@mavrrick said:
So one thing that may cause a problem with this is the MB only has 1 PCI-e Slot that has more then 1 lane. Is there anything in that slot? If not that is the best place took hook up your disk controller. You will need something like the Adaptec 71605H. I am sure LSI, Highpoint, Promise teck all have similar products. Compare prices and really be sure that a raid controller won’t be as good. I looked up the adaptec card though and it is $390 right now. That isn’t bad when you consider the number of sata connections and I really don’t think you could find a decent raid card anywhere near that.
I believe that slot is where my Graphics Card is installed. I was thinking the same thing about PCI issues, but I really don’t have the budget for a new motherboard right now, but I do want to make the swap from chassis to chassis and get things up and running. Having said that… if there were a motherboard that supported all the SATA drives directly that I intend to install, and I could wrap the cost of a disk controller back into the motherboard… I could go that way… No? (Not sure if such a beast exists).
I wouldn’t worry about the Sata vs. SAS or Sata 2 vs Sata3 thing. SAS is fully compatible with SATA so any SAS controller will work. Sata 2 vs Sata 3 is mostly for SSD’s so your boot drive could possibly benefit from that migration. As your traditional spinning disk get bigger though they will eventually benefit from the Sata 3 Some of the newer ones are getting close that now.
You have confirmed my feelings about the SATA2 and SATA3 issues, so I may just pick up a used SATA2 controller here on Craigslist (I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, so this kind of stuff can be found on grocery store shelves). There are so many companies that upgrade their hardware so often, we have several great surplus shops to peruse. Often a card and cables can be picked up for less than the new cables alone would cost at a retailer. My existing SSD can be connected to one of the SATA3 ports on the motherboard, as it is already.
In your case layout you have two spots labeled for vents. One thing I would caution you about is to think of ways to force air over the drives. I closed all of the basic vents so I could drive all airflow through my Hard drive mobile rack back planes. With the quantity of drives you are talking about you want to be sure you keep it all cool and maintain good airflow through the drives. Did you consider mobile racks like the ones i have from super micro. You can actually control the fan in the mobile rack with your cooling controlls
The “Vents” could just as easily be labeled “Blanks” its just that the blank bay fills are already vented (with filters). I’m leaving two bays at the top with the thoughts that someday I’d like to dabble with liquid cooling, and I’ve seen some dual bay reservoirs that appeal to me.
This chassis has an incredible amount of fan/radiator space, and I intend to use some very quiet higher end fans to circulate air appropriately. With respect to the drive bays, one of the reasons I chose the individual ones that I did was because of the distance that the drives will be now be separated, allowing for better air-flow than the tight quartered External Enclosure that I currently use, where heat just transfers up from one drive to the next, etc… There is substantial airflow through the front of these trays as well, even without other 5-1/4" vents nearby. Additionally these individual drive trays are about 90% aluminum in construction and should help dissipate heat better as a result. Each bay also has support for an optional 40mm fan to be installed at the rear. This approach is great because if I have a specific drive or two (like the two Seagates that I just replaced with WD’s) that run a little hotter than the others, I could just install an additional fan on that particular bay and draw extra heat off.
Thanx so much for your input. I sincerely appreciate it.
I’ll follow your links and learn some more.
