Post #3 - only 2,997 more and I'm a Diamond!
PROS:
I don't know how many of you have this or a similar Chenbro server case, but I love the thing! Once you experience the utility of a true "double-wide" or "side-by-side" server pedestal, you'll never go back to the lame "full-size" towers. I had been using a Supermicro 750A for a few years now and thought it was the cat's meow. Let's just say that I was wrong. Now it's pulling light duty as my wife's web surfer and, comparatively speaking, the 750A is a joke.
For a cheap (relatively) Chinese server case, it's really pretty good. Granted, it's no Cabrillo, but it'll do everything a Cabrillo will at less than half the cost including the dual 400-Watt, hot-swappable N+1 EMacs power supplies! On the drive side, it supports eight (8) 5.25" half-height devices and six (6) 3.5" drives. You can mount four (4) 80mm intake fans up front directed over the drives and a single 120mm high-CFM exhaust fan in the back (plus the two PS exhaust fans) for a total of seven (7) intake and exhaust fans - and that's just on the DRIVE side! On the system side it supports two (2) 92mm high-CFM intake fans and a single 60mm exhaust fan placed close to the CPU. Even without the power supplies or any installed components the thing weighs alot! It's made of heavy-gauge steel and has a few nice security features if you're paranoid about your system. The front panel is heavy duty as well, with separate doors for device-side access and floppy/power/reset. Also, the whole front panel is hinged so you can remove the FILTERS for cleaning and remove devices, etc. It's nice to open up your system after a month or two (in a VERY dusty house) and find little, if any, in the way of dust, dirt, hair, etcetera clinging to the various drives and components inside of your system. With the system fully loaded - power supplies, drives, components - it becomes a serious backbreaker! I'd say it has to weigh all of 70+ pounds, without actually putting it on a scale. Fortunately, it's on heavy-duty locking casters and it rolls around on a hardwood floor with just two fingers. You only have to lift it if you want to put it on a table to operate on it.
I've intentionally failed BOTH power supplies a few times each to make sure they're functioning properly and everything worked wonderfully. And they are truly "hot-swappable" as I've pulled one out while rendering a 3DS Max scene and it didn't skip a beat.
I paid almost exactly $600 (US) for the case, power supplies and shipping. The cost is prettymuch evenly divided between the case and the hot-swap power. If you wanted to have the case, but could live without redundant power supplies, then it'd be somewhere in the $300 range with a 300-Watt PS, I'm assuming. That's alot to pay for a case, considering I thought the $180 I paid for the Supermicro was alot originally, but I look at it as an investment in something that will be used for a variety of different systems over the years (fingers crossed that the power supplies remain compatible). This is already my second system in six months that is in it.
The entire system and even my 10,000RPM Cheetah stays very cool (about 25 Celsius) with all of the high-CFM fans I have installed (all PC Power & Cooling) 1x 120mm 140CFM - 4x 80mm 38CFM - 2x 92mm 55CFM - 1x 60mm 18CFM - 1x 80mm 36CFM (CPU) - 2x 80mm 33CFM (PS). I could probably get even better cooling performance if I switched to round cables instead of ribbons, which I'm seriously considering.
Additionally, all of the inside metal edges are folded and rounded off. There's absolutely nothing inside of this case that can physically hurt you. Even if there were, there's so much maneuvering room inside, even when full, that you could avoid any problem areas with ease. Simply put, this case is a joy to work inside. No contortions necessary.
CONS:
With all of that wonderful hype, there are some drawbacks to this case/PS.
1) For the money it should be a more tightly integrated. I chalk it up to the fact that it'll accept absolutely ANY industry-standard components, but universal compatibility cuts both ways. It definately has that "Made in China" feel to it, unlike a Cabrillo, which is built like a Mercedes. The metal is just as heavy as the Intel case, but its build quality, while quite solid, isn't in Cabrillo's universe.
2) There are no wiring harnesses for the fans. There are plenty of mounts for every size fan out there, but with eight (8) different case fans you're going to have to do alot of wire cutting, splicing, shrink-tubing and tie-wrapping to get them all to run off of a single PS connector and neatly tuck all of the wires away - if you take as much pride in doing such things as I do.
