[Pimp Your Rig]

so here it is, my second build, or more accurately, just a "reincarnation" of my existing/previous rig.

the idea was to be able to have more drives (i was using an antec 300 and had already 6 disks in it) and especially to make maintenance easier and quicker, i.e. not to have to open the box to replace a failed drive or to add a new one.  just that is worth its weight in gold to me.

 

the entrails of the box are the same: gigabyte ga-ma770-ud3 motherboard, sempron le-1250 cpu, 2gigs of ddr2-667 ram, asus radeon 4350 passive graphics card, tp-link gigabit nic for "server to server" transfers, an ide dvd burner "just in case", that lets me boot some live cd for testing (if need be). 

 

the new build adds: 3 syba sil3132 pcie 1x sata cards (adding 6 ports to the mortherboard's 6), two supermicro CSE-M35SB drive cages (noctua 92mm fans replacing the stock ones) and two Kingwin KF-1000-BK trayless racks. 

 

it replaces the antec 300 case with a coolermaster 590 case, with [3 arctic cooling AF12Pro PWM + 1 scythe sff21d] fans for cooling, and the ocz ModXStream 500w with a 600w one.

 

i did work at closing all unnecessary vent holes to try to ensure that a max. of air would be sucked in by & around the drive assemblies. 

 

i thus went from 6 internal drives to a possible 12, all accessible from the outside.

the drives have been running fairly cool (max temp. has been 31c, maybe 32c).

 

the geek factor has obviously shot upwards with all the separate drive activity lights... and the white fans (looks geeky to me).  the only disappointment is that the drive fault lights are not functional with the sata version of the supermicro cse-m35sb.  beyond that, i have been quite happy with the new server, whilst not as quiet as the previous incarnation, is not that noisy after all.

 

 

 

 

 

Very clean build! 

 

I love the idea of the aluminum ducting tape on the side panel. I've been wondering for a while what to do about my Centurion's vents; the best I could come up with was clear packaging tape. However, I could never fully bring myself to install it looking that cheap. I might steal your idea though, if you don't mind! 

 

What did you put on the sticky side facing the outside of the case? Black construction paper? Did you paint it?

[Sticky: Ye Olde Laundry List]

I guess I jumped the gun on that request. After further research, it turns out that none of my color printers are linux-compatible anyway.

 

If anyone else is curious about the compatibility of their printer, you can look it up at The Linux Foundation's OpenPrinting Database.

[Sticky: Ye Olde Laundry List]

I've got plenty of effort, I'll try that route. I completely forgot about a regular Slackware install. Thanks WeeboTech.

[Sticky: Ye Olde Laundry List]

I completely agree with both of you guys. I myself have, and love, my networked Brother HL-5250DN Laser Printer. However, on the off chance that I need to print a color document, I am forced to print the file to a less-than-reliable laptop connected to an old color printer. For me, a print server feature on unRAID is more than convenient.

 

But again, I do understand that it would be a counterproductive hassle to re-impliment. I just thought that if I could save myself $50 on a stand alone USB printserver that I might aswell try. On that note, do you think I should buy something like this TRENDnet TE100-MP1U or this NETGEAR PS121?

[Sticky: Ye Olde Laundry List]

- Print Server

 

I know Tom spent a lot of time trying to remove the print server functionality, but I'd still like to have this feature.

 

EDIT: Never mind, request removed.

[Pimp Your Rig]

guitarlp... You just crushed the little satisfaction I'd get by showing a "nice wiring job".    Knew I shoulda splurged on the Lian-Li...  And I know exactly what you mean with the OCD, my main rig has received the same multi-day wiring treatment as your server. I even ended up buying a hot-swappable 5 in 3 backplane for my centurion 590 because I couldn't stand the unevenness of the stock 4-in-3 rubber hard drive grommets...

 

BTW... I think you made a typo while listing your CPU. "CPU: Intel E660" 

 

I really like your custom made hard drive cage, bjp999. I was going to build something similar out of the same aluminum extrusions you used. Eventually I decided to scrap the project when I purchased a new case though.

 

In a few days I'll post pictures of my new unRAID rig, I still need to borrow a digital camera.