"UnConventional" The 22-drive CM-690II Mid-Tower -- [Build-Log] [COMPLETED]


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I think some kind of rail that goes across the card mounts and possibly down to the back of the case ("under the motherboard" side) would work but you'll have to do some test fitting.

 

Got it figured out...

 

UnRaid%209-1.jpg

 

Made this C-bracket out of 1.5mm aluminium and bended the "legs"

I used some extra MB-standoffs I had lying around to get a good mounting point that cleared all the components on the MB.

Straightened the SAS-cards brackets and threaded holes for the mounting screws on the C-bracket.

That sould hold them in place.  :)

 

UnRaid%209-2.jpgUnRaid%209-3.jpg

 

 

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Trying to get ready to power 22 drives from one PSU and you get this MESS!  :o

 

UnRaid%2010-2.jpg

 

The benefit of adding a second AX850 to your arsenal is that after yet again cannibilizing ones desktop machine you have 16 sata powers and 4 molexes in one PSU  :)

Nice starting point.

 

 

UnRaid%2010-5.jpg

 

Now all I have to do is stuff that all into that gap there.  :-\

That's precicely the reason I chose to move the HDD-stacks as far forward as possible.

(Even as it ment that I have to do mod the front pretty hard)

 

 

UnRaid%2010-9.jpg

 

In the end getting all the cables in place was surprisongly easy.

Thanks to fully modular PSU.

If it hadn't been there would have been virtually no chance of fitting the PSU there without some MORE modding to the case.

 

 

UnRaid%2010-15.jpg

 

Now...

Where the Hell-sinki  ;D will I stuff all THESE cables then?  :o

Have to wait untill tomorrow to find out...

 

 

UnRaid%2010-22.jpg

 

Atleast on the other side things look OK for now.  :)

 

 

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Hey mate,

 

I was thinking about your airflow and realised you have run into the exact same issue Raj mentioned in my Sketchup thread, where your drives are likely to produce far more heat than your motherboard/CPU will and you may actually be better off reversing all of your fans. Were you planning on putting any exhaust fans in? If you do decide to keep your fans the way you have them then you'll probably want at least one on the top-rear (above your motherboard) and if you can get a slim enough one, or are happy to mount a fan on the outside of the case then you could use the original hole in your motherboard, which is normally for accessing the back of your CPU (to fit aftermarket coolers) as another spot for exhaust.

 

The alternative would be to have all of your fans blowing air towards the front of the case (the opposite of most setups) so they pull cold air through the vents behind and above the motherboard. The only downside is it means your drives aren't getting the coolest air possible but overall I think you might find this works better, I doubt the temperature difference would be much anyway as your motherboard/CPU shouldn't be getting too hot. Personally I would go with trial & error but I don't think leaving the fans facing towards the back is going to work very well without at least one exhaust fan.

 

Edit: After having another look at your photos I really do think reversing the fans would be the best option initially, even to just see what the temps look like. This way it is pulling the cool air in from the vents at the back and also pulling any hot air away from the motherboard and controller cards. If you leave them the way they are your motherboard, controller cards and CPU are all going to be getting blasted with pretty hot air next time you run a parity check. Hope this helps :)

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Hey mate,

 

I was thinking about your airflow and realised you have run into the exact same issue Raj mentioned in my Sketchup thread, where your drives are likely to produce far more heat than your motherboard/CPU will and you may actually be better off reversing all of your fans. Were you planning on putting any exhaust fans in? If you do decide to keep your fans the way you have them then you'll probably want at least one on the top-rear (above your motherboard) and if you can get a slim enough one, or are happy to mount a fan on the outside of the case then you could use the original hole in your motherboard, which is normally for accessing the back of your CPU (to fit aftermarket coolers) as another spot for exhaust.

