My new toy!

[Zxian]

Well - I just got myself a new toy. It's been 3 weeks waiting for it to arrive from back order, but it's finally here!

First impressions - this thing is HUGE. I'm 6'4" (193cm), and it comes up just past my knees. Why am I even trying to explain this… just see for yourself.

That there is sitting beside my old case - the Antec 2650. The old case was filling up with drives and started to get a bit cramped...

When this case first came out, I drooled at the thought of having it. Such well defined lines, such wicked contrast of black and brushed aluminum - WOW! Not to mention the rediculous amounts of storage that you can pack in here. It's got space for eleven 5.25" drives, and it comes with an adaptor that turns three 5.25" bays into four 3.5" bays - with fan mounting and all. So you could potentially hold twelve 3.5" drives in there, and still have room for a DVD burner, and a-soon-to-be HD-DVD drive. B)

Another big plus for this case - you can change the back and side panels to make the whole thing BTX compliant. Any new motherboard that I buy in the next few years will fit in this case. Toss a new Antec Phantom 500 in there, and I've got all the juice I could shake a stick at, all with a completely silent power supply.

The eleven drive bays gave me the ability to do something else - suspend my hard drives using elastics. "Why on earth would you want to do that?", you might ask. By suspending the drives, you remove a direct solid contact between the drives and the case. This prevents the vibrations from the hard drives from resonating the case walls, making your system quieter. I'm still working out all the details, but I've got my four drives going, and you've really got to put your ear up to them to hear them spinning at all. I'll see if I can grab pictures later on tonight.

So far - the only downside I've noticed is that the Northbridge fan is noticeably louder than before. This could be either because my hard drives aren't causing as much noise now (they used to be the loudest part of my setup), or because this case has more mesh surfaces to it, meaning that high-pitched whine can make it's way out. No bother - a $10 trip to NCIX to pick up one of these and I should be good to go.

For more pictures - have a look here. I've put a CD or a jewel case in some of the pictures so you have a reference as to how big this thing is. And yes - those pictures are being hosted out of the computer that you see.

Now... to organize those cables again...

[big poppa pump]

I have the CM STacker STC-01 since a year and a half and I wouldn't trade it for any other case in the world. I currently have 2 3-in-4 bay devices holding 8 hard drives in addition to 2 other hard drives totalling 10 hdd's and 2 optical devices, a fan controller and a 24*2 vfd. All this is powered by 2*antec TP-II 550W PSU's, both inside the stacker!

[3aces]

that thing is absolutly massive!!! I WANT 1 loooooool

[ripken204]

get a passive heat sink, mine works very well, im ~40C idle. and for you elastics for the hdd, make sure to check them once a month, they can deteriorate over time.

[Zxian]

I'm not using regular brown elastics for the hard drives. The material is the same stuff that you'd find in your boxer shorts. I've had some pairs of boxers last me 4 years with the same stretchyness.

Yeah - I'm looking at the Zalman passive northbridge cooler, and possibly (i.e. if I can find the money) the Thermalright TI-97. The reviews on that thing are nuts, and I'm not sure if the Zalman will fit in my current setup with the Zalman 3100+ heatsink I've got now. I'm getting about 42C idle, 47C load right now with a slow slow 80mm SilenX fan, and the TI-97 has apparently blown everything else out of the water.

Like I said - more pics later.

[ripken204]

but still check the bands every few months, 40-50C can make them weak.

[mark]

Adding to ripken204's comment, not only are the elastic bands under a higher and longer lasting heat load, they are potentially under greater tension for a much longer period of time.

I'll also venture a guess that you won't want your setup to ever get bumped. A HD that is hard mounted to the case will probably absorb less shock than one that is suspended and then slams into a side wall.

Another option would be to install some type of foam that would absorb vibrations from any pannels that would act as sound boards. Obviously you want to do this without blocking airflow.

That is a whopping big tower. Are you going to have to get extensions for the power harness?

Funny, I was talking to someone today about installing two psu's in one case as big poppa pump has. A few years ago, I saw a picture of an extra psu mounted on the outside of a tower. Looks like a good option where two quality 400 watt units will cost you $80-$100 and one 800 watt unit will cost you a few hundred.

DL

[ripken204]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817703004

you know you love it, already has support for quad sli

[LLXX]

Is that a Server case?

[Zxian]

Adding to ripken204's comment, not only are the elastic bands under a higher and longer lasting heat load, they are potentially under greater tension for a much longer period of time.

Yes, they are under load for a longer period of time, but they're definately not in a great amount of tension. I've got two 3/4" bands for each hard drive, something that should be plenty considering the weight of a typical hard drive. Granted - the life of rubber does decrease with heat, but from what I've read, checking on the elastics every 6-8 months is plenty.

I'll also venture a guess that you won't want your setup to ever get bumped. A HD that is hard mounted to the case will probably absorb less shock than one that is suspended and then slams into a side wall.

The case is also sitting on the floor 24/7. If ever I were to move it a great amount, I'd shut it down and remove the hard drives altogether. You are right about the shock and all, but this isn't my LAN party rig.

Here's a pic of how I've suspended the drives so you've got a visual picture. It's not like they're hanging from loose strings, but see for yourself.

The elastics aren't actually touching anything underneath the drives - just the edges on the sides.

Another option would be to install some type of foam that would absorb vibrations from any pannels that would act as sound boards. Obviously you want to do this without blocking airflow.

I considered that for this case as well, if I needed it, but looking from the construction of it, the walls are quite thick which helps with reducing the vibrations in the first place. Once I grab my new northbridge and CPU heatsinks, we'll see if I need that at all. It's something I've been considering for my old case. I'm getting an old Athlon 1GHz system that I'm gonna turn into a test setup/plaything (something for dicking around with Linux or my UA installs), and I'll be working to make that thing as unnoticable as possible.

That is a whopping big tower. Are you going to have to get extensions for the power harness?

Nope - the power cables from the Phantom reach all the devices without any troubles at all. I haven't cleaned things up yet, but here's a picture of the innards of the case at the moment.

I know it's messy, but it's 11PM and I just got in from dinner and beer with friends.

Is that a Server case?

I'm not sure if it was meant to be for a server, but the Coolermaster site has pictures of dual and quad CPU setups inside the case. The many placements of fans and grilled surfaces all over also point towards it being for a high-end-high-heat system.

[Maleko]

Very nice!

Those stackers are true beasts

[ripken204]

now if you really want to have fun, go and sleeve your psu, it can be a long and tough job but its so worth it.

lol, strange labeling on that mobo. its an abit nf7, and its nforce2

[ZcWorld]

dam its a big case

but big is good more room to do stuff i think

and did i do the hardware install job for u

coz thats looks like mine how all the power / data cables going eveywhere

maybe i will take a pic or two of mine when i do a clean out of the case

nice toy

[LLXX]

I can't really tell from the picture but it seems there are no Fans blowing across your suspended HDDs.

I would suggest you have such a fan, as in a normal rigid mount the metal of the case acts as a heatsink for the HDDs and carries heat away from them. In your situation, the HDDs are isolated both mechanically and thermally from the case, so they'll get hotter than in a normal rigid mounting. Hence, the recommended fan.

[mark]

Sweet. Let us know about the finished product.

@LLXX- That had crossed my mind after I posted. Nice to know, thanks.

DL