Rack mount cases

[n3il123]

Hi, I am getting really fed up with the various PC's and the mass of cables that I have (3 x various geeky uses) so I have hit upon the idea of buying a small 19 inch cabinet and putting them all in there. However some of the PC's have quite big cases etc etc so I what I really want is to ditch the cases and convert them into rack mounts. I don't really want a massive 42u cabinet in the spare room (well er indoors doesn't) so whats the smallest U case that I can put them into?

Any suggestions on this, any peeps had to go through the same sort of thing?

Thanks in advance

[Plotloss]

They come in all sorts of sizes, 5u is the smallest I've seen.

You need rackmount cases though.

If you have 4 machines budget about £600 all in for the rack and 4 3U rackmount cases if buying new.

The little ones dont come up on ebay very often.

The alternative it to put rackmount angle in an MDF frame.

[BliarOut]

A 'U' is 1 3/4" or three mounting holes (in nearly all cabs) It's not the height you'll need to consider but the airflow and depth. Do you have any idea on the chassis you intend to use? A lot of them need a 1000 deep cab.

With the heat output of modern processors I would avoid anything with a glass front and go for a vented cab.

[zumbruk]

I've got my server (and it's monitor), LJ 5M, keyboard, 2x36Gb external disks and 8mm tape all in some wooden shelving from Ikea. Not very pretty, but cheap and it works.

[n3il123]

I can appreciate that... however as I said the idea is to get it all into one cabinet, I have a wheeled computer desk with all the hardware in at the moment, the thing is you can't move it without some cable dragging and pulling something out... and I have tried cable tie it all to the trolley but the cables are either to heavy big whatever!

I just wondered whether anyone had any experience of converting PC's to server/ rack cases or is it just easier to buy some cheap rack mount servers from ebay (as they are only being used for light use).

[Plotloss]

A 3U case will house normal desktop components.

The other alternative is to use the Silverstone LC17 HTPC case which is rackmountable.

[aldi]

Number of drive bays etc. can be a limiting factor, rack stuff can be quite noisy too.

[polus]

I very nearly did it as I have 3 UNIX machines. I was going to purchase 2x Antec 2U cases and 1x 1U case.

2U cases are 88mm high so a high number allow you to fit a standard ATX PSU but they are not high enough for normal cards, and for that you need 3U.

Im now downsizing to small form factor (itx), low power PC's for my servers as rack cases are very deep and very expensive.

Anyway some useful links if you decide to:

www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Rackmount_and_Server_Cases.html
www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=7&FilterCategories=211&Thumbnails=yes
www.ebuyer.com/UK/cat/Cases/subcat/*Server-Cases-/-Racks

Plotloss said:

The other alternative is to use the Silverstone LC17 HTPC case which is rackmountable.

if you know where to buy the rack handles in the UK (that are in stock), I owe you a beer.

Edited by polus on Tuesday 29th August 21:31

[BliarOut]

Whereabouts in EA are you? I think we've got a 19" rack that's scrap. It's brand new but dented. I'll post up how many U it is tomorrow. It's only about 600 deep though.

[Plotloss]

polus said:

if you know where to buy the rack handles in the UK (that are in stock), I owe you a beer.

Expected into the Dutch distribution centre any day now so I'm told.

(But then I have been told that for a while)

As soon as I get the nod, happy to get another set*




*Declared interest as a Silverstone dealer

[rich1231]

polus said:

I very nearly did it as I have 3 UNIX machines. I was going to purchase 2x Antec 2U cases and 1x 1U case.

2U cases are 88mm high so a high number allow you to fit a standard ATX PSU but they are not high enough for normal cards, and for that you need 3U.

Im now downsizing to small form factor (itx), low power PC's for my servers as rack cases are very deep and very expensive.

Anyway some useful links if you decide to:

www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Rackmount_and_Server_Cases.html
www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=7&FilterCategories=211&Thumbnails=yes
www.ebuyer.com/UK/cat/Cases/subcat/*Server-Cases-/-Racks

Plotloss said:

The other alternative is to use the Silverstone LC17 HTPC case which is rackmountable.

if you know where to buy the rack handles in the UK (that are in stock), I owe you a beer.

Edited by polus on Tuesday 29th August 21:31

plotty has shown me 1u rackmount cases that can take 2 mini itx systems in... which is impressive

[SaTTaN]

You can pick up decent rack mount servers from eBay for very little money these days.

I do a lot of automated install work, application packaging etc. as well as building complex systems (anything Micro$oft !) which meant I had a whole rack of old PCs with various issues that I used; but when I moved I binned the lot for a Quad CPU Compaq ML570 with 8Gb RAM and do everything in VMWare Server (now free) - with an extra 200Gb SCSI storage shelf it cost me less than £500 - which was significantly less than I planned to spend on a shiny new PC to do it all and its more than up to the job (has 14 virtual machines running concurrently) with fault-tolerant (cheap to replace) disks.

I've got a 42U rack in the garage which houses this beast and its associated DLT loader.. works lovely - and it has the added advantage of keeping the Porker warm in the winter (and I got the rack for free - I've got a 2nd one taking up room if anyone wants one please!!!

I can now just use my laptop from the sofa/office (beer in hand) and all the noise and junk is out of the way in the garage, wife is happy as there is no noise/kit in the house.

job done, ok yeah its a /bit/ geeky

[_dobbo_]

Trouble with 1U systems is that they are often scarily loud due to the small fan/high spin speed combination.

I'd avoid 1U cases for use at home if it were me.

[polus]

rich1231 said:

polus said:

I very nearly did it as I have 3 UNIX machines. I was going to purchase 2x Antec 2U cases and 1x 1U case.

2U cases are 88mm high so a high number allow you to fit a standard ATX PSU but they are not high enough for normal cards, and for that you need 3U.

Im now downsizing to small form factor (itx), low power PC's for my servers as rack cases are very deep and very expensive.

Anyway some useful links if you decide to:

www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Rackmount_and_Server_Cases.html
www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=7&FilterCategories=211&Thumbnails=yes
www.ebuyer.com/UK/cat/Cases/subcat/*Server-Cases-/-Racks

Plotloss said:

The other alternative is to use the Silverstone LC17 HTPC case which is rackmountable.

if you know where to buy the rack handles in the UK (that are in stock), I owe you a beer.

Edited by polus on Tuesday 29th August 21:31

plotty has shown me 1u rackmount cases that can take 2 mini itx systems in... which is impressive

Or perhaps Sir requires 4?

_dobbo_ said:

Trouble with 1U systems is that they are often scarily loud due to the small fan/high spin speed combination.

I'd avoid 1U cases for use at home if it were me.

Not mine although I ended making it myself (1U case):








Just needs a lick of paint on the front panel after fitting the LCD.

Edited by polus on Wednesday 30th August 19:59