If I have the opportunity to buy one more full-sized computer case in this lifetime, what should it be? The case should have space for 14 hard drives and one optical drive. It should have decent cooling, but not monsoon force air noise. However, I am less interested in quietness from the internal fans, than reducing the noise generated by hard drives from being heard outside the case. (I am rather sensitive to drive spindle whine.) Based on the case location - under the table and directly left of my leg - it is best to avoid cases with top-mounted fans or panels, or openings on the right side. I can live with a black case since nobody is into subtle colors like beige anymore, but I can’t stand the brushed metal ones finished like the crummy DeLorean car. I don’t want one that looks like a pimp mobile either. A case should be easy to work in, especially swapping hard drives, though the motherboard would rarely be replaced. Thanks.
The Last Case
- Thread starter LunarMist
- Start date
I have one of these in black with all accessories I am not using, yours for the cost of shipping which might be significant but there it is. It has dynomat slapped in relevant locations plus caster wheels. Has decent fans (can't remember what) but no power supply.
http://www.yeongyang.com/yy-0221.htm
http://www.modthebox.com/review241_1.shtml
Used to have a 8 drive RAID5 array in there but ever sense terabyte drives got cheap no longer needed.
http://www.yeongyang.com/yy-0221.htm
http://www.modthebox.com/review241_1.shtml
Used to have a 8 drive RAID5 array in there but ever sense terabyte drives got cheap no longer needed.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
I don't know if this suggestion is in the ballpark, but a Chenbro SR-103 meets all your requirements. The only problem is, I'm sure they've stopped making them...
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
ddrueding
Fixture
That is a whole lot of drives. I would be leaning towards a Cooler Master Stacker full of SATA hotswap racks. That is probably the best in terms of flexability. If you can get by with less drives, I'd point you towards an Antec P190/1200. Best in terms of layout, thermals, acoustics, aesthetics, etc. Plus enough power for a mess of drives and other bits.
Stereodude
Not really a
Why would you only have one more opportunity to buy a case? I'm confused...
Would it make more sense to buy a basic computer case and a separate array case just for your storage drives? I don't have any examples off hand, but I'm sure they make interface cables you can connect to an array case. This way you won't be so tied in to just one case if you ever want to replace the system case and leave the array case in tact.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
He could be your grand daddy.
No, I'm not that old. 
I only have a rare opportunity to have large items brought inside and up, unless it is furniture or something delivered like that. Sometimes a UPS guy can help a little. A huge box with a 25KG computer case would not be fun.
I only have a rare opportunity to have large items brought inside and up, unless it is furniture or something delivered like that. Sometimes a UPS guy can help a little. A huge box with a 25KG computer case would not be fun.
Lunar, have you looked at the Lian Li PC-A77 case?
It seems to fit your requirements.
It seems to fit your requirements.
- It's black and not at all a pimp mobile, in fact it looks very conservative and nice IMHO. It does not have a top fan.
- 12 x 5.25 front/external bays.
- 9 x 3.5 internal bays (Use 6 bays of 5.25 Space).
- 1 rear 120mm fan.
- 3 x 120mm fans attached to HDD cages.
- Integrated smart fan cooling with adjustable fan speeds based on temperature with alarm.
- Removable motherboard tray for easy access/install.
- Hard Disk mounted with latest Anti-Vibration System. Simply using thumb screws secure the rubber rings on the hard disk, and slide into the HDD rack.
- Can hold two power supplies.
Stereodude
Not really a
At least it doesn't hold the motherboard upside down. The Lian Li I have in my basement holds the motherboard upside down which makes for all sorts of headaches. I paid a lot of money for it, and I'd love to replace it cause it's a huge pain in the butt.
It's an older version of this.
The one I linked for Lunar seems to be very nice, but it's costly ~$500. What was the reasoning behind them mounting your motherboard upside down?? Was the I/O panel at the front of the case or was the board flipped on its horizontal axis?
ddrueding
Fixture
I have had a few that mounted the motherboard upside down. The main advantage was graphics card cooling; the GPU was finally on the top of the card, with plenty of space above it. I built a duct front-to-back that handled the CPU as it's own unit. It worked quite well.
Stereodude
Not really a
I have no idea, but it makes for a awful time routing PATA cables from an upside down 3ware RAID card to the bottom of the case. Especially when the PCI slot the 3ware card is in is at the edge of the motherboard. I'll have to take a picture later so you can marvel at their genius.
Stereodude
Not really a
A picture of the aforementioned brilliance:
That's a truly unique cluster F on that layout. Least they could have done is put the drives at the top or something. Does it even conform to BTX or is that just a lets try this project?
I rather like my huge case layout on the yeong yang, has a hole in that area that passes through so you can have a dozen drives but not need super long cables. I had ten drives in it all with standard PATA cables. Plus a PATA optical too. Down side is the thing is a double wide.
I rather like my huge case layout on the yeong yang, has a hole in that area that passes through so you can have a dozen drives but not need super long cables. I had ten drives in it all with standard PATA cables. Plus a PATA optical too. Down side is the thing is a double wide.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
The "english" text seems to have been written by one of my Chinese suppliers. Looks like Lian Li cannot afford to hire English-speaking PR employees. It's true that cut & paste to Babelfish is much cheaper.
Stereodude
Not really a
No idea if it conforms to BTX or not.
It wasn't so bad with a motherboard with 6 PCI slots. This new mobo only has 2 32-bit PCI slots and the southbridge HS prevents the 64-bit 3ware card from going into the 32-bit slot closest to all the drives.
Once I retire the PATA RAID and drives and go SATA I guess it won't matter.