 

The alternative would be to have all of your fans blowing air towards the front of the case (the opposite of most setups) so they pull cold air through the vents behind and above the motherboard. The only downside is it means your drives aren't getting the coolest air possible but overall I think you might find this works better, I doubt the temperature difference would be much anyway as your motherboard/CPU shouldn't be getting too hot. Personally I would go with trial & error but I don't think leaving the fans facing towards the back is going to work very well without at least one exhaust fan.

 

Edit: After having another look at your photos I really do think reversing the fans would be the best option initially, even to just see what the temps look like. This way it is pulling the cool air in from the vents at the back and also pulling any hot air away from the motherboard and controller cards. If you leave them the way they are your motherboard, controller cards and CPU are all going to be getting blasted with pretty hot air next time you run a parity check. Hope this helps :)

 

Thanks for the heads up!  :)

 

Been thinking about that too and it is a pretty tricky question...

The problem I see with the reverse airflow is that the controller cards probably won't be getting any significant airflow near them at all.  ???

Since the top is open in the case all of the incoming air will be coming through there and between the SAS-cards it'll probably be just dead air?

The cards themselves block the airflow around them quite effectively I'm afraid.

The way it is now even if the air is warm (hot even?) there will be some air moving to help the cooling of the cards.

I'll probably try the first parity check out the way it is now and pop the case open every once and a while to check the temperatures with my laser thermo.

 

If it starts to look bad I'll have to try adding exhaust fans to the mix.

Luckily the case has been designed for watercooling so there is actually space between the top of the frame and the top grill for TWO 140mm exhaust fans.  :)

 

If I have to reverse the airflow I'll probably have to add an extra fan inside to help the airflow around the cards?  ???

 

 

Anybody have any idea how hot AOC-SASLP-MV8 components get and how hot they can safely be?

 

 

Well... Nobody said this project is going to be easy! :) (or even sane?)  :o

 

 

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It's ALIVE!  8)

 

 

UnRaid%2011-1.jpg

 

And beautifull!  8)

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-2.jpg

 

Transfered all 6 disks from my "test" setup to the new case and UnRaid fired right up!  :D

(running 5b14)

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-3.jpg

 

Added 4 more disks and did some labeling.

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-4.jpg

 

Serial number, disk number and disk name.

Using mostly just disk shares so that when adding stuff my mediaplayer can be ordered to scan just the disk that has changes.

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-5.jpg

 

Hard to imagine that from that setup all of the cables are connected!

22x SATA

16x SATA-power

4x Molex

PCIe x1 extension for the Intel NIC

24 and 8 pin MB-power and all of the front connections.

(forgot the MB-"speaker")

 

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-8.jpg  UnRaid%2011-7.jpg

 

The back is as clean as can be. :)

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-9.jpg

 

Two Silverstone fan cotrollers and the Intel NIC.

 

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-10.jpg

 

The front is still a MESS!  :-\

Need to do some serious modding to get it lookin the way it supposed to be...

 

 

 

So what about the BACK SIDE then?  ::)

 

What became of the snake den behind the case?  :o

 

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-11.jpg

 

It ain't pretty but the side slides into it's place without any extra force or bowing.

Have to be happy about that!  :)

 

There is a chance to simplify that mess quite a lot.

The SATA-power cables of the AX850 are removable.

Once I get some more hard drives I was thinking about dismantling some of the extra cables I have and adding those 6 missing connectors to the existing lines.

Obviously modding them at the same time to the exact lengths needed.

But for now they have to suffice.

It's time to look something from my new server!  ;D

 

 

 

UnRaid%2011-12.jpg

 

 

Well propably better to let it do the first parity check first. :)

 

It is certainly one of a kind 8) Let us know how your temps go as is and make some adjustments to the airflow if needed.

 

The parity check has been running for an hour and a half.

HDD temps have gone up 6 or 7'C and are between 30 and 36'C right now.

Ambient temp is around 25-26'C and the thermometer at the top of the case measuring exhaust temp has been 28'C the whole time.

