Alternatives to the Supermicro SuperChassis 743TQ-903B-SQ?

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CJRoss

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I'm building out a new NAS and trying to determine what case to use. My current NAS is in an older version of the 743 and I've been happy with it, but it's not the best solution and prices have gone up quite a bit.

I'm looking for something that's quiet and supports 12 or more hot swap bays. I have an older version of the Rosewill RSV-L4412U but the trays are impossible to find and I'm not thrilled about their being made of plastic.

Any suggestions welcome.
 
Sean Ho

Sean Ho

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With SQ PSUs (or some of the lower-power non-redundant PSUs) and Arctic P8 or Noctua fans in the fanwall, the noise level can be made quite reasonable. I have an 825 with PWS-563 and 3x P8; even with a higher fan curve to keep temps down, it's still just a gentle whoosh. The drives are more noticeable when they're busy.
 
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i386

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for >8 hdd bays I would go with a rackmount solution and for rackmount solution you probably don't want the cheap chassis...
CJRoss said:
but it's not the best solution
Click to expand...
Why? Are you running out of space? What size are the current hdds? Config ( jbod, raid 5/z, 6/z2, 10/mirrors)? Sata/sas/nvme?
 
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CJRoss

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Sean Ho said:
With SQ PSUs (or some of the lower-power non-redundant PSUs) and Arctic P8 or Noctua fans in the fanwall, the noise level can be made quite reasonable. I have an 825 with PWS-563 and 3x P8; even with a higher fan curve to keep temps down, it's still just a gentle whoosh. The drives are more noticeable when they're busy.
Click to expand...
That's what the 743TQ-903B-SQ is. It has the SM quiet fans and the SM quiet PSU.

i386 said:
for >8 hdd bays I would go with a rackmount solution and for rackmount solution you probably don't want the cheap chassis...

Why? Are you running out of space? What size are the current hdds? Config ( jbod, raid 5/z, 6/z2, 10/mirrors)? Sata/sas/nvme?
Click to expand...
Both of the cases I listed are rack mount solutions. The 743TQ-903B-SQ isn't the greatest solution as it only comes with 8 bays and you need the adapter cage to get another 5 3.5" bays. That adds to the cost right there.

All of my drives are SATA. It's for home use, so noise, cost and heat are higher priorities than your typical enterprise solution. I sit in the same room as both cases currently and while not silent, they're not bothersome.
 
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Markess

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Sean Ho said:
With SQ PSUs (or some of the lower-power non-redundant PSUs) and Arctic P8 or Noctua fans in the fanwall, the noise level can be made quite reasonable. I have an 825 with PWS-563 and 3x P8; even with a higher fan curve to keep temps down, it's still just a gentle whoosh. The drives are more noticeable when they're busy.
Click to expand...
Something turn-key that meets all your criteria is probably going to be expensive. Your best bet for affordability may be something like what @Sean Ho recommends above. Get something close to your needs that you can fine tune.

CJRoss said:
Both of the cases I listed are rack mount solutions. The 743TQ-903B-SQ isn't the greatest solution as it only comes with 8 bays and you need the adapter cage to get another 5 3.5" bays. That adds to the cost right there.
Click to expand...
The 743 is a convertible Tower/Rack case, so some of us (like me) probably thought you were talking about a tower.

CJRoss said:
All of my drives are SATA. It's for home use, so noise, cost and heat are higher priorities than your typical enterprise solution. I sit in the same room as both cases currently and while not silent, they're not bothersome.
Click to expand...
I feel your pain. All my homelab/NAS/everything else electronic is in my home office with me where I spend most of my time. Luckily, not everyting is running all the time.

