Shoehorning an LSI M1115 into a DS380

[tucansam]

My DS380 is scheduled to become my primary unraid server as I slowly acquire 8TB disks, eventually relegating the giant tower sitting next to my entertainment center for backup duty in the garage.  I have all eight drive bays populated, and have been running dockers on the array.  Performance was atrocious of course.  I added a 500GB WD Black and used Unassigned Devices to mount it.  I will eventually add an SSD as well; docker images and apps will live on the SSD, and sab's Downloads folder will live on the 500GB WD to minimize writes on the SSD.  

 

My MB only has four SATA ports, and thus I needed an eight-port controller.  However, long expansion cards will not fit this case without giving up a drive bay, leaving only seven drives in the array.

 

I found that the vent holes at the rear of the case worked perfectly for mounting the card, using a PCIe extension cable.  I dremmeled off most of the expansion slot bracket, drilled two holes, affixed two bolts, and the hack worked perfectly.  Brown duct tape insulates the components from contact with the metal drive cage, and there is just enough clearance (1mm, maybe more) between the outer case skin and the back of the LSI to prevent electrical shorts.

 

I also covered some rear vent holes to force intake air over the LSI, and installed a vented slot cover to allow airflow over the WD Black.

 

I covered the top PSU vent in the case, as its wasted since I have my PSU configured for case air evac.  I also do not run the intake fan side cover as the airflow restriction was such that I don't know what Silverstone was thinking when they designed the case.  Finally, although it ruined the sleek look of the case, I cut holes and affixed two 120mm exhaust fans to the opposite side of the drive cage.  The server sits inside my closed entertainment center, which is vented with exhaust fans, however temps before the fan mod were not to my liking.

 

Pics attached.  

 

Server is humming along happily, temps are fantastic, and I will be configuring my dockers to make use of the WD Black promptly. 

[ashman70]

Nice job, but I don't get your math. 'My motherboard only had four SATA ports so I needed an eight port controller'? You have 12 drives in there? I love my DS380 and have it full with 8 drives, I have a four port PCIe controller in mine that works just fine but man its cramped in there.

[tucansam]

Yes, 12 drives.

 

The case is great, just wish it was designed for better airflow.

[danioj]

Good mod. I like it.

 

I also like the extra fans mod. Do you have a post detailing what you did there? Assuming that they are on intake!?

[tucansam]

As far as the extra fans, no separate post, but it wasn't very hard.  Used a jigsaw to cut out holes for two 120mm fans, then mounted them on the outside.  I was hoping for thin (15mm) 120mm fans so I could mount them internally, next to the drive cage, but there isn't enough room between the outer skin and the cage.  So any additional fans had to be mounted externally.  Its an eyesore, but function over form wins every time.

 

I originally had used the cardboard hack next to the original, factory intake fans location, to direct the airflow straight to the drive cage.  When I had the system apart and was working on it, I was still using it, so I simply placed two 120mm fans directly on the drive cage as it laid on my floor.  Temps were amazing!!!  I am now working on a way to mount the fans directly to the drive cage, bypassing the mounting on the outer skin factory location altogether.  

 

I also saw a review on a vendor site where a guy drilled holes in the rear of the drive cage, in the sheet metal next to the backplane.  He said he felt the closed rear of the cage was trapping heat, and the holes lowered temps 6 degrees!!!!  I will be doing that mod as well.

 

Finally, Silverstone has a larger version of this case, same drive cage, but also has two 5.25" bays above it.  In the exploded pictures of that case, Silverstone mounts the fans *directly* to the drive cage, so now I know I'm onto something with my aforementioned idea.

[tucansam]

Forgot to mention, no, the additional two fans are exhaust.  Although I guess I need to play with orientation.  I never thought about using them for intake as well.  

[JonathanM]

As a baseline general rule, obviously not applicable to every single situation, I have fans set to intake if they directly flow across the drives, exhaust everywhere else. In a NAS packed with HDD, I want all the cool air to flow over the drives before it touches any other component. Sheer volume of airflow means nothing if it doesn't flow by the HDD's first, so any holes that allow air to sneak into the case without touching the HDD's is a no-no, and are taped over.

[ashman70]

I'm still trying to figure out from your pictures where the other three drives are, lol.

[tucansam]

Hahaha.  12 drives: 8 drives in the stock bays, one 3.5" spinner on a PCI expansion bracket adapter, and soon to be one SSD next to it.

[dikkiedirk]

I mounted an M1015 in this case without so much modding. Just a small cut in plastic was needed. found it on the freenas side.

 

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/silverstone-ds380-and-m1015.19255/

 

 

Edited March 9, 2017 by dikkiedirk

[tucansam]

Hmmm..... I thought about trying this but thought it would end up touching the disk installed in the bay.  I had not seen these pictures before.  May have to do this mod and drop the PCIe extension cable, would tidy up the inside of the case a bit.

[tucansam]

Well, I will be ordering a new back place to mount the controller, I dremmeled out a slot for the card's edge as indicated above.  I also flipped the two additional fans to intake, so now I have four fans blowing on the drives, and one (plus the PSU) doing evac.

 

In addition, I drilled four 1.5" holes in the rear of the disk cage, next to the backplane.  I also drilled six 0.75" holes in the top of the cage.  This will allow much more heat to escape, as I am convinced the cage was trapping heat.

 

I upgraded a disk tonight and am doing a rebuild, so far all temps are 27C and below.  By now, before the mods, my parity drive would be at 40C and the array drives would be in the low and mid 30s.

 

So far so good.

[tucansam]

Well, belay my last.  30 minutes into a rebuild, all drives are 38C and above.  So back to one side intake, one side evac the fans will go.

[danioj]

On 08/03/2017 at 7:28 PM, tucansam said:

Forgot to mention, no, the additional two fans are exhaust.  Although I guess I need to play with orientation.  I never thought about using them for intake as well.  

 

Thanks for the reply and walkthrough.