Case cooling or may be modding advice needed

[Blaylock]

Those nibblers are great and that reminds me I still need one. They aren't going to work for the chassis he is using though. That sucker is 3mm thick aluminum. He's going to need an angle grinder like Jay used in the video he linked, or a good Dremel with a lot of time and oodles of patience. LOL

 

[HerbieSpot]

Yes I think you will be fine with the extra grill. A little extra intake, even without a fan can't hurt. I look forward to the build!

Don't worry about cutting, its not that bad once you get in to it. You will make some booboos and you will have some errant grinds and scratches but that comes with learning. One thing that made my life much easier when starting was a nibbling tool like this or this. I think Harbor Freight also has electric ones but I couldn't find it. They don't work all that well when doing circles but work fantastic for straight lines. There are also manual ones but those get really tough to use on thicker metal or larger holes.

Those look interesting and I see the second one requires compressed air to operate. I have a compressor so that could be an option.

I was thinking of using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade like this



I’ve cut a thin metal case before but not sure if it will deal with aluminium. My thinking behind the grills is that I’ll be cutting a smaller hole and then laying the grill on top. I will have room for mistakes and the cut doesn’t have to be perfect. I know what I’m like though, and even though the case does not have a window, I’d want the lines to be straight and tidy.

I have an old neighbour that I chatted to on and off, who owns a CNC machine. Is that for just wood or metal as well? In fact if I wanted it done professionally I wonder what would be the best method and the cost.

Anyway, food for thought!

 

[BugFreak]

It would do it but most likely leave jagged edges so be ready to sand them down. A CNC machine would be great for what you need done.

 

[HerbieSpot]

Those nibblers are great and that reminds me I still need one. They aren't going to work for the chassis he is using though. That sucker is 3mm thick aluminum. He's going to need an angle grinder like Jay used in the video he linked, or a good Dremel with a lot of time and oodles of patience. LOL

Angle grinder scare me You need a steady hand to use one and all those sparks.

Post magically merged: Mar 29, 2022

It would do it but most likely leave jagged edges so be ready to sand them down. A CNC machine would be great for what you need done.

I’ve seen videos of laser cutting and etching but they all seem to work on a flat bed with sheets of flat metal. I can’t dismantle the case, so I wonder if it narrows my options if I chicken out of doing it myself

 

[Blaylock]

Angle grinder scare me You need a steady hand to use one and all those sparks.

No need to worry about sparks with aluminum, although there is plenty of metal and grinder wheel dust. You can use a jigsaw but like the link you posted earlier, be sure to use a good tape. Otherwise, you can/will scratch the case.

 

[HerbieSpot]

Here you go EarthDog, as requested the link for my post on another forum regarding my case and cooling options.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/cooling-setup-help-and-possible-modding….293317/

 

[HerbieSpot]

Ok guys so I’ve been so busy with real life and finally got around to starting to put things together. I managed with the help of a friend and a piece of wood to bash all the bits of the case back into shape and thankfully the Screen is ok.
Remember, we had a very constructive discussion around cooling which I‘m greatfull for, but upon starting the build I see an issue straight away. As, you will remember the cooling isn’t great as the picture shows. Two 92mm fans in the hard drive bays sucking air in and a rear exhaust 120mm. My system is cramped as the further pictures show but if I keep the fan on the right as you look at the top picture, it blocks all the Sata ports on the motherboard. The current fans are 25mm in height, I tried a 14mm version of the fan but it’s still not low enough to allow access to the top Sata ports.

I thought about a smaller fan but ideally I’d like to keep the fan as removing one fan would decrease the cooling. As you may remember I’d planned to cut a hole in the same side for two 120mm fans. I will take my time with doing that but for the immediate future I want to get the system up and running.

I’ll be loading up the system with 6 hard drives, 3 each side and with the Sata ports blocked I’m looking at the following server card and not a Sata adapter because of their bad track record.

