Fractal Design Array R2 Mini - uATX inside?

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JoanTheSpark

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Anyone knows if a uATX board would physically fit into the Array R2 Mini?



So far I only found this piece of info:
Yup DTX fits fine.... total case width is 245mm and you are right, around 55mm from the mitx mount to the side panel.
source: http://www.overclock.net/t/1546783/fractal-array-r2-case-internal-dimensions#post_23730744
Click to expand...

I don't care for the standoffs or the cutouts, I can modify those if I need to.
Just need to know if I can fit 244mm x 244mm uATX board inside that case.. :cool:

Thanks for your help!
 
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If it's true it has 245mm space inside then it will fit but what you want to ask is how in that situation looks the placement of the video card. it might have offset that won't let you use the original slots and secondly you'd have to usethe second pci-e slot (3rd expansion slot in general) for the VGA or make yourself some weird cutout the fit it in the primary pci-e slot.
 
it's for a NAS, no use intended for the PCI/PCIE slots to tell you the truth(*).. I'm more after the price (mITX is dearer than the uATX) and more memory slots.. 32GB total possible instead of just 16GB.

This actually brings me to the next question, vertical space underneath those drives in the front.. if I assume ~120 for the HDD's from the ~250, there should be ~130 left for the motherboard and anything on top of it (CPU cooler, memory, etc). I thought I read somewhere someone put the PSU in that area to fit a tower cooler on a mITX board in there.. same as FD did later with the Node 304 (same H/W, just 25mm longer). Low Profile PCI SATA port cards might actually fit under there as well, not that I'd have a use for them, could be interesting for 2.5" HDD's though, as you'd be able to fit way more in there and then you'd need more ports. Or a TV tuner card?

EDIT, here we go:
MrGreenMan said:
Hey Guys, thought I'd show a mod I did earlier this year which I thought was pretty cool. In the end it's fairly pointless as its running a 2390T which runs at 35w and a larger case would definitely be better for cooling. My only regret is that the 200mm fan isn't PWM-able without adding aditional hardware / cabling.

I modded an Array R2 to fit a 200mm fan for the intake as well as a Hyper 212 full size HSF. I'm bad at taking pictures but you can sorta see it below



The stock PSU rests below the empty drive bays and has an output below the case (had to strip a power cord and put terminal ends so it would clear the 200mm fan blades. I would have liked to have used 2 fans on the HSF but if (or more likey when) I decide to add storage, the cables will not fit on the drives. (maybe a 15mm fan will be some tight clearances)

Love the ZFS / ESXI all in one now.
Click to expand...

EDIT2:
Instead of the 200mm fan I'd be going for 2x 120mm fans.. prolly needs a new fan plate in the front there

*) I'm not intending to use more than 6 drives in RAID/Z2
 
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I was going to point out you subtracted the height of the HDD cage from the width and not from the height in your post #3. Bit-tech review said there were about 2 inches of unused space under the HDD cage and I was wondering if their estimate was really really off, glad to know Fractal Design gave you the precise number.

May I ask which CPU and mATX mobo you're going to use? I suppose you want to go low budget so you're not going with a server board?
 
veryrarium said:
I was going to point out you subtracted the height of the HDD cage from the width and not from the height in your post #3. Bit-tech review said there were about 2 inches of unused space under the HDD cage and I was wondering if their estimate was really really off, glad to know Fractal Design gave you the precise number.
Click to expand...
Ha yeah, I corrected my request to FD right after I sent it.. made the opposite typo there for the width :eek:

veryrarium said:
May I ask which CPU and mATX mobo you're going to use? I suppose you want to go low budget so you're not going with a server board?
Click to expand...
ASRock E3C222D4U would be the board of choice atm (LGA1150). There are plenty of mATX boards from Supermicro (X10SL*****) that would work too, but a bit more expensive & maybe more reliable, no idea?
For CPU I wanted to use a Pentium G3*** (ECC memory). A Xeon would be nicer, but I can't justify the extra cost for what I want to do with this. And if I ever need the features over a Pentium I can swap them out (most Core iXYZ's won't be able to use ECC ram unless you're very careful).
Same with memory, a mITX board with socket limits the total memory size as they usually can manage 16GB total only. And if you want more you get the BGA boards with the Avotons, which nails you CPU wise..

The whole concept is a bit sarcastic now anyway.. I'm going to usa a mITX case that can physically house a mATX board?
I'd use a smaller case, but there is none, that offers the HDD space..
I could built my own, but it would take way longer than I imagine and cost more than an off-the-shelf-modded-case.
All said and done - the above combination should allow me some room for expansion feature wise (cpu, ram) if I need to, without breaking the bank and have a reasonable finish time. ;-)
 
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I see, the reason I was wondering is if you don't mind going with a server board there are some 4 DIMM slot boards by ASRock and Supermicro whose width is 224mm or less that probably fit into Array R2 without needing to mod the rear panel cutouts. Most of those that I had in mind are for Avoton but a few (E3C224D4I-14S and MT-C224) are for E3-12xxv3's & Haswell i3/PenG/CelG's.

