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thedman07

New Member
Sep 14, 2020
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SCE836 JBOD

I'm starting to put together the parts for a storage server. I asked about a combo deal with some caddies and the seller came back and knocked $30 off the price of the chassis.

It was $120+$70 for shipping which seemed pretty good.
 

BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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Last year I bought a Xyratex JBOD SAS Expansion Array (12x3.5") for $105+$40 shipping including dual SAS controllers, power supplies, and full of caddies.
 

thedman07

New Member
Sep 14, 2020
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I got same, plus the 2tb drives, for $170 shipped I think.
I was looking for a storage server case, not just a DAS. The 832 looks to be the same chassis for a JBOD model or a server chassis.

I would have rather had an 846, but the only ones that were available were $400+shipping, which I didn't think was worth it.
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
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Denver, Colorado
fwiw IMO the 836 is a dandy storage chassis.

I like the 836 and picked up 4 compellent SC030's a while back, there was an eBay deal (posted here) and then 2 from a local seller. If you need another one then keep an eye out for those (CL, eBay etc) as they usually have all drive trays and used to go relatively cheaply with local P/U.

Techy parts has the 836 A version with the SAS2 EL1 backbplane for $200 + $100 ship. It includes all the drive trays. Your deal is a bit better assuming you got the drive trays for a reasonable amount.

Your link looks to be the more versatile JBOD model. That's good because it has the ATX I/O cutout and a blank panel installed. Some 836 JBOD versions do NOT have the cutout. If you have no use for the JBOD pwr module you can probably sell it for $20-$30 relatively easily to recoup a little of your spend.

If you won't use the external to internal SAS brackets/cables then PM me as I might be willing to take them off your hands.

Those PSU's are loud to some folks. You may want to look at the SQ PSU's if what you have is too loud for you. Plenty of STH posts about supermicro power supply acoustics.

You may not have all the motherboard standoffs you need. That JBOD board may be mounted using CPU heatsink standoff's which are a different type than the motherboard standoffs .

Your version of the 836 does not support the rear 2x2.5" hot swap bays.

There are removable non hotswap drive bay brackets for the middle and floppy slots, basically front bezel with a plate and the correctly placed screw holes for a 2.5" drive. Your chassis may have come with those (its hard to tell from the picture).

You can get DVD and Floppy bay hot swap modules which will each support a single 2.5" 7mm drive. Sometimes SM eStore has both, sometimes they only have one or the other. The DVD part will work for the floppy bay as the only difference is a removable bracket which fully fits the DVD bay width. The DVD/Floppy bay hot swap kits are PRICEY though. Together they'll be almost as much as you paid for the chassis.

There are also generic slim dvd sized modules that will hold a 2.5" 7mm drive as well if you want to go that route. Be aware there's a flexible side bracket that locks the drive adapter into the chassis DVD bay. I might have an extra one of those in my parts bin if your DVD bay is jsut a bezel and not the bracket.

Velcro'ing drives into the floppy, middle, or DVD bay is a bit of a tricky proposition if you have to get the drives out later think ahead about how removing a failed drive might work before sticking a drive and sticky velcro tape into those bays.

You can also velcro drives against the power supply sleeve inside the case if your motherboard does not extend all way to the sleeve, just realize the sleeve will get warm and the heat may overtime degrade the adhesive on the velcro tape.

the only thing that worried me about this "deal" are the recent seller reviews related to packing of items.
 

thedman07

New Member
Sep 14, 2020
24
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fwiw IMO the 836 is a dandy storage chassis.
Thanks for all the info. I don't think I'll have any need for the external SAS connectors. If everything comes in good shape, I'll let you know. The 2.5" hot swap bays would be nice to have, but I'll survive. I think I can find somewhere to stick some 2.5" drives if I need to go that way. I'm only planning on populating about half of the hot swap bays to start with, so I can use some of those too.

Do you know what kind of standoffs are used in this chassis? I'm assuming I'm going to need them.

I think I'm going to end up putting a pcie to m.2 card in there at some point. Supermicro makes a 2x m.2 to 8x pcie adapter that looks to go for about $45.

I'll look at the PDU that came in it, but I'm going to have a video card in there so I'll have to figure out a 6x or 8x pcie power connector somehow, but I think that's doable since the motherboard I'm looking at only uses one 8pin eps connector.
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
1,233
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Denver, Colorado
If you've been building pc's you may have some that work. the 1U and 2U are special. the 3U I think are relatively "standard" Probably 6/32 post on end and 6/32 threads on the other. Height is what you'll need to watch for. If the JBOD board is using the cpu cooler mounts then those standoffs are different (at least as I recall trying to use them by mistake and not paying attention to what I pulled out of my parts tray and they did not work).

If you are going to use that SM carrier for 2x m.2 nvme make sure that your motherboard supports pcie bifurcation on the x8 slot you will use, otherwise you'll probably only see one drive.

Is the motherboard a SM? If not please note that the FP cable comes back to the motherboard bay as a ribbon cable header pinned for SM server boards. Even if you are using a SM board it is also possible the ribbon cable will not reach to where your motherboard's front panel connector resides. SM sells an extender/breakout cable in two lengths, you can fashion your own or try and re-cable the front panel leds and buttons.
 

thedman07

New Member
Sep 14, 2020
24
23
3
I'm pretty sure the standoffs for the jbod card have to come off. I can scavenge some cases I have laying around and try to find something. I was just wondering if you knew offhand.

The plan is a supermicro motherboard, and the M.2 board is listed as supported. I was originally planning on finding an matx board from ASRock Rack putting it in desktop case and then getting a DAS of some kind, but the combination was going to be way more expensive than a full rackmount server and less expandable, although it probably would have been quieter.
 
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itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
1,233
793
113
Denver, Colorado
I'm pretty sure the standoffs for the jbod card have to come off. I can scavenge some cases I have laying around and try to find something. I was just wondering if you knew offhand.

The plan is a supermicro motherboard, and the M.2 board is listed as supported.
sorry if I implied the cpu standoffs could stay in as they definitely need to be removed I meant that by mistake I tried to use them as standoffs and they do not work.

SM X9 support for bifurcation is spotty - there are good resources in the cpu and mothboard forum. I have had good success with X9DRD-7LN4F. I have one with 3 AOC-SLG3-2M2 installed but could never get a 4th to online with both m.2.'s populated.