Norco 4020 questions

[daphatgrant]

^^^^^

pics?

I'm at work right now when I get home tomorrow I'll post some pics of the fan next to the case I guess.

 

[novadude]

Definitely go for the 120mm fans, although if that PSU is like mine was it will still have a fair bit of noise itself so don't pay too much for extra silent fans (go with some YL's from petra's for the 4-pack deal or something).

 

[SockMan!]

Quick question: does the Norco have activity and/or failure lights for each drive?

 

[daphatgrant]

Quick question: does the Norco have activity and/or failure lights for each drive?

I know that it at least has some sort of lights for each drive, no HDD's yet so I can't answer specifically.

 

[SockMan!]

What's the distance between the case cover and the top of the expansion slot's IO shield? That looks like it might be a good place for a case fan mod (cooling for RAID cards and such).

 

[daphatgrant]

^^^^^

pics?

Well I stand corrected, It's damn close though .

So... here's my possible solution.

All of the below pics are rough ideas of how the possible solutions may look so disregard the messy appearances .

Although this is not without an issue or two itself.


Issues #1 being that there is going to be somewhat of a gap at the base of the fan, I imagine I can find some sort of material to cover this.

Issue #2 isn't an issue for me really because I will only have power and ethernet plugged in but is worth mentioning.

The fan cage on the other hand is going to be an easy conversion.

Plenty of space from the top

And leaves all the cable passes unblocked.

The thought of using a 92mm fan for the exhaust had passed my mind but (1) 92mm fan didn't seem like quite enough. While writing the above the idea of installing (2) 92mm fans at angles crossed my mind, here is what this might look like.

Looking straight on

Looking down from the top

I'll make some metal plates to cover the opening above and below the fans (will look something like this

Plenty of room below the fans

So... comments, questions, concerns?

Any thoughts on (1) 120 vs (2) 92's?

 

[brycejones]

I think the middle conversion makes sense. As for the rear, I would get some good 80s and call it a day. The good news is that the PSU will also act as another exhaust fan so that will help balance the airflow.

 

[SockMan!]

I think the middle conversion makes sense. As for the rear, I would get some good 80s and call it a day. The good news is that the PSU will also act as another exhaust fan so that will help balance the airflow.

I agree. The 120s in the middle fit nicely. Just drill some screw holes and cut bigger holes for the fans and you'd be set. Maybe tape off the excess openings to prevent backflow too.

However, I'd personally stick with two 80mm in the back - both your single 120 and dual configurations are a bit clunky. Plus, you might not benefit much since your airflow is still restricted to those two 80mm grilles unless you're willing to do a bit of cutting.

On a side note: since you're trying to reduce the noise levels, I suggest using something other than Sunon fans. Those things aren't designed to be quiet. I recommend using Yate Loon sleeve bearing fans or low speed Panaflos instead.

 

[daphatgrant]

However, I'd personally stick with two 80mm in the back - both your single 120 and dual configurations are a bit clunky. Plus, you might not benefit much since your airflow is still restricted to those two 80mm grilles unless you're willing to do a bit of cutting.

If I where to use either a single 120mm or the dual 92mm idea I'd cut out the back of the case where they'd be mounted to allow for better air flow. I am pretty sure this is what you mean.

On a side note: since you're trying to reduce the noise levels, I suggest using something other than Sunon fans. Those things aren't designed to be quiet. I recommend using Yate Loon sleeve bearing fans or low speed Panaflos instead.

Those fans are just some that I had lying around to show what it'd look like. I actually pulled these out of another case because they where too loud, they are the 38mm thick ones and if I remember correctly push like 110CFM @ something like 45dBA so they will be replaced . I will most likely go with either the med speed panaflo's or the Scythe 1600rpm fans.

 

[Syntax Error]

At least the middle rack comfortably allows for 120mm fans; that's the main airflow going through the drives. the 80mm fans in the rear acts as an exhaust.

I'm wondering how loud a setup with three 120mms and two good 80mms would be...I understand these things aren't made for silence but I'd want it to be as silent as humanly possible if I am to use this rackmount for a future setup.

Recommend any good 80mm and 120mm fans? SPCR would probably be a good start to look at what to get but I'm wondering what [H] feels about them from personal experience.

 

[epimetheus]

At least the middle rack comfortably allows for 120mm fans; that's the main airflow going through the drives. the 80mm fans in the rear acts as an exhaust.

I'm wondering how loud a setup with three 120mms and two good 80mms would be...I understand these things aren't made for silence but I'd want it to be as silent as humanly possible if I am to use this rackmount for a future setup.

Recommend any good 80mm and 120mm fans? SPCR would probably be a good start to look at what to get but I'm wondering what [H] feels about them from personal experience.

I replaced the 7 80mm fans in my Norco with Panaflo 80mm L1A's from Directron. The case is setting about 10 feet from me as I write this and I can only hear it if my HVAC fan isn't running. It's pretty quiet and my drive temps still stay under 40C.

 

[Farva]

daph, those fan setups seem pretty ghetto.

 

[daphatgrant]

daph, those fan setups seem pretty ghetto.

Thanks man . As I said they are just to get an idea of what it would look like, hence the wire and electrical tape holding them in place .

Another possible option would be to simply install a 120 on the lid of the case at the rear. I'll sit down and figure some stuff out and decide where to go from here. I agree that worst case I could just replace the 80's in the middle with 120's and leave the (2) 80's in the back or replace them with quieter ones.

Regardless of what I do I'll keep you all updated so you will see what to or not to do .

