New tower case

[Noego]

Hey UNRAID'ers. 

 

I want to get a new case for my UNRAID system. At the moment I am using a huge NZXT Phantom 630. 
I want something smaller but still with enough room for harddrives.

At the moment I have 5 drives. 4x3.5" and 1x2.5", but I also have 1x 5.25" optical drives which I use to rip my dvds and blurays.

- And then I have my CPU cooler - The BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4, which I would like to keep given that it's only 3 months old.

My current build can be seen here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/louisjunker/saved/P6tcqs

 

I have been looking at something like the Silverstone CS380 (https://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=709&area=en#undefined2) or even better something like the Fractal Node 804 (https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/node/node-804/black/), but in the Node 804 I am missing the 5.25" bay, and in the CS380 I don't think I can fit my BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4.

 

What I would like is:

Small case with:

1x 5.25" bay

At least 6x 3.5" bays (would like them with hotswap)

One or two 2.5" bays.

 

Does anybody have a case they can recommend?

Prefer something silent without windows and RGB.  

Regarding the build I am considering to do some updates with something like Ryzen 5 3600x and the AsRock Taichi - or something like that. 

 

/ Noego

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Noego

[Hoopster]

4 hours ago, Noego said:

I have been looking at something like the Silverstone CS380 (https://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=709&area=en#undefined2) or even better something like the Fractal Node 804 (https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/node/node-804/black/), but in the Node 804 I am missing the 5.25" bay, and in the CS380 I don't think I can fit my BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4.

I have the Silverstone CS380 so I can tell you what I like about it and what I do not.

 

First let's get the negatives out of the way:

• CPU cooler height is limited to 146mm (as you already know).  I am currently using a Be Quiet Shadow Rock TF2 cooler as it is only 112mm tall.  Another option is the Cryorig H7 Plus at 145mm in height (or the H7 with only one fan). Yet another option is the Noctua NH-U9S
• If you want to use a USB drive in the front, the door has to be open; not a huge deal for me
• Graphics card length is limited to 9.5"; again, not a huge deal for me as my CPU has an integrated GPU for hardware transcoding.  If I need a graphics card there are plenty of good ones a less than that length as I am not a gamer
• It is recommended to do some case modifications to improve drive cooling; I made these modifications and they work well

Now, here's what I really like about the case:

• It's relatively short at less than 17".  It does not feel like a huge case
• The 8 front-accessible hot-swap bays make accessing drives extremely easy when you want to add or replace a drive (even though I never actually hot swap)
• 2 5.25" bays; I have an optical drive in one for MakeMKV and a 4x2.5" SSD caddy in the other
• It's a nice looking case
• Cable management options are good for a case this compact

Overall, I am very pleased with it.

 

I also have a Fractal Node 304 (the smaller sibling of the Node 804).  I  am not a fan of the disk hangers at it makes accessing and cabling the drives a real pain.  However, it does make for an efficient use of internal space. Fortunately, that is my backup server case and I rarely have to get inside the case.  It sits in a corner of my basement out of sight and out of mind as all backups to it are automatic.

 

Just some food for thought.  I hope you find what you need.

[Noego]

Thanks @Hoopster!

 

I really like the cooling effect of my Dark Rock Pro 4, which is the biggest problem for me right now, in regards of the CS380.

Regarding the Node 804, I actually think that the small space would make me crazy if I had to open it up after I closed it. 😅

I don't know if I should rethink my whole setup and go for the CS380. 

 

Do you know if there is any similar cases as the CS380?

 

[Hoopster]

6 minutes ago, Noego said:

Do you know if there is any similar cases as the CS380?

The only thing similar to the CS380 are the tower cases that used to exist a few years ago (such and the Antec 1200) that had 5.25" bays top to bottom.

 

You could insert 5 in 3 or 4 in 3 hot swap cages in these that converted 3 5.25" bays into 4 or 5 hotswap hard drives.  Unfortunately, no one is making these any more as optical drives (the primary use for 5.25" bays) are not as common as they used to be.

 

As far as any case that has front-accessible HDD hotswap bays AND 5.25" bays, the CS380 is the only one of which I am aware.  There are the U-NAS cases in various sizes but they do not have any 5.25" bays.

[Harro]

I have a Cooler Master 590 with three 5x3 cages that I use. If this case is enough here is an ebay listing for one. Not mine but similar.