The heat sinks on the MV8's are around 35 to 45'C

 

Looking good atleast with 9 active drives there.  :)

 

These are drivetemps atm.

Front of the case on the right.

--xx-- = empty slot

--dc-- = disconnected spare

m  --35--- < --xx-- <

o  --35--- < --xx-- <

t  --36--- < --xx-- <

h  --xx--- < --xx-- <  f

e  --32--- < --xx-- <  r

r  --32--- < --xx-- <  o

b  --xx--- < --xx-- <  n

o  --xx--- < --xx-- <  t

a  --xx--- < --30-- <

r  --dc--- < --32-- <

d  --34--- < --31-- <

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The parity check run for 6h58min on all 2TB greens.

No errors detected!  ;D

 

Now all I have to figure out is should I wdidle3 the new drives or not?  ???

(2x EARS and 2x EADS)

 

 

Amazing work.  Inspiring, really.

 

Thank You kindly!  :)

 

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Some POWER figures.

MAX at start up:

182W

Parity check:

112W

All disk spinning:

90W

Idle

53W

 

 

 

This is with:

 

Pentium G620

 

AsRock Z77 Pro3

2x

Kingston Valueram 1GB DDR3

CORSAIR AX850

2x 

Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

1x

Intel Gigabit NIC PCIe x1

Kingston DataTraveler G2 4GB

6x 

FD-FAN140 140mm (fan controller at minimum)

6x 

2TB Barracuda LP

2x

2TB WD-EADS

1x

2TB WD-EARS

 

 

 

 

When idle the fans and fan controllers add up like this:

6 Fans at MAX

54.5W

6 Fans at MIN

53.0W

 

3 Fans at MAX

51.4W

3 Fans at MIN

50.8W

 

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Awesome work! Thanks for all the figures. So what's next on the agenda?

 

I'll probably just enjoy some movies for a few days before I get into modding the front to fit in place and then making the new grill to complete the front.

Some painting to the exterior perhaps and after that it'll be done!  :D

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Finally had some time to finish this build up! :)

 

UnRaid%20done-6.jpg

 

Made a one piece front grill to cover the fans at the front.

Painted the mesh portion of the case in red and the accents in black.

At the same time painted main rig accents with the same red.

 

 

UnRaid%20done-1.jpg

 

And here it is...

The whole Dirty 1/3 of a Dozen!  :o

 

From the left...

[*]My Main Rig

[*]"UnConventional" - The UnRaid Rig

[*]Soon to be XBMC Test Rig

[*]And the "backup" case that found it's way into the house at some point.  :o

 

UnRaid%20done-2.jpg

 

The two main setups.

 

 

UnRaid%20done-4.jpgUnRaid%20done-5.jpg

 

The new one piece front grille.

 

Pretty pleased how it turned out at the end.

A lot more work than I at first anticipated but fun all the way! :)

No real setbacks or major problems at all.

So it actually turned out exactly as I thought it would!  8)

 

Now all I have to do is get some heavy duty sound dampening under the case.

It is so heavy that the stock feet are not cutting it any more.  ::)

22,6kg / 50lbs with just 11 drives.  :o

(Fully loaded it could break 30kg / 66lbs)

 

There seems to be some gremlin at the system hanging one disk at times

but I'm working on trying to capture it to the syslog and will make a new post of it if it happens again

 

 

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truly amazing work.  Looks awesome!  I am confused a bit on how your NIC is positioned as it is though.  Isn't that the bottom of the board facing the back of the machine?

 

Thanks for the compliments! :)

 

 

There is an extra Intel GB-NIC at the back.  8)

The MB was installed so high that the last PCI-slot was left open for it.

 

Here are some links to pictures from this thread to clarify things.  :)

 

Here you can see the extra NIC installed under the MB

 

And there is the PCIe-extensions going around the back

 

This is the look of the back wall with the NIC in place

 

;)

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