Small+Quiet VMWare ESXi Case

[Delarado]

Guys,

I have some parts that I want to make into a VMware ESXi server for a home lab (its used HEAVILY in my job)

I want to be able to run upwards of 7 or 8 virtual machines on it, the hardware is up to the spec but I have some questions around the case.

Basically what I have is ATX form factor board with an i7 processor and a load of RAM (32GB)

I know its never going to be a proper compute chassis (Some of them run upwards of 100GB of RAM) but I want to do the best I can with it.

From what I can see, there are no "cube" style chassis available for ATX form factor. I'm used to the HP micro server for my home ESX lab, but with its dual core 1.8ghz processor and max 8Gb RAM its not great speed wise, I'm sure an i7 will be tonnes better.

What I'm looking for is a case as close to the HP Microserver as I can get; In that it should be small, unoffensive, quiet, and ideally look quite nice if It can!

I literally don't need ANYTHING that a normal case does. No floppy drive. No CD rom drives, nothing. What I'd really like is a tiny case with 2-3 3.5 inch internal drive bays, a power button on the front and that's IT. Front USB's would be nice, but not essential. I categorically do not want any 5.25 inch or floppy drive bays.

Does this sort of thing exist for ATX form factor? Ive looked at some media centre cases but not sure if they are good for my application, although they do look the part.

Any pointers appreciated. Hardware spec I have is as follows:

Intel i7 (2600K or 3770, I have two, haven't decided which to use yet)
Asus Sabretooth P67 Mobo or republicofgamers Maximus V Extreme (I think)
About 96GB of RAM to play with in various size sticks
lots of 3.5 inch SATA drives (although I anticipate using no more than two; Some sort of external storage is also an option but I don't know how this works, I don't own a NAS, but would be open to investing in one, or maybe using some sort of Esata? Ive not used either before so not sure how they work, or even if they work with VMware)

I have toyed with the idea of getting a micro ATX board so I can use a cube case, but I wouldn't know where to start. Ive been out of the hardware game for quite a while. Basically I have a pretty good PC myself at home (2600k i7, 48gb RAM, 560Ti Superoverclock, 3x120gb SSD's) and my father passed away recently leaving me a behemoth of a machine in the process (3770 i7, 32gb ram, dual HD7770 SLI, 5x3TB 3.5"....etcetc)

I want to make myself a decent spec machine and use the rest of the stuff for this VMware machine, but I need a case for it. Is cooling going to be an Issue with tiny cases? The VMware machine will just be Mobo, proc and RAM, no graphics adaptors or PCI cards to speak of; but it may be heavily loaded proc/memory wise. I realise that either of the Mobo's will be overkill for the VMware application; but I'd like to use what I have to save money (Unless I can get a really nice case and mobo combination that can use upwards of 32gb RAM and an i7 chip + Integrated RAID that's supported by VMware)

If I can go fanless then I'd like to look into it...a silent machine would be awesome, but from what I've seen they generally look like cheese graters, they are huge (due to the massive heat sinks required) and run pretty warm even at idle. This thing will never be switched off, and will often run hard so it might not be practical to go fanless

Any thoughts and suggestions welcome on planning for this! My requirements, in order of priority:

small size
low Noise
low Power consumption
not even really look like a pc. A little black box with a button and a light would be great.
Price (Id like to keep everything under £200 if I can)

I'd like it to fit under my desk if at all possible without getting in the way of anything...

Thanks in advance, sorry for all the questions! I don't even really know where to look for cases, so thought I'd start here as a good place

 

[Delarado]

P.s I have the coolermaster Silencio 550 as my case for my main PC.

At the moment it has a sabretooth P67 in it, a noctua-barely-fits-had-to-cut-the-sound-damping-material-massive-b*stard CPU cooler and Gefore 560Ti super overclock (the gigabyte one)

I think its got a 120mm fan at the back and 2x120mm at the front (admittedly I Bought quiet ones rather than best cooling effect ones, Coolermaster Excalibur rings a bell, or something to do with a sword!) and sometimes my USB3.0 temps get a little high (60 degrees I get a warning)

This sits directly under my GPU so I assume its to do with that, as it generally happens when gaming.

If I stick the Maximus V mobo in there along with 2xHD7770 GPU's, a 3770 i7 and more RAM, am I going to cook it? Or will it run better since the GPUs will be doing less work (I play two games, and neither of them really push my current GPU unless I run multiple instances of them, which does happen!)

 

[Spudbrains]

If you could get the mobo size down to mATX I'd suggest something like the Bitfenix Phenom.