3) Drive wiring is a serious pain with this case. The only openings for drive cables (IDE, FDD, SCSI, etc) are placed at the very top and bottom of the divider, and they're SMALL! This means that you are forced to buy long (36-Inch!), expensive 80-pin (ATA100) and 68-pin (LVD SCSI) cables to reach from the various controllers all the way over to the drive side. If they had put a third opening right in the middle of the divider, then you would be able to use most of the included cables versus having to spend another $100 to accomodate their poor design. Granted, I could've made my own hole through the middle, but I'm not that handy and I was concerned about sharp edges cutting the ribbon cables after time.
4) Another design "flaw" is the rear exhaust fan mount on the drive side. I was bent on putting a monster 120mm high-CFM fan there to expel as much hot air generated by the drives as possible. If you want to use the 6-drive 3.5" mounting bay in the rear, you can only use a 92mm fan. The 120mm is too deep. This was OK with me however, as I mounted the hard drives in the 5.25" bays using brackets. It's better that way because they use locking sliders so you can easily remove or swap any of the drives, including the CDs. However, at this moment I have no more room for additional drives unless I use the rear bay, which means I'd have to replace the 120 with a much lower CFM 92mm fan if I add any more drives. Had I known this, I would've opted for this case's bigger (taller) brother for another $100, which adds another four (4) 5.25" bays, and room for two more 80mm, one more 92mm and one more 120mm fan. Talk about your wind tunnels!
5) A smaller pet peeve is that if I have the entire case unlocked, you can't remove the security key! I'm at home so there are no internal security concerns for me. The only way they let you remove the key is if you have the thing locked up tighter than a frog's sphincter. There are two security keylocks. One is up front for the two access panels (devices and FDD/power/reset) and one up top that disables the keyboard and prevents the removal of the rear panel. If you have it connected, it also activates the security alarm on the motherboard, for those so equipped. It is a server case afterall.
6) Another small design flaw is that they should've put the 80mm device fans in the front panel instead of mounting them directly to the chassis. In order to remove any drives, you first have to remove the fan grill mounts for each drive section. It's a small complaint, but an inconvenience that rears its head any time you want to play with your drives.
7) A VERY minor gripe, that has nothing to do with the case (in fact it's more of a compliment), is the fact that I have to clean the filters once a week! My house it that dusty! Any longer than that any airflow suffers severly, which is the last thing you want to happen to an expensive system.
Well, that about covers it. I know as soon as I post this a dozen more things will pop in my head, but this is long enough.
I can't wait for post #4.
PROS:
I don't know how many of you have this or a similar Chenbro server case, but I love the thing! Once you experience the utility of a true "double-wide" or "side-by-side" server pedestal, you'll never go back to the lame "full-size" towers. I had been using a Supermicro 750A for a few years now and thought it was the cat's meow. Let's just say that I was wrong. Now it's pulling light duty as my wife's web surfer and, comparatively speaking, the 750A is a joke.
For a cheap (relatively) Chinese server case, it's really pretty good. Granted, it's no Cabrillo, but it'll do everything a Cabrillo will at less than half the cost including the dual 400-Watt, hot-swappable N+1 EMacs power supplies! On the drive side, it supports eight (8) 5.25" half-height devices and six (6) 3.5" drives. You can mount four (4) 80mm intake fans up front directed over the drives and a single 120mm high-CFM exhaust fan in the back (plus the two PS exhaust fans) for a total of seven (7) intake and exhaust fans - and that's just on the DRIVE side! On the system side it supports two (2) 92mm high-CFM intake fans and a single 60mm exhaust fan placed close to the CPU. Even without the power supplies or any installed components the thing weighs alot! It's made of heavy-gauge steel and has a few nice security features if you're paranoid about your system. The front panel is heavy duty as well, with separate doors for device-side access and floppy/power/reset. Also, the whole front panel is hinged so you can remove the FILTERS for cleaning and remove devices, etc. It's nice to open up your system after a month or two (in a VERY dusty house) and find little, if any, in the way of dust, dirt, hair, etcetera clinging to the various drives and components inside of your system. With the system fully loaded - power supplies, drives, components - it becomes a serious backbreaker! I'd say it has to weigh all of 70+ pounds, without actually putting it on a scale. Fortunately, it's on heavy-duty locking casters and it rolls around on a hardwood floor with just two fingers. You only have to lift it if you want to put it on a table to operate on it.
I've intentionally failed BOTH power supplies a few times each to make sure they're functioning properly and everything worked wonderfully. And they are truly "hot-swappable" as I've pulled one out while rendering a 3DS Max scene and it didn't skip a beat.