 Cooler Master 590

Edited March 23, 2020 by Harro

[Hoopster]

2 minutes ago, Harro said:

 Cooler Master 590

@Noego The 590 is a great case, but, your Dark Rock Pro 4 would still not fit in that as the CPU cooler height limit is 159mm and your monster cooler is 162.8mm in height.  You chose a big one! 😀

 

Still, that is a nice case at a nice price if you want to do the modifications and purchase 5 in 3 cages.

[Noego]

I have never worked with something like the 5x3 cages.

How are they in regards of cooling? And can you recommend any specific brands and models?

 

@Hoopster Yes it's kinda starting to show that my "I need a super cooler" wasn't the best brainfart I ever had 😅

[Hoopster]

2 minutes ago, Noego said:

I have never worked with something like the 5x3 cages.

How are they in regards of cooling? And can you recommend any specific brands and models?

I have personally never used 5x3 cages but I know many of them come with cooling fans on the cages.  You would probably want that to cool the drives as these cages often take the place of cooling fans at the front of the case.  You also want to make sure there are enough other case fans to cool the motherboard and expansion cards.

 

Perhaps @Harro can help you with details of the 5x3s he uses.  You can also search these forums.  There are many discussions and recommendations for 5x3 and 4x3 cages.

[Harro]

1 hour ago, Noego said:

I have never worked with something like the 5x3 cages.

How are they in regards of cooling? And can you recommend any specific brands and models?

 

@Hoopster Yes it's kinda starting to show that my "I need a super cooler" wasn't the best brainfart I ever had 😅

I use the Norco cages in my main server and also use an Icy Dock in my back up server.   Here is my main server with the Norco's.

 

The cooling on the Norco have kept my drives pretty steady at between 19-41c depending on the time of the year. The fans are loud and I had switched them out for quieter ones but the temps on drives went up too much, so switched back to the factory fans. My server is in my attic and it does get very hot up there and during the summer I have an oscillating fan that blows on the front of the cages. This has kept all my temps down, even while a parity check is running. I like the Norco over the Icy Dock but from a quick search on google haven't found any available.  Norco uses sata power and the Icy Dock uses Molex connections for power. Also the Icy dock needs a drive in all the slots in order to power up . At least it did with mine. The Norco will power the drives even if the cage is not full.  

Not the prettiest wiring but it works. I also added an extra 2 drives in the inside, which I now use as parity.

[Noego]

Thanks @Harro! I have a side-question. What card do you use to add that many hard drives? 

I can't seem to find the Norco in Denmark (small country in Europe), so I might need to go with the Icy Dock, but the Norcos seems a lot more appealing.

[Harro]

4 minutes ago, Noego said:

Thanks @Harro! I have a side-question. What card do you use to add that many hard drives? 

I can't seem to find the Norco in Denmark (small country in Europe), so I might need to go with the Icy Dock, but the Norcos seems a lot more appealing.

I started with 2 HP 200 cards and last year changed to a LSI 9300-16i. I am using 12 of the 16 lanes on the LSI with the additional drives coming from the sata on motherboard. With this combination my parity checks have been running over 150 MB/s and taking about 18.5 hours.  I am happy with these numbers seeing as I have 150TB to check when I run parity.

[Noego]

Unfortunately the CS380 isn't available anywhere in Denmark... Could it make sense to build a small case based on ther Fractal Design Core 500, with the 5.25 optical drive, and only use that for MakeMKV ripping of bluray? My idea is to just build it with second-hand parts and then maybe add 2x 1tb drives, with one for parity.

Then make another case as my primary server with a larger case, where the front is hot swap drives? 

 

Edit:

I have found this second-hand https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7QQgq3, to around 3000DKK (being 435USD and 400Euro). I am considering to do that, but rebuild it into the Core 500?

Be aware that prices in Denmark is a bit higher than in the USA.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Noego

[Noego]

So to update on this "problem". 

 

I have ordered new parts, to build a second system. Which will be a ripping-station and my comming living-room VR gaming rig. 😅 Thanks for all the help guys!

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/list/JZY6yk

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor 
CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Max 55.78 CFM CPU Cooler 
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  (1831.00kr @ CDON DK) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (648.00kr @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (764.00kr @ Alternate) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 500 Mini ITX Desktop Case  (939.69kr @ Newegg Denmark) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (1325.43kr @ Newegg Denmark) 
Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer 
Total: 6882.12kr