LSI SAS 9207-8i, 8-Port Int, 6Gb/s SATA+SAS, PCIe 3.0 HBA - Server Case

www.servercase.co.uk

​

The problem is that the card is designed for server cases and runs really hot in desktop cases, 150 degrees. A small fan eg 40mm noctua can be added to bring down the temperatures.

I know this is a load of things all in one go, but you guys were so helpful before I was hoping we could brainstorm to find some solutions.

1) So what Do you think my options are for cooling the card SAS card?
2) Any new suggestion? Fan brackets, bespoke mount etc
3) Bottom line, do you think I should just get on with cutting the case and also look at cooling solutions for the SAS card and leave the 92mm fan alone.

As always your feedback would be most welcome

 

[EarthDog]

1. Strap a fan on it or get something else that doesn't require active cooling/comes with it already. Also, 150F isn't really hot for a component. PCs go by Celsius and that's 'only' 65C. Check to see what they are spec'd to run at.

2. See 1

3. Cut it or get a new one. That said, you cN always test and see how temps are.

Edit: I guess my question is this... why are you using a SAS card for a self-described gaming/emulation system? That makes no sense to me. Apologies if I missed an earlier post. Most motherboards have six sata ports you can RAID(0/1/5/10) so why not do that?

but I’ve got similar threads on other forums and I’m getting mixed up

Yeah...cross posting isn't a great idea. As you can see it confuses the OP (you) and those who are helping have given out advice you may have already heard wasting their time. That and you can get conflicting information which can snowball and confuse. Nothing wrong with double checking information...don't misunderstand me, but you can see the concern from multiple angles.

Best to link up the other places you've posted this so we don't talk over each other and see what others have said.

 

[Blaylock]

I agree with E_D. I have a 50 or 63mm fan on my SAS for my NAS even though it probably doesn't need it, but I like to keep everything as cool as possible. (65c is no worries)

 

[HerbieSpot]

1. Strap a fan on it or get something else that doesn't require active cooling/comes with it already. Also, 150F isn't really hot for a component. PCs go by Celsius and that's 'only' 65C. Check to see what they are spec'd to run at.

2. See 1

3. Cut it or get a new one. That said, you cN always test and see how temps are.

Edit: I guess my question is this... why are you using a SAS card for a self-described gaming/emulation system? That makes no sense to me. Just feels like you're reinventing the wheel for no reason.

1) I gathered from several posts on the net that at those temperatures, the cards dropout as well as throttle. So with a Noctua 40mm fan those temps go to 80F which as per your comments would be even better.

3) It’s scary though but will look good!

I have no experience with Sata adapter cards or SAS cards. I don’t want raid just a JBOD setup. Many posts I read seemed to rubbish Sata adapters. I went with the LSI card because if I’m leaving both hard drive bay fans intact then I have to have some way to connect up my drives because the motherboard ones are blocked. The mini SAS to x4 Sata connections appeals to me as routing the cables will be easier. I also found comfort in that many SAS cards are made by well known brands. Many of the Sata adapters seem to be clones.

I’m happy to be told otherwise

Thank you for the suggestion!

*Earthdog. Are you asking for me to link the posts I did on the other forum about all the things I’ve discussed here before my new post today or is it posts related to my most recent question? The latest question I’ve only posted here and all the things I refer to have been things I’ve read rather than posted and talked about on other forums

Post magically merged: May 30, 2022

I agree with E_D. I have a 50 or 63mm fan on my SAS for my NAS even though it probably doesn't need it, but I like to keep everything as cool as possible. (65c is no worries)

Hey Blaylock!

Is it a dedicated NAS eg Qnap,Synology or a PC build? If it is the later, can you recommend a SAS that can be connected to sata drives?

Where those fan added by you or already present?

All I want is a reliable/stable card that can give me 8 Sata connections, that is a reliable brand and doesn’t fail and in turn contribute to the loss of data. It also needs to beable to handle 20tb and 14tb WD ultrastar drives.

