Hi all,

 

I am new to this forum, but i wanted to built an unRaid server. I have been constantly reading everyone's posts of builds and tweaks and hardware reviews. I wanted to build a custom chassis.

 

You are all probably going to think i am insane, but i want to build something that is solid and i will not have to keep modifying, your input and critique is always welcome.

 

First of all I really like this case. "Lian Li PC-343B Modular Aluminum Cube Case" but i cannot justify spending 349 plus all that shipping for some sheet metal and rivets and screws. I am sure that it is great quality, and the design is there, but i am going to basically super size it. 

 

The plan is to use tube steel as the structural frame. I do a lot of metal fabrication, and then possibly sheet metal to cover or diamond plate if it is feasible. Does anyone know what the gauge of a standard case is?

 

The case will consist of 14 140mm fans, there will be space for 3 full size ATX boards, 1 mini or pico ATX, Four Power supplies, and 5 rows of 23  5.25" external drive bays bringing the total external 5.25" to 115. This will not be filled up straight away but over time, and have the ability to run three or four separate systems of one case with out have a huge server chassis.

 

Thoughts?

 

Designs are still very rough sketches has not been put into cad but if there is interest i will post them.

Can't really picture this monster in my head - would love to see some sketches of your idea!

I will upload some sketches tonight or later after lunch. It will have 4 floating motherboards, size approx 3.5'x3x3.6. Rather large.

Here are some rough, and i mean rough sketches, mainly to help me invoke the design process, and help me understand what i am getting my self into.

Here are some rough, and i mean rough sketches, mainly to help me invoke the design process, and help me understand what i am getting my self into.

 

 

All I can say so far is: I have never really seen anything like it, but I want to see how you get it done

I have one question though, would you say the thickness of the standard metal case would be, as in 16 gauge or 20 gauge.

I have one question though, would you say the thickness of the standard metal case would be, as in 16 gauge or 20 gauge.

 

I'm not a metal worker, but I do have a tape measure and happened to already have the side panel off my work PC. With no folds, the side panel on my standard "no frills" tsunami case is just short of 1mm thick, so.. according to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_metal#Gauge that would make it ~20 gauge. I also have a drive cage from an old PC handy and it too is just short of 1mm thick, although much more rigid. I'll leave the rigidity up to you, the design looks.. insane btw- I love it

Hi All,

 

Plans are moving on. I am picking up the 120LF of 1/2 steel to start framing this sucker out. I really hope i dont have to TIG weld this frame. I will post photos once the process begins.

 

However, i do have one questions. I currently have a quad core socket lga 775 processor laying around, it is the extreme edition. I think when i bought it in college it was 400 dollars or more. Can anyone make a recommendation as to what motherboard to use. The size is going to be a 20 drive system with 3tb drives, does the UnRaid beta support 4TB or 5TB yet. Any recommendations i would greatly appreciate.

If I was you I would make it capable of mounting any type of motherboard. That way if you decide to go another route you can easily move the stand offs and you are off and running.

The case will be able to support upto three full size atx boards, with full video cards, and 1 mini itx board. So it will be very capable. Thanks for the though though.

The case will be able to support upto three full size atx boards, with full video cards, and 1 mini itx board. So it will be very capable. Thanks for the though though.

 

I think he may have been referring to where you tap the threads for standoffs.. so it supports ITX, M-ATX, ATX, E-ATX, etc. Maybe..?

The case will be able to support upto three full size atx boards, with full video cards, and 1 mini itx board. So it will be very capable. Thanks for the though though.

 

I think he may have been referring to where you tap the threads for standoffs.. so it supports ITX, M-ATX, ATX, E-ATX, etc. Maybe..?

 

 

+1 to that, future proof yourself when you have the chance

Which way are you planning on mounting the motherboards so you have access to the rear ports? Pointing down/up, or just going to run cables into the case? I'm mainly talking about the board you want to mount in the middle.

 

unRAID 5 should support 4, 5, 6TB+ drives and then some although obviously this hasn't been tested as the drives aren't exactly readily available yet. I was also wondering if you were planning on using drive cages at all: 4-in-3's, 5-in-3's?

The case will be able to support upto three full size atx boards, with full video cards, and 1 mini itx board. So it will be very capable. Thanks for the though though.

 

I think he may have been referring to where you tap the threads for standoffs.. so it supports ITX, M-ATX, ATX, E-ATX, etc. Maybe..?

This is what I was trying to say.

Great questions. If you look at the second photo. You can see the Motherboards staggered. They will be flush against the back just like any other case, and i will not have to run wires into the case to connect each motherboard. since is almost three feet wide the staggering will help with cooling and also air flow. Noise really isnt a concern, as it is going to be in the Garage.

 

As far as the cages i designed each column in the case to have 23 5.25" external bays, therefore the total of all external 5.25"bays will be 115. I have designed it to accept and type of cage i want mainly looking at the 5 and 3 cages. So all in all the case could be plausible to accept 175 HDD.

 

I hope this answers questions.

I like my SuperMicro X7SBE MB but they are NOT cheep.  It has IPMI which for your build in garage I would consider essential.  Here are some other Server class MBs which are the ones likely to have IPMI.  But NewEgg is not saying anything about IPMI in the descriptions and I didn't read any reviews.

I want more pics :-) soon as you start take some pictures of each stage.

 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

Pics, will def be uploaded as soon as everything is done in the garage, i had to re frame the roof and add all the required data lines. Wow that board is very expensive. Is it really worth that price? Or do you have any other highly recommended lga 775 boards.

Wow that board is very expensive. Is it really worth that price? Or do you have any other highly recommended lga 775 boards.

To me it was - for the IPMI & PCI-X slots (I have PCI-X HBA's AOC-SAT2-MV8).  I have 5 -X7SBe's (3 with the add on IPMI card which was an extra $99 each was $60-70 when I bought mine).  Three of them have been replaced with 2 X9SCM-F boards.  I have two unRAID VMs along side two SageTV server VMs hosted by VMWare ESXi on X9SCM-F and Tyan S5512GM2NR.  The fifth X7SBE was to replace a defective one purchased previously.  I didn't want to wait for the RMA replacement to arrive.  Was a good idea (it turned out) since I tried to return it to a different Vendor than it was purchased from.  Took 4 weeks for them to tell me that it wasn't one purchased from them (one week shipping each way and two because they wanted to make me wait - I think).  Still have it in the unopened box it was sent in.  Don't have any other 775 boards to recommend but I would not want one without IPMI capability.

 

FYI in case you don't know what IPMI is:  It allows me to display my system console without having to have a monitor and keyboard attached to the PC.  This lets me access the bios and watch the boot up without said monitor & keyboard attached.  I can also get temp/fan/voltage readings via IPMI.  It can be completely headless and I only need to physically access it when I need to make a hardware change.