What is the biggest case out there? that can handle "everything" and more

[DesiPower]

Currently I am using P280, inside it has -
1. Eight HDDs (6 in proper slot, 2 sitting on the floor),
2. Two SSDs
3. Three 5.25 bay used - 1 BRD, 2 HDD switch
4. 120mm AIO liquid cooler, The case can handle normal 240mm cooler as long as its not too thick.

Now, let's assume I want to keep 1 thru 3, and get better cooling, maybe a thicker cooler like Predator 240 or maybe even Predator 360 or some other 360 radiator with custom cooling, are there any options out there that can handle all of this? or is it time to start looking at 12u

 

[aigomorla]

Thermaltake Core X9.
If 1 isnt enough for you, they have a stackable feature, so you can get another and stack one on top.

It can naively handle a 480mm radiator and it has a horizontal layout which i feel is far superior then the traditional vertical layout.

And its price tag wont make you cry like a custom mountain mods Hori would.

 

[Newbian]

The problem will be finding a normal desktop case with that many slots for hard drives.

Hell a lot of more modern cases are cutting back on the 5.25 bays even so that only complicates things.

The amount of space this would require is something that's going to be specialized and unless those stacking cases work like posted above it may be time to go for something other than a normal desktop case.

 

[MaxDepth]

Corsair Obsidian 900D - Started off as a $300 box, now the Amazon price history shows it dropping down to $200 or below soon.

I like the idea of the X9 stacking, though...

 

[DesiPower]

Thermaltake Core X9.
If 1 isnt enough for you, they have a stackable feature, so you can get another and stack one on top.

It can naively handle a 480mm radiator and it has a horizontal layout which i feel is far superior then the traditional vertical layout.

And its price tag wont make you cry like a custom mountain mods Hori would.

Oh wow, this looks perfect. It can handle pretty much everything I have or planning to have... The bottom compartment looks a bit confusing though, seems like you can either put all HDDs or a radiator. But I guess I can use up all the HDD slots and put the radiator on top. You are right, the horizontal lay of the mb is just brilliant, and the price is sweet too

The only issue i see in the all grill design, a dust magnet and will be noisy...

 

[DesiPower]

Corsair Obsidian 900D - Started off as a $300 box, now the Amazon price history shows it dropping down to $200 or below soon.

I like the idea of the X9 stacking, though...

Obsidian also looks like a good choice, has plenty of room and meets all my requirements, but it's expensive... even came across the 750 series, seems like it also can handle a lot of stuff, doesn't have as many 3.5 bays but there is lot of empty room to jerry rig something.

 

[XavierMace]

I had a MountainMods U2-UFO back in the day.

By volume, easily the biggest case I've ever owned.

 

[dlerious]

Caselabs Magnum THW10 + pedestal.
http://www.caselabs-store.com/magnum-thw10-customizable/
video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUeBqAC18Og

 

[MongGrel]

I had a MountainMods U2-UFO back in the day.

By volume, easily the biggest case I've ever owned.

Mountain Mods are huge, but pretty pricey.

Even a bit out of date these days I imagine, got me.

Thermaltake Core X9.
If 1 isnt enough for you, they have a stackable feature, so you can get another and stack one on top.

It can naively handle a 480mm radiator and it has a horizontal layout which i feel is far superior then the traditional vertical layout.

And its price tag wont make you cry like a custom mountain mods Hori would.

That one does look pretty massive, I've just used an old Antec 1200 that I have modded over time that has had 8 HDD's and various things crammed into it over time.

But it is an air case, I've never used water myself.

I'm sure I could rearrange things and do water, but if was going that route the Thermaltake looks good to me.

 

[master_shake_]

rosewill blackhawk ultra.

• Steel ATX Super Tower
• 2 x USB 3.0, 4 x USB 2.0
• 8 Fans installed
• 4 External 5.25"/3.5’’ Drive Bays
• 10 Internal 3.5" Drive Bays
• 10 Expansion Slots

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...sewill_blackhawk_ultra-_-11-147-157-_-Product

currently the one mine is housed in.

