Quiet tower case for 8+ HDDs?

[ddrueding]

I'm getting rid of my 2TB TeraStation in favor of returning to local storage; it's too slow even over GbE and has a disquieting rumble on a ~1s interval that is most annoying.

I have 2 Raptors in RAID-0 for the OS (yeah, yeah...) and at least 4 750GB hard drives for data to start, probably at least another 2 coming soon.

My current case (seriously modded Antec P180B) does theoretically support that many drives, but if you use more than 4 you need to use the upper drive chassis; which seriously impedes the air coming into the Mobo/GPU area.

I'm considering the Lian Li PC-V2000Bplus II with it's 12 internal hard drive mount points, but I'm concerned that the drives aren't soft-mounted (like the are in the Antec) and that the case itself is made of aluminum, instead of something more soundproof.

Thoughts?

 

[ddrueding]

At least it has space to add more drives? Thoughts?

 

[Mercutio]

My "standard" case for non-rackmount computers is one very similar to the Antec SLK3800, which takes seven 3.5" drives. The ones I have were made by Chieftec, and do not have drive rails for the 5.25" bays. When I am pressed, I use some really nifty solid-piece heat-sink 3.5 to 5.25" rails to hold extra drives.

I'm not a big fan of drive rails normally, but they work for what you need.

I can't say I have a silent SLK3800, but they are pretty quiet on their own, other than the drive noise. I particularly like that there's a spot for a 120mm fan in front of the 5-bay drive cage on that case; I notice my drives stay VASTLY cooler when mounted in one of those than in the four-bay cage on a P180.

 

[CougTek]

I'm considering the Lian Li PC-V2000Bplus II with it's 12 internal hard drive mount points, but I'm concerned that the drives aren't soft-mounted (like the are in the Antec) and that the case itself is made of aluminum, instead of something more soundproof.

Thoughts?

Buy the Lian Li and put it in a wardrobe. You won't hear it. If it's still not good enough, wrap it in mineral wool.

 

[mubs]

If you're going to have that many drives, noise is going to be a problem anyway. You can Dynamat the Lian-Li; I have extensively in my Antec 1030 and the case itself neither produces sound nor amplifies it. All the noise is from drives and fans, and you can control both by choosing the parts judiciously. I've Dynamatted the side panels, top and bottom panels, and wherever there is contiguous metal inside the case. It weighs a ton, but is quiet.

 

[ddrueding]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll look at the new Lian Li V Series PC-V2100B Plus II if I can find it for sale somewhere. Otherwise I'll likely get the old version.

 

[Bozo]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll look at the new Lian Li V Series PC-V2100B Plus II if I can find it for sale somewhere. Otherwise I'll likely get the old version.

Is that a BTX case? Everything looks backwards!

Bozo :joker:

 

[ddrueding]

Is that a BTX case? Everything looks backwards!

It's ATX, but the motherboard is upside-down; this keeps the GPU heat from rising into the CPU cooler and puts the hot components of any expansion cards facing up, so it isn't trapped under the cards. I think it's a good idea.

 

[Mercutio]

Turns out my heat sink rail thingies were made by BlueGears.

 

[ddrueding]

Those do look nice Merc. How do you think they compare to the heatpipe ones made by Zalman? The last time I had a drive array in a quiet computer, I removed the drive rack completely and suspended some drives mounted in these; it actually worked pretty well.

 

[Mercutio]

No clue, but I'll bet the ones I got are a lot cheaper than that Zalman thing. I think Bluegears rails are $11 or $12 for a set of two.

 

[ddrueding]

Yup. The Zalman ones are double that.

 

[ddrueding]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll look at the new Lian Li V Series PC-V2100B Plus II if I can find it for sale somewhere. Otherwise I'll likely get the old version.

Well, I got this case, and I'm not happy with it. I have 11 drives installed now, and the closest noise/temp balance I can achieve is enough fan noise to muffle the HDDs and 50C drive temps. Neither is acceptable IMHO. The primary issue is that the drive area has a crappy fan arrangement; a 120mm fan in front that has practically nowhere to draw air from, and a pair of 80mm fans in the rear that aren't able to create sufficient airflow without sounding like jet engines. I've thrown in about 25lbs of dynamat extreme, and the case itself is pretty darn quiet. It's just not able to do what I need.

My next chassis will be purchased with my new motherboard (not sure, but something S775 with 3 16x PCIe slots) and a general system update. I'm suspecting that I will end up going back to something like my old setup, a coolermaster stacker with a bunch of hotswap SATA 5-in-3 racks in it. It won't be silent, but it will be better than what I have now.

Suggestions?

 

[Dïscfärm]

I use a very similar Supermicro case (an SC-942) to the SC-743 below.

Supermicro SC942


I have my SC-942 setup to allow 5-each SAS/SATA and 5-each SATA drives (capable of housing 10 hard drives) in 2 separate hot-plug SCA bays, along with a front panel 5.25-inch USB + Firewire bay, an LG DVD+-R/W/RAM drive, and a Yamaha CRWF1Z CD-R/W drive. All of this is in a mid-tower case! I have just a 450-watt power supply.

The case below has the 645 "low-noise" power supply. However, this has the drives in a vertical layout as opposed to my pair of 5-drive SCA SAS and SATA bays.

Supermicro SC743T-645


You can get the above chassis with up to a 1000-watt power supply (redundant load-sharing).



