EU ASRock Rack B450D4U-V1LQ5 mATX AM4

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luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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@dbram: what's the Status on the IO Shield, does it work as expected with your latest Changes ?

What were the Issues (before the Changes you made ?), something about the Screw Holes not working properly ?
 

luckylinux

Active Member
Mar 18, 2012
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@luckylinux Regarding IO shield, you will be printing it on 3D printer for those cases you bought?
I'll just do an Order using CraftCloud for ~30 Pieces of that IO Shield (I'll see if I can get it printed in Metal Sheet, might be way too expensive though), as well as some other Stuff I could 3D Print as well.

Last Time i went with a Belgian Company that was the Cheapest and the Results were "OK" I would Say. Since it was some SSD Caddies and it wasn't a huge premium, I went with 40% Fill instead of the "Standard" 20%, hopefully to make them a bit more sturdy.

EDIT 1: I don't have a 3D Printer, that's why I go with CraftCloud :D

EDIT 2: I ended up buying 26 of the Chassis CSE-512

EDIT 3: For Cooling I'm honestly considering (hence why I want to mount the Chassis Rack Ears in Reverse, so I can have all Connections and Ears on one side and I shouldn't even need to use the Front Panel Anymore) to put a bunch of external 120mm or 140mm (better) Fans all on one Side of the Chassis, by using something like this to mount them


And 1u/2u/3u/4u Blank Plates where Servers are NOT installed, on the other Side:


I was looking for a 4u 3x140mm Panel but I cannot find anything unfortunately, neither on printables nor thingiverse :( .

For a 42U Rack that would need 10 x 4u (plus 2 Blanks) otherwise 14 x 3u. Saying 3 fans on each Panel, that would be 30 x 140mm Fans or 42 x 120 mm Fans respectively. But on the good Note, they should be able to be tuned down a lot either by PWM or by using an Adjustable Power Supply :).
 
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luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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@dbram: Interesting for PiKVM I just founnd this


It would seem somebody just used a HDMI to USB Dongle and a Raspberry Pi Pico (or Pico 2 ?) to Stream the Video via USB to the Host PC.

I was initially Planning on installing a HDMI to USB Capture Device on a Management Controller PC per EACH Target PC (so 24 Dongles and many USB Hubs), but maybe this could also be a viable Option (since I'd need the Raspberry Pi Pico / ESP32-S3 anyways for ATX Control & Keyboard Emulation).

Of course Cost goes up, but I think it's better to save the Complexity instead of going through KVM/VGA/HDMI Switches and such.


EDIT 1: Never Mind, I asked Clarifications on the GitHub of their Project. It's actually using the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 as an OUTPUT HDMI Device, and the Capture was done on a separate PC via USB3. So it will NOT work unfortunately :(
 
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Cruzader

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Jan 1, 2021
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I was looking for a 4u 3x140mm Panel but I cannot find anything unfortunately, neither on printables nor thingiverse :( .

For a 42U Rack that would need 10 x 4u (plus 2 Blanks) otherwise 14 x 3u. Saying 3 fans on each Panel, that would be 30 x 140mm Fans or 42 x 120 mm Fans respectively. But on the good Note, they should be able to be tuned down a lot either by PWM or by using an Adjustable Power Supply :).
For rack panels/blanks i usualy order from thomann, they got 3u 3x120mm at 119dkk.
Standard stuff that is used for stage/audio also tends to be cheaper there than in the IT space for consumers.
(They also got a solid selection of PDUs if you need some)

Arctic cooling has 5packs of their f12 and p12 fans at a decent price.
 

luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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For rack panels/blanks i usualy order from thomann, they got 3u 3x120mm at 119dkk.
Standard stuff that is used for stage/audio also tends to be cheaper there than in the IT space for consumers.
(They also got a solid selection of PDUs if you need some)

Arctic cooling has 5packs of their f12 and p12 fans at a decent price.
I already bough from both and yes Arctic is very cheap and quite good and my goto choice for fans. Arctic p12 Pwm is the last I started using a while ago.

The p14 would be better.

