Chieftec/Antec Drive Bay Fans

[MajorKong]

In the classic Chieftec/Antec case that has pretty much become ubiquitous, there are two removable 3 1/2" drive bays. The bottom one has a clip-out fan mounting bracket, while the upper one does not. This is because two of the upper drive mounts line up with the two external 3 1/2" drive openings in the case. I suppose that it's assumed you'll have at least a floppy drive mounted here, so no fan in this drive bay. I don't need a floppy drive. Can you add an additional fan bracket and fan into the upper drive bay if you wanted to mount three hard drives here?

I'm looking for a case for a server with large RAID array. If I do away with the floppy, this case gives me room for a CD-ROM drive, plus as many as 9 hard drives. I'm a little hesitant to stuff 3 10k RPM drives into one of these bays, though, without a fan.

Thanks,
JJ

 

[blade]

Yes you can.

See this thread from mechBgon for where to get that fan mount.

 

[mechBgon]

And for another option, how about what Antec called the SX1200 case? It's got two fan-cooled drive bays, six 5.25" bays, a floppy bay AND another 3.5" bay for a tape drive or whatnot. Here's a review of the Antec-branded version, with good photos: Review

You can still get this case in the Chieftec branding, although Antec seems to have discontinued it. For a source, I happen to know Directron has them: link

 

[MajorKong]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll pick up the smaller Chieftec/Antec 1040 and get the additional drive bay fan. I'd actually prefer a case without the front USB and firewire ports, so might have to search a bit for the Chieftec, since all the Antecs now appear to have them.

I considered the Antec 1240 (as you say, now discontinued) or its Chieftec equivalent, but it's just too tall and I don't really need to put more than 7 or 8 hard drives in it, or tape drives or addtional CD-ROM/DVD/CD-RW drives.

It's actually not that easy finding moderately sized cases that will accomodate, say, 8 x 3 1/2" hard drives. There are a number of mondo 3 foot tall x 2 foot wide 12 to 16 bay cases around for $300+, but they're just too big and too expensive. The Chieftec/Antec will probably fit the bill nicely with the added fan and no floppy drive. I was never a fan of the door for a deskside case, but for a server, it should be fine. My PC is in an Antec 840, which I love. Overall, same size as the 1040, but it only has the one drive cage.

JJ

 

[0roo0roo]

its totally not necessary unless you have 4 hd? and hot ones at that. you have 5 other fans already!

 

[Nebor]

I went from 5 80mm fans down to 3, and there has been NO change in my temps... unneccesary noise. Adding another is pointless.

 

[MajorKong]

Originally posted by: Nebor
I went from 5 80mm fans down to 3, and there has been NO change in my temps... unneccesary noise. Adding another is pointless.

Yep. I did the same in my Antec case. Went from four case fans (two in front and two in the rear) to just the two in the rear. Also changed to a slower, quieter fan on the CPU. Much nicer.

This server won't be in the same room as anyone, though, and I could give a damn if it sounds like a 747 taking off.

 

[mechBgon]

I think it's smart to have active fan cooling on SCSI drives in a server. An ounce of prevention... Yeah.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: MajorKong

Originally posted by: Nebor
I went from 5 80mm fans down to 3, and there has been NO change in my temps... unneccesary noise. Adding another is pointless.

Yep. I did the same in my Antec case. Went from four case fans (two in front and two in the rear) to just the two in the rear. Also changed to a slower, quieter fan on the CPU. Much nicer.

This server won't be in the same room as anyone, though, and I could give a damn if it sounds like a 747 taking off.

it probably depends.

it might have been a better idea to connect all 5 to a fan speed controller and run them all slow.

low rpm = low pitch noise, less noticable. fewer fans at full speed emit higher pitch noise which is more noticable.

having many fans is necessary if you bother will filters though. those things just kill airflow.

 

[StarTech]

How about this Maxtop CSF-900

or this other CODEGEN S101

If the CSF-900 was available with the optional internal rack by the power supply, it would be a very nice server box, but I am affraid it will be impossible to find the optional rack.


(Fixed maxtop link).