Zarathustra[H]
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2000
- Messages
- 38,743
Hey everyone,
So, for the longest time I have moved my old hardware to a secondary testbench machine in my office, which I use for things like long badblocks tests of harddrives, flashing firmware to things, and other tests I don't want to mess with on my desktop.
Right now, my old x79 board with my 6C/12T i7-3930k is humming along in that box in my old Asus p9x79 WS board in my old, cheap $29.99 workhorse case the NZXT Source 210. (Seriously this thing has gone beyond every expectation I had for it when I bought it for close to nothing 13 years ago.
(Apologies for the dust, it's amazing how that shit is completely invisible until the flash goes off)
I recently installed these ICY dock things, to allow me to do my drive stuff without continuously opening the case and leaning it on its side, with shit hanging out of the case. In the process I stuffed it with lots of SAS cables. Two from the controller to the Intel SAS expander and then several SAS to sata breakout cables from the expander to the Icy Docks.
I didn't spend much time on cable management (thus the mess) but it was immediately apparent that I'm probably going to want more space.
Also. while the SSI-CEB form factor motherboard fits just fine in this case, In the future when I upgrade my server, I anticipate moving the dual socket server board over to my testbench, and the SuperMicro X9DRI-F is even bigger (SSI-EEB) and won't fit in this case, so I am going to need something that can fit a 13" long motherboard.
That, and my clumsy ass stepped on the case lid when I was installing the Icy Docks, and it is now bent and doesn't close properly (I barely got it open to takje this pick, it was stuck closed so hard)
Anyway, enough back story.
I'm looking for a case that would be good for my spare parts testbench build.
Requirements:
- Must fit large motherboards (up to the largest E-ATX boards and SSI-EEB)
- Must have plenty of drive bays (external and internal)
- Must have decent airflow without getting too loud (those server LSI SAS cards, expanders and 10gig network cards get HOT)
- Prefer subtle business-like design (no LED's, no windows, no racy color schemes, etc)
- Prefer good durable quality. My cheap-ass NZXT case lasted me almost 15 years. I'm looking for a step up from that.
I've been googling for good "Pedestal Server" type cases I can use for this upgrade. Seemingly whenever you use the term "pedestal" or "server" - however - much like whenever you mention the word "wedding" to a venue or caterer, prices go up for no reason.
This Chenbro case seemed a prime contender, but it may be on th eload side when you get good airflow going, and $340 for this really seems like a needless case of "enterprise tax".
Further searching consumer parts in an attempt to avoid the "enterprise tax" I came across this Phanteks Enthoo Pro case which seems a pretty good fit for what I want.
Lots of drive bays, fits huge motherboards, 200mm fan for airflow should keep things nice and cool while also being quiet, and as luck would have it it is a nice basic black and a version without a case window is available.
The specs say it has 3 external 5.25" bays which is sufficient for my docks, but I am a little confused as from the pictures it looks like there are 4...
From the reviews I've read, people seem to say it is pretty sturdy too, which is a huge plus.
Before I go ahead and make this my new testbench case, I wanted to check and see if there are any other good options I should be considering.
I appreciate any recommendations!
So, for the longest time I have moved my old hardware to a secondary testbench machine in my office, which I use for things like long badblocks tests of harddrives, flashing firmware to things, and other tests I don't want to mess with on my desktop.
Right now, my old x79 board with my 6C/12T i7-3930k is humming along in that box in my old Asus p9x79 WS board in my old, cheap $29.99 workhorse case the NZXT Source 210. (Seriously this thing has gone beyond every expectation I had for it when I bought it for close to nothing 13 years ago.
(Apologies for the dust, it's amazing how that shit is completely invisible until the flash goes off)
I recently installed these ICY dock things, to allow me to do my drive stuff without continuously opening the case and leaning it on its side, with shit hanging out of the case. In the process I stuffed it with lots of SAS cables. Two from the controller to the Intel SAS expander and then several SAS to sata breakout cables from the expander to the Icy Docks.
I didn't spend much time on cable management (thus the mess) but it was immediately apparent that I'm probably going to want more space.
Also. while the SSI-CEB form factor motherboard fits just fine in this case, In the future when I upgrade my server, I anticipate moving the dual socket server board over to my testbench, and the SuperMicro X9DRI-F is even bigger (SSI-EEB) and won't fit in this case, so I am going to need something that can fit a 13" long motherboard.
That, and my clumsy ass stepped on the case lid when I was installing the Icy Docks, and it is now bent and doesn't close properly (I barely got it open to takje this pick, it was stuck closed so hard)
Anyway, enough back story.
I'm looking for a case that would be good for my spare parts testbench build.
Requirements:
- Must fit large motherboards (up to the largest E-ATX boards and SSI-EEB)
- Must have plenty of drive bays (external and internal)
- Must have decent airflow without getting too loud (those server LSI SAS cards, expanders and 10gig network cards get HOT)
- Prefer subtle business-like design (no LED's, no windows, no racy color schemes, etc)
- Prefer good durable quality. My cheap-ass NZXT case lasted me almost 15 years. I'm looking for a step up from that.
I've been googling for good "Pedestal Server" type cases I can use for this upgrade. Seemingly whenever you use the term "pedestal" or "server" - however - much like whenever you mention the word "wedding" to a venue or caterer, prices go up for no reason.
This Chenbro case seemed a prime contender, but it may be on th eload side when you get good airflow going, and $340 for this really seems like a needless case of "enterprise tax".
Further searching consumer parts in an attempt to avoid the "enterprise tax" I came across this Phanteks Enthoo Pro case which seems a pretty good fit for what I want.
Lots of drive bays, fits huge motherboards, 200mm fan for airflow should keep things nice and cool while also being quiet, and as luck would have it it is a nice basic black and a version without a case window is available.
The specs say it has 3 external 5.25" bays which is sufficient for my docks, but I am a little confused as from the pictures it looks like there are 4...
From the reviews I've read, people seem to say it is pretty sturdy too, which is a huge plus.
Before I go ahead and make this my new testbench case, I wanted to check and see if there are any other good options I should be considering.
I appreciate any recommendations!
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