Need some advice for a mATX NAS Chassis \ Solution

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niquex

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Oct 11, 2010
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Hi all...first post here, thanks for having me!

So here's my current solution -- it was rushed and slapped together, and it's time that I get this right with a new case.

http://img545.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=snc00088w.jpg

I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures, so I have links to the current stuff I'm using.

Case: Thermaltake LanBox http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.../Media+Center+Cases)-_-Thermaltake-_-11133045
Mobo: Asus P5g43TM-Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131602
Intel 6 Slot 3.5" HDD Bay SAS\SATA: http://www.provantage.com/intel-axx6drv3g~7ITSP06Q.htm
GPU: Gigabyte GTS 250 OC Rev 2.0 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125285

Summary:
This system is connected to my HDTV and it runs Windows 7 x64.
I have the 6 2TB SATA drives from the Intel JBOD in RAID5 using a RAID controller card, and it's shared out of GigE (SMB\CIFS). I keep my media stored on there and I use Boxee to play it on the HDTV. I also use Orb \ AirVideo to stream it over the internet. This box is also used for Audio production (I have an M-Audio FW unit) -- protools and acid pro. I keep all my projects \ tracks \ etc on the RAID. I also use it as my every day box to browse the web, photoshop, torrent, etc. -- it's an all in one basically.

Problem:
In order to fit all those drives in there, I had to take out the optical drive cage that the lanbox came with and I just kind of have the intel JBOD sitting in there.. I have a server fan (I think it's 140MM?) shoe-horned directly in front of the drives...it's far from being an elegant solution.

What I want:
1.) A new compact NAS case that can hold 6 3.5" HDD bays that supports the mATX motherboard I already have (I don't have room for a full size ATX case),
2.) Will also fit my current GPU.
3.) It would be nice if the case could also hold a slimline optical drive (not full size), but it's not really needed.
4.) Has front mounted and removable (this is a MUST) HDD bays (like this: http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=42, http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/3803-02L.jpg) -- so that way if a drive fails and I need to do a rebuild, I don't have to open up the top of the case to swap it out.
5.) Can easily support the Corsair H50 cooler.

The only thing I found that even comes close to what I am looking for is this one from Lian Li:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...112300&cm_re=lian_v354-_-11-112-300-_-Product

Problem is, you have to open the case to get to the drive bays, which is just like the lanbox I have now -- which is really a piss poor solution. I really want front mounted removable HDD slots. It also has a full size optical bay, which I don't want or need. I'm also reading a review on newegg that says using the H50 with this case is not an easy thing to do.

Any suggestions? I know I am pushing it here, but I really need a compact mATX chassis that can act as a NAS case and hold 6 3.5" HDD bays.

I'm due for a motherboard \ cpu upgrade in the next coming months -- should I really just move to a full sized ATX tower? I really don't want to -- I'd prefer to stay at mATX.

The only other thing I thought about doing is getting another thermaltake lanbox (my current one is pretty banged \ scratched up from trying to shoehorn that Intel drive cage in it) and seriously going to town on modding it so that the Intel JBOD I have can be mounted directly on the front panel -- that way the drive bays will be out in the open and I can swap them easily, and also have the lights blinking so I can see when a drive fails (red light blinks instantly when a fault occurs) -- but this is a last resort step...and it will take a LOT of work, I can see it now. I don't even know if I will have the time (hell, or the skill) to do a successful mod like this.

Thanks for any advice you guys can give.
 
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I havent seen any type of mATX case with the external drives as your speaking. Which what you need though beyond the external drives I would either step up to a ATX where if nothing else you can use those 5 in 3 external drive bay adapters. Or give up on the external & maybe step down to a mITX with the PC q08
 
Yeah -- that's the problem.
All the cases I'm seeing with front mounted drive bays are either...

1.) miniITX and only have 4 bays (like the chenbro one I linked above)
2.) Server chassis (supermicro, etc) that have 8, 12, or 16 bays
3.) ATX towers with 6-8 front mounted drive bays

Budget? If I can find a case that has exactly what I'm looking for, I really don't care about costs. The alternative here is either modding a new thermaltake lanbox (last resort, will be tons of work and I doubt I have the skill to have it come out good), or going to mITX and getting an external JBOD chassis for the drives. I would need a JBOD with a SAS expander too - that's going to be around 400-800$ plus money for a new mITX mobo, case, etc..

If only that chenbro case had 2 more bays and was mATX -- it would be damn near perfect for what I need.
 
