Tower cases with 5.25" drive bays top to bottom...


mr-hexen

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Aerocool ZeroDegree 9-bay Case $48 + shipping

 

http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-zerodegree-case-black.html

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196023

 

I used this case for my unRaid server, as well as two other machines machine.  The case is a "reversed" ATX - case opens on the right side, motherboard is mounted on the left side, power supply is mounted on the bottom.  Excellent build quality.  It can hold three 5in3's units plus two internal mounts for a total of 17 drives.  The tabs must be bent out of the way for the 5in3s and it may not have enough room for the Supermicro 5in3s.  I am using three IStarUSA 5in3s in it.

 

Edit: It will NOT have room for the Supermicro 5in3s unless one if the internal 3.5" drive bays is cut out.  See this post: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=17799.msg214733#msg214733

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just bought:

 

Sharkoon REX8 Economy

http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/node/2338

 

8 usable 5.25" drive spaces

 

pics:

http://www.sharkoon.com/sites/default/files/products/pc_cases/REX8_ECO_black_01_1.jpg

http://www.sharkoon.com/sites/default/files/products/pc_cases/REX8_ECO_black_03.jpg

 

Problems:

12cm fans can only be installed to the front with modding the case. This is because the front panel doesn't have enough space, and the rail that the drives are put on is a bit short for both using the drives and the fan brackets at the same place. If you interchange them, you are good to go, but that is a bad joke from a supposedly 8 drive case.

Lucky for me, I use rubber bands to keep the disks in place (maybe the best for silencing and getting rid of resonation, but taking in and out the drives is tricky a bit) so I could

 

 

The fan brackets offer too much resistance: they have a stylized 8cm fan cut out, but the screw placements are only for 12 cm fans. So you get a LOT of dead space. I plan on fixing this with a dremel...

 

The fan and the 5.25" -> 3.5" brackets (of which you only get 4) are the same, meaning too much extra stuff on both. Plus, the quality is sub-par. Some edges seem broken. (They are not, it is just shoddy engineering.)

 

The brackets are made of plastic. Good for getting rid of some vibration, bad for reusability and rigidness. The screws have to be driven into the material as well. (Could have been done with encased steel nuts)

 

I had to use pliers to screw in the motherboard standoffs. (another quality issue: badly drilled holes)

 

Although the side panel is enlarged sideways to accomodate for wire management behind the scenes, it is still hard to shut the door.

 

The doors are a bit flimsy, very thin.

 

No top 12cm fan placement option.

 

There are two stability enhancing crossbars on the front which do not line up with the fans if you install them, but could be OK with a 3x5.25" drive bay, provided you get rid of the internal flaps.

 

Good things:

Has 8 usable 5.25" slots. (the top houses the USB hubs and thus uses it up)

 

Space for 2 12cm or a 14cm fans on the side (economy only, the value has a plexi door)

 

 

With these said, I only paid about $63 for it in Hungary. (Which is quite cheap here.)

 

Note: my second (first being the Rebel9 Pro Economy) Sharkoon case. I also have a Antec P180b (which I love) from old times. I have to say that despite marketing about German precision, Sharkoon is a cheap-as-chips solution that might be passable, but can hold no candle to any serious contender.

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Aerocool ZeroDegree 9-bay Case $48 + shipping

 

http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-zerodegree-case-black.html

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196023

 

I used this case for my unRaid server, as well as two other machines machine.  The case is a "reversed" ATX - case opens on the right side, motherboard is mounted on the left side, power supply is mounted on the bottom.  Excellent build quality.  It can hold three 5in3's units plus two internal mounts for a total of 17 drives.  The tabs must be bent out of the way for the 5in3s and it may not have enough room for the Supermicro 5in3s.  I am using three IStarUSA 5in3s in it.

 

You wouldn't by chance have pics of your setup? I'm curious about this case, but want to see how much clearance in the back you have with your 5x3's. Looking at the pics on Xoxide site doesn't give a clear view of the space between the bottom 3 bays and the PS/Drive mounts. Would hate to buy it only to find out it doesn't work. I currently have 3 Norco 4x3 and being able to use the two internal mounts for cache and parity would be awesome since I would have full use of all 12 drives.

