Server case - alternative to P180

[Tumlehund]

I'm about to setup a home server and I'm looking for a case. The machine will be running 24/7, and will primarily be serving files, web pages and ripping/burning.

I recently bought a P180 for my workstation and I'm extremely happy with it. So, I'm considering purchasing a 2nd case for my server, but I'm thinking there might be alternatives.

Since this machine won't be doing much hard work, maybe I can do with another case. I've been looking at the SLK3000B since it's pretty cheap and seems to provide a lot of bang for the buck.

I'm not quite sure what mobo/CPU to put in the box yet, but thinking of at cheap 939 CPU and an Asus board.

Obviously the Ninja is mandatory...

Any thoughts?

[nick705]

You can get an Antec Titan without PSU from certain outlets in the UK (not sure if the same goes for where you are), for about the same price as an SLK3000B (and of course much cheaper than a P180). It seems rather more solidly built, can house more drives in its standard configuration, and the HDD mounting cage looks like it has some interesting possibilities for a home-built drive suspension setup.

The downside is that it's rather large, as the name suggests...

[Tumlehund]

Wow looks pretty cool. Downside is that it uses 92mm fans for front intake but I'm not sure if this is really a problem. Seems to have lots of space for drives, which is good.

Not sure if I can find it here in Denmark without a PSU. With a PSU it's quite expensive here - more expensive than the P180

[derekva]

If you want to get really insane, you could always go for a Zalman TNN300 (but you'd spend around $700 just for the chassis!). No moving parts except the HDDs!

The Antec that Nick suggests is a good choice as well as is the Lian-Li PC-7077 series (http://www.lian-li.com/Product/Chassis/S_C_PC-7077A.htm.

I've got a noisy-ass 2U server in the garage that's currently powered down, so I'm on the opposite end of the scale, noise-wise.

[mathias]

You can get an Antec Titan without PSU from certain outlets in the UK (not sure if the same goes for where you are)

HAH! If only! It's about four times as expensive here, or about twice if you subtract the cost of the PSU which it's not available without.

[Tumlehund]

If you want to get really insane, you could always go for a Zalman TNN300 (but you'd spend around $700 just for the chassis!). No moving parts except the HDDs!

OMG it's a monster (yes, you're right that's insane, hehe)! I think that's not exactly what I'm looking for - even though it's probably provide totally silent operation, it's way too expensive.

The Antec that Nick suggests is a good choice as well as is the Lian-Li PC-7077 series (http://www.lian-li.com/Product/Chassis/S_C_PC-7077A.htm.

Now, this seems more like it! There's lots of 5.25" bays, and this could come in handy, if I decide to put "drawers" for hard disks in the case. What do you call these "drawers" anyway?

I see this case has to 80mm intake fans - not sure I like that, I'd prefer one 120mm fan instead. Maybe Lian Li has other cases that suit me better?

I've got a noisy-ass 2U server in the garage that's currently powered down, so I'm on the opposite end of the scale, noise-wise.

I wish I had a place to dump noisy hardware, but I'm in a small apartment, so that's out of the question

[nick705]

Now, this seems more like it! There's lots of 5.25" bays, and this could come in handy, if I decide to put "drawers" for hard disks in the case. What do you call these "drawers" anyway?

I see this case has to 80mm intake fans - not sure I like that, I'd prefer one 120mm fan instead. Maybe Lian Li has other cases that suit me better?

hmm... I sort of had the impression you were looking to economise on the case somewhat, but if you're happy spending Lian Li money that does open the field considerably...

If you want lots of space for hard drives I suppose the Coolermaster Stacker would be another option - it has 11 5.25" bays, and using 3 of the "4-in-3" modules (each of which incorporates a 120mm fan, and are not expensive) you could fit in up to 12 HDDs if you could stand the racket. It's definitely not the quietest solution out of the box, but its size and layout gives you many options for aftermarket modding if you don't mind rolling your sleeves up (the aluminium Lian Lis would almost certainly need similar attention if quietness is a priority). There's a new model (the Stacker 830) about to make its debut, but it looks even less ideal from a quieting point of view.

FWIW, I think true quietness and multiple hard drives (say four or more) just don't mix, or at least if they do, finding a solution is beyond my admittedly limited abilities. Even if each drive is individually quiet, when they get together to form a symphony orchestra they make themselves very obvious - it's particularly hard to avoid that horrible cyclic "whanging" caused by harmonic effects which you often get even with just two drives unless you pay a lot of careful attention to the way they're mounted...

