Quote:
Originally Posted by
tazmizzaz 
As I did say in my post I do figure on the need to eventually replace the PSU. PSU's above ~700 Watt though tend to increase in price at an exponential rate so it is much much cheaper to buy what I need now and upgrade later as prices on PSU's also come down (or a crazy good sale shows up).
In addition I am not running full time RAID sets or anything that is likely to have more than a few drives spinning at the same time thus reducing the idle power use of 48 drives to around 1 Watt per drive or < 50 Watts with only a few drives pulling active power thus making it highly likely that I may not actually ever hit 75% pull on my PSU anyways. I also count on increasing energy efficiency of drives in general to reduce the climbing power requirements and that will also ensure I may not need to upgrade the PSU either.
The 2 cases are held together by 4 heavy bolts and 1 lighter bolt at the back. It is crazy solid and there is absolutely zero need to be delicate with it (just moved it actually and yup super solid). I plan on moving it around with 2 people due to the sheer size but it weighs less than a single one did previously.
Large bolts:
Small bolt:
The cuts in the "bottom" or middle of the case were a little sharp (tried to smooth them but it just wasn't enough for my taste). So I found some heavy weight (25 mill) rubber tape and applied it all the way around the cut edges between the cases to ensure that no sharp edges are around to catch on anyones hands.
And to Litlgi74 it is awesome, and I am crazy excited that its done finally. Thanks for the initial inspiration to take the first step.
Sorry, I was not trying to imply that the 700 would not be sufficient enough for you build as is. I believe for solutions that are running Windows or booting to a Linux OS that then pools the data into Spin up groups or some sort of software raids that only mounts when desired, that a 750/850 PSU would be more than sufficient. I currently use UnRaid and when the OS initially boots, I believe it spools up all disks that are connected to the Hardware. In this situation, your mod would be possible, but would more than likely require the largest PSU's available, and more than likely single rail.
As far as the mod goes, It is a awesome idea. I think that Litlgi74 has the right Idea with leaving the bottom unit as is and modifying the top unit with the 4224 back window.
What I want to try to do is this.
1. Modify the "Top" unit with the Norco back window and 120MM bracket.
2. Install a Modular PSU into the top unit.
3. Drill Large Holes into the bottom of the "Top Unit" and the top of the "Bottom Unit" for where the SATA cables and PSU cables will go through to the mobo and backplane of the bottom unit.
4. Install Norco 120MM fan wall into bottom unit.
5. Run cables through holes in bottom and top of case to the bottom unit.
By doing this I would think that the cooling would be as close to "Normal" as possible and that uneven heat distribution would be all but eliminated. The top unit would probably stay really cool as it is only circulating air for the drives.
The major challenge I see for this will be for servicing or moving the unit. With the top half having a bottom, you would have to disconnect the modular PSU cables from the PSU, then feed them back through to the bottom unit, then unmount the top unit from the bottom unit. Probably more of a pain down the road than just putting in the extra effort up front. Damn I think i just shot down my own idea while writing this.
Anyway, I am going to try to figure out a way to do the 8U mod, without having to unmount and cut the mobo tray. I will probably end up with your way, as it looks to be the most reasonable solution.
Also, I do not really see a big issue with your cooling on the mod as is. If you added a second Norco 120mm fan plate to the top portion of the server, your cooling for the HDD's would in theory be just as good as if the two units where individually set up. This would leave any extra hot air that may be floating around, isnide the case, above the CPU. Yes, the airflow would be kinda all of the place, But with a additional 120mm fan late at the rear of the case, all the hot air that pooled at top would be sucked out.
Edited by mexicanmike03 - 8/12/12 at 12:43am
