I'l try to keep it initially short, but mostly because I'm lazy to write today (Don't panic, there will be a Wall of Text™ incoming later).
I have several projects in mind, all which requires a lot of planning with the Case. I got interesed in replacing my cheap, bad quality plastic Tower with a Rackmount Chassis that I can be proud of, so I begun to research the server chassis ecosystem.
Basically, what I was initially looking for, was a simple 4U Rackmount Chassis that would serve as a cost effective Tower replacement. Besides being standard ATX compatible, the only other real requeriments would be dust filters and acoustic dampeners for lower maintenance and nuisance, and HD vibration dampeners for higher reliability and life expectancy. Currently, I have my HD suspended with elastic, like this:
http://10n.ca/images/suspension.jpg
I was also helping a friend with a multiGPU system that was needing something non-standard for proper cooling, which would also be useful for me later on because such design would be reusable for a cryptocurrency mining rig, now that Etherium and Monero are all the rage. Sadly, budget doesn't really allow for anything, but at least it can keep the ideas flowing...
The idea for this system was to use either a 4U or slighty bigger size to allow for plugging the Video Cards into PCIe Risers instead of directly to the Motherboard, then increasing the separation between them, so there is better cooling and airflow. This one was bound to be fully custom anyways, since I found no commercial Chassis prepared for that.
The thing is that I'm not entirely satisfied with all the Rackmount Chassis that I saw. They either are too dull and simple, or too expensive (Mainly because international shipping costs are absurd). Now I'm looking around to see how hard it would be to roll my own design. I suppose that it may be possible to do it myself with some help, but I suppose that as a worst case scenario, I can just make the blueprints and get a metalcutting shop to do it for me, at more cost, but with a professional finish.
I will later detail my thoughts (And a lot of questions) on the matter to nail down what would be the best choices among the multitude of options available for a coherent design.
Initially, what I was looking around was what people in my situation already did. The best reference is Backblaze Storage Pods since they have extensively detailed their build process with blueprints and other info:
Backblaze Storage Pod 6.0 (33.6'' depth) Open Source Storage Server: 60 Hard Drives 480TB Storage
Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0 (29'' depth) The Hardware Inside B2 Cloud Storage - Storage Pod 5.0
However, Backblaze is specifically building them for storage, they seem to be worse for general purpose. And, actually, the multiGPU chassis goes the completely the other way around.
Some further googling found me this:
3U/4U case with 8 or more expansion card slots and good cooling - Ars Technica OpenForum
[WTB] 19" RackMount GPU Frame
The best of that Thread is this Post:
[WTB] 19" RackMount GPU Frame
These are specifically designed for multiGPU, as they're for mining rigs.
Finally, there is a shop rather close to my home that actually manufactures Chassis. They have the Premium 4U series that is rather close to what I wanted for a basic Chassis, but the price is rather high (Around 200-250 U$D with the basic parts, yet somewhat competitive if you consider that international shipping for a chassis is like 100 U$D. No idea on their quality). What makes them interesing is that they publish enough of their layouts and modular designs to look like a good reference:
Premium 4U Layout A Gabinete Raqueables 4 Unidades Premium
Terarex 4TA Front and Modules Gabinete Raqueables 4 Unidades Premium
Anyone else with input about the matter? Design tools, more blueprints, etc, may be useful.
Chances are that like all my projects, gets me nowhere. But I had the idea, and must try to see where it goes.
I have several projects in mind, all which requires a lot of planning with the Case. I got interesed in replacing my cheap, bad quality plastic Tower with a Rackmount Chassis that I can be proud of, so I begun to research the server chassis ecosystem.
Basically, what I was initially looking for, was a simple 4U Rackmount Chassis that would serve as a cost effective Tower replacement. Besides being standard ATX compatible, the only other real requeriments would be dust filters and acoustic dampeners for lower maintenance and nuisance, and HD vibration dampeners for higher reliability and life expectancy. Currently, I have my HD suspended with elastic, like this:
http://10n.ca/images/suspension.jpg
I was also helping a friend with a multiGPU system that was needing something non-standard for proper cooling, which would also be useful for me later on because such design would be reusable for a cryptocurrency mining rig, now that Etherium and Monero are all the rage. Sadly, budget doesn't really allow for anything, but at least it can keep the ideas flowing...
The idea for this system was to use either a 4U or slighty bigger size to allow for plugging the Video Cards into PCIe Risers instead of directly to the Motherboard, then increasing the separation between them, so there is better cooling and airflow. This one was bound to be fully custom anyways, since I found no commercial Chassis prepared for that.
The thing is that I'm not entirely satisfied with all the Rackmount Chassis that I saw. They either are too dull and simple, or too expensive (Mainly because international shipping costs are absurd). Now I'm looking around to see how hard it would be to roll my own design. I suppose that it may be possible to do it myself with some help, but I suppose that as a worst case scenario, I can just make the blueprints and get a metalcutting shop to do it for me, at more cost, but with a professional finish.
I will later detail my thoughts (And a lot of questions) on the matter to nail down what would be the best choices among the multitude of options available for a coherent design.
Initially, what I was looking around was what people in my situation already did. The best reference is Backblaze Storage Pods since they have extensively detailed their build process with blueprints and other info:
Backblaze Storage Pod 6.0 (33.6'' depth) Open Source Storage Server: 60 Hard Drives 480TB Storage
Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0 (29'' depth) The Hardware Inside B2 Cloud Storage - Storage Pod 5.0
However, Backblaze is specifically building them for storage, they seem to be worse for general purpose. And, actually, the multiGPU chassis goes the completely the other way around.
Some further googling found me this:
3U/4U case with 8 or more expansion card slots and good cooling - Ars Technica OpenForum
[WTB] 19" RackMount GPU Frame
The best of that Thread is this Post:
[WTB] 19" RackMount GPU Frame
These are specifically designed for multiGPU, as they're for mining rigs.
Finally, there is a shop rather close to my home that actually manufactures Chassis. They have the Premium 4U series that is rather close to what I wanted for a basic Chassis, but the price is rather high (Around 200-250 U$D with the basic parts, yet somewhat competitive if you consider that international shipping for a chassis is like 100 U$D. No idea on their quality). What makes them interesing is that they publish enough of their layouts and modular designs to look like a good reference:
Premium 4U Layout A Gabinete Raqueables 4 Unidades Premium
Terarex 4TA Front and Modules Gabinete Raqueables 4 Unidades Premium
Anyone else with input about the matter? Design tools, more blueprints, etc, may be useful.
Chances are that like all my projects, gets me nowhere. But I had the idea, and must try to see where it goes.