Biggest fanless [case]?

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Quest
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:31 pm

Biggest fanless [case]?

Post by Quest » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:33 pm

Hi,

I own a hfx classic which is a decent sized casing, but am looking for something larger as I would like more space internally for a bigger PSU and maybe more harddisks.
Does anyone know of any larger casing that is fanless?

boost
Posts: 661
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:29 am
Location: de_DE

Re: Biggest fanless casing?

Post by boost » Tue Sep 04, 2012 1:24 am

The HFX classics holds three 3.5" drives and I've seen a build with a Seasonic X series PSU.
How much more do you need?

The HFX Power Nas holds five 3.5" drives in a hot-swap cage and a 2.5" internally. It doesn't have room for a large PSU.
These manufacturers make fanless system, they don't trust customers enough to assemble it themselves. Maybe you can still get these components if you ask?
http://www.deltatronic.de has a heatsink full tower case. Individual components are no longer listed, but the case and cpu cooler where about 800€ last I checked. the cooler for a 5870 was 300€.
www.ichbinleise.de makes fanless system in tower cases. I don't know if you can buy a case (and matching cpu cooler) individually.

I'm not sure what you want to do here. The 3.5" hard drives will be the loudest component, they are louder than quiet fans. The only reason for a larger PSU I can think of is a high-end graphic card, which cannot be could passively without A LOT of custom work.
There is a reason the HFX classic is the size it is. It has room for components that can be passively cooled with relative ease.

Quest
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:31 pm

Re: Biggest fanless casing?

Post by Quest » Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:18 pm

Thanks for responding. I am using a Seasonic PSU with my hfx classic by floating the PSU.
This is not optimal and the usage of one 'bay' is lost.

Am planning to do a jbod/raid with multiple SSDs (as 1-2tb are expensive now), and while 4 can fit into a single 5 inch bay, I think the additional cabling would also make a mess of things as things are really quite tight in there. The gf is complaining my only remaining standard harddisk is noisy in the room. :) As an alternative I guess I can consider PCIe SSDs...

Ideally I just want something similar, but much taller so I have more space on cable routing and future expansion.


As a side note, I primarily use this system for audio purposes and it's quite audible when the PSU is placed in a more stable position + cables are routed neater, so this is just a preference. I'd not mind something like the Level 10 system's size but unfortunately don't think its possible to do passive cooling on that. I guess something like the old Zalman TNN500 (though I've not seen the internals) might have been ok...

boost
Posts: 661
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:29 am
Location: de_DE

Re: Biggest fanless casing?

Post by boost » Wed Sep 05, 2012 12:34 am

Would it help to mount the 2.5" drives in the PCI slots?
Scythe has a simple plastic bracket that holds four drives. (Can't find on the egg maybe EOL?)
There are several (1) (2) hot swap cages for a single drive in one slot.
Short and angled cables might help, too.

Quest
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:31 pm

Re: Biggest fanless [case]?

Post by Quest » Sun Sep 09, 2012 7:06 pm

Never knew such an option existed! Thanks!

Another way is to put the PSU externally, and use internals only for components - would you happen to know of a power loom kit that could enable this?

flemeister
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:42 am
Location: Australia

Re: Biggest fanless [case]?

Post by flemeister » Sun Sep 09, 2012 7:17 pm

Perhaps you could use extension cables to achieve this (eg. Bitfenix individually sleeved extension cables, or even just generic ones)? PSU mounted externally, extension cables connected inside the case, and the meeting point between the two could be on the back panel of the case (use the hole where the PSU would usually get installed in the case). Maybe you could make a solid bracket that could hold the end of the extension cables in place securely, much like any modular PSU. This would make connecting/dis-connecting the cables easy.

Just an idea. :)

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