Hello I am looking to build a new server that will be easy to upgrade and add drives as my current setup is a synology nas with a mini pc running proxmox, but I am looking to build a Unraid server that is overkill and will be easy to add more hard drives to. I am possibly looking at this chasis from ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/374094124539?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20230823115209%26meid%3Dd4dceda60c6b496f980ed9db815572d5%26pid%3D101800%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D374094124539%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2SignedOut%26brand%3DSupermicro&_trksid=p4375194.c101800.m5481&_trkparms=parentrq%3Aebf8336e1960ad904558e663ffff5b4e|pageci%3Aa2e0c915-3533-11f0-880a-3e88449bf2ed|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

 

as it has a bunch of drive bays to expan to. I am having a hard time finding information on what power cables are included on the power distributer system in this chasis. I want to know what there is for cpu power and if there is a a 1 or 2 8 pin or 1 8 pin and 1 4 pin for cpu power as I am possibly looking to get a 14th gen intel processer in here and most of the motherboards need that for power, but I am unfamiler with the sever grade chasis parts. My other concern is with the 2U height of the actual pc build area and if that is going to be difficult to build in or not. I am just looking for some advice here as I am new to this but am ready to learn. Thank you guys! If you have any recommendations let me know!

From pictures it looks like there's a 2x4 for CPU-power (which can be combined into 1x8). But you can ask the seller to be sure, they also sell that board separately.

As for 2U, in some ways it is a lot easier since there is less height so things are closer, on the other cable management is more important, and also you these use LP or 'low profile' for cards, which means you can only use half height cards, so they don't stick out (so most GPUs won't fit). For cards that do fit, they need to come with a LP-baffle, which is the metal part on the back of the card that you can remove and replace when needed. They are very different, for the full height the screw-hole is on the right, for the low profile one it is on the left, so it isn't a case of cutting a part off to make it fit. For many cards you can buy them separately, and you can 3D-print them yourself too. That is something to look out for though, when you install a card it is easy to get the wrong screw-hole in the chassis if you're not used to 2u.

Do you think its possible to do a 14th gen intel cpu build in the 2u space and still be able to properly cool it all? And I talked to the seller and they said there is 2- 8 pin cpu power connectors available so that is good!

Some manufacturers publish cooling lists, like Noctua, but I think in this case they are not reliable since they claim 14.5cm coolers work, but 2U is only about 9cm, so as long as you have a cooler that's 7cm in height or less it should work. You'd need to measure with the motherboard and processor installed to make sure There's coolers that have the fan on top of the heatsink instead of to the side and usually those are smaller but still have a big heatsink At least there's plenty of models available that fit the hight-limits.

A lot will also depend on how you use the system. You'll have a lot more issues if you stick it full with drives so the air that comes to the cooler is already warm, but if there's less drives and it's just serving files it'll be fine.