NewEgg = US$419
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152047


This place here (in Fremont) = US$359
http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2148&step=4

 

[ddrueding]

Damn, dupe...sorry.

 

[ddrueding]

The 942 looks like a nice case; I've used the Supermicro SATA hot swap thingies before with great success. Unfortunately, they do nothing to dampen vibrations and the stock fan is really, really loud. The fan is also not a standard size and if you do put a slower fan in, you also need to play with the jumpers or the alarm sounds continuously.

I just came into possession of a Cooler Master Stacker, so I suspect that I will be filling every bay with a Zalman Heatpipe/vibration damping adapter and put some really slow 120mm fans behind them. Buying $250 worth of hard drive cooling equipment does seem a bit crazy...maybe I'll try the ones Merc listed above.

 

[mangyDOG]

The Supermicro SC743T-645 uses server grade 8cm 6000rpm cooling fans, so it isn't on the quiet side. It is a great case as it can also be rack mounted but I wouldn't put it under your desk. I'm getting an SC-942 soon for my office so I hope the 12cm fans in it are reasonably quiet.

cheers,
mangyDOG

 

[mangyDOG]

I also just remembered, according to the supermicro website when using the SM 5in3 drive enclosures you disconnect the integrated fan and use the SC-942 12cm cooling fans, this should keep the noise down significantly.

cheers,
mangyDOG.

 

[Santilli]

HMMMM.

I've used the SCSI version of the 5 drive hot swap bay, and, replaced the fan with a Vantec Stealth, IIRC. The original fan was industrial strength, and, built like a tank. Sounded like one as well. I don't remember the fan being a special size...
No alarm problems, either.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5...minum_Cube_Case_-_Black.html?tl=c7s12b3#blank

My workstation case is nearly the same as this one, above, but with room for 17 drives.

I'd also look at something with SATA hotswaps, like this:

http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg56_satahot-swapbackup8.htm

I use the single drive version, and, it's fantastic for storage. Just swap the drive in, and, you don't seem to get the drive trauma you do with the Supermicro cases, the alarm going off, having to get into the bios to fix it, etc.

Dr. S

 

[Bozo]

I also use the Supermicro 5-n-3 hot swap chassis. I replaced the fan with a 92mm Antec temperature controlled unit. The fan speed increases with temperature rise. 99% of the time it just idles.
With the P180 case, there is a mount for a 120mm fan in front of the upper hard drive enclosure. I move the fan from the power supply area up to the upper hard drive mount. Then I install a 80mm fan in front of the lower hard drive encloser. I use wire ties to hold the fan to the grill.
Quiet as a mouse.
You could put the 5-n-3 chassis in a P180.

Bozo :joker:

 

[ddrueding]

Well, I happen to have a P180 chassis lying around as well. So many choices.

 

[Santilli]

Well, I happen to have a P180 chassis lying around as well. So many choices.

A 180 would give you 6 drives fixed in the lower bay.

You could use the front mounted slots for 3-4 drives with removable caddies for storage. Advantage is you wouldn't be using the storage drives all the time, and, you wouldn't have the wear on them as well.

Two drives for boot, raid 0, 3 drives for games, in the lower bay, with one drive for storage. Then 3-4 Terrabyte size drives in removable caddies on the front for storage.

I like it. Maybe I'll do a system like that...the movie machine revisted.

With the R2D2 case that goes under my case, one could hack in a rear mounted Supermicro 5 drive box, in the back, or, have 5 drives in the front, and, fill the back slots with drives as well, though you have to make sure it doesn't get too crowded. I've since removed the drives that face the back of the case, and, just use the front mounted removable SATA, and, the 5 drives in the removable scsi bay.

I will say the removable SATA drives are not prone to the corruption I get when I remove a functioning scsi drive from the Supermicro box. Machine has to be shut down, and, the drives removed, and unmounted in the bios, or, I get alarms, and all sorts of not so fun things happening.

Last time this happened, 2003 server rebuilt 2 drives, and, managed to keep most of the data stored on them.

 

[ddrueding]

I actually am aiming for more spacing between the drives than I get using either the Supermicro hot swap or the P180's lower drive cage. I think the Zalman coolers (one per 5.25" bay) will give ample spacing between them. The heatpipes also increase the surface area, and that has to be a good thing. I'll probably do an array of 6 120mm 800rpm Scythe S-Flex FDB fans behind the drives and open up the rear of the chassis for a wind tunnel-like effect.

 

[ddrueding]

I don't need hot-swap at all, and all the drives are pretty much working all the time so powering them down isn't needed either. I typically have some downloads going, winamp drawing from the data array, a game (either playing or minimized to the start bar), and of course the OS.

 

[[Edit]]

In my Supermicro SC-942 case, I swapped out the stock fan in the SCA drive bay with a quiet slower spinning fan (has a purple label on motor -- can't recall brand at the moment). I also removed the hot-plug chassis fan that would have normally been right behind the SCA drive bay, as there was no use for it in my setup. In fact, I easily removed all three of those hot-plug fan modules, by pushing the little thumb retainer and pulling straight up out of their slot.

On the back of the chassis I have a large (105 mm?) s-l-o-w turning "windmill" <chuckle> fan. It's also that same brand with the purple label on the motor.

This chassis is not wide or tall at all. Being a rackmountable chassis (with optional rail kit and front ears and handles) it's just under 19 inches wide at 17 inches (44 cm) tall. However, the chassis is fairly deep. The depth does not pose a problem for me, but it could for someone in a tight little office.