Quiet Case - Cheap as possible!

Kamakazie! · 22 Dec 2009 at 14:19

All,
I am in the processing of building a WHS to act as a NAS for all my files and for the time being, i need a quiet but cheap case to store it all in until I move to a house & can stick the thing in a server case in an attic or cupboard and not worry about the noise.

The case can be a desktop or tower (desktop could be a bit louder as it can go on my TV cabinet which will muffle the sound and needs room for 5+ hard drives without the need to buy 5.25"-3.5" converter kits.

My ideal case is the Antec Solo (though it is possibly a bit too deep to fit in the cabinet) but really i want something around £40.

Any ideas?

EDIT:
For cooling i will be looking at 1x120mm in front of the hard drives & 1x120 exhaust (Atom 330 based system)

Kamakazie! · 22 Dec 2009 at 15:58

Maximum dimensions to fit in the cabinet need to be along the lines of:

W:425 H:170 D:425

Thanks

PermaBanned · 22 Dec 2009 at 16:35

What are you putting in it?

Kamakazie! · 22 Dec 2009 at 17:54

Superewza said:
What are you putting in it?

Looking at an Atom 330 board (or one of the new ones if they are out in the next couple of days), 2gig RAM and up to 6HDs.
Nothing else required as it's not going to be transcoding or anything. Simply for file storage and transmittal across the LAN.

Kamakazie! · 22 Dec 2009 at 21:47

Any ideas all?

Kamakazie! · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:52

No one got any recommendations?

PermaBanned · 23 Dec 2009 at 15:53

Akasa Midas? Doesn't tick all the boxes mind you...

Kamakazie! · 23 Dec 2009 at 18:33

Superewza said:
Akasa Midas? Doesn't tick all the boxes mind you...

Had a look a that before but the problem is, it is not wide enough so takes too few HDD and is still a little deep.

I can see this is gonna be a problem :¬/
I rally just want to get a rackmount for when i upgrade & get a small server rack but they are all way too deep for my AV cabinet.

The search continues. Might have to forget about sticking it in the av cab.

PermaBanned · 23 Dec 2009 at 20:37

Why do you want so many hard drives? What sort of capacity?

Kamakazie! · 23 Dec 2009 at 23:25

Superewza said:
Why do you want so many hard drives? What sort of capacity?

It is for a WHS to store all my backups on as well as my music, video & film libraries (including space for Blu-Ray managed copies) on newer films such as Star Trek.

I'm starting to look at some of the smaller server rack mounts although depth is even more of a problem there. Might have to give up and stick it under the cabinet or something!

PermaBanned · 24 Dec 2009 at 00:18

So what, a few TB? Why not just get an external HDD? If you want NAS then just use an old machine and stick it in a cupboard or somewhere.

Kamakazie! · 24 Dec 2009 at 00:55

I'll be using it for Windows Home Server and I don't have any cupboard to put it in and the "somewhere" is the space that has the size requirements i specified.

I'm looking at 8tb+ of fully duplicated, expandable storage. No NAS less than £900 can provide anywhere near that from what I have looked at.

PermaBanned · 24 Dec 2009 at 17:16

Well on your budget you're obviously going to have to make cuts. Don't complain when you can't get what you want for half the price. If you really need it then i'd get a cheap case and a few 1/1.5TB drives now and upgrade when you can spare some extra cash.

I highly doubt the only place you can put it is under the TV anyway.

Kamakazie! · 24 Dec 2009 at 19:06

Superewza said:
Well on your budget you're obviously going to have to make cuts. Don't complain when you can't get what you want for half the price. If you really need it then i'd get a cheap case and a few 1/1.5TB drives now and upgrade when you can spare some extra cash.

I highly doubt the only place you can put it is under the TV anyway.

That was my plan. I will go rackmount at some point later in the year when I move.
It really is, well that or standing next to the thing which would allow for less strict dimensions.