I paid almost exactly $600 (US) for the case, power supplies and shipping. The cost is prettymuch evenly divided between the case and the hot-swap power. If you wanted to have the case, but could live without redundant power supplies, then it'd be somewhere in the $300 range with a 300-Watt PS, I'm assuming. That's alot to pay for a case, considering I thought the $180 I paid for the Supermicro was alot originally, but I look at it as an investment in something that will be used for a variety of different systems over the years (fingers crossed that the power supplies remain compatible). This is already my second system in six months that is in it.
The entire system and even my 10,000RPM Cheetah stays very cool (about 25 Celsius) with all of the high-CFM fans I have installed (all PC Power & Cooling) 1x 120mm 140CFM - 4x 80mm 38CFM - 2x 92mm 55CFM - 1x 60mm 18CFM - 1x 80mm 36CFM (CPU) - 2x 80mm 33CFM (PS). I could probably get even better cooling performance if I switched to round cables instead of ribbons, which I'm seriously considering.
Additionally, all of the inside metal edges are folded and rounded off. There's absolutely nothing inside of this case that can physically hurt you. Even if there were, there's so much maneuvering room inside, even when full, that you could avoid any problem areas with ease. Simply put, this case is a joy to work inside. No contortions necessary.
CONS:
With all of that wonderful hype, there are some drawbacks to this case/PS.
1) For the money it should be a more tightly integrated. I chalk it up to the fact that it'll accept absolutely ANY industry-standard components, but universal compatibility cuts both ways. It definately has that "Made in China" feel to it, unlike a Cabrillo, which is built like a Mercedes. The metal is just as heavy as the Intel case, but its build quality, while quite solid, isn't in Cabrillo's universe.
2) There are no wiring harnesses for the fans. There are plenty of mounts for every size fan out there, but with eight (8) different case fans you're going to have to do alot of wire cutting, splicing, shrink-tubing and tie-wrapping to get them all to run off of a single PS connector and neatly tuck all of the wires away - if you take as much pride in doing such things as I do.
3) Drive wiring is a serious pain with this case. The only openings for drive cables (IDE, FDD, SCSI, etc) are placed at the very top and bottom of the divider, and they're SMALL! This means that you are forced to buy long (36-Inch!), expensive 80-pin (ATA100) and 68-pin (LVD SCSI) cables to reach from the various controllers all the way over to the drive side. If they had put a third opening right in the middle of the divider, then you would be able to use most of the included cables versus having to spend another $100 to accomodate their poor design. Granted, I could've made my own hole through the middle, but I'm not that handy and I was concerned about sharp edges cutting the ribbon cables after time.
4) Another design "flaw" is the rear exhaust fan mount on the drive side. I was bent on putting a monster 120mm high-CFM fan there to expel as much hot air generated by the drives as possible. If you want to use the 6-drive 3.5" mounting bay in the rear, you can only use a 92mm fan. The 120mm is too deep. This was OK with me however, as I mounted the hard drives in the 5.25" bays using brackets. It's better that way because they use locking sliders so you can easily remove or swap any of the drives, including the CDs. However, at this moment I have no more room for additional drives unless I use the rear bay, which means I'd have to replace the 120 with a much lower CFM 92mm fan if I add any more drives. Had I known this, I would've opted for this case's bigger (taller) brother for another $100, which adds another four (4) 5.25" bays, and room for two more 80mm, one more 92mm and one more 120mm fan. Talk about your wind tunnels!
5) A smaller pet peeve is that if I have the entire case unlocked, you can't remove the security key! I'm at home so there are no internal security concerns for me. The only way they let you remove the key is if you have the thing locked up tighter than a frog's sphincter. There are two security keylocks. One is up front for the two access panels (devices and FDD/power/reset) and one up top that disables the keyboard and prevents the removal of the rear panel. If you have it connected, it also activates the security alarm on the motherboard, for those so equipped. It is a server case afterall.
6) Another small design flaw is that they should've put the 80mm device fans in the front panel instead of mounting them directly to the chassis. In order to remove any drives, you first have to remove the fan grill mounts for each drive section. It's a small complaint, but an inconvenience that rears its head any time you want to play with your drives.
7) A VERY minor gripe, that has nothing to do with the case (in fact it's more of a compliment), is the fact that I have to clean the filters once a week! My house it that dusty! Any longer than that any airflow suffers severly, which is the last thing you want to happen to an expensive system.
Well, that about covers it. I know as soon as I post this a dozen more things will pop in my head, but this is long enough.
I can't wait for post #4.
Facebook
Twitter