To all Antec 1200 owners with 5-in-3 drive enclosures:

 

01. What 5-in-3 enclosures are you using and what kind of modifications did you have to perform on you case?  For example, removing 5.25 guides and removing front fans.

 

02. If you had to do it again, would you use the same 5-in-3 enclosures?  If not, which one would you use?

 

Thanks.

You might want to also take a look at neilt0's rig.

pimp your rig

It's not 5in3 but 4in3 but worth considering ...

You'd have to remove Antec's 4in3 drive cage(s) from the case to mount these but you can use Antec's built in fans.

I'm using the Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B with my Antec 1200.  I had to use a dremel to remove the tabs in the 5.25 bays.  The front fans are clipped to the the 3-in-3 hdd enclosures that come with the case, but you can mount the fans without the 3-in-3 enclosure.  I'm not sure you'd be able to use the front fans with any 5-in-3 enclosure that has a backplane because of space issues.  You might be able to use the front fans with a bare-bones enclosure (forum thread), but you would still need to remove the tabs somehow.

 

I'm happy with the Supermicro 5-in-3 enclosures so far.  The only thing it's lacking is a dust filter, but I couldn't find any 5-in-3 enclosure that had one.  The fan was a little loud so I replaced it with a Scythe and I'm planning on taping up the holes in the enclosure to get better airflow across my drives.

I'm happy with the Supermicro 5-in-3 enclosures so far.  The only thing it's lacking is a dust filter, but I couldn't find any 5-in-3 enclosure that had one.  The fan was a little loud so I replaced it with a Scythe and I'm planning on taping up the holes in the enclosure to get better airflow across my drives.

 

I read an interesting comment somewhere that a person turned the fans the other way around and blew air out of the case through the drives instead of sucking air in.

 

I may do this with my case, putting an air filter on the intake vents to make it easier to clean.

Thanks for the great feedback!  I have never built a computer before and my first attempt will be to build a media server.

 

I have no problems with removing the guides on the case.  I believe WeeboTech had posted a link to a tool to clip the guides from the case.  I will have to search for it.

 

The bare-bone and the Scythe 4-in-3 enclosures are very tempting from a simplicity, cost, and cooling perspective, but I really want 20 drives and the convenience of installing/removing drives, especially when the server will be sitting in a closet in the basement.

 

Do I need anything extra to control the fans on the enclosures?

The tool you want is called a Nibbler.

I'm happy with the Supermicro 5-in-3 enclosures so far.  The only thing it's lacking is a dust filter, but I couldn't find any 5-in-3 enclosure that had one.  The fan was a little loud so I replaced it with a Scythe and I'm planning on taping up the holes in the enclosure to get better airflow across my drives.

 

I read an interesting comment somewhere that a person turned the fans the other way around and blew air out of the case through the drives instead of sucking air in.

 

I may do this with my case, putting an air filter on the intake vents to make it easier to clean.

 

I would reconsider for one reason.  The air inside your case is going to be warmer than the air you would otherwise be pulling in over the hard drives.  From a thermal management perspective it's best to pull air in past your coolest components and exhaust it as close as possible to your hottest components.

I would reconsider for one reason.  The air inside your case is going to be warmer than the air you would otherwise be pulling in over the hard drives.  From a thermal management perspective it's best to pull air in past your coolest components and exhaust it as close as possible to your hottest components.

 

Makes sense but this makes sense as well:

Exhausting the warmer air inside the case over the coolest components and pulling in the coolest possible air over the hottest components sounds logical, too.

I would reconsider for one reason.  The air inside your case is going to be warmer than the air you would otherwise be pulling in over the hard drives.  From a thermal management perspective it's best to pull air in past your coolest components and exhaust it as close as possible to your hottest components.

 

Makes sense but this makes sense as well:

Exhausting the warmer air inside the case over the coolest components and pulling in the coolest possible air over the hottest components sounds logical, too.

 

I agree with you, qrismac.  It's the hottest components what we are really worrying about here.

Some warm air going to the colder components is of no concern at all.

 

I agree with you, qrismac.  It's the hottest components what we are really worrying about here.

Some warm air going to the colder components is of no concern at all.

 

I would also have to consider heat tolerance of the components.  For example, if the graphic card is the hottest component and it can tolerate more heat than your hard drives, then you want the cool air over the hard drive.  Another consideration is can you afford to lose data vs. some other components.  Then again, in an Unraid media server, other than the processor, the hard drives might be the hottest components.