Arcygenical00 Overhaul - Microfly Microserver

[Arcygenical]

Part 1 - Introduction

Well, It's official. I'm moving back into residence next year, and because of this, I need a smaller server. I've got roughly 3tb worth of space (1.5tb after mirroring) to host all my legally downloaded linux ISO's. This space, however, is in a centurion 5 case. Coupled with my freshly overdone Arcygenical01 system, it's just way too much space devoted to computers to live in a cramped dorm room.

So, I've decided that I need to condense my main server into something much smaller, something I can lock, and hide if need be. Because of this, I've settled on the following goals:

Things I need (would like?) to emphasize in this build:

1. Small!
2. Able to hold at least 5 Hard Drives to start, upgradeable to 7.
3. Be totally silent, and cool.
4. Look nice

So, due to this, I started off trying to find the perfect case to house the following components:

1. Biostar M7VIG Socket A MATX motherboard
2. AMD Athlon XP 3200 (I think?)
3. 1GB RAM in Dual Channel
4. 5 Hard Drives (2x 1TB SATA, 2x 500GB SATA, 1x 250gb IDE OS)
5. Silverstone 350w PSU

I looked at audio receivers to gut, speakers to pull apart, 3U chasses, etc... And finally I remembered I had a small, but nice, Ultra Microfly in pieces down in my parent's basement. Bingo.

So, over the next week and a half or so, I'll be cramming all of the above into the case, while trying to keep it very cool, and below 25dba. Should be relatively exciting for me, and perhaps you too.

Keep it locked, I've got lots to show you.

 

[Zero82z]

5-7 drives in a MicroFly? This should be interesting.

 

[Arcygenical]

Part 1 - Addendum


This is the only image I have so far (hey, I just started planning this mkay?) of the main bank of drives. The entire thing is cooled by 2 80mm fans run at 5v. I'll be shrouding the entire assembly so the air is forced through the drives, and out the exhaust fan . The two fans together run (I would estimate) at around 18dba, a full 7 dba less than the PSU. So far, so good!

The drives, however, load at around 35dba from 3 feet, so there will be a major amount of decoupling going on to keep them as silent as possible.

I've devised a mounting system that (should) make anything but the idle whirr of the drive totally silent.

Keep it locked, I've got lots to show you.

 

[lord_farfig]

Hmm, this looks quite interesting!

I enjoy 'servers' and small ones to boot!

I bet the HDDs would be the loudest part of a system like you're going to build... I have 4 seagates in a P180, and I can still hear them from across the room at night.

 

[Arcygenical]

I bet the HDDs would be the loudest part of a system like you're going to build... I have 4 seagates in a P180, and I can still hear them from across the room at night.

Yessir. I do believe that, without the hard drives, my case should idle at around 19dba, and load at 22dba. With them, it should jump up to around 31dba...

 

[Arcygenical]

Part 2 - HD Retention Cage

Uuuugh. So, turns out I actually have an X-qpack, rather than the Microfly. Luckily, these are pretty much the same case, just a little bit different in the dimensions category. But it definitely means I'll need a new PSU. Not a big deal though, my plans have only changed a tiny bit... I'll have to modify a PSU so it'll fit properly in this case, but other than that, this should be a piece of cake!

Until, ugh, I take a final look at the case, and find out that the dimensions are totally different from what I planned. Perfect. Well, time to improvise a new mounting system for the hard drive. :cries:

Actually, this works out in my favour. The system I planned on using in the beginning, a pressure mount drive rail system, I scrapped because I don't have a metal brake. But, it was by far a better system. Looks like I'll have to whip up a DIY brake, and get to work!

Alright, so first up, here's a look at the position of the two fans that will be supplying airflow to the drives. They JUST fit, and are totally silent at 5v. Wicked!

That bar on the left there (under the left fan) will be supporting the entire HD array, along with the middle section. Therefore, it has to come out and be decoupled from the case! Foam pads were added to both sides of it to help reduce shock from the hard-drive seeks and reads. This is one of MANY silencing steps.

Here it is installed, and additionally, here's one of the three crossbars that I've made up to support the array. It was drilled to a 6-32 thread, and then countersunk.

Here's an underside picture of the first bar, with the mounting system I'll be using to support it. A rubber washer, and a screw. Decoupling is the key to a silent hard drive array!

Here is the first crossbar installed. It only uses a tiny bit of padding, rather than the rubber grommet because it's the support for the fans.

Repeat that thrice, this time with grommets... (Ugh, bare aluminum looks ugly. I can't wait to paint this bastard!)

Cover two of the supports with thick 3/8" foam. You can see what I mean by a "pressure hold system" perhaps by this point.

Here is my crappy top support bar... I'm not really that happy with it, but due to the natural disparity in the heights of the crossbars (due to the way the case is designed, the middle lateral support is 0.4mm higher than the side one, for some odd reason) I had to curve it downwards on one side. After I file, sand, and paint it though, it should look quite a bit better .

Here's how it installs to the one side of the case (the right side of the optical drive support).