[Tumlehund]

nick705, I really appreciate your nput!

hmm... I sort of had the impression you were looking to economise on the case somewhat, but if you're happy spending Lian Li money that does open the field considerably...

Heh... I guess you're right about me trying to economise. I didn't check prices on the Lian Li, but I see they're on the expensive side...

Also, I was considering the SLK3000B because it's cheap AND effective. This case might be the best choice.

If you want lots of space for hard drives I suppose the Coolermaster Stacker would be another option - it has 11 5.25" bays, and using 3 of the "4-in-3" modules (each of which incorporates a 120mm fan, and are not expensive) you could fit in up to 12 HDDs if you could stand the racket. It's definitely not the quietest solution out of the box, but its size and layout gives you many options for aftermarket modding if you don't mind rolling your sleeves up (the aluminium Lian Lis would almost certainly need similar attention if quietness is a priority). There's a new model (the Stacker 830) about to make its debut, but it looks even less ideal from a quieting point of view.

Looks like a nice case. Lots of space for drives and it seems people are very happy with it. Also seems to be a lot of options for modding, so it might be a good choice in the long run. I don't mind if it's a bit difficult to setup, after all I'm only going to once. However, the price of this case is the same as the P180, so the question is which is better noise-wise?

The Stacker 830 is even more expensive, so I don't think that will be an option for me.

FWIW, I think true quietness and multiple hard drives (say four or more) just don't mix, or at least if they do, finding a solution is beyond my admittedly limited abilities. Even if each drive is individually quiet, when they get together to form a symphony orchestra they make themselves very obvious - it's particularly hard to avoid that horrible cyclic "whanging" caused by harmonic effects which you often get even with just two drives unless you pay a lot of careful attention to the way they're mounted...

That's what I'm afraid of. To start off, I will be running either 2 drives in RAID 1, or I might just go ahead a go for 3 drives and RAID 5 right away. I'm considering the Promise EX8350 RAID controller and a couple of Western Digital WD4000YR, so I will be running 3 drives in near future with room for expansion.

I think the best choices so far is:
- Antec SLK3000B
- Antec P180
- Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-T01

I was thinking about getting a couple of these guys:
http://www.promise.com/product/product_ ... uct_id=113

However, number one priority in this rig is eliminating noise.

FWIW my current list of hardware is:
- S12 430W/500W
- Asus A8N-SLI Premium/AR8-MVP
- 1GB Value RAM
- EVGA 6200TC
- Athlon64 3200+ / X2 3800+
- Scythe Ninja
(still open for input)

[nick705]

I have an SLK3700AMB which is identical internally to the 3000B, and the stock drive-mounting method is *not* particularly quiet - the rubber grommets are just too hard, as has been discussed around here a few times. Switching to a P150 with its band suspension made a noticeable difference for me (2 drives, a WD Raptor and a Maxtor DM10+), both in reducing seek noise and low-level hum transmitted to the case. Furthermore, when I'd been fiddling around with even more drives (I had all five bays occupied at one point), I found that I needed to run a front 120mm Nexus fan at full speed to get decent airflow across and between the drives owing to the fact that they were stacked so closely together, and even then the top drive felt a bit warmer than I'd have ideally liked.

Another problem I found was with the overall depth of the case, and the positioning of the drive cage in relation to the front of the mobo and the IDE connectors. There was no problem actually getting everything in, but tidying the cabling was bit of a headache (2xSATA drives, 3xPATA drives plus an optical drive). Given the overall noise the setup was making, I decided that it wasn't meant to be, and ended up shipping the PATA drives out to a remote server out of earshot.

I really don't think the 3000B is ideal for a quiet server case, as it's just too small unless you're very ingenious - if you only have two drives you should be OK *provided* you can suspend the drives in some way (which is obviously less space-efficient than the standard cage), but if you're looking to further expand at some point you'd be better off with more working space to start off with.

Those removal drive bays give you a bit of a problem...to keep the drives cool enough, they incorporate whizzy little fans which you probably won't find very pleasant. And again, the drives will effectively be hard-coupled to the case, so you'll get all the hums, buzzes and resonances that implies.

As regards a comparison between the P180 and the Stacker, the P180 will be quieter without mods, although I imagine it would be more complicated to mod yourself if you decide it still isn't quiet enough...

