boof Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 I'm very tempted but being in the UK makes this difficult. I've found one retailer in the uk willing to sell me it - but at twice the cost of the US $ price. Hi, Just FYI: http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/445733/x-case-rm-420---20-drive-sata-ii-hotswap---inc-rails-optional-psusuks-lowest-priced-multidisk-4u-.html If this is the same retailer you've found in the UK, then ignore this msg. BR Søren Thanks for the link - unfortunately they've been sold out for a while (I believe they might be coming up with a new revision of the case from the comments). Also seemed to be cooling problems with it when populated. One thing I had always assumed was it was their own (x case) design - is it actually the same as the Norco just rebadged? The site I found selling the Norco (sorry I should have posted it earlier) is : http://www.ultimatestorage.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=114 Currently trying to weigh up if its worth just buying the norco or similar hot swap server case or buying a cheaper tower case and slowly populating it with 5 in 3 backplanes. Problem being they themselves cost £100 a go and I'd be looking at 3 in a tower. Although I wouldn't need to get them all at once... Is anyone coming to the UK on holiday soon and fancies bringing me a Norco as hand luggage? Quote Link to comment
SørenBM Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Yes, it has been sold out for at while. I've been very temped to buy the one from X-Case (been looking at it since last summer), but when I read the comments I decided to wait and see what the new revision of the case will bring, mainly because of the heat issues. According to X-Case themself, there case is not the same case as the Norco one, but it sure does look A LOT like the Norco. I'm in the same situation as you. I'm in Denmark. The Norco will be too expensive with vat and taxes (from US)... And a normal tower case with 3 or 4 "5 in 3 backplanes" bought in Denmark is way more expensive then the Norco/Case case. So as I see it my best option is to wait and see what the new X-Case will be like. BR Søren Quote Link to comment
boof Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Yes, it has been sold out for at while. I've been very temped to buy the one from X-Case (been looking at it since last summer), but when I read the comments I decided to wait and see what the new revision of the case will bring, mainly because of the heat issues. According to X-Case themself, there case is not the same case as the Norco one, but it sure does look A LOT like the Norco. I'm in the same situation as you. I'm in Denmark. The Norco will be too expensive with vat and taxes (from US)... And a normal tower case with 3 or 4 "5 in 3 backplanes" bought in Denmark is way more expensive then the Norco/Case case. So as I see it my best option is to wait and see what the new X-Case will be like. BR Søren I might drop them a line to see if they know an ETA - I wonder if it will be the newly revised Norco? (avsforums has details on the changes - much better air flow for one) Had I know it was the Norco case I probably would have bought one. I was put off by the poor cooling comments but thats been easily mitigated by existing Norco owners. They do have another 16 bay case for the same price in stock - but I'd rather have 20 bays for the money instead of 16 Quote Link to comment
boof Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Very quick response from xcase : 'Yes the changes have been made, we will start production next month and will see them in April.' Regarding the sale of the newly revised 20 bay. I guess I should have asked for an estimated cost - will mail back Thats probably also not a binding statement! Quote Link to comment
SørenBM Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Very quick response from xcase : 'Yes the changes have been made, we will start production next month and will see them in April.' Regarding the sale of the newly revised 20 bay. I guess I should have asked for an estimated cost - will mail back Thats probably also not a binding statement! Thanks for the info. Let me know what X-case reply next... BR Søren Quote Link to comment
boof Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Thanks for the info. Let me know what X-case reply next... BR Søren ..price will depend on the exchange rate at the time. Which is another tick in the box for it being a redbadged Norco and they're possibly just importing them. Quote Link to comment
dabl Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 ...the newly revised Norco? (avsforums has details on the changes... link to the thread with details on the changes to the Norco case please? Quote Link to comment
boof Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 ...the newly revised Norco? (avsforums has details on the changes... link to the thread with details on the changes to the Norco case please? http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=15862131&postcount=2026 Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 nice even more crap to stop airflow I would seriously NOT buy this until some real life feedback. To my eye to took the worst part of the case and said "what can we do to make it even worse" Quote Link to comment