 

[EarthDog]

If you saw it throttle at 65C...I suppose there's no choice.

Some motherboards support jbod... or you can do it through windows. There's other options outside of a card that needs a fan in a small chassis. But if the ports are blocked (why is that noctua there????), you don't have a choice. I'd rather mod my chassis (especially since I'm doing it anyway) to get the sata cables to fit. It's just another layer of complication to me.

Edit: ok..OK... Terribad design of the case not being able to use sata ports which have been the same location on the mobo for like decades...oof. Drawbacks of using atx in that chassis I suppose.

I dont know what you mean by rubbish sata adapters. Never had an issue with them...

 

[HerbieSpot]

If you saw it throttle at 65C...I suppose there's no choice.

Some motherboards support jbod... or you can do it through windows. There's other options outside of a card that needs a fan in a small chassis. But if the ports are blocked (why is that noctua there????), you don't have a choice. I'd rather mod my chassis (especially since I'm doing it anyway) to get the sata cables to fit. It's just another layer of complication to me.

Edit: ok..OK... Terribad design of the case not being able to use sata ports which have been the same location on the mobo for like decades...oof. Drawbacks of using atx in that chassis I suppose.

I dont know what you mean by rubbish sata adapters. Never had an issue with them...

I guess the quick fix is a smaller motherboard and I agree with you, the case is badly designed. I’ll look at Sata cards again and see what I can find.

So much info out there, must do more research

Thank you again for the help, great forum here and great mods….

 

[Blaylock]

Hey Blaylock!

Is it a dedicated NAS eg Qnap,Synology or a PC build? If it is the later, can you recommend a SAS that can be connected to sata drives?

Where those fan added by you or already present?

All I want is a reliable/stable card that can give me 8 Sata connections, that is a reliable brand and doesn’t fail and in turn contribute to the loss of data. It also needs to beable to handle 20tb and 14tb WD ultrastar drives.

Mine is a dedicated NAS for my Plex server (Project NASgul in my sig). It is a PC build from spare parts essentially. The card I'm using is an old legacy Adaptec ASR-5805. I use it for RAID but I believe it supports JBOD as well. I added the fan and I simply zip-tied it under the controller for added cooling. It is unlikely that you will find the same card as it is quite old now but there are newer models available. I'll dig around to see if I have a pic of it.

EDIT: Here is a current pic if NASgul. Sadly, the motherboard passed away last week, so I had to resurrect my old FX990 and an old N460GTX GPU to get her back online. Hopefully she lasts until Zen4 is released. I digress.

The image shows the card in the middle PCIe slot with the 63mm fan hanging from zip ties.

 

[HerbieSpot]

Mine is a dedicated NAS for my Plex server (Project NASgul in my sig). It is a PC build from spare parts essentially. The card I'm using is an old legacy Adaptec ASR-5805. I use it for RAID but I believe it supports JBOD as well. I added the fan and I simply zip-tied it under the controller for added cooling. It is unlikely that you will find the same card as it is quite old now but there are newer models available. I'll dig around to see if I have a pic of it.

EDIT: Here is a current pic if NASgul. Sadly, the motherboard passed away last week, so I had to resurrect my old FX990 and an old N460GTX GPU to get her back online. Hopefully she lasts until Zen4 is released. I digress.

The image shows the card in the middle PCIe slot with the 63mm fan hanging from zip ties.

View attachment 357879

My plan is to do a Plex server but also put it next to the TV for direct play of 4k content

I also discovered the perfect AMD motherboard for my sata port issue. The sata ports are on the bottom of the board and face upwards. Asus TUF series….. The one annoying thing is it’s hdmi 1.4? On a 2022 motherboard?

Maybe they will update things but I’ll continue with the sata card idea.

Thank you again for the info

 

[EarthDog]

Just thinking... but if it's only a low powered NAS to serve movies, you probably don't need a fan in that location. So long as you've got a gpu with nvec, the gpu handles it with little power.

...just another option.