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Forums › IT Pro and developers › Recommend a case for a home office server rebuild
openmedia

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#285833 20-May-2021 13:36
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I'm after a case for my home office server refresh. The lack of newer AMD APUs has delayed the build for a while and  during this time a lot of the interesting cases have disappeared.

 

Requirements

 

  • Minimum 6 x 3.5" drives - more is better
  • minimum 2 x 2.5" drives (in addition to the 3.5")
  • Quiet or near silent

I'm looking at either a B560 or B550 motherboard depending on CPU availability and need to re-use my existing RAID-6 array, hence the 3.5" bays.

 

Currently the Phanteks Eclipse P500 and P600 appear to be the best options available - but I'm open to other suggestions.,




Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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davidcole
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  #2710223 20-May-2021 15:08
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Mount it exposed on a piece of wood, in a drawer....




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openmedia

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  #2710299 20-May-2021 18:19
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davidcole:

 

Mount it exposed on a piece of wood, in a drawer....

 

 

Interesting approach. Do you have photos of your version?

 

Don't think it will meet my WAF requirements.




Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

JWR

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  #2710325 20-May-2021 19:27

I have had good success with Fractal Design's Define series of cases.

 

- They have good sound dampening.

 

- With or without tempered glass sides.

 

- 3 case sizes: compact, std or XL.

 

Fractal Design are up to the R7 (Seventh) version now. But, the older ones have more 5 1/4 - 3 1/2 bays in the smaller case sizes. There isn't so much demand for lots of HDD space these days.

 

 



timmmay
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  #2710343 20-May-2021 20:39
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I have Fractal Design R5. I've had to put quite a bit of thin rubber dampers in there to stop vibrations - between the drive cages and the chassis, on the front air filter, and a few other places I don't remember. I probably wouldn't buy it again, but I'd look at newer models and see what reviews were like, because other than noise it's a good case with plenty of space and good cable routing. What I'd actually buy next time is anything by "Be Quiet" but not much is stocked in New Zealand, shipping can be US$200 :(

 

My 5600X idles at 33 degrees tonight and gets to 65 under load, and I keep fan speeds low. I got the "Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4" which is much, much quieter than the Noctua cooler I had first on this PC. My old Noctua cooler was awesome but the new one made annoying noises.

davidcole
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  #2710434 21-May-2021 06:56
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openmedia:

 

davidcole:

 

Mount it exposed on a piece of wood, in a drawer....

 

 

Interesting approach. Do you have photos of your version?

 

Don't think it will meet my WAF requirements.

 

 

 

 

I took a regular case and cut out just the motherboard mount.

 

https://flic.kr/p/2kZKm6C

 

then mounted it to a sliding shelf in a kitchen cabinet

 

https://flic.kr/p/2kZAfqe

 

 

 

Final install.

 

https://flic.kr/p/2kZKA4C

 

cables look ugly, because the top shelf also moves, so you need slack in the hard drive sata cables.

 


but for you in an office, you’d want to mount it in a draw, if not a rack or standalone e cabinet. https://linustechtips.com/topic/77856-desktop-drawer-gaming-pc-codename-namu/

 

EDIT: In a fit of "I MUST BE PRIVATE" I started removing stuff from google photos....hence why they're missing.




Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight 

timmmay
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  #2710453 21-May-2021 07:47
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David, those images don't show for me. Have a look in a private browsing tab perhaps.

 
 
 
 

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gehenna
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  #2710458 21-May-2021 08:03
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openmedia:

 

davidcole:

 

Mount it exposed on a piece of wood, in a drawer....

 

 

Interesting approach. Do you have photos of your version?

 

Don't think it will meet my WAF requirements.

 

 

I quite like this open design.  And it's just been updated so you can mount an aio on the front. 

 

XTIA DESIGN

xpd

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  #2710461 21-May-2021 08:14
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timmmay:

 

David, those images don't show for me. Have a look in a private browsing tab perhaps.

 

 

Same here - "Album is empty"

 

 




XPD / Gavin

 

LinkTree

 

 

 

ratsun81
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  #2710468 21-May-2021 08:37
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Have a look at the Fractal Node 804.

 

Ive not used it but found it after a quick search and seems to be popular for home NAS solutions...

Yoban
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  #2710486 21-May-2021 08:58
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ratsun81:

 

Have a look at the Fractal Node 804.

 

Ive not used it but found it after a quick search and seems to be popular for home NAS solutions...

 

 

Agree here - Node 804 gets some good feedback and used a fair bit. Comes with a bit more flexibility than the smaller Node 304.

 

https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/cases/fractal-design-node-804-review/1/

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/builds/by_part/yTdqqs

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktK83na26go - good overview of a build for plex box

rb99
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  #2710589 21-May-2021 10:24
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Node 804 is micro-ATX though ?




“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

rb99

 
 
 
 

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openmedia

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  #2710651 21-May-2021 10:55
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rb99:

 

Node 804 is micro-ATX though ?

 

 

 

 

mATX is fine. I don't really need a full ATX board.




Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

rb99
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  #2710667 21-May-2021 11:20
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I'm happy with my Fractal R5, but that probably doesn't matter, as you can't get them here. The Phanteks seem fine to me for storage, though it seems you need to get extra trays, which hopefullly you can actually get, and it doesn't have any 5.25" bays which you might not care about anyway. Never had one though.




“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

rb99

Lias
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  #2710754 21-May-2021 12:42
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Mine are in these:

 

https://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/3U/?chs=836

 

Probably overkill for you thou :-)




I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

davidcole
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  #2710773 21-May-2021 13:10
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Yeah sorry, decided this mornign after posting those images, that now was a great time to start exiting google photos....

 

Updated the links with flickr.

 

 




Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight 

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