Thinking of putting it all in a rack...

[DamnSkippy]

I have 5 PCs here at the house for various reasons plus my laptops. I am getting tired of all the cases everywhere and was thinking about getting a small rack and some rack mount cases and put it all in there. Any of yall done anything like this? I have never bought a rack or rack mount cases so I am a little in the dark here as to where to start looking, who is a good brand, what works with what, etc. Is it even feasible to move my systems over to the rack style cases without spending a small fortune? An example of one of the systems I would want to move over to the rack is:
ASUS P4G8X-DLX
P4 3.0GHz @ 3.2GHz using Swiftech MCX 4000
4 512MB sticks, Corsair XMS 3500
ATI 9800 Pro 256MB
1, WD 80GB-DLX system drive
2, Seagate 80GB SATA in RAID-0 Date drive
DVD+RW, CD-RW drives
Audigy2 platinum

Most are something close to that except the backup server, it has basic parts no OCing but has 5 HDs in it. I use one Keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers using a Belkin KVM switch.

Thanks for any input.

 

[SXMP]

Well you sound to serious for this to be a joke. I haver no information as towards the rack, but if you can afford 5 systems like that to apparently "play" with, all the more power to you man.

Bump for some serious wealth.

 

[dexvx]

It depends on what type of rack. If its 1U, you need highly specialized equipment. If its 2U, you can basically plug any standard motherboard into a rack and play with it. The main advantage of racks is that they save space. Personally, I have a rackmount Hub and a 1U rackmounted server. Its loud, but it looks cool and saves space.

 

[chocoruacal]

C'mon....suggestions are worthless until you post a budget.

Personally, I stick all my headless boxes in the basement. Cheaper than the rackmount solution

 

[DamnSkippy]

No I was not joking, I really am thinking about it for the reason that dexvx points out, it saves space. I have crap everywhere at the moment. I am not sure about the amount of U space I am looking for I just want to be able to fit all the spuff in the system I posted above in it. I look at the Antec cases and liked both of these:
http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_rackmount.php?ProdID=94400#
http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_rackmount.php?ProdID=94326#
They are a more than I usually spend on a case as I normally use the Antec SX 1040 but I would bet that there are some good ones that are a little less. The racks I have found are really expensive though, like 1200.00 for a base rack! I don't want to spend that much on the rack for sure. http://www.server-rack-online.com/26u-52-inch-server-rack.html

 

[Rogue]

If you don't already know, 1U is equal to 1.75 inches I believe.

You could probably get by with a half rack for your needs. That would fit five 4U systems, with room to spare for a keyboard/mouse tray, KVM and rack mount flat panel monitor probably. I highly recommend cable management arms and slide out rails also, depending on how much you get inside the boxes of course. I've built at least 3 full server racks with various types of servers and equipment and it's all pretty easy, but if you don't run your cables properly, you'll find yourself hating it later and end up re-doing it anyway.