Anyways, 119 dkk * 14 blocks + say 5 eur / fan * 42 fans is still quite the money...
 

luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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Its not something you need either way, so id guess you have a bit of a budget for the setup when buying it to begin with.
Well yes and no.

Unless you want the loud 1u blower fan screaming and rattling at you

I was just thinking plastic is cheaper than metal.

But I might also do with wood maybe.
 

luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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Its not something you need either way, so id guess you have a bit of a budget for the setup when buying it to begin with.
If anything, then something like this from Delock (a bit Cheaper at 59 DKK): DeLOCK Rack cover Sort | Stort udvalg, billige priser og hurtig levering

And for PDU I was considering something like these Baytech from PIO (I asked about MMP14, but to be honest PIO didn't report back the exact Part Number, and I never managed to get MMP14 using Baytech Part Number Generator , no matter what I tried, I always ended up with MMPA104.

Not sure if it supports both Individual Outlet Metering/Monitoring (for Power Consumption) and Individual Outlet Switching.





Or the RPC Series (didn't check)

I was tempted to extremely lowball since I don't know for sure that they support Outlet Monitoring & Switching. Both Manual and Website is not conclusive I'd say.

Plus I'd need a Raspberry Pi Pico / ESP32 to do some Serial -> TCP/IP Translation Layer. I did the ESP32 RS458 (Modbus) before using the built-in Controller, but for RS232 I could only find a few Resources on Home Assistant Community Forums (how to send Commands and Parse Output, basically).
 

Cruzader

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Jan 1, 2021
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Well yes and no.

Unless you want the loud 1u blower fan screaming and rattling at you

I was just thinking plastic is cheaper than metal.

But I might also do with wood maybe.
You will need some airflow in the case regardless of your rear pull config tho.

Personally id just replace the blower with a lower rpm fairly silent one possibly paired with a 40mm for nic/nvme.
 
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luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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You can replace it with a lower rpm blower or with regular 40mm fans for less than adding seperate fans in the rear tho.
Well, 3 x 40mm each Server (1U) isn't much different than 3 x 120mm each 3U in Terms of Cost. But it will likely be a HUGE Difference in Terms of Noise.

Arctic has the new 40mm Server Fans as well now (6000 RPM or 15000 RPM):





My Experience with their 80mm Server Fan at least suggests that it's better to take the HIGH RPM Fan and tune it down A LOT (PWM) rather than the low RPM Version. Maybe Subjective, but at least by my Ear, the 80mm HIGH RPM Version tuned down was less intrusive. Plus it had spare Capacity if one Fan would fail, for instance.
 

Cruzader

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Jan 1, 2021
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Well, 3 x 40mm each Server (1U) isn't much different than 3 x 120mm each 3U in Terms of Cost. But it will likely be a HUGE Difference in Terms of Noise.
The noise depends on what fans you go with for either option, neither of them has to be loud.

But its not like you can just remove the blower and get good airflow with only pulling air in rear of rack either.
You are looking at placing atleast 1 fan in the case regardless.
 

luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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But its not like you can just remove the blower and get good airflow with only pulling air in rear of rack either.
You are looking at placing atleast 1 fan in the case regardless.
Why ?

As long as the external Fan has enough Static Pressure (at the required Airflow Operating Point) and there are no Bypass paths (i.e. if a Server is not installed, then a 1u Plug / Blank is installed instead), all Air should be able to flow through the Chassis ...

But I'm all ears if you have suggestions for cheap, good and quiet 40mm Fans :)
 

gb00s

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Jul 25, 2018
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Poland
I'll just do an Order using CraftCloud for ~30 Pieces of that IO Shield (I'll see if I can get it printed in Metal Sheet, might be way too expensive though), as well as some other Stuff I could 3D Print as well.

Last Time i went with a Belgian Company that was the Cheapest and the Results were "OK" I would Say. Since it was some SSD Caddies and it wasn't a huge premium, I went with 40% Fill instead of the "Standard" 20%, hopefully to make them a bit more sturdy.

