The Enclosure Thread


Blofeld

Recommended Posts

  • 5 months later...

Hi there!

I've finally got my box running (you can see the specs in sign), but it ended up being placed in my main room. I didn't notice before the LianLi noise... Any other Q25 owner has some tips?

I'm planning to substitute both fans, I've a Noctua laying around plus a badass Scythe, but since it'a bit of pain.. I'd like to get and advice before a blind test.

Thanks all!

Marco

Link to comment

Hi there!

I've finally got my box running (you can see the specs in sign), but it ended up being placed in my main room. I didn't notice before the LianLi noise... Any other Q25 owner has some tips?

I'm planning to substitute both fans, I've a Noctua laying around plus a badass Scythe, but since it'a bit of pain.. I'd like to get and advice before a blind test.

Thanks all!

Marco

 

Hey there!

I'm actually in the process of planning my first unRAID build and am currently trying to decide on some form of SFF case.

I originally was looking at a Fractal Design Node 804 as I liked that it can fit 10 drives and the aesthetics would allow it to blend in nicely in my apartment. However it has no hot swaps and I keep looking at that PC-Q25 but as always I'm indecisive.

 

What is it like to build in? Would you recommend it for a first time build just looking for around 5-6 drives all up :)

As you stated about noise that was one of my main concerns when I was looking at the PC-Q25 but I'm sure with some decent fans it'd be much quieter?

 

Any advice from your experiences with the case would be much appreciated :)

Thanks,

James

Link to comment

My PC-Q25B sits on a shelf about 5 ft away from my ears when I'm sitting at my desk -- and I can NOT hear it at all.  If fact, I can't tell if it's on or not without looking at it.

 

I suppose it may depend on the noise level of the drive you've got installed; and there may be some variance in the fans they provide, but it's still what I consider the best of the mini-ITX case choices.    In any event, it's not at all difficult to swap the fan if you should decide you need something quieter.

 

It's very easy to build in as long as you use an SFX power supply.

 

Link to comment

Hi there!

I've finally got my box running (you can see the specs in sign), but it ended up being placed in my main room. I didn't notice before the LianLi noise... Any other Q25 owner has some tips?

I'm planning to substitute both fans, I've a Noctua laying around plus a badass Scythe, but since it'a bit of pain.. I'd like to get and advice before a blind test.

Thanks all!

Marco

 

Hi,

You might want to consider the fans (with a fan speed controller most probably), and soundproofing. That's what I had to do with my Unraid server AND the Zalman media PC to have them in the living room. Eventually moved the server to another room, but for aesthetic reasons, not noise.

Good luck!

Link to comment

Tnx all for help!

Well, I did some more tests, pledged a full morning of shopping :D to have the NAS running almost stripped down and... damn, the disks! The Reds emits a whisper, but those disks I gathered around, a pair of 250Gb Seagates Barracuda ES and a genuine 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F1, are really loud when spun, more when writing or reading. So, I'm planning to get a cheap (even used Green Drive for cache and keep a SSD for VMs...

 

 

Hey there!

I'm actually in the process of planning my first unRAID build and am currently trying to decide on some form of SFF case.

I originally was looking at a Fractal Design Node 804 as I liked that it can fit 10 drives and the aesthetics would allow it to blend in nicely in my apartment. However it has no hot swaps and I keep looking at that PC-Q25 but as always I'm indecisive.

 

What is it like to build in? Would you recommend it for a first time build just looking for around 5-6 drives all up :)

As you stated about noise that was one of my main concerns when I was looking at the PC-Q25 but I'm sure with some decent fans it'd be much quieter?

 

Any advice from your experiences with the case would be much appreciated :)

Thanks,

James

Hi James!

Well, building up the PC-Q25 was easy as mostly say! Stock fans aren't so bad, I'm keeping them a 7V and are really inudible. Anyway, I came across some Scythe fans I bough for main build (it's watercooled but I had a fan swapping fever! :D) so I'll try them on while the NAS is running cabriolet.

I can advise that if you are willing to put up some VMs as SteamOS, or even Windows or OSX, mATX form factor could be a nice choice - you can have two GPUs, not bad! :) So the Node 804 could be a bingo. And, about hot swapping, I admit I used it just once... so, I can't statue I need it.

 

My PC-Q25B sits on a shelf about 5 ft away from my ears when I'm sitting at my desk -- and I can NOT hear it at all.  If fact, I can't tell if it's on or not without looking at it.

 

I suppose it may depend on the noise level of the drive you've got installed; and there may be some variance in the fans they provide, but it's still what I consider the best of the mini-ITX case choices.    In any event, it's not at all difficult to swap the fan if you should decide you need something quieter.