[Tumlehund]

Hmmm, a bit disappointing, I had hoped the SLK3000B could be a cheap acceptable option, but if it's not possible to keep cool and sufficiently quiet, then I guess I need to look elsewhere. The case wil contain at least 3 hard drives and 1 optocal drive, and I might expand with 1 or 2 hard drives later on. There the case needs to able to handle this. If I understand you correctly, then the P150 is also not a choice for me.

Actually I was thinking that a slow moving 120mm Papst in front of the lower cage would be enough, since I'm going for a passively cooled GFX card which is literally not doing any work, but just sits there in case I need to plug in a monitor. Also, I was hoping that the drives could be kept quiet with the rubber grommets, but maybe I can swap them for something else?

I currently own a few 5.25" bays with rubber bands, maybe I can use those womehow? Of course, there needs to be enough 5.25" bays available, which is not the case in the SLK3000B.

Regarding the drive enclosures, I see your point, and I will not persue this idea any further, simply too much heat and too much noise. After all I'm not going to swap these drives that frequently - I hope!

Well, it seems the P180 could maybe be the choice then? Harddrive suspension is good. Airflow good and it should be pretty quiet. 4 drives in the lower compartment and I can add a few more in the top compartment, if necessary. What do you think?

[nick705]

Well, I should firstly point out that I don't own a P180 - my only knowledge of it is from what I've read on this forum, so I'm sure you know more about it than I do. There are some threads around here concerning P180s and mult-drive setups - in fact there's probably more been written about the P180 than every other case put together, so there's plenty to keep you occupied...

If I understand you correctly, what you're looking for is a case which can house several drives AND keep them cool AND keep them decently quiet enough to be used in a main living space...it's a tall order, and as I said it's one I haven't been able to manage satisfactorily, but I'd imagine the P180 stands at least as much chance as anything else of being able to make it happen.

Again I'm not sure about your local prices, but in the UK at least, the P180 isn't really *that* expensive, although I'm all for saving the pennies wherever possible - it's cheaper than a Stacker for instance.

I wouldn't use rubber bands for suspending drives incidentally - they have a tendency to harden, become brittle and snap, and especially if the HDD is working when it happens the results probably won't be pretty (in fact, there's a current thread concerning the P150's own drive suspension which is concerning me somewhat...) Also, you'd definitely need some kind of forced airflow across them if they're suspended in 5.25" bays, as they'd be out of the case's direct airflow path, and would additionally be thermally decoupled from the case itself so wouldn't be able to shed heat by conduction to the case material..

[Tumlehund]

Hehe... Yeah the P180 is defiantely "famous" - tons and tons have been written about this case. I remember quite a lot of stuff being written even BEFORE it was released So, I agree with you that there's a lot of material on the P180 to keep me well occupied for a looong time. I'll try to find some info on multi-drive setup. My current setup with the P180 is 2 250GB Hitachi drives in the lower compartment with a 600W S12 and the stock fan removed.

Hey, maybe you know a utility to read drive temperatures?

You understand me correctly, I want a case which can house several drives AND keep them cool AND keep them decently quiet enough to be used in a main living space... What's the problem?!

The P180 is also cheaper than the Stacker here - like £3-£4

I'll forget about the rubber band suspension and go for a P180-like HD cage setup. Seems to be safer!

[ronrem]

I recently saw the I-Star Nitro AX,and it is sweet. You get a door that is not flimsy plastic,with a real creative hinge system,the chassis is a few mills heavier than usual,which helps durability and silencing. it's 120mm fan ready with perhaps the only door duct I ever liked. It looks good,looks quality. Price is reasonable,especially if compared to most name full towers. One review is at modthebox.com,there's another with better pics at OC Modshop.com. Reviews at newegg are all very positive.

I saw the HD housings,but I'm confused about the part where you might get a Raid controller. Pretty much all 939 boards have some pretty good SATA Raid built in. Some,like an ECS KN 1 can do a 4 disc SATA 2 Raid...and a second 2 disc Raid,plus IDE's

[Tumlehund]

I-Star Nitro AX sure looks like a nice case. I looked at the pictures and quickly read the review at modshop.com and it looks like an option.. I can't find this case in Denmark, however, so I guess it's not an option

The onboard RAID solution are all pretty decent in RAID 0 and RAID 1 scenarios, but they're not good performers in RAID 5. Also they don't have the ability to dynamically expand the array when adding another drive and I'm also not sure about their hot swap ability.