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Aerocool ZeroDegree 9-bay Case $48 + shipping

 

http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-zerodegree-case-black.html

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196023

 

I used this case for my unRaid server, as well as two other machines machine.  The case is a "reversed" ATX - case opens on the right side, motherboard is mounted on the left side, power supply is mounted on the bottom.  Excellent build quality.  It can hold three 5in3's units plus two internal mounts for a total of 17 drives.  The tabs must be bent out of the way for the 5in3s and it may not have enough room for the Supermicro 5in3s.  I am using three IStarUSA 5in3s in it.

 

You wouldn't by chance have pics of your setup? I'm curious about this case, but want to see how much clearance in the back you have with your 5x3's. Looking at the pics on Xoxide site doesn't give a clear view of the space between the bottom 3 bays and the PS/Drive mounts. Would hate to buy it only to find out it doesn't work. I currently have 3 Norco 4x3 and being able to use the two internal mounts for cache and parity would be awesome since I would have full use of all 12 drives.

 

I'm sorry I don't have any internal pictures of my setup.  I'll try take some this weekend.  There was not much room between the bottom 5 in 3 and the internal hard drive mounting, and I'm not sure if there is enough room for the Norco.  The newegg link to the case has better pictures.  The iStarUSA BPU-350SATA units I used have a length of 8.11 inches, while the Norco SS-400 has a length of 8.5 inches.  Since the Norco is slightly longer, I can't guarantee the Norco will fit in the bottom position without measuring.

 

Edit: I took some measurements on a spare case I have.  Using the picture below as a reference, there is 8 5/8 inches from the flush surface of the front bezel and the internal 3.5" drive bays.  The iStar 5in3s stick out of the front bezel about 1/8 of an inch.  The internal 3.5" drive bays would block the back of the Norco from about 2 1/2" from the bottom of the Norco to about 4 1/4" from the bottom of the Norco.  There is about 3/4 of an inch of clearance on each side of internal 3.5" drive bays to each side of the case.  However, if drives are installed in the internal 3.5" drive bays, they block that clearance as the drives will be pressed against the case wall where the air holes appear in the picture.

 

11-196-023-09.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great Case to use for UnRAID :). It has  place holding tabs on the drive bays. To install, If you want to use Icydoc 5 in 3's, you would have to "flatten" the tabs- I did not use this option.

 

This case has already 2 holders for 4 in 3's with fans and its very easy (and cheap) to add 2 more of these (my config has one):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002&Tpk=coolermaster (and taking the cover off and using the fan to cool the drives). 

 

or this one:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817996019 but you may need to change the fan to match the cases's ones.

 

Finally the case has space at the bottom to add at least 2 3.1/2"drives laying flat or several 2.5".

 

 

 

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Great Case to use for UnRAID :). It has  place holding tabs on the drive bays. To install, If you want to use Icydoc 5 in 3's, you would have to "flatten" the tabs- I did not use this option.

 

This case has already 2 holders for 4 in 3's with fans and its very easy (and cheap) to add 2 more of these (my config has one):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002&Tpk=coolermaster (and taking the cover off and using the fan to cool the drives). 

 

or this one:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817996019 but you may need to change the fan to match the cases's ones.

 

Finally the case has space at the bottom to add at least 2 3.1/2"drives laying flat or several 2.5".

 

Interesting.  I already have an Icy Dock 5 in 3, so I would prefer to keep them the same.  What would be the best case to use 4 of the Icy dock 5 in 3's? The Antec 1200?  I like the Antec 1200 but it appears to be out of stock everywhere.

 

Thanks!

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Great Case to use for UnRAID :). It has  place holding tabs on the drive bays. To install, If you want to use Icydoc 5 in 3's, you would have to "flatten" the tabs- I did not use this option.

 

This case has already 2 holders for 4 in 3's with fans and its very easy (and cheap) to add 2 more of these (my config has one):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002&Tpk=coolermaster (and taking the cover off and using the fan to cool the drives). 