EDIT 1: I don't have a 3D Printer, that's why I go with CraftCloud :D

EDIT 2: I ended up buying 26 of the Chassis CSE-512

EDIT 3: For Cooling I'm honestly considering (hence why I want to mount the Chassis Rack Ears in Reverse, so I can have all Connections and Ears on one side and I shouldn't even need to use the Front Panel Anymore) to put a bunch of external 120mm or 140mm (better) Fans all on one Side of the Chassis, by using something like this to mount them


And 1u/2u/3u/4u Blank Plates where Servers are NOT installed, on the other Side:


I was looking for a 4u 3x140mm Panel but I cannot find anything unfortunately, neither on printables nor thingiverse :( .

For a 42U Rack that would need 10 x 4u (plus 2 Blanks) otherwise 14 x 3u. Saying 3 fans on each Panel, that would be 30 x 140mm Fans or 42 x 120 mm Fans respectively. But on the good Note, they should be able to be tuned down a lot either by PWM or by using an Adjustable Power Supply :).
FS.com offers 10x blank plates for ~80US$ in a package. They are tool-less. Super easy to use. Not sure if you can print 10 for 80 incl fast shipping.
 
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dbram

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Mar 3, 2021
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Another short update. I'll be writing it up on a github project or so if time allows it.
  • tried the usb hdmi capture stick (no name thing)
    • Code:
      Bus 003 Device 002: ID 534d:2109 MacroSilicon USB Video
      Device Descriptor:
      bLength 18
      bDescriptorType 1
      bcdUSB 2.00
      bDeviceClass 239 Miscellaneous Device
      bDeviceSubClass 2
      bDeviceProtocol 1 Interface Association
      bMaxPacketSize0 64
      idVendor 0x534d MacroSilicon
      idProduct 0x2109
      bcdDevice 21.00
      iManufacturer 1 MACROSILICON
      iProduct 2 USB Video
      iSerial 0
        bNumConfigurations      1
  • installed the benfei vga to hdmi
    • note: this model has a vga input and uses the usb power cable as an audio source (so it contains an usb audio input too)
  • created a lxc container in one of the proxmox hosts
  • passthrough of usb device to the lxc container and some extra things for permissions in an unprivileged container
  • the lxc container can be skipped of course when doing it on a dedicated kvm device
  • cloned the ustreamer project from pikvm and is 'streaming' the usb capture to a html5 browser
    • hdmicapture.png
    • another attempt using ffmpeg or aiortc was working too but much more resource intensive

So what's left,
  • continue on the esp32-s3 to act as USB HID for keyboard and mouse
  • capture the mouse and keyboard when hovering over the displayed vga/hdmi output and send it to the esp32-s3 that feeds it to the corresponding host
  • add a VGA 4-1 switch with (another esp thing) to remotely switch
  • add a simple server deamon (similar to pikvm kvmd), that organises everything a bit, allows for vga-node and esp32-s3 selection
  • add the a decent webserver e.g. nginx with all required security, (mfa) authentication, lets encrypt certificates, waf, ...

total cost for a 4 node setup would be : around 50,- eur (excluding a dedicated pc or raspberry pi)
  • 1x pc with decent usb ports or raspberry pi (any lying around, fill in your estimate)
  • 1x usb capture stick 7,- eur or CSI2, 35,- eur capture device
  • 4x esp32-s3 : around 2-3,- eur each
  • 4x svga cables : 1-2 eur each
  • 1x svga switch : 6 - 10,- eur (to be confirmed)
    • 4 -> 1 svga : one that allows to hijack the input button, preferably with a direct assignment (and not rolling through the inputs)
    • if the vga switch supports usb ports too, only one esp32-s3 per 4 nodes would be possible too
  • benfei SVGA to HDMI, 9 - 12,- eur was available through amazon, sometimes the price is reduced.
  • an additional esp device (can even be an esp8266) for the gpio button or infrared press to control the vga (or hdmi switch)
  • optional:
    • a couple of pcb's that allow atx controls power, reset, led detection of the hosts
 
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dbram

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Mar 3, 2021
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@dbram: what's the Status on the IO Shield, does it work as expected with your latest Changes ?

