The Monolith - 17-drive Fractal Design XL R2 build [initial build complete]


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  • 1 month later...

Yes, I didn't do any measuring of the cables. They are arranged slightly more neatly when I finalized the build than in the pics. Slightly.

 

Here you go with the pics! Some of them depict how I cut one of the PCI-E ports on the mobo to fit the SATA cards.

 

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Edited by Ulvan
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3 minutes ago, methanoid said:

Thanks @Ulvan   the additional 4 drive cage is from the Define R4? I have my 8 bays full and a 5 in 3 for the 5.25s so that would be next for me to add. Do you notice higher drive temps for those drives?

 

If I recall correctly, I got the extra 4-bay as a separate part. Drives in it are running around 4-5 degrees higher than in the other cages, as there's no fan near it. You could open the side panel which has holes for a fan to put an extra fan there, which would help quite a bit I'm sure.

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  • 4 months later...
Just now, ikiwi said:

Hello @Ulvan, will the 4-into-3 cage protrude from the 5.25 drive bays when placed properly (without your custom fan bracket)?

I bought the case, but my mobo is dual eatx, so it ends right near the edge of 5.25 bays area

Without the fan the cage can be pushed towards the front of the case by 7-9 cm. A further 2-3 cm if it can be pushed all the way into the front face - haven't tried but eyeballing it might be possible although you might need to cut some metal to do that.

 

Looking at the images above the cage protrudes by a bit more than the width of a 3.5" HDD which are 10 cm wide, so it seems that there is a risk that it won't fit. But if your mobo isn't raised and doesn't have memory sticks where mine does, it still might fit.

 

Lot of weasel words above, but it's hard to tell without testing, unfortunately.

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/26/2019 at 4:48 PM, jrd680 said:

How’s your server coming along? Any storage upgrades lately?

It's going well, thanks! Haven't had any issues. I recently updated two HDDs to 4TB ones, and cleaned her up, quite dusty inside. I've been updating the software every few months as well.

 

I am considering upgrading the parity drive to 8TB or perhaps bigger sometime in the future. Not sure if there are limitations on the due to the old mobo or the cards I'm using, though, so need to do a bit of research.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...
On 3/18/2020 at 10:45 AM, grambo said:

Hi -- can you, or anyone else, tell me where I can purchase a XL R2 drive cage?  The manufacturer says they can't sell  parts in North America and Puget Sound is no longer selling these parts.

 

Thanks

 

George Hinkle

https://www.fractal-design-shop.de/

I used this site to get some upgraded 3.5" trays to suit the bolt pattern on 6tb+ drives, about 6 months ago. But, they are pretty much out of stock of everything atm. That may just be use to covid, or it may not.

There is a way to set an auto notification on the part your after, though the wait might be months to never. :/

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