 

It's very easy to build in as long as you use an SFX power supply.

 

You got it! Thanks, your reply put me in the right way: testing drives, before fans. I'm looking for Platinum or Gold SFX, but it seems quite difficult to find it at a reasonable price even used. Time to save up for it...! :)

 

BTW, my wife argued the Q is black and our furniter is white... and I should get a white case. Maybe in a Node 304 I won't need an SFX...mmm...

 

 

Hi,

You might want to consider the fans (with a fan speed controller most probably), and soundproofing. That's what I had to do with my Unraid server AND the Zalman media PC to have them in the living room. Eventually moved the server to another room, but for aesthetic reasons, not noise.

Good luck!

 

I'm buying an Aquaero PowerAdjust to keep the fans quiet and temperature controlled. I don't think I'll put some dampening on the LianLi, since it's the upper shelf on my living room and... I don't want to ruin it. :P

Link to comment
  • 4 months later...

Hello guys,

 

I'm in the process of creating a new unRAID PC, I've been searching a lot and trying to adjust to Europe options when it comes down to rack mount cases. I've found this one http://inter-tech.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1139%3Aipc-4u-4410&catid=136%3A4u-storage-gehaeuse&Itemid=961〈=en which seems pretty good for my needs. HOWEVER it has a note in the product's description:

 

By use in combination with an Intel Onboard SATA-Controller the Controller has to be set to Raid-Mode (Hot-Plug will be set automatically) or every port separately to Hot-Plug/ external Port (depends on your Bios). If these settings are not available in your Bios, maybe an error-free use is only possible by using an additional SATA-Controller.

 

Is normal to change this setting in BIOS in these hot swap cases? is this going to create problems with unRAID?. Thanks a lot for any info

 

*Image of the actual case

2XRZVMze+

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...

I am looking for a large 20+ drive enclosure with front access but cannot seem to find anything that is available in Canada. My top choices are:

 

1. Lian Li PC-343B

2. IPC 4U-4424 http://inter-tech.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=867%3Aipc-4u-4424&catid=136%3A4u-storage-gehaeuse&Itemid=755〈=en

 

Unfortunately the Lian Li is not available any more and the IPC does not seem to be available in Canada.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion for an enclosure like those 2 that is easy to get? Even better does anyone in the Ontario/Up State NY area have a Lian Li PC-343B for sale :)

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...

Hello!

 

im looking a case for my new unraid built.

 

Right now i have 8 Disks (6 data, 2 parity) and every year, i would add another 1 disk.

maybe later i will move to bigger disks..

 

Im looking for a case that can take at least 10 disks (ideal 12-15 disks, in any placement 5,25, 3in5 cage etc) looks good (simple lines) and not so nosy.

An ideal case may be the Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 rev.b but its way too expensive (220€+) and way too HUGE!

 

I dont need the 3in5 cages, because is expensive and i don't need to swap drives, only when a disk dies.

 

Im aware about the Fractal design R5 and the Define XL R2 but both cases are 4 years+ old, and my guess is that in the next months,

they will release new models. if anyone has any info about release days, please share it here.

 

But i would like other options and alternatives, could you please recommend me some other cases?

Budget ~180€.. (for 220€ i can take the huge Deep Silence 6 rev.)

 

thank you!

Edited by volume
Link to comment
3 hours ago, volume said:

Hello!

 

im looking a case for my new unraid built.

 

Right now i have 8 Disks (6 data, 2 parity) and every year, i would add another 1 disk.

maybe later i will move to bigger disks..

 

Im looking for a case that can take at least 10 disks (ideal 12-15 disks, in any placement 5,25, 3in5 cage etc) looks good (simple lines) and not so nosy.

An ideal case may be the Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 rev.b but its way too expensive (220€+) and way too HUGE!

 

I dont need the 3in5 cages, because is expensive and i don't need to swap drives, only when a disk dies.

 

Im aware about the Fractal design R5 and the Define XL R2 but both cases are 4 years+ old, and my guess is that in the next months,

they will release new models. if anyone has any info about release days, please share it here.

 

But i would like other options and alternatives, could you please recommend me some other cases?

Budget ~180€.. (for 220€ i can take the huge Deep Silence 6 rev.)

 

thank you!

 

Look at the Antec 900 (or similar case with 9 5.25" slots in the front), and install 3 SuperMicro CSE-M35T-1B 5in3 drive cages. That would give 15 hot swap drive slots. This would make it incredibly easy to add and replace drives over time without risking knocking cables loose, which is the most common problem users have.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Been going over this thread quite a bit trying to find a case that will suit my needs.