It's small, reasonably priced and basically just a box with a light

Noise problems can be solved by decent fans, watercooling and, if you're REALLY crazy, full submersion cooling, I'd get a custom case for that though. I'd suggest some Scythe AP-15's fans, my rig's almost silent and there are 6 of those beasts in it.

If you can't I'd go with something like the NZXT H230 or the fractal design define R4 which are about £15 less (H230) or the same price (R4) and have noise dampening foam for extra silence.

 

[Delarado]

Yeah, see that fractal design R4 is still a "pc" per se, which I don't need. that Bitfenix however is lovely.


I might start looking into some Matx boards...Or can I get some kind of board + Case deal somewhere?

Whats the resale like on second hand motherboards? I have a P67 Sabretooth that'd go to make way for a new Matx board; is it bin fodder or will people buy this stuff?

 

[Delarado]

I think I have some of those fans in a drawer, Im pretty sure they sounded like a rolls Royce jet engine when I plugged them into my rig. I bought them because they said "gentle typhoon" but they sounded more like hurricane Katrina. Do I have to do some kind of control? Im sure mine are 4 pin molex without speed control...

 

[Spudbrains]

P67 is a little old, there aren't many on ebay. :/

You'd probably get maybe £50+ for it. But no more than about £100.

I've never come across a board + case deal. Might be an interesting suggestion for OcUK, they might even give you a case for free.

Well you would have to get a fan controller, mine are normal 3-pin ones though, there are molex extension cables but I've got a fan controller. I'd check the model numbers of the ones you've got.

 

[Delarado]

ok, cool; Can you link me to a fan controller please?

I thought the idea was that the mobo controlled everything, no?

What do you mean OC might give me a free case? How would I go about this?! That would be awesome if they did

Also, any comments on my cooling question in my existing silencio 550 case (my second post in this thread)

Thanks for all your help so far!

 

[Spudbrains]

There are tonnes of fan controllers out there, what colour do you want?

The motherboard can't control the speed of 3-pin fans as they don't have a voltage regulator built in (Like most 4-pin fans do, which the motherboard can control) so a fan controller is necessary to control speed and therefore silence. However, most fan controllers are meant for 5.25" drive bays BUT you can get ones that go in PCI-e slots that have little dials you can turn on them. I don't know if this puts you off at all?

That was a joke as I'd never heard of a case/motherboard combo before. XD

And that's interesting? I've never heard of a temp warning for USB 3.0 before? Can you screenshot what happens (Assuming it happens inside windows). You could just stick a little heat-sink to it. I imagine the ones you can get for raspberry pi's would probably be small enough to fit. It's probably a motherboard fault though, I'd imagine that RMA'ing it would be the best idea, from my understanding Sabertooth boards have upwards of 3 years warranty? You'd have to check, but buying new stuff probably isn't the first way I'd think of getting around it.

 

[Delarado]

I think the USB thing isn't a fault...I don't know, maybe it is! I get a warning through the bundled ThermalRadar software that USB3.0 is over temp warning of 60 degrees. Sometimes I get a PCI-E over temp as well. It doesn't happen so much now, as I've linked my fan speed mainly to the USB3.0 temps through the bundled software and set it to quiet at 55c and 100% fans at 57c Makes the fans hunt a bit when on part load, but works to stop the warning! As I say though, the location it seems to imply that it sits (from the diagram) is right under the GPU, and it only happens when I'm playing graphics intensive games. The silencio 550 isn't the best cooled case I don't think, and it looks to be in an area with little airflow so I just figured it was heat soak...

I wasn't going to replace the board to get around the problem, I don't think its an issue per-se. What I'm probably going to do is use the Maximus in my gaming rig, in the silencio case, and possibly the P67 in my VMware machine, or get a new Micro ATX.

I guess what I was asking was; Seeing as I seem to have slight cooling issues with my current set up, is putting a hotter Mobo, CPU, and adding another graphics card into it going to make the heat issues better or worse?

Ill have to have a look at what fans I have as I'm not sure if they are 3 or four pin, that's good to know though, I thought 3 pin controlled the speed! Im sure my motherboard does all this? I guess they must be 4 pin fans...

I used to have a little knob that stuck out the front of one of my machines that I wasn't keen on. I'd rather just have the Mobo control everything if I can; it knows better than I do! Guess I'll do a bit of research into that and what my options are.

 

[Spudbrains]

Yeah, I guess that'd work. Maybe a faulty temp sensor or something?

I honestly don't think putting hotter components in will make much difference, I'm 85% sure what you were describing was a hardware issue and putting hotter stuff in wouldn't be a problem.

Just for reference, this is a 4-pin fan cable connector that can be used by the motherboard to change the fan speeds:

And this, is a 3-pin fan cable connector that can be powered by a motherboard, but cannot have its speed controlled by the motherboard: