Smallest mATX mini-tower for 6xHDD + 2xSSD?

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matt_garman

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Feb 7, 2011
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I'm thinking about downsizing (in physical size terms) my home storage rig. I'm currently using a 16x hotswap bay 3U Supermicro chassis. It's nice and high-quality and everything, but I'm considering going back to a regular old tower case. I currently have six 3.5" HDDs and one 2.5" SSD. Planning on adding a second 2.5" SSD, but don't anticipate any other upgrades.

Since this is about downsizing, I'm looking for the smallest possible case. But I want to re-use as much stuff as possible, including my Micro-ATX motherboard (Supermicro X9SCL+-F), so the Mini-ITX cases are out.

It should also be relatively cheap.

Some examples that are close but not quite right:

  • Supermicro CSE-731D-300B - I'm using this for my workstation, and love it. The size is perfect. Unfortunately, it's only built for four 3.5" drives. My storage server doesn't need optical drives, so I could put two 3.5" drives in the 5.25" slots. And maybe I could velcro the SSDs to the bottom of the case. Kind of ghetto, but should work. I wish it had a 120mm fan though, not sure I'm comfortable with a single 90mm fan. (This is the cheapest route, as I also want to physically downsize my workstation, so could recycle this case.)
  • Antec 302 - looks good except it's not exactly small.
  • Lian Li PC-Q25B - Nearly perfect except Mini-ITX only, so I couldn't use my existing motherboard.
  • Fractal Design Arc Mini - Looks good, except maybe "too much" airflow? Not that you can ever have too much airflow, but I'm mainly concerned about dust. Plus I have no experience with Fractal Design cases... I don't need the last word in quality, but I also don't want paper-thin steel.

I guess another requirement is that the drives should be reasonably easy to get in and out. Like the Antec 300 (the precursor to the 302), it looks like getting drives in and out could be an exercise in frustration, depending on what else is in the case. It doesn't have to be hotswap, but I shouldn't have to take out other components just to remove a single drive.

Maybe I'm just too picky. :)

Just looking for suggestions for something I might have missed!

Thanks,
Matt
 

nitrobass24

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Dec 26, 2010
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Yea i was toying with the idea of a BitFenix mITX build for my desktop replacement, but its kind of big for a mITX build....I mean their Prodigy M, is the mATX version of that case, except it has the exact same exterior dimensions.
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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Yea i was toying with the idea of a BitFenix mITX build for my desktop replacement, but its kind of big for a mITX build....I mean their Prodigy M, is the mATX version of that case, except it has the exact same exterior dimensions.
I saw that, and hope to harness the size. I'm thinking - mini cluster :)
 

matt_garman

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Feb 7, 2011
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That's mini-ITX, I'd prefer micro-ATX. The Prodigy M that nitrobass24 mentioned does micro-ATX, but according to their specs, only room for four 3.5" drives.

I'm not hot on those handles either... for something that will be stationary 99.9% of the time, they are wasted space, effectively adding exterior dimensions.
 

matt_garman

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Feb 7, 2011
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My recommendation would be the Fractal Design Define Mini - Designed to be quiet, and it meets your requirements. :)
Fractal Design - DEFINE Mini
That looks promising, except it has a door, which is a pet peeve of mine. :) But maybe it could just come off and stay off.

To me, it actually looks to have the same interior as the Arc Mini I mentioned in my original post. I wish I could pick and choose features from each!

Lian-Li has two cases that look like a potential fit too: the PC-A04B and PC-V354B.
 

spazoid

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Apr 26, 2011
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The Fractal Design is very nice. The build quality is very good, it feels very sturdy and the steel is quite thick. Also, it's very quiet, but you can ofcourse always control the fans to your liking.

I don't see myself buying anything but Fractal Design cases if things doesn't change. Value for money is off the charts.
 

zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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The TJ08 is an amazing case and possibly the smallest you will find compared to what you can pack into it.
you can easily put 2 or more SSD's on the backside of the motherboard and then you have 4 x 3.5" internal and 2 x 5.25" external slots.
The drives will be directly behind a 180mm fan so they should stay nice and cool.

