Rosewill RSV-L4500 vs RSV-L4412, better cooling?

[trumee]

Hi,

I am looking for a quiet server chassis to use with my Supermicro X10sl7-F motherboard for FreeNAS. The Rosewill cases seem to be quiet compared to Norco/Supermicro and much cheaper!

In my research i have yet to find anybody who has populated with all 15 bays (if you have, do let me know) of L4500. I am not sure if that it because of cooling issues or is it difficult to find the appropriate PSU.

I am looking for advise to go with RSV-L4500 or RSV-L4412.

With no central air conditioning and worst room temperature touching 40C my main goal is to keep the drives cool. For a freenas build with two vdevs will give

L4500 (15 bays): 2x(4+2) with 3 spares in RAID Z2
L4500 (15 bays): 2x(6+1) with 1 spare in RAID Z1

L4412 (12 bays): 2x(4+2) with no spare in RAID Z2
L4412 (12 bays): 2x(4+1) with 2 spares in RAID Z1

Anybody has a view on which case/config from above is preferable?

Thanks

 

[kroem]

You'll likely get better airflow with the L4500, obviously since it has intake fans and a fan wall.

The other case have added benefit of hotswap, convenient, but expensive.

You can likely fit 3 of the generic 5x3 hotswap cabinets in the L4500 and get 15bay hotswap, but then you lose the intake fans....

Vdev configuration-wise; the more vdevs the better, if you can afford it

3x4 drive Rz vdevs maybe?

 

[markarr]

With either running a 2u passive heatsink is going to be tough, so will probably want an active heatsink since there is no shroud.

Either case will have no issues cooling your hard drives. I ran a L4412 full with WD Reds and REs and had no heat issues.

 

[Fritz]

I have a retired RSV-L4500. It is quiet but a cabling nightmare and the hd's are a PITA to get in and out. You have to remove the inner fan wall. I finally got fed up with the hassle and put it out to pasture. Build quality is nowhere near that of a SM chassis.

 

[Rufus477]

I have a retired RSV-L4500. It is quiet but a cabling nightmare and the hd's are a PITA to get in and out. You have to remove the inner fan wall. I finally got fed up with the hassle and put it out to pasture. Build quality is nowhere near that of a SM chassis.

There's no need to remove the inner fan wall to replace the drives. There are two tiny screws on the top of each drive bay. Once removed the drive slides out the front of the case by pressing two release slides.

 

[Ninja1283]

I have a retired RSV-L4500. It is quiet but a cabling nightmare and the hd's are a PITA to get in and out. You have to remove the inner fan wall. I finally got fed up with the hassle and put it out to pasture. Build quality is nowhere near that of a SM chassis.

There's no need to remove the inner fan wall to replace the drives. There are two tiny screws on the top of each drive bay. Once removed the drive slides out the front of the case by pressing two release slides.

IIRC, with that enclosure you had the option of either unplugging all your power and SATA/SAS connectors, removing the two retaining screws, and pulling the entire stack through the front of the case, or removing the fan wall and the drive(s) in question. Neither a very ideal solution. The L4412 avoided this with hot-swap bays, but still had poor cable management.

 

[nk215]

I made 2 small cuts on the chassis on top of the fan wall so that I can pull the fan wall straight up when needed to run cables.

HD pods pull straight out to replace/install new HDD.

 

[chriscambridge]

I have read some reports that the RSV-L4500 rail's do not seem to fit right in standard server racks due to the handles.

Can anyone confirm or deny this; what is people's experience on this?

Also, anyone running Z10PE DS 16 WS mobo in this rack? If so, how did the SSB form factor work in this EATX chassis?

Thanks

 

[nk215]

I can't comment on the rail since I have mine sitting on a shelf.

This case (RSV-L4500) can fit a SSB but that requires some work on your part. Basically, SSB extended pass the IO plate so there's no space for the PSU. Furthermore, the case has nothing support the motherboard beyond the IO plate.

I put my SSB board onto my RSV-L4500 case but I had to:

+ Mount the PSU horizontally above the motherboard. The PSU then cover less than half of the CPU2 socket and the memory banks (Supermicro X9DR3-LN4F+ mother board).

+ Use close cell foam to support the motherboard beyond the IO shield. I don't need any additional motherboard mounting posts there.

+ I have to use Intel Processor Heat Sink Cooling AUPCWPBTP which has the heat sink tower offset to the side to clear the PSU.

+ Mounting the heat sink and PSU is tricky since they are less than 1/8" apart but it can be done.

At the end, it may be worth it to buy a Supermicro case (I also have a 836 case) to avoid all the trouble.

 

[chriscambridge]

Thanks NK215 for the detailed information; its much appreciated.

At the moment I am looking at the following Rack which is EEB/CEB/ATX form factor and has a similar specification.

Logic Case SC-43650B | 4U Standard Chassis 10x 3.5" HDD + 3 x 5.25" Bays

I would go with the Supermicro but they seem overpriced compared to others, even though I hear build quality and design is A+.