the Corsair Obsidian 800d - a good server case ???

[piecko]

Hi Guys,

I am thinking of building a new system for a home server.

Hardware I want to choose right now:

- Intel Core i5 2500k

- 8GB RAM (for the start ;-)

- graphics card onboard

- 64GB-128GB Crucial m4 SSD

- Asus P8Z68-V ,evtl. a h67-board

- Enermax Platimax 750W (overkill, but future proof to any additional needs I will ever have)

- Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (I think this thing will run very quiet in my rig)

- Highpoint RocketRAID 2720SG (very good value for its price)

- 4x 2 or 3TB hdd (depends on the price in one or two months, I hope it gets down soon)

- RAID-Setup: 4 hdds in RAID5

- Case ???

My thoughts about my perfect server case:

The primary idea is to take a big well designed case with some big fans that can cool down my rig with low rpm, because it will run in my living room. So far, so good.

Other thoughts about a case:

- hot swap hdd bay (nice for the raid-setup)

- good cable management (there I have a problem with lian li cases)

- opportunity to turn off any existing led-lights in the case

My I consider to use:

Corsair Obsidian 800D:

It has everything I need, but a good airflow. It looks great and has a hot-swappable drivebay. The cable-management is excellent.

I found a configuration with 3 fans taking in at the top, an additional fan in front of the psu also taking in, of course. So you have just one fan to take the air out and by removing the pci-brackets, the air can also exhaust there. This concept of overpressure seems to work, but I am concerned about the noise, this configuration will produce.

Do you think this would still work silent, when taking some low rpm fans (e.g. Noiseblocker XK1)?

Does anyone has or had a similar setup and can share some experience with me?

Or would you just say: Buy another case!?

For now,

Merry Christmas to everybody.

 

[S_I_N]

imho if your looking for a good airflow case the silverstones are the way to go (at that price point) the 800D iirc is a hot box according to many reviews i saw.

 

[piecko]

Thanks for this really quick answer.

imho if your looking for a good airflow case the silverstones are the way to go (at that price point) the 800D iirc is a hot box according to many reviews i saw.

Are you talking about the Raven series? Here I would prefer the RV01. But is it quiet?

I want to spend max. 250€ on a case.

I also thought about the Thermaltake Level10 GT.

 

[peircevongoth12]

Fractal R3 makes a good home server case too. Holds alot of drives, great airflow, and sound deadening to keep nice and quiet.

 

[piecko]

Thanks for that post Peirce.

Fractal R3 makes a good home server case too. Holds alot of drives, great airflow, and sound deadening to keep nice and quiet.

I took a closer look to the Fractal Define XL, the bigger brother of the R3.

I think I will take this one, because of it's classic look, the design with different compartments and it's great price. But the main feature is it's preinstalled noise isolation.

That seems to be a good compromise for me. I think builtin hot-swap hdd-cages are too rare as I can expect to find them in more cases. Using IcyDocks to get 5 3.5" hdds in 3 5.25" bays is another option, but not really cheap, as they cost about 120€.

So perhaps I will do this upgrade to my rig later on.

 

[peircevongoth12]

I have the Define XL and it is a wonderful beast of a case. I upgraded my little brother into a R3 for Christmas and if I ever decide to build a home server that will be my case of choice.

 

[Hay11Mac]

I have mine server in a Fractal R3 works great!

 

[alienware]

I wouldn't use a 800d for a server. That's the last case I would rely on to cool my 24/7 components.

This is a great server chassis if you don't fancy a Fractal

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/200689517291?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Silverstone Fortress FT02 meets all your requirments and is one of the best air cooling cases out there. I run mine with the case fans at 700 rpm when not gaming and it's very quiet.

Comes with one hot swap internal drive bay but any of the other 5 can be made hot swap with this accessory (which is fitted to the one already)

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=173&area=usa

 

[AMDFTW]

i would go fractal r3 aswell for a server

 

[-warheart-]

you could get a ft 02. looks more like the 800d than a raven case an has much better airrflow than the 800d

 

[Dandaman91]

I'd say go wiht an R3, I love those cases!

The 800D is more suited to watercooling cos it jsut fails with an air setup lol

 

[piecko]

Thanks to everybody for posting.

Until I saw the Fractal Define XL, I thought, I would have to spend a lot of money for a good big-tower case, but I think I was wrong.

The Fortress FT02 seems to be a good case, but it costs nearly twice the money of the Fractal-case. So for now, Fractal wins the race.