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I could probably sell the intel JBOD and get some of my money back, that's not a prob, I've been using it for almost a year now..before I got that I had 3 cages screwed together (lol).
That case is nice, but too big unfortunately. I'm seeing a lot of 4U servers like that though that I wish were just a tad smaller and had only mATX formfactor -- would be perfect.
 
Hmm you're probably going to have to sell the Intel JBOD as it won't work with any mATX case that I can think of or have looked through.

Let's see the dimensions of the case that you have are 11.80" x 9.10" x 16.90" and weighs 13.90 lbs.

Rosewill R101-P-BK is a $30 mATX mid tower with the dimensions of 15.00" x 7.50" x 13.80. So it's longer but shorter and narrower. It has 3x5.25" and 2x3.5" (external). So I suppose you could get something like this to fill the 3x5.25" (4 hot swap bays) and then get 2x3.5" hot swap bays like this one? for a total of Six hot swap bays.
 
6 3.5" HDD's will fit in a Sugo05/06 if you remove the dvd/hdd tray and mount them vertically in two rows of three -- you could even put another one vertically on the outboard of the pcie vid card area since you'll be using a single-width card.

but then, you're looking for mATX not mITX ;) -- it'd be a pretty intense brick o' storage though!
 
The Sugo's are very nice, but mITX not mATX :|
I am very suprised that no one makes a case like what I am looking for.
Even ATX cases with 6-8 hot swap front drive bays built in (not add-on cages like ICYdock etc) are practically nonexistant.

I am thinking of contacting chenbro and seeing if they have any mATX designs in the works that would be exactly like the ES34169 but mATX with 6 bays...who knows.

But for now, out of everything I have seen, I think the LianLi is my best bet, even though I would have to open the case to get to the drives (compromises....ugh!), it has everything else I want though...and I bet I could get the H50 working with it.

On the ATX front though I think the fractal design define R2 is pretty sick...again no front loading HDD bays, but everything else about it is awesome. The Fractal Design DefineXL has a 4-bay SAS\SATA module thingie...I don't know why they don't offer that with the R2 though.
 
Was going to mention Fractal Design's Array R2 case with its 6x3.5" HDD slots, but that too is ITX :/ Same with Lian Li's PC-Q08.

Basically, cases that have hot swap out of the box aren't all that common, especially for that many HDDs. Hot swap not withstanding, just about the only mATX solution I can think of would be Lian Li V354 that you yourself had found. Although I suppose with 1x5.25" -> 2x.3.5" adapters you could find more options, since there are many mATX cases with more than one 5.25" bay.
 
wow, that HDD cage from the R2 is pure sex... I definitely want that in my sugo!
 
The R2 is a fairly rare case (although ++++us carries it) and spendy at 176 dollars before shipping. But if your other option is a q08 then the fractal is a much better value because it comes with a 300w SFX psu tailor fit to the case with the sata connectors all on the same run & short in between them. And with a q08 you will need a PSU so that would most likely push everything past 200 dollars & if you dont care about having a optical drive built in then the fractal is a much smaller case purpose built for this application. If I Was making a NAS the r2 is an easy choice for me over the lian li q08. But the q08 is still a more versatile case.

edit: wow I didn't realize you couldn't say that companies name here.. Obviously the product link is broken, but you can look up the etailor on the fractal design website.
 
Hmm that Array R2 looks nice but it got a terrible review from bit-tech unless you want to mod it. I was actually kind of liking it too.
 
wonSR4 said:
Hmm that Array R2 looks nice but it got a terrible review from bit-tech unless you want to mod it. I was actually kind of liking it too.
Click to expand...

I Wouldnt take hat bit tech article for anything.. Look at why the detracted from it.. HSF Clearance well its a fucking mITX. Thats to be expected... Made of all aluminum, well yea why else would you pay that much for the case. & all Lian Li cases (excluding lancool) are all aluminum & they hold up fine...

Basically bit tech knocked this mini itx nas case for being a mini itx nas case.

Also of note that case also support miniDTX motherboards. While a rareity for a tiny nas box thats an awesome feature because you get another slot. 1 for a SATA/Raid card & the other for something like an intel gigabit nic
 
bastage said:
I Wouldnt take hat bit tech article for anything.. Look at why the detracted from it.. HSF Clearance well its a fucking mITX. Thats to be expected... Made of all aluminum, well yea why else would you pay that much for the case. & all Lian Li cases (excluding lancool) are all aluminum & they hold up fine...

Basically bit tech knocked this mini itx nas case for being a mini itx nas case.