I don't know, maybe you don't find modding the rear panel to be much of a burden, but fitting a 244mm wide (full mATX) board into this case requires shifting of the rear I/O cutout to the right (when looking at the case from the front) and whatever modding you would do to the rear face will make the case look not as good on the exterior as keeping the rear face intact.

Also, if you are going with E3C222D4U the CPU socket will likely be underneath the HDD cage due to the location of the socket on that mobo, so I'm afraid most tower coolers will not fit. Since you are thinking of dual 120mm fans blowing air from the front thru the HDD cage to the back, I suppose you prefer to go with a tower cooler than a low profile top-down cooler. Something like Silverstone NT01-Pro or un-bent Scythe Katana3 with a fan piggybacked may work, but I'm not sure if either will give enough clearance from the back of the HDDs/HDD connecters.

If you don't mind please post some internal pics when modding and fitting complete.
 
veryrarium said:
I see, the reason I was wondering is if you don't mind going with a server board there are some 4 DIMM slot boards by ASRock and Supermicro whose width is 224mm or less that probably fit into Array R2 without needing to mod the rear panel cutouts. Most of those that I had in mind are for Avoton but a few (E3C224D4I-14S and MT-C224) are for E3-12xxv3's & Haswell i3/PenG/CelG's.

I don't know, maybe you don't find modding the rear panel to be much of a burden, but fitting a 244mm wide (full mATX) board into this case requires shifting of the rear I/O cutout to the right (when looking at the case from the front) and whatever modding you would do to the rear face will make the case look not as good on the exterior as keeping the rear face intact.
Click to expand...
Ha, I ruled those boards out earlier on the search for one that just fits into mITX, but you made me look at them again - even they need modification of the back of the case (be it Node 304 or Array R2 Mini).. the MT-C224 might actually fit out of the box:
Mark G. @ Newegg about E3C224D4I-14S said:
... Mini-ITX means that it won't fit most mini-ITX cases. I was able to get it to fit into my Fractal Design Node-304 case but I had to drill 4 new mount-holes in the case (and thread them with tap and dies) and couldn't use the I/O Shield, otherwise it was a tight fit but worked.

Other Thoughts: Other than Rackmount Cases and the Mercury S3 Case I don't think there is any other case that this motherboard will fit in without modifications. There were many people making claims it would fit in their favorite Mini-ITX case on various forums but "Pics or it didn't happen" proved that the only way most got it to fit was using zip-ties to mount the board and making a makeshift I/O Shield out of cardboard rather than an actual fit. The Fractal Design Node-304 took minimal modifications but it still required metal drilling with a special bit and a drill powerful enough to punch through 1/4" steel. ...
Click to expand...
source: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157486

So I can either take the E3C222D4U and mod the case or go with the MT-C224 and have no problems..

veryrarium said:
Also, if you are going with E3C222D4U the CPU socket will likely be underneath the HDD cage due to the location of the socket on that mobo, so I'm afraid most tower coolers will not fit. Since you are thinking of dual 120mm fans blowing air from the front thru the HDD cage to the back, I suppose you prefer to go with a tower cooler than a low profile top-down cooler. Something like Silverstone NT01-Pro or un-bent Scythe Katana3 with a fan piggybacked may work, but I'm not sure if either will give enough clearance from the back of the HDDs/HDD connecters.
Click to expand...
Na, I'll probably use the scythe big shurikken on this (top down blower, no tower) - got it laying around for years now. Time's up. Says LGA 1156 on the package, no LGA1150 though - will see how that goes :)
The tower was the idea of the 200mm fan dude up there..

Just need to make sure I get enough air into the front (2x 120mm) quietly and then it will just pass out the back or where ever it thinks. The top down blower will grab some and cool the CPU.
This principle works wonderfully in my 2 JTSair - pretty quiet for the size they are.

veryrarium said:
If you don't mind please post some internal pics when modding and fitting complete.
Click to expand...
Sure thing.
 
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It will fit!
I did this 4 years ago.
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9606/dsc0041qa.jpg
dsc0034g.jpg
 
I did, but I'm not sure if I do. Are the HDDs overhanging the PSU? Or was it just easier to mount them this way?
 
Only way to get those 3,5" drives in.
Get rid of 3,5" and you get a lot more room to work with.

There is literaly no margins for motherboard.but it will fit!
 
