July 10, 201510 yr I've moved and my two lovely HAF X cases are now too big for the space I'm in. That and the HAF X are overkill for my 8 drive system. I'm hoping for some assistance finding a small form factor case that will support 8 drives. I'd like to go haswell, either xeon or i5, for the power savings as well. I primarily use my system for running a handful of dockers, including plex, and some fiddling about with virtualization so the case would need to have the space for that as well. Thanks!
July 10, 201510 yr Biggest questions are: 1) Do you plan to sell just the case, then move all your equipment into the new case? 2) Do you care about tooless/easy drive swapping? 3) Is this a completely new build?
July 10, 201510 yr Author I'll be re-using the drives from the old array, but that's it. I'll want to go new on everything else. Hot swappable/tool less would be nice, but it's not a big deal if it's not.
July 10, 201510 yr For 8 drives, a Silverstone DS380 mini-ITX case is hard to beat: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163255&cm_re=silverstone_DS380-_-11-163-255-_-Product If you could live with 7 drives, I'd go with a Lian-Li PC-Q25B, although they're getting a bit hard to find. http://www.amazon.com/Lian-Li-Aluminum-Mini-ITX-Computer/dp/B0065SKNNK
July 10, 201510 yr For 8 drives, a Silverstone DS380 mini-ITX case is hard to beat: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163255&cm_re=silverstone_DS380-_-11-163-255-_-Product If you could live with 7 drives, I'd go with a Lian-Li PC-Q25B, although they're getting a bit hard to find. http://www.amazon.com/Lian-Li-Aluminum-Mini-ITX-Computer/dp/B0065SKNNK That is a pretty neat case indeed.
July 12, 201510 yr Do your research on the DS380. There are several threads on the forum using these cases. To watch out for: - Cooling. Can be an issue. - CPU Fan clearance. Might be an issue and might need aftermarket. Do your research first and use proven parts.
July 12, 201510 yr Author Thanks for the info. The ds380 case looks ideal. I will also chexk the forums for the cooling issues before taking the plunge.
July 12, 201510 yr The cooling is actually excellent with one easily-rectified exception => the drive cage isn't sealed around the sides, so a fair amount of air "misses" the drives. It's VERY simple to seal the sides with a carefully cut bit of cardboard and a bit of tape. Several users have done this, and the cooling is EXCELLENT once you've blocked this path of escape for the incoming air. Don't misread that => cooling is quite adequate without doing anything; it's just notably better if you make this little mod.
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.