And here's how it installs inbetween the two padded crossbars. I've since removed that grommet, and replaced it with some triple thick foam (as there was a bit of vibration going on).

Here's a mockup with 3 dead drives of how the retention system works. So far so good, really, all the drives are in totally snug! All that's left is to shroud them (connect them all to a piece of plexiglas) for stability and to aid in cooling.

So, let's get ready to paint! Industrial detergents FTW.

Splayed, spread eagle, for your perverted eyes.

And totally primed. The white spot on the bottom left corner of the right piece is just my camera flash.

So, that's about all I can do for tonight. The primer has since dried, and I've painted it black, but I have to wait for my mom to scram tomorrow before I bake the pieces in her 8000$ oven. Oh god, this can't end well.

Keep it locked, I've got lots to show you.

 

[Dangman]

Subscribed.

Nice work!

 

[RestEternal]

I'm interested to see how this turns out. Is there padding where the "front" of the drives (opposite side of sata hookups) sit? It looks like they are just up against metal.

 

[Arcygenical]

I'm interested to see how this turns out. Is there padding where the "front" of the drives (opposite side of sata hookups) sit? It looks like they are just up against metal.

Actually, there are fans mounted there blowing through the drives... and they have a tiny amount of padding (well, they will when I get the fan mount made up...) to make sure the drives don't bang up on the metal.

 

[RestEternal]

Actually, there are fans mounted there blowing through the drives... and they have a tiny amount of padding (well, they will when I get the fan mount made up...) to make sure the drives don't bang up on the metal.

perfect! Ive been thinking about noise while building my rig. 4 noctua fans almost cost me 80.00!

 

[Arcygenical]

perfect! Ive been thinking about noise while building my rig. 4 noctua fans almost cost me 80.00!

That's ridiculous. Absolutely crazy.

I hate to say it, but the 5$ yate loon fans at Petras Tech Shop come within 5% of the noctuas of a comparable rpm setting

 

[RestEternal]

That's ridiculous. Absolutely crazy.

I hate to say it, but the 5$ yate loon fans at Petras Tech Shop come within 5% of the noctuas of a comparable rpm setting

Thats why i said almost. I went with one of the 12 blade noctuas (120mm) and 3 yate loons (2x 120mm and 1x 80mm)

I dont mind spending the 19.00 for the main sys fan, but for everything else its ridiculous

 

[Indignity]

I've got roughly 3tb worth of space (1.5tb after mirroring) to host all my legally downloaded linux ISO's.

Yet another thread to subscribe to

 

[Indignity]

/me pokes Arcy... wassup dude?

 

[Arcygenical]

It's been 18 days since Frozen CPU shipped my package...

I NEED this package to continue ...

 

[Runedrune]

Oo subscribed.

 

[Arcygenical]

Woot. Got the package .

Hehehehe.

Update in a few hours. This is gonna be a loooong night.

 

[Arcygenical]

Update!

So, I finally got my package in. And in record time too, only 19 days! . Oh well... Moving on >_>... First up, Let's see her painted and baked. Yes, I used a 4000$ oven set to bake the paint. Don't tell anyone

Here's another view. Looks grey in this picture due to the flash.

Here's the motherboard with the STATE OF THE ART board installed . I've still got some work to do with it... Like adding Vreg heatsinks, adding a really low RPM fan (the thing's under clocked to like, 800mhz, no need for anything over 3-4cfm).

I couldn't resist taking this picture. It's so preeeeeeeetty/

Here's the board (temporarily) installed into the case.

Another angle. I need some more USB ports since the stock ones got fried somehow .

Front HD bay fans installed...

Another day, another angle...

Here's the painted support bar! Looks great IRL.

Installed....

And here's the HD array in... Well, mainly. The drive closest to us is a shitty 80gb IDE drive, that'll be replaced by a (hopefully) 1tb drive by the end of the summer (I'm broke, Remember?)

The PSU JUST fits... But, as much as I like this silverstone PSU, the sleeving job sucks bigtime... It came apart when I was doing some really basic modifications. Bah.

A picture of the 4 port SATA card .

A blurry picture of the custom drive power rail. Way to go Frozen CPU, I guess the ran out of black connectors and sent me some red ones (possibly why the package took too long)... Eh, it'll all be dyed anyways.

The motherboard updated... I got a killer 92mm fan in an 80mm bracket. This thing pushes about 9cfm at it's starting voltage of 4.1v. I'll be running it at 5v. You can also see the IDE to SATA converter I've got installed on the board. Sketchy, I know, but I needed another SATA port...

If you checked closely in the last picture, you'll see that I added some Vreg heatsinks... I mixed up some regular epoxy and some thermal paste in a 1:3 ratio (100mg epoxy to 300mg paste). Ghetto thermal epoxy... I hope this works!

 

[Headpunter]

that penny needs ot be in the Ghetto mods section too

 

[Arcygenical]

Done, and done

 

[xdivenx]

I don't think that penny is adequate, you should water cool your raid card

 

[dystopic]

nice work! i've been haunting this worklog for a while now. a few months down the line i want to do something similar, and this is a great guide.

 

[Runedrune]

Nice penny =)