Little bit of cross-posting from over here

Thanks borz - for the green light on the uATX in that particular case, much appreciated. :cool:
Thanks veryrarium - for the MT-C224 reminder, you saved me a lot of time. :)

I finally got:
  • ASRock MT-C224 (so I don't have to modify the case, but get the CPU/Memory upgrade-ability in this form factor)
  • Pentium G3250 (G3450 wasn't available when I was ordering)
  • 2x 8GB Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B
  • 6x 2TB WD Red WD20EFRX
  • Fractal Design Array Mini R2 (comes with SFX PSU)

I'm very impressed with the ASRock board and it's IPMI functionality. I wouldn't even had to burn the FreeNAS image to USB or CD (I did this first though) as there is an option to remote attach iso files for booting from.. worked first try. Only time I had a KVM on there was to set up the network in BIOS - absolutely cool.
What doesn't work from cold start (only an issue if not running 24/7) is the ability to remotely switch ON, although the interface tells you it succeeded - once it has been running within the last 20 min it usually works though.
The board comes with a CPU cooler backplane pre-attached (M3 threads). You can run with the Intel LGA 1150 stock cooler by pulling out the plastic twist locks and using some M4 washers (M3 washers are a bit to small) and some M3x20 screws - be careful when tightening them as the cooler plastic housing is all you got in regards to springy-ness. Check the back of the board to make sure all bolts stick out equally so the CPU is pressed down equally in each corner.

The case I'm less fond of. Overall it looks nice, but for a professional product it's lacking. The MB standoffs are to thin for my taste (cause they're M3 press-fit studs instead of proper MB stand offs, so lack contact area and if you tighten your screws without care you might do unwanted things to the pcb) - I put M3 washers under my board. The front intake fan assembly is needlessly gappy, so moves some air from inside the case around in circles - I will modify this down the road and use 2x 120mm PWM fans (so outermost drives get better air) instead of the 140mm fixed speed fan that came with the case (that one was stuck and didn't spin by itself btw, works now). The HDD cage orientation and design is also far from optimal, I probably will redesign that as well and hang the drives vertical in there with the connectors reachable from the top & to get better access to the MB.

I couldn't afford the total price for 6x 3 or 4TB drives, although on $/TB they would had been better value - 2TB: 98$/TB, 3TB: 80$/TB, 4TB: 86$/TB.
Also going with 2TB's gives me shorter time spans for resilvering and the easier migration to bigger drives in the future on RaidZ2 (could have went with 4x 3TB for example).

The board, CPU and memory came via assisted order from NewEgg and the remainder was sourced locally *knocks on wood*.
The system is running the "badblocks -ws" at the moment from the burn in test from over here - so fingers crossed all works out well for me ;-)

Oh, and if someone wants to do similar things.. the feedback from the software was unexpected by me. The installation of freenas from the iso onto the USB for example goes on until it shows the OS name and just sits there, no progress bar or anything, I aborted it twice thinking it got stuck until I found a post on the web telling users to 'just wait' ;-)
Similar the smartctl command, there are no automatic results appearing after the -t option has been issued.



 
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Very nice to see that it worked out for you! It also seems like a good idea to rotate the drive cage 90°. Maybe you could even put HDD swap slots (I don't konw how else to call them) in there, that would make wiring a lot easier. On the other hand, it may worsen airflow quite a bit.

How did you connect the PSU, though? It seems like there's no ATX 24pin connector on this board.
 
Afaik this board only needs 12V, which can be delivered by either an 8 pin connector on the backpanel (probably for rack installs) or an adapter that was in the box that grabs the ATX 24 pin and the Intel 4 pin 12V wires and puts them into the little black mini-ATX connector at the 'top edge' of the board (most empty ATX 24 pin connector I've seen so far :eek:).
I tucked the adapter away between the SFX PSU and the side wall of the case, fractal had this self sticking cable sorter bundled that I used for that purpose.

As for the HDDs yes, turning them will be better, to bad I have to DImyself.. as for hotswap, I don't need it really, it's a home NAS and 99.99% uptime is not my goal :cool:
And once I would going down that way and invest time in that I'd rather built from scratch as the overall concept isn't to my liking.
 
JoanTheSpark said:
Afaik this board only needs 12V, which can be delivered by either an 8 pin connector on the backpanel (probably for rack installs) or an adapter that was in the box that grabs the ATX 24 pin and the Intel 4 pin 12V wires and puts them into the little black mini-ATX connector at the 'top edge' of the board (most empty ATX 24 pin connector I've seen so far :eek:).
I tucked the adapter away between the SFX PSU and the side wall of the case, fractal had this self sticking cable sorter bundled that I used for that purpose.

As for the HDDs yes, turning them will be better, to bad I have to DImyself.. as for hotswap, I don't need it really, it's a home NAS and 99.99% uptime is not my goal :cool:
And once I would going down that way and invest time in that I'd rather built from scratch as the overall concept isn't to my liking.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, didn't know they included an adapter. I like that they only use 12V and reduce the size of the connector that way. This stupid ATX 24pin monstrosity is so counterproductive when you want to go small. :mad:

Fair enough, nobody will sue you if that thing goes down for an hour or so ;)
 
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