Computer Cases

[Hienrich Jager]

So I have been doing lots of research lately about building a computational workstation for my professor. I pretty much have all the parts down that I need, but the one remaining stickler is that the motherboard is a "SSI EEB 3.61" format.

 

Now according to my googlefu this format is pretty much the same as the Extended-ATX format, and that it should fit inside any case that supports E-ATX. My questions are these:

1) Anyone have experience with trying to find a case that will accept this format?

2) Anyone have any recommendations for cases that will support this format. Caveat: The case must have either support for 8->10 3.5" HDD's or enough 5.25" to fit some of these:

Internal harddrive enclosure

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jager

[Hienrich Jager]

Just as an update. These are the cases that I am currently researching:

 

Athena Power CA-SWH01B95

ARK SR-8100BK Black

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS

LIAN LI PC-P80

LIAN LI PC-V2100BPlus II

COOLER MASTER Stacker 810

[hardnrg]

page 11 of the SSI EEB 3.61 shows the board dimensions and hole locations:

http://ssiforum.oaktree.com/pdfs/SSI%20EEB%20v3-61.pdf

 

so it's the same 12" x 13" and hole layout as EATX

 

I have a full tower Chieftech Mesh Bigtower that supports EATX, 8 internal harddrives, 2 floppy bays (could use for harddrives), and 6x 5.25 bays which could convert using the 3 bay / 5 harddrive enclosure to give 20 harddrives if you didn't need optical/floppy lol... I guess I could use one of the 5-way enclosures, and a couple 1 bay / 1 harddrive enclosures, include a floppy drive, so 8 + 1 + 2 + 5 = 17 harddrives... I'm running 9 internal harddrives at the moment, and may add 2 more for 11 internal + 1 external

 

I also have 4U and 5U rackmount cases, Queenserver RM421 (wouldn't readily support 8 harddrives with optical+floppy) and Yeong Yang W203 with the optional 5-way 3-bay YY-W20x-cage... I could get a second cage and still have space for an optical and floppy drive, so 10 harddrives... this Yeong Yang case comes with feet to be set up as a pedastal (tower) or you can get rackmount rails to put it in a server rack

 

You probably can't get either of these cases in the US, but a proper FULL tower or 5U rackmount case is what I'd recommend going for...

 

Out of the cases you listed the Lian-Li 2100 would be nice if the budget allows it, if not, then the Stacker 810 would be my next choice

 

I wouldn't go for any of the mid-towers you have listed because of concerns with space and cooling

[Nemo]

I'm fairly certain that motherboard format s the same as an Extended ATX format.

 

Also, the hard drive enclosure is $20 bucks cheaper at Provantage if that matters.

 

As for cases, why not consider the CoolerMaster Stacker case I posted in your original thread about the storage server?

[Hienrich Jager]

@hardnrg

Thanks so much for those links. When I first saw that Chieftec case you linked I almost nutted. That is exactly what I am after. Now I just need to find it in the US

 

@Nemo

Yes, I know that you linked to Provantage in my other post, but since I am buying everything else from Newegg I wanted to get from there as well. Additionally, at this point $20 doesn't make a difference.

I did look at that case you linked and I think that the power supply that comes with the case will actually serve my needs.

 

(side topic)

I had been meaning to ask you about that Enclosure as well Nemo, cause it doesn't look like the cooling would be very good between the hard drives with that model. Have you experienced high temps with that? Do you have significant ar passing through that enclosure other than what the fan on the back provides? Thirdly, I read in several places that that enclosure only supports up to 300Mb/sec throughput. Can you comment on this?

(/sidetopic)

 

Jager

 

P.S.: Incase no one noticed, this new build I am doing started with the storage box that I had originally been building, but when I presented it to my prof he decided that he wanted to also make it a computational workstation as well. So I am trying to figure out how to fit 2xXenon E5420's into this build as well. /wrists

[Nemo]

The fans on the enclosure move a surprising amount of air, more than I would have expect from fans of that size. I have a 120mm input fan and a 120m exhaust fan. With 5 drives in the enclosure I haven't seen any high temps. The 300MB/s is because it supports SATA II drives which is their theoretical limit. A proper RAID array could go higher - I never got around to running any benches yet.