Also of note that case also support miniDTX motherboards. While a rareity for a tiny nas box thats an awesome feature because you get another slot. 1 for a SATA/Raid card & the other for something like an intel gigabit nic
Click to expand...

Yah I don't mind so much about the HSF clearance. It's granted that you're limited in choices. I don't like the lack of usb ports on the front (which I use a lot) and the semi-high temperatures.
 
I wouldn't worry about either if your using that case for its intended purpose. My whs ran fine fanless simply by choosing parts that ran cool to begin with. It had a atom and Samsung Eco drives so nothing got beyond warm ever and that r2 has a big fan so it will keep everything cool as long as you pick your parts smart
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I agree with bastage. A NAS doesn't need massive CPU cooler, and also I don't see why you'd constantly need to use USB ports on a NAS? HDD temps shouldn't be a problem unless you go for HDDs that are known to run hot. Most "Eco" or "Green" drives run quite cool.

As a silence-nut it would be fun to make a very quiet NAS build in that case (or Q08), using 2.5" HDDs and Scythe Quiet Drives... but man, that'd be expensive :D
 
Yea I am considering moving my server to mitx to use it. I. Really dig the size. But I would also be adding a tv tuner.
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tvih said:
I agree with bastage. A NAS doesn't need massive CPU cooler, and also I don't see why you'd constantly need to use USB ports on a NAS? HDD temps shouldn't be a problem unless you go for HDDs that are known to run hot. Most "Eco" or "Green" drives run quite cool.

As a silence-nut it would be fun to make a very quiet NAS build in that case (or Q08), using 2.5" HDDs and Scythe Quiet Drives... but man, that'd be expensive :D
Click to expand...

Well I was just saying that in the event that I moved away from using my PC-Q08. I only have one computer and just like the OP, it is a do it all computer.
 
Ah, yes, as a do-it-all it's a bit different - but in all fairness it doesn't seem to be designed for that kind of use. Anyway, the USB thing could be solved with a separate USB hub I guess, but that does cost a bit extra, of course.

But as for better CPU cooling etc... well, I suppose there's better cases for that, like indeed the Q08. In bit-tech's review they tried the NT06-E cooler, but I wonder what the smaller Samuel 17 would be like in the Array R2. Although a bit unlikely, it might be possible to install it so that it doesn't block the HD cage. Hard to say without knowing how big the overlap is and all that. But as the Samuel 17 isn't as tall, it could still have a fan on it. Definitely should be a better match than the NT06, at least.
 
I think the Big Shuriken would fit OK as well..

& Yea the R2 is absolutely not made to be a do it all system.. For alot of us though a Do it all system does very little good.. My Server hosts SageTV & is shared out to all the TV's in the house and has to stay on 24/7 as such. And I certainly wouldnt want to have to share the system resources if my wife was trying to watch something in HD while I Was playing a game & I DEFINITELY dont like my powerbill after my main rig has been left on 24/7 for a month..
 
bastage said:
I think the Big Shuriken would fit OK as well..

& Yea the R2 is absolutely not made to be a do it all system.. For alot of us though a Do it all system does very little good.. My Server hosts SageTV & is shared out to all the TV's in the house and has to stay on 24/7 as such. And I certainly wouldnt want to have to share the system resources if my wife was trying to watch something in HD while I Was playing a game & I DEFINITELY dont like my powerbill after my main rig has been left on 24/7 for a month..
Click to expand...

Yeah it definitely isn't meant to be utilized as a do it all computer so I guess the OP will have to continue to look around or settle with the V354 like he said he would. On the other hand, as I mentioned in my previous post, I only have one computer so it has to be a do it all, not that I have a problem with that. Granted I don't game anymore so it's perfectly fine being utilized for watching movies, TV shows, and anime and for web browsing and other basic activities. Hopefully the OP finds a suitable case.
 
For me the thing is that even while my main rig basically is do-it-all, it's not a huge power hog for the most part. And luckily I don't need to keep it running 24/7. So while for some geeky reason I'd like a NAS and a HTPC or a combination of both, it's hard to justify since it'd take ages for the electricity bill to close up the cost gap of buying the damn thing(s). Not to mention that in my quest to be at least somewhat environmentally conscious, extra computers are baaaaad. After all, the manufacturing pollutes more than even running the computer 24/7 for several years, even with a not-so-power-efficient computer :p The upside in this sense would be that the NAS/HTPC shouldn't need any upgrades any time soon, since it doesn't do any heavy lifting, so to speak.
 
Yea my server functions as my htpc backend, and nas, and seedbox. All are functions that I want available 24/7
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