4 Mini ITX Boards in 1U Chassi?
- Thread starter Nik-
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Never heard of one but here's an idea.
SuperMicro 809T-780B 1U Twin Server w/ 2x X8DTT-F Blades BareBones Add CPU/RAM
SuperMicro 809T-780B 1U Twin Server w/ 2x X8DTT-F Blades BareBones Add CPU/RAM
We have worked with several hosting providers to spec out something similar. By the time you get to 20-30 nodes, Supermicro MicroBlade System Review Part 1: becomes very attractive with their 4x C2750 per blade nodes.
That is right and why we usually see twin designs in non standard from factors.
What you would typically doing you were trying this is to do a 2x2 layout. The issue there is that cabling gets very messy quickly and maintenance becomes challenging.
I think the primary reason we do not see this type of architecture is that the industry found a better way.
You need to think outside the box. Literally
Leave the top of the rack and mount the boards vertically!Assuming you can't stack the boards on top of one another, (and you could only do that in a 1U enclosure if there were no components on the boards methinks) you could theoretically fit in a 2x2 configuration - assuming 1 centimetre* gap between each board that'd give you a square of 17+17+1 = 35cm. This is theoretically fittable into a ~44x60cm pizza box but doesn't leave much in the way of space for storage, cables or power supplies. 80cm deep racks give you a bit more breathing room but not a great deal; don't think I've seen any signs of anyone going so far as to try making one, especially in a 1U format. Might be doable with boards that take DC in and only use USB/mSATA/M2 storage and maybe an internal KVM (else you'd also need to route all the USB/PS2/VGA etc for each board out to the back) but I don't think it's a goer on anything else.
Makes more sense to go for a platform specifically designed for high density, like blades or that weird hybrid format intel came out with. Whole lot of space would be wasted using mITX since it devotes a fair amount of real estate to the PCIe slot in any case.
* UKian here and I want to get as much usage out of my beloved SI units before the bonkers nationalists come insist on us re-adopting the imperial system, or something even more ludicrous like beard-seconds.
D'oh, ninja'd by Patrick. Multitasking is a lie perpetuated by those who won't admit to doing a whole lot of things slower!
I'm a UKdian, europhile and metricophile , but figured I'd use the units most familiar to our primitive cousins
www.buildablade.com
or you can look to roll your own. like @Patrick said. the industry has fixed this issue with blade servers/moonshot. the biggest issue is cabling. it gets messy real quick.
Chris
or you can look to roll your own. like @Patrick said. the industry has fixed this issue with blade servers/moonshot. the biggest issue is cabling. it gets messy real quick.
Chris
A UKdian? You mean the lads who measure their beer in Pints but post their roads in Miles & MPH? At least we're consistently primitive!I'm a UKdian, europhile and metricophile , but figured I'd use the units most familiar to our primitive cousins
It's called eccentricity, damnit!A UKdian? You mean the lads who measure their beer in Pints but post their roads in Miles & MPH? At least we're consistently primitive!
"It is a basic requirement of any British institution that it baffle foreigners"
--Bill Bryson
A dutch company called ECOServer used to make 4 in 1 server cases.
This is the older model they also have an updated version of this that has a module inside it to turn the server on or off.
I have one of these for over a year now and i can say that the build quality isn't that great. personally i never used it with 4 motherboards. instead i used only 2 mobo's and covered the other 2 with a metal plate with standoffs to mount a dual port nic.
The cabling is quite hard to get it to nice and tidy. there are enough cable hooks in the middle though.
PS. the server on the picture isn't mine
This is the older model they also have an updated version of this that has a module inside it to turn the server on or off.
I have one of these for over a year now and i can say that the build quality isn't that great. personally i never used it with 4 motherboards. instead i used only 2 mobo's and covered the other 2 with a metal plate with standoffs to mount a dual port nic.
The cabling is quite hard to get it to nice and tidy. there are enough cable hooks in the middle though.
PS. the server on the picture isn't mine