What were the Issues (before the Changes you made ?), something about the Screw Holes not working properly ?
latest version is on printables.com

The asrockrack board b450d4u-v1lq5 is beig sold at a very good price some cases were needed. had some supermicro CSE512 left over, combine them, started from the very identical board x470d4u (that has more connectors).
todo's:
  • no holes yet for screws. : fixed in v1.5
  • the connectors at the bottom need to be slimmer, fixed in v1.5
  • the margin around the vga connector needs to be increased fixed in v1.5
  • add opening for the top case cover clip : fixed in v1.5
the thickness of the shield is ok.
 
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luckylinux

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Mar 18, 2012
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@dbram: thanks for the Update. Do you think the extra complexity of the VGA/HDMI Switch is worth it though ?

I'm having Doubts about that, so of course I'll pay more for USB3 Hubs / Ports plus the USB3 Capture Device (which to be honest is fairly cheap though) plus the VGA 2 HDMI Adapter (which I already bought like 25 of them - hoping that they work ...).

EDIT 1: why LXC and not Docker/Podman Container though ?

I'd map & bind the USB Capture Device (and the Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico 2 / ESP32-S3) via UDEV and create a persistent Name, so you can consistently pass that to the required Container (map Serial Number of the Capture Device & Keyboard "Emulator" to "PC01", "PC02+, etc)..
 

dbram

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Mar 3, 2021
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Do you think the extra complexity of the VGA/HDMI Switch is worth it though ?
good question, a usb-hub with 4 hdmi captures is feasable, but adding 4x benfei is not cheap, 9-12 eur each. it almost doubles my total cost (per 4 nodes).
I had a lot of trouble to get my low-cost vga-hdmi adapter to work (also in the range of 2-3,- eur), very few low-resolutions worked
the benfei ( or hdmi capture) is not the fastest but it works.


EDIT 1: why LXC and not Docker/Podman Container though ?
that's also possible of course.
i'm trying everything using material that is 'lying around'

edit:
1. it is possible to run the kvm thing 'self contained' on one of the proxmox host nodes in this way :) passing it again through a docker,podman would be a bit overkill.
2. the esp32-s3 is connected over the network ethernet or wifi to the kvm controller and usb is plugged to each node that needs to be controlled,
or
3. ethernet can be done using additional ethernet connector, adding a low cost ethernet is 3-4,- eur for each esp32 (POE increases the cost quite a bit again)
 
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VirMach

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Apr 7, 2025
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I've contacted ASRock and reported the USB issue thoroughly (as well as how many units of them we have plus how many units of their other boards.) They did mention it was built to order but so far they've been receptive enough to contact the BIOS engineer for this board. So best case scenario maybe we'll get a 2.13 version.

@luckylinux I ended up giving up trying to fix the USB if you can't tell but I found a bunch of 9 pin to dual USB and I'm 3D printing a bracket to mount them in the rear as backup if ASRock doesn't respond.

Why ?

As long as the external Fan has enough Static Pressure (at the required Airflow Operating Point) and there are no Bypass paths (i.e. if a Server is not installed, then a 1u Plug / Blank is installed instead), all Air should be able to flow through the Chassis ...

But I'm all ears if you have suggestions for cheap, good and quiet 40mm Fans :)
If I'm understanding you correctly, you want to mount a bunch of 120mm fans on the outside of the chassis, 3 of them per 3 servers?

You should go with these monsters:

Arctic P12 - 56CFM, 1800 RPM, 2.2 mmH2O static pressure
This one - 300 CFM, 6200 RPM, 1.93 inH2O static pressure

But you might think "wait that one is only 1.93 static pressure and the Arctic is 2.2" no it's inH2O as in 49 mmH2O. Okay don't look up the price or weight though. Or power usage. Or decibels. The cool part is though if you did theoretically go with these, at 0% duty cycle which is 1800-2700 rpm, you still get 134CFM and 9.5 mmH2O.

They do have a bunch of models, look around and see if you can find any for cheap and then look at the spec sheet, they almost always perform way better even at the same decibel range. Oh no why'd I do this now I'm tempted to buy 20 of the older models and use it to improve my HVAC, someone's selling them for $5 a piece.
 
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