Large size PC case?

LazyLion

LazyLion

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Guys, I need a large size PC case that can easily take 8 to 10 hard drives with room to spare. I really don't care about brand name or the coolness factor. Any one will do as long as it is not cheap junk. Does anybody know of a nice one for about R1000 to R2000? I will fit all my own components inside.
 
Well I have a HAF-X, very strong durable case. Currently housing 11 hard drives with the help of a cooler master 4-in-3 device with room to spare for my musketeer II (or a dvd writer). The case costs R1800and the 4-in-3 device costs R190 or so. I would also recommend the cosmos but that's over R2k

My old haf 922 use to hold 9 hdd's with the 4-in-3 device as well and that goes for cheaper. Also depends how much space you want on the interior. Although the 922 fitted nearly just as many things, it got very dusty and it was a tight squeeze for everything & cable management sucked. No such issues anymore. I'll post the difference in pics below now now

Edit: Haf 922:
100_1844.jpg


Haf-X
100_1853.jpg


Keep in mind the haf-x is currently housing a few more things. So it all depends on how tidy you want things as well
 
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I got the cosmos s, when you buy this case you stop going to lans with your primary pc, if thats where you going to put your main pc build. Its F***ING heavy. But it should take 9 /10 drives with the brackets mentioned above.
 
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if you do, however, happen to want to be fly... get a CM Storm Sniper case. Holds 10 hdd's and comes with 5 variable speed fans
 
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I think you can also get an Antec DF-85 (R1718) with one of those 3x 5.25" to 4x 3.5" bays if you want to accommodate 12 hard drives.
I'd reckon that pretty much any Full Tower sized case would work, where as the CM Storm Sniper would only hold 10 HDD's and nothing more since it's a Midi Tower.

Here's an image of the CM Stacker 830 Evo (~R2000) with 3x of those conversion bays for 12 HDD's: http://carltonbale.com/wp-content/uploads/stacker_case1.jpg
 
Well, your perfect case would have been this one: http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=54
Or it's slightly smaller brother: http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&prod=48
Would have cost only around R1100 if anyone in SA imported it. I really wanted that case, but ended up going for the Lian-Li V1010

Consider the following:

Lian-Li v1010 (I ended up choosing it - you need to buy a 4 in 3 device to hold 10 HDDs though)
CoolerMaster ATCS 840
If you want something small that will also hold 10 drives (If you use another 4-in-3 device, also look at : http://www.prophecy.co.za/corsair-cc600t-graphite-series-600t-tower-chassis-p-82297.html)


I recommend these as they're not as pimped-up as the others. (Owned a Storm Sniper - hated dust management, HAF looks too pimp for me etc etc)
Just because the Americans think spinners on the car's wheels are cool doesn't mean it is. Same thing with all the funny chassis-pimping with LEDs etc.
 
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Hey Gary, if you just want a big case with plenty of space and aren't worried about looks and design, try the Codegen S-301 Jumbo - I have two of them, one black and one white, and they are perfect for major HDD storage. The one has 10 5.25 bays on the right side with each of the 2-bay sections taking a 3-in-2 Icydock HDD Backplane - can now accommodate up to 15 HDD's, excluding the boot drive which is on the other side of the chassis with the optical drive... the case can also take 2 PSU's, so you'll have plenty power to run all the drives - I currently have a dual PSU setup and it works very well in this case. ;)
Cyberdyne and Sybaritic used to have them, but not sure if they still carry stock or can get them... the pricing was around R900-R1100 when I last bought one.
 
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/off topic with apologies:

The vibration from 10 hard drives must be quite extreme.
I would speculate that the drives are probably having difficulty reading and writing data, causing ugly delays and bizzare bad sectors that disappear when the drives are tested.

Do any of you implement some sort of vibration isolation/dampening in this kind of mass drive configuration?
 
davemc said:
The vibration from 10 hard drives must be quite extreme.
Click to expand...

I would imagine having that many drives balances itself out to a degree. Kinda like a Harley vs. a V6 superbike.

Ensuring adequate ventilation would be more important.
 
Sure, 10 drives each producing 40 degrees centigrade of heat must be suitably cooled.
I have been speculating that my drives, which seem to last about 13 months, are affecting each other.

Has anybody tried these: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/album.php?albumid=562&attachmentid=6877

They're mounting screws with rubber washers around the screw metal, but I cannot work out how the rubber is supposed to be of any use, unless you're expected to make the mounting holes in the body larger to accommodate the rubber. I get worried when I am supposed to wield a drill.

EDIT: If you're bored, read the conclusion of this : http://www.usenix.org/events/sustainit10/tech/full_papers/turner.pdf
It's dated October 2009, so it's a lot outdated.
But, what's interesting is that; the larger the size of the data chunks being written or read, the greater impact vibration will have on machine performance, because of the inherent lag effect caused by writing or reading larger chunks of data coupled with the vibration thus caused.
i.e. If you're using the drives for movies, you should be looking at vibration dampening.
 
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thanx robdutchmonkey, i'll be sure to get that 4-in-3 bay converter....I didn't even know that existed!

PS: on your HAF-X, do you run all those LED Fans from the single front panel switch?
I connected up a new Red LED TurboFlow 200mm Fan on the left, and took that black one and installed it at the top, and then connected the seperate "LED wires" from the front fan and Left fan together, lol, which melted those thin cables and stuffed up my LED switch, hehe. luckilly I didn't blow up my PSU!

I got a new switch component for like R2,50 or something, so everything is working again now, but how do you connect them ALL to run on 1 button?

PS2: nice rig!
 
davemc said:
Has anybody tried these: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/album.php?albumid=562&attachmentid=6877

They're mounting screws with rubber washers around the screw metal, but I cannot work out how the rubber is supposed to be of any use, unless you're expected to make the mounting holes in the body larger to accommodate the rubber. I get worried when I am supposed to wield a drill.
Click to expand...

My Antec Sonata chassis came with those. The grommets are fitted to the HDD trays that slot into the chassis. So first you install the grommets in the tray holes, align the drive with the holes and screw in the screws. This isolates both the screws & the HDD from touching the removable drive trays. If you really want me to I could remove one of my drives and take a photo.
 
davemc said:
/off topic with apologies:

The vibration from 10 hard drives must be quite extreme.
I would speculate that the drives are probably having difficulty reading and writing data, causing ugly delays and bizzare bad sectors that disappear when the drives are tested.

Do any of you implement some sort of vibration isolation/dampening in this kind of mass drive configuration?
Click to expand...

The bays that the guys are talking about above have dampening built into them. (little rubber rings on the side plates). They are really good units to have if you have more than four hard drives in your PC.

Check out the link - http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=29&products_id=13882
 
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