I have three 2U chassis (two 826 & one 219). To keep the noise down on them:
  • Each runs on a single 920SQ PSU. Running redundant makes a bit more noise and draws more power (which makes more heat, which means more fans, etc.). Less "safe" with one supply, but no different than those cases with a single ATX style PSU
  • Single processor motherboard and an old(er) generation (aka slightly lower power/heat) SAS2008 or 3008 HBA. SATA mechanical drives can't max these out, so no need for more modern HBAs.
  • Use a mix of a single HBA and onboard SATA to attach to all the bays on the boxes with SATA drives. Use a non-expander backplane (i.e. T, TQ, or A for Supermicro). Expanders are great for SAS, but add heat.
  • The chassis as shipped are desgined to handle up to dual processor motherboards with two high power draw CPUs and a bunch of add in cards. Wth lower power components, I'm able to use a start-up script using IPMI Tool to lower the fan curve of the stock fans to a quieter tone and still keep the system cool. With an active CPU Cooler and a fan on the HBA, ramping up the other fans just enough to keep the drives cool works well for the system as a whole.
I've got a couple 4U systems too, which are in ancient chassis that use ATX PSUs and have 120MM fans. Those are quiet simply because the larger fans can turn more slowly. That's probably your other, even more expensive option: A 4U chassis, with more hot swap bays than you need, but with large slow(er) fans that keep the noise down.
 
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CJRoss

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Apologies if this comes off blunt, but today was a hell of a day.

Neither of the options I mentioned in my first post use redundant power supplies or expanders. Admittedly, I didn't specify what kind of motherboard and processors, but considering that they're already quiet, I think I'm good on that front.

Also, I have trouble picturing a 2U case that's both quiet and cool. Which is why I both of the cases I mentioned are 4U cases that have large fans.

You're recommending that I get a 4U chassis with large, slow fans but not giving me any actionable suggestions. Which strikes me as odd, considering that I thought my original post expressed my desire for alternative 4U cases to the two that I already have experience with.
 
Sean Ho

Sean Ho

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I have several 4U cases using 3x 120mm fans each, plus a 2U using 3x 80mm fans; all Arctic. They're all comparably quiet. Certainly, noise tolerance is very subjective, but if you're ok with the 120mm fans in a 4U, then it's unlikely you'll find Arctic P8 in a 2U to be too loud.

I also have a ton of 1U servers and switches; those are all unbearable with stock fans.

I mean, 846 is a very fine chassis and can be made quite silent; it's just super expensive nowadays, especially compared to pre-pandemic. L4412 is a decent case, too; most of my 4Us are the non-hotswap cousin L4500. If you buy new it should come with all the cages and drive rails you need. But you are correct that the build quality is not on par with SM, and I have seen reports of their backplanes failing.
 
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i386

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Markess said:
I have three 2U chassis (two 826 & one 219). To keep the noise down on them:
  • Each runs on a single 920SQ PSU. Running redundant makes a bit more noise and draws more power (which makes more heat, which means more fans, etc.). Less "safe" with one supply, but no different than those cases with a single ATX style PSU
  • Single processor motherboard and an old(er) generation (aka slightly lower power/heat) SAS2008 or 3008 HBA. SATA mechanical drives can't max these out, so no need for more modern HBAs.
  • Use a mix of a single HBA and onboard SATA to attach to all the bays on the boxes with SATA drives. Use a non-expander backplane (i.e. T, TQ, or A for Supermicro). Expanders are great for SAS, but add heat.
  • The chassis as shipped are desgined to handle up to dual processor motherboards with two high power draw CPUs and a bunch of add in cards. Wth lower power components, I'm able to use a start-up script using IPMI Tool to lower the fan curve of the stock fans to a quieter tone and still keep the system cool. With an active CPU Cooler and a fan on the HBA, ramping up the other fans just enough to keep the drives cool works well for the system as a whole.
Click to expand...
I'm working ~2m/6feet away from a 846 with 10k rpm fans and a 836 with 7.6k rpm fans (the stock fans). They are not silent, but far away from screamers (like 1u switches running fans at 100%) and there is more annoying (high pitched) noise coming from other devices (hello 10th+ gen intel note/ultrabooks) and graphical workstations.
Despite having fans that can run at 10k the 846 is quiet because the cpu is cooled by an active 2u heatsink and the air shroud is used.
I don't think you need to mod theses chassis for quiet operations as long as you don't use the systems for cpu intensive works.
 
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Maxx_1150

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