New Build Questions

[blakestock]

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking here for a few months now and the bug to build finally hit me. I jumped on the E5-2670 train (picked up 2 from ebay) and also got a Intel S2600CP2J from @NATEX with 64GB memory to start. Another forum listed Intel RMS25KB080 OEM SG35828 Integrated PCIe RAID Module New Bulk Packaging and said they were accepting offers for 40 bucks, so why not? I picked up one of those too for this build. Now I'm having trouble finding a case / chassis to hold all this stuff and won't cost a fortune to buy.

I plan on using this as the start to a home lab so I can learn and practice with virtualization and other sysadmin functions, and it'll also serve as a media server and storage box. Anyone have any recommendations on a chassis or even a tower that will fit the board and also work with the SAS controller? Is there a certain drive cage / backplane I need to be able to connect the drives to that SAS controller? Honestly I don't see myself ever needing more than 6 to 8 HDDs in there so I'd like to plan for 10 to 12 since that'll probably grow at some point.

I've been building consumer desktops for years and years, but some of the differences with server class hardware is new to me. Thanks in advanced!

 

[vl1969]

I am not a big server hardware guy, I think if you have the breakout cable for the controller you can just connect the ends to drives directly. You only need a backplane if the case or enclosure support a hot plug drives or if you connect controller port to backplane to expand for multiple drive to single port.

Also if you ok with rack mount chassis and not a stickler for latest and greatest hardware, you could of got a whole server for about the board price. It seams the mb go for like $400 alone, there is a seller on ebay named tomssolutions. They have sales of refurb servers with xenon cpus for about 450-500 shipped and that includes everything, it comes in ready to use, just plugin. Yes you can add cpu and ram as you wish, and do some other mods as well.

I got an amd setup from them a few years back, total cost after moding is about 700.
I replaced single cpu with dual, could not find a single cpu for sale so just got a deal on matching pair. Added ram to 60gb
And repalced psu and fans with a regular atx psu and quite fans, because original was too loud.
So for a round 700 have a super micro 24 hdd hotswap setup.

 

[RyC]

Intel P4000M chassis+PSU can be found from kalleyomalley for ~$110, depending on which combination of drive bays, PSU wattage, and fan type you want (and also what they still have in stock). The P4000M is relatively large though if that's an issue, but the S2600CP pairs very well with it. There's also several drive options (#bays/2.5 or 3.5/fixed or hot swap) that should work with the SAS controller.

If you go that route, you can pick up the I/O shield, passive heatsinks, and air shroud that go with the S2600CP and P4000M, but it seems kalleyomalley is running out of stock on some of those.

 

[blakestock]

Intel P4000M chassis+PSU can be found from kalleyomalley for ~$110, depending on which combination of drive bays, PSU wattage, and fan type you want (and also what they still have in stock). The P4000M is relatively large though if that's an issue, but the S2600CP pairs very well with it. There's also several drive options (#bays/2.5 or 3.5/fixed or hot swap) that should work with the SAS controller.

If you go that route, you can pick up the I/O shield, passive heatsinks, and air shroud that go with the S2600CP and P4000M, but it seems kalleyomalley is running out of stock on some of those.

Thanks for the info! kalleyomalley has a lot of great stuff, I'm sure yall already know, I've found a couple Intel server chassis's and seeing they they'll take the offer. Can't wait to get this build finished and ready for use!

Thanks again!

 

[blakestock]

Is there any advantage or disadvantage in using a passive heatsink with the air shroud for the P4000M chassis (P4308XXMFG on order) or just use an active heatsink like a noctura?

 

[RyC]

You could probably skip the passive heatsinks and air shroud and get active ones, but you might have to set the SDR manually so it's not blowing at full speed all the time.