half a dozen HDDs and a couple of SSDs.

Any suggestions? Or am I better off just getting a regular case and putting up with opening it occasionally?

The quieter the better, but it's not the be-all-and-end-all
 
There's really not much with exterior facing swappable bays. Believe, I looked when building my own. I ended up buying a Lian Li PC-A79 because it had 5.25" bays all the way down the front and then I stuck some HDD hotswap cages in it. Would have been cheaper to buy a rack case. But then I'd have had to buy a rack cabinet too.

The other one I had was a Zalman something I've forgotten the name of. It was MUCH cheaper than the Lian Li, but it required cutting tabs off the inside of the case to get the HDD cages to fit. It was an absolute nightmare and scratched one of my caddies to pieces. Airflow was crap too and cable routing was non-existent. So I threw in the towel and ordered the Lian Li (as I already had all the cages anyway).

Mine as it stands now.

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This is for most people, complete overkill. But I like playing with Linux / Unix and server hardware.

If I were you, and I wanted quiet, I would go with the Fractal (which I also have one of). It'll take 8 HDDs, two optical bays, there's two SSD mounts on the backside of the motherboard tray. Cable routing is pretty good. The only reason I didn't use it was I added MOAR DRIVES! Sure, it doesn't have externally facing swappable bays... but how often are you actually going to be IN the case? The only reason I have the caddies is because I play around with ZFS and BTRFS and I'm frequently pulling drives.
 
The problem with full tower cases is that they tend to be pretty expensive (for what is basically a cheap machine), but equally the problem with cheaper cases is that they have no filters etc

Perhaps I'd be better off with a decent but not outstanding case (like the Arc Midi?)
 
Audigex said:
The problem with full tower cases is that they tend to be pretty expensive (for what is basically a cheap machine), but equally the problem with cheaper cases is that they have no filters etc

Perhaps I'd be better off with a decent but not outstanding case (like the Arc Midi?)
Click to expand...

Either the Arc Midi or the R4. The R4 tends to run hot though because of all the sound deadening. For instance, my gaming machine is in my R4 and when playing Eve Online with all the top sound panels in place, the CPU gets around to mid 60s. With the sound panels removed it drops to the mid 50s. 10 degrees just by letting the ambient air out that the exhaust fan can't vent quickly enough.

As a server box though, it shouldn't have this problem unless you're running some program on it that's going to be keeping the CPU at full tilt for hours on end.
 
OhEsEcks said:
Either the Arc Midi or the R4. The R4 tends to run hot though because of all the sound deadening. For instance, my gaming machine is in my R4 and when playing Eve Online with all the top sound panels in place, the CPU gets around to mid 60s. With the sound panels removed it drops to the mid 50s. 10 degrees just by letting the ambient air out that the exhaust fan can't vent quickly enough.

As a server box though, it shouldn't have this problem unless you're running some program on it that's going to be keeping the CPU at full tilt for hours on end.
Click to expand...

I expect to have fairly high CPU usage, as it will be doing a lot of Plex encoding and run various VMs. I currently absolutely annihilate the Turion in my Microserver G7, anyway, so expect it to at least have reasonably high CPU usage at times
 
I was under the impression that the Fractal R4 and R5 cases were popular for those wanting home servers.

An R5 with no window is what I would be getting if I needed such.
 
Scary thing is you can get a HP Microserver gen 8 for less than some cases, and that has easy swap bays as you want - they can be hot swap if you upgrade the raid card too.

Nox
 
Do you already have the ATX motherboard and CPU? If not then you can get some reasonable mini ITX cases designed for exactly what you want. Would there be a mini ITX board powerful enough for your needs such as a mini itx i7?

CFI-A6039 5-Bay NAS Chassis
 
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