 

Looking for something that will support two to three, 3x5 drive cages for a total of 10 to 15 drives (plus whatever SSD's i double stick tape somewhere! ATX motherboard support, and I'd prefer something i didn't have to heavily modify to get the drive cages to fit. I'm good with a mid/full tower, or even a Rack mount, but i am looking to keep it under 150 (cheaper if possible), which counts out most rack mount stuff.

 

My main thing is i don't want to open up the box everytime i need to add storage, or swap a failed drive, hence the drive cages.

 

The last time there was any activity here was back in Aug so i was just wondering if anyone had some newer suggestions. I see the Antec stuff is fairly popular. I don't like how some of them look, but then this is going to sit in a corner under a shelf so who cares i guess!

 

Void4ever

Link to comment
6 hours ago, void4ever said:

Been going over this thread quite a bit trying to find a case that will suit my needs.

 

Looking for something that will support two to three, 3x5 drive cages for a total of 10 to 15 drives (plus whatever SSD's i double stick tape somewhere! ATX motherboard support, and I'd prefer something i didn't have to heavily modify to get the drive cages to fit. I'm good with a mid/full tower, or even a Rack mount, but i am looking to keep it under 150 (cheaper if possible), which counts out most rack mount stuff.

 

My main thing is i don't want to open up the box everytime i need to add storage, or swap a failed drive, hence the drive cages.

 

The last time there was any activity here was back in Aug so i was just wondering if anyone had some newer suggestions. I see the Antec stuff is fairly popular. I don't like how some of them look, but then this is going to sit in a corner under a shelf so who cares i guess!

 

Void4ever

I originally thought of getting a purpose home-NAS case like the Silverstone CS380, but decided I wanted room for >8 drives for the same reason you do -- I eventually intend to have lots of drives expanding gradually, and want to be able to add & hot-swap and keep a spare drive as well without powering down; this system should last 5-6 years.

 

It turned out cases with top-to-bottom 5.25" bays had become very rare, let alone for a reasonable price.  After a lot of research, I settled on the mid-tower ATX Sharkoon T9 Value case (my system isn't fully set up yet -- all components installed except some of the disks -- but it's all working fine under UnRAID with decent temps, and fairly quiet.)
The case has 9x 5.25" bays -- along the entire front, and has a very clean look which isn't too boring (IMO).
I currently have one 3x5 hot-swap 3.5"-drive cage in it,  &  a second cage ready. Eventually I'll either add a 3d cage, or a 3-in-2 cage of 3.5" drives place + a 2-in-1 cage for 2x 2.5" cache/VM SSD drives, so a total of either 15x 3.5" or 13x 3.5" +  2x 2.5" drives.
Currently I have a single 2.5" SSD which is simply screwed on the bottom of the case, non-hot-swap.

The case is very well made, much more than you'd expect for the  cost, and I found quite a few people using it for many-drive NAS builds.
As for the cost: I'm in Israel and bought mine from Germany. Are you in the US? I don't think the case is directly available  there , but it would cost <US$70 delivered to the USA from Amazon UK.


A fairly long review of the case.

Video of an UnRAID build using the case, and the same system being upgraded a couple of years later with an additional cage. As you can see, it's pretty easy to work on.

There are tabs between the 5.25" bays that may need to either be bent back or broken off to fit the cage(s), depending on the ones you use. I have the iStarUSA BPN-DE350SS (in red, which matches my red-accent version of the case), and I bent the tabs using a C-clamp. Took ~20min to bend all 36, IIRC.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

Thank you Green for the info.

 

That case does look like it would work perfectly for me. Unfortunately i am in the U.S. but it appears out of stock even in the UK as well. Checked ebay and didn't find anything either. I'll just keep an eye on it for now.

 

Anyone with any other suggestions?!

 

Void4ever

Link to comment

Once you start pricing out the tower plus the hot swap cages, it starts to make sense to look at the server specific rack mount type cases with hot swap bays designed in, and part of the price already. By the time you get a tower ~100USD, and 3 hot swaps @ ~80USD each, you could afford a low end server case, like the norco 4020.

 

Even better, look on ebay for decommissioned supermicro cases, they have much better quality for a much higher new price, but comparable used prices. Just be sure the backplane is compatible with drives larger than 2TB.

Link to comment

It does look like the Sharkoon is finally out of production, although both Amazon UK and Amazon Germany show it as "temporarily out of stock" and allow ordering, so they should get more of them.
Looking back at my notes while I was researching cases:
Another option if you can find one may be the discontinued Zalman MS800 or MS800Plus. It's intended for gaming rigs, but does have 10 5.25" bays (in the Plus, config3 of them come pre-occupied with 3 hot-swap 3.5" bays, the latter being replaceable with a 5-in-3 cage, so either model supports 15 3.5" drives overall).
It's taller & deeper  than the T9 (but still considered mid-ATX), and quite a bit fancier -- 4 included fans+room for 2 more, outside fan-speed knob, etc.

