Is there interest in a case that can house 4x hot-swap cages, SFX/ATX PSU & mini-ITX motherboard?

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Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
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Austin, TX
At the time when I was still considering the 5.25" standard sized cages - I could not find a single decent quality product. It might have changed since then but I really doubt it. If you want a quality drive cage - just get an older (cheap and readily available) brand name part like HP ML110 G7 ML330 G6 4-Bay Hard Drive Backplane & Cage 519736-001 466509-001 | eBay
It's a hot-swappable HP Gen5/6/7 cage which sells under $50 (I've seen these as low as $20) shipped. The compatible trays sell for about $4 ea.
I don’t see much difference between that and the supermicro one (and you get a 5th drive + airflow). I picked up the pair of those for about the same (50$/ea shipped w/trays). Those cages look sweet for a full DIY/custom build though.
 

BeTeP

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
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Most my drives are SAS but even for SATA I still prefer cages with SAS backplanes if only for cable management. As for the overall build quality I believe that Supermicro and Lenovo (their new stuff, old IBM server gear was rock solid) are slightly subpar (still acceptable though) quality comparing to Dell and HP. I am just talking about the mechanical parts (chassis/cages/trays) here.
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
788
328
63
Austin, TX
Most my drives are SAS but even for SATA I still prefer cages with SAS backplanes if only for cable management. As for the overall build quality I believe that Supermicro and Lenovo (their new stuff, old IBM server gear was rock solid) are slightly subpar (still acceptable though) quality comparing to Dell and HP. I am just talking about the mechanical parts (chassis/cages/trays) here.
I appreciate the opinion and views, the SM cages I’m buying are the old style so good to know I’m set there.
 

TLN

Active Member
Feb 26, 2016
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That's a good topic, as I want something custom and have nice mATX board with 10G and SAS3 controllers onboard and three PCIE slots available.

Currently, I quite like CS381, but it's expensive, plus you cannot have two-slot GPU in bottom PCIe (need 5 PCIe slots on back). It's also pretty tall, but that's not a big deal. Everything else is kinda ok for me.

I don't think many people interested in 12x5.25" devices. You would have 8-10 3.5" drives at home. Anything more and it's easier to get rack storage. 8 Drives seems optimal to me, with spare space for a few 2.5" SSD of course :)

With a typical Hi-Fi equipment being 17" wide, it makes perfect sense to create a case that is 17" wide. CS381 is 15" or so, and extra 1.5" would add space for beefier videocard, and would look better in Hi-Fi rack or next to TV.

Crazy idea #1: mATX case with 8x3.35 drives, that can only take Half-height cards. All PCIE SSD are HHHL (half-height, half-length), lots of HBAs are short, and you can find small videocard too. Make it deeper, and place fans next to drives, and you can get adequate cooling IMHO.

Crazy idea #2: There'are some Intel/HP/Dell cages for sale on ebay with backplanes. 8xSFF drives or 6xLFF drives. It's way way better then istartech, and looks way more professional. Kinda expensive, but still. If there'a case with cut, so you can choose cage of your choice (LFF/SFF/NVME) it would be interesting.
 
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csp-guy

Active Member
Jun 26, 2019
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Hungary, Budapest
That's a good topic, as I want something custom and have nice mATX board with 10G and SAS3 controllers onboard and three PCIE slots available.

Currently, I quite like CS381, but it's expensive, plus you cannot have two-slot GPU in bottom PCIe (need 5 PCIe slots on back). It's also pretty tall, but that's not a big deal. Everything else is kinda ok for me.

I don't think many people interested in 12x5.25" devices. You would have 8-10 3.5" drives at home. Anything more and it's easier to get rack storage. 8 Drives seems optimal to me, with spare space for a few 2.5" SSD of course :)

With a typical Hi-Fi equipment being 17" wide, it makes perfect sense to create a case that is 17" wide. CS381 is 15" or so, and extra 1.5" would add space for beefier videocard, and would look better in Hi-Fi rack or next to TV.

Crazy idea #1: mATX case with 8x3.35 drives, that can only take Half-height cards. All PCIE SSD are HHHL (half-height, half-length), lots of HBAs are short, and you can find small videocard too. Make it deeper, and place fans next to drives, and you can get adequate cooling IMHO.

Crazy idea #2: There'are some Intel/HP/Dell cages for sale on ebay with backplanes. 8xSFF drives or 6xLFF drives. It's way way better then istartech, and looks way more professional. Kinda expensive, but still. If there'a case with cut, so you can choose cage of your choice (LFF/SFF/NVME) it would be interesting.
CI#2 That was exactly in my mind, too.