 

[theDreamer]

I put in an order for a bunch of Sycthe 80mm fans to test and see how well they work. I was suppose to have them by this past weekend but never got them, should have them tonight. Hoping to have my systems up and running (testing the 4020 specifically) and see what the difference is.

 

[SockMan!]

I found that the lid of a CD jewel case is almost exactly the width of a 120mm fan. A middle 120mm fan with one of those hot-glued onto it might work well to channel the air to the expansion slots (if you've got hot-running RAID cards). Should work decently well as a cheap, effortless, and reversible case "mod".

 

[Syntax Error]

SPCR should test this beast out and try their magic in making it as quiet as possible with 21 hard drives inside!

 

[daphatgrant]

I made the cuts in the middle divider / fan bracket and took the lid to a local metal shop and had them cut 2 holes in the lid. I ordered (5) 120mm Scythe fans today along with grills. I'll post some pics after I get the fans installed. I also ended up ordering a new HSF as the one I had needed a fan blowing down on it and the new airflow wouldn't have allowed that to work correctly.

Here's a paint drawing of how everything is laid out. The only thing I'll mention is that the 2 top mounted fans and board are located farther to the right as the PSU is in that bottom left corner.

I am rather happy how the top fan locations turned out, the first is located directly above the CPU and the 2nd is located directly above the SATA cards. With the way everything is laid out I think I might be able to get away without a CPU fan (the cpu cooler I bought has the option to be fanless) if this is not the case the cooler allows for a fan to be placed on any side of the cooler and I will try placing it on the side facing the front of the case so it blows out the back of the case.

That's all for now, I'll post some more interesting pics when the fans come in, which should be around Thursday or Friday.

 

[daphatgrant]

The fans aren't in yet but I mounted the display that I am going to be using, it's a 7" portable DVD player screen.

Also below are pics of the modded case lid and middle fan bracket.



Display:

Fan Mounts:

I'll post more when the fans/grills/new cpu cooler arive.

 

[Syntax Error]

Very nice.

 

[Farva]

That is awesome! It's a shame that isn't a touch screen.

 

[daphatgrant]

Mini update, with the help of some knowledgeable [H]ers I was able to make an adapter so the screen is powered by the PSU. Here's a pic of the cable .

<Note: The red wire is attached to the yellow 12v, I just happened to have a small piece of red 18g wire lying around>

Now that I look at it I may end up sleeving it.

 

[daphatgrant]

Fans and grills are in . Here are some pics along with some additional mods I did.

Scythe SFF21F 120mm fans & Grills

Middle divider / Fan bracket

Back of Middle divider / Fan bracket

Case lid w/ fans, I ended up drilling a hole between the 2 fans for power cables, they cross after going through the hole and are attached to the opposite fan grills.

The fan backplane wouldn't fit on the middle divider so I mounted it along the side, luckily it fit perfectly. The zip ties you see are just for wire management, the backplane is securely mounted with the original screws and standoffs that I removed from the middle fan divider

All mods are done other than possibly sleeving the LCD power cable .

 

[farscapesg1]

Looks good! Now I'm waiting to hear how loud it is with the new fans One question though... why mount the top fans on the outside of the box? Was there not enough clearance to mount them on the inside?

I'm still trying to justify getting this case. Right now my WHS is in an Aerocool Mastige and I could spend $300 on a new case to fit in 3 additional drives I have (500, 400, 300) or I could spend $300 on 3 1TB drives to replace 6 250 GB drives

 

[daphatgrant]

Looks good! Now I'm waiting to hear how loud it is with the new fans One question though... why mount the top fans on the outside of the box? Was there not enough clearance to mount them on the inside?

I'm still trying to justify getting this case. Right now my WHS is in an Aerocool Mastige and I could spend $300 on a new case to fit in 3 additional drives I have (500, 400, 300) or I could spend $300 on 3 1TB drives to replace 6 250 GB drives

It should be pretty quiet as they are all sub 30dba fans. And like you said they are mounted externally because when the new heatsink arrives they will not fit inside the case. I've got to tell you that this case is absolutely awesome, I have 5 1TB drives coming in on friday followed by another 5 in 2 weeks .

 

[Ockie]

That is a little weird, you are totally defying the logic of rack mounts, lol.

 

[daphatgrant]

That is a little weird, you are totally defying the logic of rack mounts, lol.

Yeah, I've changed some things around . I plan on keeping it on top of my filing cabinet for right now until I move somewhere with more space so it needed to be silent as possible. Eventually I'll stick it in a closet or a basement or something but for now it'll work . Thanks for the help that you've given me by answering questions and having your site NetworkIsDown.com, props to the master.

 

[nitrobass24]

Sorry to dig up an old thread but i want to do the same with the middle bracket.

What kind of temps are you getting and with what drives? Compared to OEM setup.
What kind of noise compared to OEM?
I was gonna grab some scythe slipstreams, but I may just go with some highspeed YLs to save money.

 

[daphatgrant]

As far as temps go for before and after I am not sure, never did any testing. As far as noise they are very very quiet, absolute huge difference in noise between the oem and the 120's, went from a 747 jumbo jet to a honda civic noise wise.

 

[OmegaAvenger]

As far as temps go for before and after I am not sure, never did any testing. As far as noise they are very very quiet, absolute huge difference in noise between the oem and the 120's, went from a 747 jumbo jet to a honda civic noise wise.

Civic with or w/o an after market muffler?

Also what brand/model of fans did you use? I want to upgrade mine to 120mms