Amazon lists it as temp. out-of-stock, so I'd probably contact them to ask whether  there's a chance it'll actually be available.

You may also want to keep an eye out for a used  Lian-Li PC-A17 (also discontinued, but the same approach as the T9, 9x straight top-to-bottom 5.25" bays).

But yes, the situation with this type of case sucks, which is odd given that home NASes are becoming a thing.

The 8-bay  solutions marketed for NAS  simply don't cut it for a decent-size server  for >2-3 years of expansion, and rack solutions are a bad fit for someone who doesn't have a basement to hide them in.

Link to comment
52 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

Once you start pricing out the tower plus the hot swap cages, it starts to make sense to look at the server specific rack mount type cases with hot swap bays designed in, and part of the price already. By the time you get a tower ~100USD, and 3 hot swaps @ ~80USD each, you could afford a low end server case, like the norco 4020.

 

Even better, look on ebay for decommissioned supermicro cases, they have much better quality for a much higher new price, but comparable used prices. Just be sure the backplane is compatible with drives larger than 2TB.

Sure, but rack-based servers aren't just a cost issue... While a 4020 certainly has a lot of room for drives, from what I hear (pun intended) from people who have one it's quite loud, and wouldn't be suitable for a living area.

I live in a small apartment, and my UnRAID server  lives in my study (I work from home) <2ft from my head. It's barely audible most of the time.

Link to comment

The other issue with rack mount cases is most (not all) are much deeper than a mid or even full tower case just because of how they are laid out. The noise issue as Green pointed out is also a problem. Of course you could always swap out fans i suppose, but your increasing cost there as well.

 

The other thing is I might just start with one or two 5x3's, instead of doing all of them at once. Granted there's cost down the road, but there is something to be said for up front sticker shock vs piece mealed over time ya know :)

 

ATM though I'm certainly keeping my options open, and will certainly take your advice Jonathanm and look at some of those decommissioned racks to see if any of them fit my needs/cost. I really appreciate you guys continuing this topic with me!

 

Void4ever

Link to comment

If you're going to have a lot of drives you need a lot of cooling. That's why those server cases are like that.

Most of the noise can be adjusted as long you have PWM fans and ipmi on your board, or at least a bios that you can control fan speed with.

Still I wouldn't want my server rack in the same room with me.

Link to comment

Has anyone looked at the Cougar Evolution?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811553002

 

It has 6x 5.25 bays. Below that is 4 side loaded 3.5 bays, but the pictures make it appear like you can remove that cage. I wonder if this case could be modded to accept 1 more 5x3 cage once those 3.5 side load bay is removed. For 50 bucks i'm almost willing to try.

 

Anyone else try this case out?

Link to comment
16 hours ago, TUMS said:

If you're going to have a lot of drives you need a lot of cooling. That's why those server cases are like that.

Most of the noise can be adjusted as long you have PWM fans and ipmi on your board, or at least a bios that you can control fan speed with.

Still I wouldn't want my server rack in the same room with me.

The heat issue is entirely dependent on use case. Even with 15 drives in a machine the majority of them will be spun down, at least for me as this will be mostly a storage server with some light calls to media from 1 maybe 2 other machines. I dunno if your hosting 15 different plex streams with each individual movie stored on a per drive basis to where all 15 drives are spun up, but i don't think thats normal use case! :P

 

Granted when doing a rebuild everything will be active, but thats not going to happen often, and if my airflow were truly THAT bad i could pop the case open during a rebuild and take steps to lower the temps.

 

I dunno if you guys ever look at BackBlaze Blogs about hard drive failure rates and what not (super interesting reads). They also pulled some data on hard drive temp / failure rates about 3 years ago. Interesting read! https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-temperature-does-it-matter/

 

Of course as with all electronics the cooler the better!!

 

Void4ever

Link to comment
3 hours ago, void4ever said:

The heat issue is entirely dependent on use case. Even with 15 drives in a machine the majority of them will be spun down, at least for me as this will be mostly a storage server with some light calls to media from 1 maybe 2 other machines. I dunno if your hosting 15 different plex streams with each individual movie stored on a per drive basis to where all 15 drives are spun up, but i don't think thats normal use case! :P

 

Yes that's why I mentioned you can adjust fan thresholds.....  You don't have to go swapping fans that's just silly.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.