If you want to repurpose later into a really powerful desktop you can as well.
Mine is running a water cooling loop with a reservoir and fan controller in the top bays, a 180mm radiator in the behind the stock fan at the front of the case, with another 120mm radiator in the rear cooling a 3570k at 4.8Ghz plus a GTX690. Or it could even have SLI
 

jpasint

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Oct 20, 2013
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That looks promising, except it has a door, which is a pet peeve of mine. :) But maybe it could just come off and stay off.

To me, it actually looks to have the same interior as the Arc Mini I mentioned in my original post. I wish I could pick and choose features from each!

Lian-Li has two cases that look like a potential fit too: the PC-A04B and PC-V354B.
I just got done building a rig with the V354B. Not much air flow for the hard drives though. If you are going to use low RPM drives then it could work but with 7200 RPM drives the heat is too much.

Thought about replacing the fans but they have filters and it just looked like a mess to do anything with them.

Here's a few pics of the build.









Joe
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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Looks nice. Also looks to be a tight fit!

Sadly got food poisoning from a favorite local restaurant (that I apparently have four friends who have had the same thing happen there) Friday/ Saturday and did a mountain bike race today so no time to build my mITX. This post makes me excited to get started though.
 

matt_garman

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Feb 7, 2011
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That's mini-ITX, I'd prefer micro-ATX. The Prodigy M that nitrobass24 mentioned does micro-ATX, but according to their specs, only room for four 3.5" drives.

I'm not hot on those handles either... for something that will be stationary 99.9% of the time, they are wasted space, effectively adding exterior dimensions.
Looks like BitFenix offers the "Phenom", which appears to be the same as the Prodigy but omits the obnoxious handles. newegg link.


At any rate, after looking at and reading about cases until my eyes bled, I think I'm going to give up the idea of recycling the MicroATX boards and going Mini-ITX. In particular, I stumbled across this U-NAS NSC-800. I'm going to wait for the ASRock C2750D4I to be released as use that.

At least that's my plan for now, I usually change my mind 100 times before actually executing. :)
 

Patrick

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D'oh! Of course the Phenom is new and post me doing research on what I wanted to build with. Oh well.
 

rushman

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Oct 30, 2013
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Another option could be the Fractal Design Node 304

The footprint is kinda small, but they managed to get 6x3,5" HDDs inside whilst maintaining a reasonable airflow / cooling-concept inside.
Those extra 2,5" SSDs wil need some DIY though ;) Mounting them to a PCI bracket should work space wise.
 

matt_garman

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Feb 7, 2011
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Another option could be the Fractal Design Node 304

The footprint is kinda small, but they managed to get 6x3,5" HDDs inside whilst maintaining a reasonable airflow / cooling-concept inside.
Those extra 2,5" SSDs wil need some DIY though ;) Mounting them to a PCI bracket should work space wise.
That case is Mini-ITX, and my original spec was for Micro-ATX.

That said, I've since given up on Micro-ATX, and will buy new Mini-ITX boards so that I can use the U-NAS NSC-800 chassis.

I actually need to build two systems, my primary file server and a secondary backup server. I just received most of the parts I need to rebuild my backup server. I'm anxiously waiting for the ASRock C2750D4I to have retail availability so I can use it for my primary server.

I was thinking---though it's way out of my budget now, it would be sweet to have something like the U-NAS chassis, but for 2.5" drives... how awesome would it be to have an SSD-based NAS with maybe 12--16 SSD drives?
 
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tubs-ffm

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Sep 1, 2013
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Thought about replacing the fans but they have filters and it just looked like a mess to do anything with them.
Absolutely no Problem. I replaced all three of them but with the Intention of reducing noise. It also works with the filters. The filter is a spearate part that should fit to other fans. I skipped the filter of the fan on the top side as it doe not make sence to filter the outgoing air behin the fan.

Additonally I do have installed a noise damping to all walls. And the air flow is sufficient for my HDDs. Ok I only installed 4 x 3,5" + 1 x 2,5". The 3,5" HDDs are running at 40 - 45 °C acc. S.M.A.R.T. status
 

ullbeking

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The Fractal Design is very nice. The build quality is very good, it feels very sturdy and the steel is quite thick. Also, it's very quiet, but you can ofcourse always control the fans to your liking.

I don't see myself buying anything but Fractal Design cases if things doesn't change. Value for money is off the charts.
I used to think so too, except it's very difficult to find something truly compact yet breatheable when you need it. I think of them as makers of "big cases".