Antec P180, three smartdrives and some cable management.
Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:47 am
In an attempt to get better temperatures, sound levels, cable management and a nicer case, I have replaced my old chieftec case with a P180. This has also coincided with my acquisition of a new digital camera, so I'm able to show you the results.
Here's the standard view, as you can see I have two smartdrives in the lower cage and one smartdrive where the upper cage used to be. I also have two optical drives, a floppy and a 5 1/4" temperature monitor, so there's a lot of cabling I needed to do. The fans were actually turning when I took this picture, but apparently not too fast for my camera, also, above the smartdrives, you can see a Fanta bottle, ignore it.
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention, don't use a thumbscrew to secure the lower drive cage, you won't be able to close the door, and if you get the door shut, it might jam when you try to open it, mine did, and I almost broke one of the hinges.
I initially thought I'd suspend the smartdrives in the lower cage with the type of shock cord that I used to restrain the upper smartdrive, but I realised the suspension would have to have a margin of error of about 5 mms, or it would just lie on top of the elastics, so I ditched that idea, because it would be too much work. Instead, I decided to just place them on top of four (eight in total) of the grommets Antec provided, they are very soft, so they work very well. Between the top of the upper smartdrive and the top of the drive cage I slid a piece of polystyrene to prevent the drives from moving around.
Between the back of the smartdrives and the fan there is a clearing of about half an inch, this means the cabling is very close to the fan, I'm guessing about 1-2 mms.
I used aluminium tape to keep the unused cables and slack out of the way. Here, you can see that I've connected the lower fan to the temperature controlled PSU fan output (the blue wire and a black wire), so the lower fan will usually be off. Also, I passed the power cable for the two smartdrives through the hole beside the fan.
Here you can see some of the cabling, I passed the unused audio cables and IEEE 1394 up into a space between the optical drives and the extension of the motherboard plate.
On each side of the floppy drive, there is an unused space that can be used for hiding cables, the one towards the back is perfect for hiding the slack for the case cables. I didn't mention it before, but the upper smartdrive is also placed on four grommets, and the shock cord has some tension to it, so the drive is quite stuck, I could probably turn the case upside down.
This is how I attached the shock cord to the case. And I really like the super macro mode of my new camera, the 2304x1728 picture is insane!
I also got a new keyboard and mouse, so now my system looks pretty leet.
Here's the standard view, as you can see I have two smartdrives in the lower cage and one smartdrive where the upper cage used to be. I also have two optical drives, a floppy and a 5 1/4" temperature monitor, so there's a lot of cabling I needed to do. The fans were actually turning when I took this picture, but apparently not too fast for my camera, also, above the smartdrives, you can see a Fanta bottle, ignore it.
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention, don't use a thumbscrew to secure the lower drive cage, you won't be able to close the door, and if you get the door shut, it might jam when you try to open it, mine did, and I almost broke one of the hinges.
I initially thought I'd suspend the smartdrives in the lower cage with the type of shock cord that I used to restrain the upper smartdrive, but I realised the suspension would have to have a margin of error of about 5 mms, or it would just lie on top of the elastics, so I ditched that idea, because it would be too much work. Instead, I decided to just place them on top of four (eight in total) of the grommets Antec provided, they are very soft, so they work very well. Between the top of the upper smartdrive and the top of the drive cage I slid a piece of polystyrene to prevent the drives from moving around.
Between the back of the smartdrives and the fan there is a clearing of about half an inch, this means the cabling is very close to the fan, I'm guessing about 1-2 mms.
I used aluminium tape to keep the unused cables and slack out of the way. Here, you can see that I've connected the lower fan to the temperature controlled PSU fan output (the blue wire and a black wire), so the lower fan will usually be off. Also, I passed the power cable for the two smartdrives through the hole beside the fan.
Here you can see some of the cabling, I passed the unused audio cables and IEEE 1394 up into a space between the optical drives and the extension of the motherboard plate.
On each side of the floppy drive, there is an unused space that can be used for hiding cables, the one towards the back is perfect for hiding the slack for the case cables. I didn't mention it before, but the upper smartdrive is also placed on four grommets, and the shock cord has some tension to it, so the drive is quite stuck, I could probably turn the case upside down.
This is how I attached the shock cord to the case. And I really like the super macro mode of my new camera, the 2304x1728 picture is insane!
I also got a new keyboard and mouse, so now my system looks pretty leet.