boof Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 nice even more crap to stop airflow I would seriously NOT buy this until some real life feedback. To my eye to took the worst part of the case and said "what can we do to make it even worse" I'm not overly familiar with the current Norco case - but this to me looks better? Larger holes for cabling (which will increase airflow in conjunction with...) Mini Sas connectors so much less cabling Are you referring to the 'meshing' where the backplane connectors are? Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 those cable holes are bad for drive temperature as it allows the fans to pull air from the wrong place. the addition of the metal mesh further reduces the potential air flow from the drives. Unless something radical has happened to the drive caddies this case will run even hotter then the last one. it boggles the mind wtf the case designers are up to. Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 just realised theres a case in point to backup my "mad designers claim". So they added SAS good. Less cables. Less clutter good. So why did they reduce the number of cables from 25 to 10 but at the same time make the cable access holes bigger to allow more cables? Quote Link to comment
boof Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 just realised theres a case in point to backup my "mad designers claim". So they added SAS good. Less cables. Less clutter good. So why did they reduce the number of cables from 25 to 10 but at the same time make the cable access holes bigger to allow more cables? You still have a significant number of cables to manage / route. So less cables and more space to route and manage them properly. Seems sensible to me That was a big criticism of the original case from what I've read of it (again not actually an owner so take it for what it's worth) and they've addressed it. How will it affect air flow? I don't know that it will make things much better - or much worse in itself. Depends what other tweaks and adjustments are made elsewhere I guess. The big criticisms I was aware of for the case were the cable managment / requirements and the heat issues. They've address one at glance so I'd hope they've also addressed the other (heat). Even if it's just through higher CFM rated fans. So it might be nosier as a trade off. Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 put it this way... you want air to be pulled acrross the drives to keep them cool. a few things stop this for working as well as it could: the caddies have virtually no gaps for airflow (likely not changed) The case has holes that allow air to be drawn from places other than accross the drives (looks like some are still there) the back has holes that allow the rear fans to recirculate air rather than pull it from where the drives are at (cant see in picture but i bet its unchanged) There isnt enough space at the backplane to allow free flow of air (yes they made that 10 time worse by adding a pointless meta mesh) the 5 internal fans can pull air from through the cable holes meaning less air flowing accross drives (so they made them bigger to make colling worse) Based on my real world experience with the current case I can say with an extreme confidence level that this design is MASSIVELY worse for heat than the first one. As for adding higher cfm fans it will help but before they even consider this they should have fixed airflow. Thats like upgrading the engine in a car to compensate for the handbrake being stuck on. Pointless. Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 FWIW, they may need the mesh to deal with EMF interference. Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 that makes alot of sense but thats a hell alot of metal and a very small amount of holes. At a guess i would say that 60%+ of the space is blocked (perhaps even more). If it really is for shielding they should have used a mesh that is tuned to the waveforms they are trying to blocks allowing for as high as possible air to metal ratio. As it stands i cannot see how it is vaguely possible this case will not cook drives. Before i upgarded fans, blcoked holes my drives were pushing 50deg when all running (ambient of about 20deg) Edit: It was bugging me so i done some quick calculations based on a few guesstimates of hole diameter (0.8cm) etc. Allowing for some error its more like 70% of the ventilation is blocked. That sounds better than it is because the majority of this 30% is in the top gap that actually isnt in direct line with any drive. Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 that makes alot of sense but thats a hell alot of metal and a very small amount of holes. At a guess i would say that 60%+ of the space is blocked (perhaps even more). If the metal parts are screwed (as opposed to rivits) then it can be taken out an nibbled. Granted, it's a bit of work, yet it still opens up possibility. Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I would be tempted to get rid of it completely think norco would accept design change suggestions from us? I reckon we could make it WAY better within the same manufacturing cost. Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I would be tempted to get rid of it completely think norco would accept design change suggestions from us? I reckon we could make it WAY better within the same manufacturing cost. If the order or interest were large enough and the recommendations provided were concise with data I'm sure they would be interested. Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 As an intellectual exercise alone it might be worth starting a thread for fun. Quote Link to comment
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