 

or this one:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817996019 but you may need to change the fan to match the cases's ones.

 

Finally the case has space at the bottom to add at least 2 3.1/2"drives laying flat or several 2.5".

 

Interesting.  I already have an Icy Dock 5 in 3, so I would prefer to keep them the same.  What would be the best case to use 4 of the Icy dock 5 in 3's? The Antec 1200?  I like the Antec 1200 but it appears to be out of stock everywhere.

 

Thanks!

 

Airflow cooling is key with so many drives in big cases .The 5 in 4 have a tendency to be quite "restricted" and drives get quite hot. Also I do not like to have to "flatten" the tabs of the case.

Check this thread for the 5x3: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12405.0

 

I'm not familiar with the Antec 1200, but the Elysium was a great build and has great Fans & cabling options (especially with so many SATA cables).

 

 

 

================

My Setup: :)

 

Xigmatek Elysium Black

ASROCK P67Extreme 6, (incl. 10 SATA  II & III ports)

Intel Core I7 2600k (Overkill- but had one from previous build)

16GB DDR3

 

1x SYBA SY-PCI40010 PCI SATA II (3.0Gb/s) 4 SATA II ports

2x SYBA SY-PEX40008 4-port SATA 3.0Gb/s PCIe

1x Vantec UGT-ST622 2 Channel 4-Port SATA 6 Gb/s PCIe

1x Vantec UGT-ST310R 4 x SATA II 150 PCI (for Notebook Hard drives)

 

Parity Drive  -2 TB Hitachi 7200RPM

Cache Drive: 180GB Corsait GT Force SSD

Data Drives:

2x WDC red 2TB

4x Samsung 2TB HD204UI 5400 RPM

1x Hitachi 2TB 7200RPM

6x Samsung 1TB HD103SJ 7200 RPM

1x Hitachi 1TB HDS7210 7200 RPM

1x Samsung 750GB 7200 RPM

1x WDC 500GB notebook 5400RPM

1x WDC 640GB notebook 5400RPM

1x WDC 320 GB Notebook 5400RPM

 

Power: OCZ ZT 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze

Slim DVD Burner SN-208DB/BEBE

 

 

 

 

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check Lian=li's PC-A77F

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=478&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=61

I know it's a bit expensive, full aluminum though, and it takes four 5x3 drive cages (total 20 HDD),

plus you can also lay flat an ssd beneath the lower cage.

It will be out of sight.

I use the previous version PC-A77, which in addition has room for another 3 internal hdd's using its own cage

at the upper back side of the case.

I am using these Norco SS-500 http://www.xcase.co.uk/product-p/caddy-53v2.htm cages,

 

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check Lian=li's PC-A77F

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=478&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=61

I know it's a bit expensive, full aluminum though, and it takes four 5x3 drive cages (total 20 HDD),

plus you can also lay flat an ssd beneath the lower cage.

It will be out of sight.

I use the previous version PC-A77, which in addition has room for another 3 internal hdd's using its own cage

at the upper back side of the case.

I am using these Norco SS-500 http://www.xcase.co.uk/product-p/caddy-53v2.htm cages,

 

 

cheaper to get a norco 24 bay brand new than to buy the case + cages....that case looks a lot better tho haha

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
... The Antec 1200?  I like the Antec 1200 but it appears to be out of stock everywhere.

Just wait, no doubt it's because they will put out an Antec 1200 Two, like the ANtec 300 Too and Antec 900 Two,

which have hardware support for USB 3.0 at the front.

 

I love the Antec 900s (got 3) but you do need to flatten the 4 tabs to fit in the 5x3 cages. Once in they slide in and out no problem.  I am now looking to replace 120mm fans for quieter ones.

 

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... The Antec 1200?  I like the Antec 1200 but it appears to be out of stock everywhere.

Just wait, no doubt it's because they will put out an Antec 1200 Two, like the ANtec 300 Too and Antec 900 Two,

which have hardware support for USB 3.0 at the front.

