I decided to clean up my cables a bit so I could take some decent pictures. Don't ask for a back shot, tho. It's just a tuck job.
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 590
Power supply: BFG 450 Watt >85% efficient
Drive enclosures: Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X7SPA-H
RAM: Kingston Valueram 2x1 gig
SATA controller: Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8
Drives:
2xHitachi HDS72202
1xSeagate ST32000542AS
3xSamsung HD203WI
1xSamsung HD204UI
Notes: I replaced the 92mm fans in the drive enclosures with SilenX IXP-64-14T thermistor-controlled fans. They suck. They can take as long as 20 seconds to start spinning which means I have as much as 20 seconds of screeching alarms from the enclosures until they get up to speed. If you're looking for a good 92mm fan, steer clear of this model. They're very quiet but that startup delay will set off anything configured to monitor fan speed.
The power cable going to the motherboard is particularly disappointing. Why did they put the power supply mount on the bottom of the case?
The last 4 ports on the controller aren't connected to anything. I didn't want to risk losing the cable, though, so I plugged it in and left the ends behind the drive rails until I fill a few more drives and need to add a third enclosure.
There are no fans other than the ones in the drive enclosures and the power supply. All three are low-noise and temperature controlled. The noise is so negligible that the sound of a drive spinning up is startlingly loud. Those fans seem to be doing their job well enough, despite their reluctance to spin up from a cold start. In a 25C room, they're keeping the drives under 40C and the CPU under 55C.
Lastly, a 3" clamp makes quick work of bending down the drive tabs to allow the installation of 5-in-3 enclosures.
Side View:
Enclosures:
Motherboard:
Front side:
Front:
