Norco 4220 for $289.99+$10S&H at NewEgg

[justme]

The Norco 4220 is ~$300($289.99+$9.99 S&H) at NewEgg. It currently comes with NORCO RL-26 sliding rails for rack mounting, as it's free gift. EDIT10/14>>It looks like the free rails aren't included(no longer show up) with the case now, so you may want to take that into account when ordering.<<10/14EDIT I personally would prefer a 1TB hard drive but this still seems like a good deal, to this newbie. I looked at the prices, for the past 12 monthes, on a website that tracks this product at NewEgg... It seems like it was down to $300(from it's normal of $350) sometime in late Sept. then up to $330 recently. So if I read the graph right this price would either be the lowest or equal to one other time it dropped this low.

 

Hope this helps someone. Also comments are welcome as I will almost certianlt pull the trigger on this deal unless the experts here say I should wait.

 

/justme

[calvinandh0bbes]

if i were putting together an unRaid box, and I knew back then what I know now, I would be all over this.

[actionfreak]

Wish I would have waited a couple of weeks.

[madpoet]

Nice price... making me rethink my CM Stacker build.  Can these things take essentially any motherboard?  What other parts are needed?

[Rajahal]

This is definitely a great deal.  Yes, this case can take essentially any motherboard, all the way from miniITX up to a full ATX.  There are a few special parts you may need:

 

Breakout cables (see the 'expansion cards' section of the 20 Drive Beast for links)

 

Fans - the included fans are VERY loud.  Most people who use this case in a home will want to replace the fans with quieter ones.  While you can replace them with the same sized fans (80 mm), it is highly recommended that instead you replace them with 3 x 120mm fans.  You'll want something powerful.  I've heard Delta and Noctua tossed around as the best fans, but I'm not sure specifically which models to recommend.  Personally, I use these cheap Cooler Master 120mm fans, though I can't guarantee that they are powerful enough to cool all 20 drives as the most I've ever tried is 11 drives.

 

If you do replace the fans with 120 mm fans, then you'll also want to buy the official fanplate from Norco.  I believe it is supposed to go on sale for $15 by the end of the month, but I don't think you can actually order it quite yet.

 

In short, this is a great deal and if you are looking for a 20 bay server, this is a great option.  Even if you only want a 15 bay server, this is generally going to be cheaper than building a 15 bay server out of a case and three 5-in-3s.

[PhatalOne]

I'd second the upgrade to 120mm fans. The high flow 80mm's sound like mini jet engines. I'm running 140mm fans. While they are acceptable for my current storage density, there simply aren't any good replacement 140mm fans since I put these in over a year ago. 120mm seems to be the sweet spot for fans that have acceptable flow rates, static pressure, and noise profiles.

[PhatalOne]

Fans - the included fans are VERY loud.  Most people who use this case in a home will want to replace the fans with quieter ones.  While you can replace them with the same sized fans (80 mm), it is highly recommended that instead you replace them with 3 x 120mm fans.  You'll want something powerful.  I've heard Delta and Noctua tossed around as the best fans, but I'm not sure specifically which models to recommend.  Personally, I use these cheap Cooler Master 120mm fans, though I can't guarantee that they are powerful enough to cool all 20 drives as the most I've ever tried is 11 drives.

 

I'd go with something that has a bit more power behind it, 3 of those cooler master fans will have approximately the same effective CFM as one of the stock 80mm jet engines. When I replace my 140's I'll probably go with the mid range 120mm Panaflo's. The case design really requires fans with good static pressure as BubbaQ was kind enough to educate me on a long time ago.

[madpoet]

Thanks, I'll live until the faceplate goes on sale.  Right now I've got a CM Stacker and a single 5in3.  I was about to buy 3 more plus 2 of the SAS cards.  At this price I might as well buy the Norco and resell my 5in3 and come out ahead of the game.

[Matt Foley]

One week too late.  Bought a 4220 at newegg last week.

[Rajahal]

One week too late.  Bought a 4220 at newegg last week.

 

You could try contacting them to see if they'll give you a refund or some store credit or something.  A long shot, but for $50 it might be worth it.

[madpoet]

If you've been a frequent shopper they often will, although they will give you this whole spiel about how they don't do it.

[Matt Foley]

Frequent, no.  Every year or two.  But when I put in an order it is pretty big.  In this case I was rebuilding my Sage server as well, so almost 2 full systems worth of components.

 

 

If you do replace the fans with 120 mm fans, then you'll also want to buy the official fanplate from Norco.  I believe it is supposed to go on sale for $15 by the end of the month, but I don't think you can actually order it quite yet.

 

 

The fanplate is available for pre-order supposedly shipping October 20th.  They have it listed for $1 but with shipping it was something like $16.50 for me.

 

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=258

[madpoet]

Well it actually let me put an order in for the faceplate.  Weird.

[actionfreak]

I ordered the fan plate a week ago. At the time I didn't notice that they weren't shipping yet.

[justme]

I ordered it, a little after posting. If all goes well it should arrive Friday. Thanx to Rajahal(and all others) for the wiki. It really helped, ie. reverse breakout cables. My thanks to Matt Foley for the link to the 120cm fan plate. Also a HI, to Matt, as a fellow SageTV user. Thanks to PhatalOne, and others, for info on the 120cm fans. I'll likely have to live with the stock fans for a while, as the purchase came unexpectedly early and emptied my wallet. I had money saved up for UnRaid and this literally used it all plus $10. :'( Still, it's worth it and I'll just start saving again.

 

Thanks,

/justme

[Matt Foley]

Hope you have a room to put the case in that nobody uses.  With stock fans it is not at all background noise.  Good luck with your build.

[talmania]

Argh!!  I had decided on the 4224 and now this great deal.  Is it worth the 4 extra bays for 100.00?  I'm guessing not....

[justme]

Hope you have a room to put the case in that nobody uses.  With stock fans it is not at all background noise.  Good luck with your build.

Actually I do. It's just me and my wife in a 2 story(3 bedroom) house. On top of that the attic is finished as a 4th master-bedroom with it's own bath. We originally bought it with the idea of living in the attic and renting the lower floors to help add extra $ to the mortage, at least until we had our own kids. But we found that we didn't like having a whole family, with noisy kids, living below us. It felt like we were living in their house, since the attic didn't have a seperate entrance. So after the first renters moved, we moved down stairs. We put the attic for rent to a college student(our nephew). That went on for a few years until it got old too, so we didn't renew the lease for the next year.

 

  Out of all this(and just growing up over 15 years of living together) we found we were loners who were very quiet people. So no more renting, ever. I also discovered I'm not a kid person, and neither is my wife. We both came from large families, and helped raise others when we were teens. So we didn't even have any children of our own to fill out the house. We knuckled down and doubled our mortage payments and paid off our mortgage early as our 13th anniversary present. We literally paid it off on our anniversary. Right now we're putting our efforts into renovations and making the house the best it can be for buyers. We plan to sell in a few years(it mostly depends on the market). We'll just downsize to a nice small 1 bedroom(max. 2bed, and make 2nd an office) house. Something like our attic's setup(very open and loft-like), as that was when we felt the most at home. Heck, right now we live on the 1st floor of our house, and have turned the dining room into our bedroom. I kind of feel sorry for the house, as it deserves a family with kids.

 

 

So after telling my life's story;) ... Yes, I have a seperate room for the case and will use it for the Norco til I can swap out the fans. I guess the moral of the story is plans are great, but you have to be willing to adapt. That goes for houses, life and especially computer builds.  

/justme

[justme]

It looks like the free rails aren't included(no longer show up) with the case now, so you may want to take that into account when ordering. They show(invoice,tracking#,etc.) up in my order from Wed., but it looks like NewEgg decided not to include them in new orders. So be happy you ordered yesterday, if you wanted the rails included.

 

Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to make sure people saw this. I also editted the first post to include this info.

 

/justme

[talmania]

My thanks to the OP for the post--just placed an order for the 4220 and the soon to be released (hopefully!) fan bracket.  I'll just buy a second unit in a few years when this one fills up! 

[Matt Foley]

Yeah, I have the case in the guest room with the door closed until the fanplate comes.  My father-in-law is coming Halloween weekend, so I am hoping that the fanplate doesn't come until November.  Trying to sleep with that thing in the room should discourage future visits.

[Joe L.]

Yeah, I have the case in the guest room with the door closed until the fanplate comes.  My father-in-law is coming Halloween weekend, so I am hoping that the fanplate doesn't come until November.  Trying to sleep with that thing in the room should discourage future visits.

One unRAID forum member had a house-guest throw a blanket over the server to quiet it so they could sleep.

 

The server overheated and was damaged.

 

Be sure to take all extra blankets and quilts out of the guest room to discourage the same kind of noise muffling attempt. 

 

Joe L.

[prostuff1]

If my father was staying in the same room as a very loud server/computer he would probably just get up and pull the power plug on it unless specifically told not to.  Even then he would probably wake me up and tell me he was going to pull the plug on the computer so that he could sleep.