 

I love the Antec 900s (got 3) but you do need to flatten the 4 tabs to fit in the 5x3 cages. Once in they slide in and out no problem.  I am now looking to replace 120mm fans for quieter ones.

 

The Antec 1200 is actual on Version 3 now.  It finally came into stock, and I got it last week.  It has the tabs as well, sliced myself pretty good taking them out.  The 2 icy dock cages I have so fit perfectly.  Of course, the upgrades resulted in then going to Microcenter buying an AsRock Extreme 4 board and an i3 3225 proc.  It's running much quieter now, and I have connections for all the fans, and for USB 3.0 up front <old board had no USB3>.

 

Pictures to follow soon.

 

 

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It looks like the Azza Helios 910 case has been discontinued: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517007

 

It's too bad it's discontinued because it was a nice option for a 15 drive build using the Norco SS-500. Raj has an example of such a build here: http://greenleaf-technology.com/our-servers/15-drive-tower-server/

 

Luckily I was able to find one a couple of weeks ago so I'm good to go when I get around to building mine.  If you're interested in the case, you might still be able to locate one by searching around.

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I'm in the process of migrating my server to a Sharkoon T9.... 

 

http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/content/t9-economy

 

It's not especially high quality, but good enough for my needs with 9 full width slots available.  You may have to bend the tabs to accommodate drive cages (for some cages you don't need to), but the metal is pretty thin so should be easy.  In fact I am planning on just breaking off the unwanted tabs by rocking them back and forth a few times with a pair of pliers.  Four tabs took me about five minutes, so it'll be under half an hour to break off 24, leaving only those needed to support three cages.

 

Edit: Just bought a second one to re-house my back up server.  Office will look much tidier soon.

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Ayone have any experience with this case....... Zalman MS-800

 

---> http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=747

 

Looks like a nice case with 5.25 bays top to bottom.

 

Kryspy

 

Looks good..

 

1. Can possibly install 3x Norco 500 racks + DVD drive as it has 10 bays ?

2. Has the middle support bar, which can possibly used as an additional support for

    a huge CPU cooler which can load the motherboard.

 

Have no idea of how silent this case is... but cooling looks good, hope to see more reviews of this case...

I would like to wrap the front side with PuraPC Filter Material (http://www.purapc.com/store/index.html)

to keep dust put using some neodymium magnet harness.

 

 

G

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Just a note to anyone considering buying the "Xigmatek Elysium", the default 4 by 3 drives are insanely stuck in place, the 4 pin connectors on the fan simply refuse to come out no matter how hard I pull (I may need some pliers soon) and it's also extremely difficult to put drives into the cage (Cut my finger twice so far and I've got 1 screw in)

 

I'm going to be buying some 5 by 3 slide in drive cages now, because, seriously, fuck that shit.

 

EDIT:- Got 4 pin plug out with a pair of tweezers (Stuck them down the back, pulled them open), as from that, excluding the top drive and bottom drive per cage, it was pretty easy. The top/bottom drives however were dodgy to put the screws in because there was metal covering it, you had to use both hands to slowly lower it then drop it and take a gamble it'd land in the hole.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is their any case that can hold 17+ HDD's? Without huge expense

 

 

Or I could do just the 2tb hard drives which would be twelve

You are very limited on cases that will hold that many drives.  Most tower cases that will hold that many drives require 5-in-3 drive cages which run 100ish apiece.

 

For that many drives your best bet is a rackmount case.

 

If you can do 16 drives the Zalman MS800 with 3 x 5-in-3 drives cages and a single drive cage would get you 16.  The case will run you around 90 but is on sale at newegg right now for 70 after a rebate.

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Could it be quiet though? I'm in the UK ;) but I found the case for £65 + P&P

It has a built in fan control that 6 fans can be hooked up to.  I am sure you could make it quite, it just depends on how much you want to spend doing it.

 

I will have a review of the case up on the Greenleaf website in the next month or so.  I have to get photos taken of it and write everything up.  First impression of the case though are that it is very sturdy, well made, and is most likely the nicest case available for a 16 or less drive build.

 

You can get 10, 13, and 16 drive builds in this case.

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