 

[MongGrel]

rosewill blackhawk ultra.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...sewill_blackhawk_ultra-_-11-147-157-_-Product

currently the one mine is housed in.

For the money the Thermaltake looks $30 cheaper and larger, my old Antec 1200 looks about as large as the Rosewill.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133275

Plus the stackable option.

 

[master_shake_]

my old pc but still...

case has everything he wants no modding required.

also

 

[MongGrel]

 

[master_shake_]

looks cramped in there.

 

[MongGrel]

looks cramped in there.

And the other one looks a bit empty.



Granted yours is larger and a lot newer.

My old ASUS P6T7 would not even fit in most cases in the past.

I still like the looks of the Thermaltake, though the Rosewill does not look small by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Obsidian also looks like a good choice, has
plenty of room and meets all my requirements, but it's expensive... even came across the 750 series, seems like it also can handle a lot of stuff, doesn't have as many 3.5 bays but there is lot of empty room to jerry rig something.

I have a 750D. It actually has room to mount three drive cages, but only comes with two. Here you can purchase a third drive cage and then have 9x 3.5" drives. The 4x 2.5" ssd mounts on the back are also great. The top really has room for any radiator you could want. 240, 280, 360, and if you're willing to bend a few metal tabs, 420. I think both 360 and 420 will interfere with the top 5.25" drive bay, however.

This is the case with all 3 cages mounted:

As for the radiator fitment, specifically vertical fitment, there are some considerations.

I have an H110 280mm radiator mounted with 4x fans in push/pull pictured here:

With push/pull on the radiator total thickness is 75mm. It's a very tight fit between the MB and the rear fan. The cooler and fans must be mounted before the MB to fit.

A predator is 70mm with the included pull fans, and would be an easier fit. You'd never get push/pull at 95mm thick to fit.

This is not a consideration as much for 120mm width radiators as they don't overlap the MB area as much.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Crammed 16 HDDs into an original CM Stacker. 128TB of goodness

 

[XavierMace]

Crammed 16 HDDs into an original CM Stacker. 128TB of goodness

It would pain me to spend that much on storage and then put it in an all consumer setup.

 

[aigomorla]

It would pain me to spend that much on storage and then put it in an all consumer setup.

+1

That's 8TB drives which cost almost 700 per drive according to his sig.
I would cry if i put those in a case that only costs 149.99 tops, (the stacker 830), and not a proper Supermicro 4U rack.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

That's 8TB drives which cost almost 700 per drive according to his sig.
I would cry if i put those in a case that only costs 149.99 tops, (the stacker 830), and not a proper Supermicro 4U rack.

Not quite $700 per drive if you shuck it from an 8TB MyBook
The two duplicate fileservers (for two different sites) are old - been around since ~2008 or so, with periodic hardware and drive refreshes.
Hell, I still remember when they consisted of a P3 1GHz, 512MB, a bunch of Promise IDE controllers and WD 200GB drives

Would love a clean, rack setup when I move somewhere more permanent. Would probably look something like "a Netflix" :

 

[mv2devnull]

And then connect couple "JBOD extreme capacity storage chassis" to fill the rack ...

http://xkcd.com/1737/

Stacker as HTPC ... why I had the impression that "HTPC" are like hobbits, unnoticeable?


@OP: Is all in one a must? No chance for a smaller desktop and some NAS 8/12/16-bay chassis?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Stacker as HTPC ... why I had the impression that "HTPC" are like hobbits, unnoticeable?

Weren't many (any?) other options at the time (~2005 or so?), plus I didn't want to go for a rack-based setup (not yet).

 

[DesiPower]

And then connect couple "JBOD extreme capacity storage chassis" to fill the rack ...

http://xkcd.com/1737/

Stacker as HTPC ... why I had the impression that "HTPC" are like hobbits, unnoticeable?


@OP: Is all in one a must? No chance for a smaller desktop and some NAS 8/12/16-bay chassis?

So the main point of my storage is not to run all the drive at all times, but some drives at all times. Some drives may not run for months as they only hold backup, some drives run at all times as they maybe DVRing or hold movies and shows that my kids or wife might watch often, others hold uncompressed movies that I enjoy occasionally in my home theater and then there are backups... That is why the HDDs are on physical power switches so that they can be physically turned on or off as needed. That's the hardware part, even on the software front the client is not fixed, I use Plex, Kodi and PowerDVD all the same time depending on location and mood. That is why I prefer to use single box for everything, call me crazy, but I love my setup!!

But going back to my original post, I am not looking for a case with many drive anymore. As I am going to keep my P280 as is and downgrade the CPU and GPU and keep running all the HTPC software. I am going to build a separate gaming rig and that case will need only one SSD slot, maybe none, might use two M.2 drives... idk... But in that one I would like to have space for 2 radiators... one for CPU and one for GPUs. Why separate? because I am going to mess around quiet a bit with the GPUs but the CPU cooling I don't want to touch. Atleast that's the plan.

I liked the Core X9 but wondering if there are any "Silent" options...

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Crammed 16 HDDs into an original CM Stacker. 128TB of goodness

Both of those models are still more than versatile for their long-dated design. My Stacker 830 was in storage for two or three years, as a plan slowly brewed in my defective brain as to what I wanted to do with it. I have the Crossflow barrel fan and a spare replacement in the parts locker.

It all depends on what you want to do. Even with the 830 midtower, the basic design of the drive cage is identical to its bigger ancestor which you show on the right. Piles of room for disks, front-panel USB3 and eSATA ports, hot-swap bays and an ODD. there would be a temptation to use a fan-controller with an LCD readout panel also taking up bay space.

I'm averse to "too many fans," and with its swinging inner side-panel plastic door-frame, you could mount as many as 4x 140mm. There are enough vents in the case that the possibilities are ample. While I'm still thinking about pruning a fan or two from my two-fan sidepanel arrangement and the front-panel, the ability to place those fans as I do is very "water-friendly." This is my front-panel and homemade fan filter:

This is my ongoing Skylake project. Despite my "fan principles," I lean toward keeping the two in front and two in the side (not shown). I can install disks in the cages behind the front fans, but no ODD, multi-I/O panel or hot-swap bay. And I was left with (almost) only two bays to use. So I bought one of these:

ICY DOCK ODD + (2x 2.5")

You'll also notice from your picture of the bigger original Stacker that there is unused space on either side of the 5.25" bay frame, from top to bottom. It would be very easy to use that space for things like SSDs or 2.5" HDDs, but those also fit behind my fans as I said. Suppose I wanted to add a 40mm-thick 140x280mm radiator? Then I could think about that space on either side of it.

It's all about the concept you're building. Server -- lots of storage; workstation -- enough storage, a cooling strategy and mini-components for the front-panel.

 

[thesmokingman]

Thermaltake Core X9.
If 1 isnt enough for you, they have a stackable feature, so you can get another and stack one on top.

It can naively handle a 480mm radiator and it has a horizontal layout which i feel is far superior then the traditional vertical layout.

And its price tag wont make you cry like a custom mountain mods Hori would.

The X9 is big but it's actually one of the biggest pain in the asses to work on. The horizontal board layout sounds cool but it's a huge annoyance to swap cards. If you have a board with pcie switches, that means the switch is clear across the other side so you'll probably have to remove another panel to access the switches. I use one for a test rig, but dammit it is a freaking a pain in the ass. One day I will toss it out and move to a proper bench case.

If the OP is looking for large within reason, check out the Enthoo Primo. You can fit two 480mm rads in it with push/pull and two psu as well. I think it's more flexible than the 900D, but the 900D probably has a cleaner outside aesthetic.