DIY rack case for simple home NAS

Division · January 17, 2020

I'm doing an overhaul on my server case atm, so lets first show you the initial building process a year ago...

Some extruded aluminum profiles...

Used 1mm stainless steel for most of the walls

Rev1 internal support thingie

Exhaust on the top

mobo tray from some old fractal case

Support structure

3d printed hdd holders

some custom cable routing

Up and running

front side... 2mm mild steel

Deployed

Little update, added intel i350-T4 nic with lacp+vlans

Oshino Shinobu · January 17, 2020

Looks great! I'd definitely buy one if you made it a business

Division · January 18, 2020

Heheh.. Would need couple more prototypes and then a batch of like 100 cases to make it reasonably priced, fortunately I dont have room for that kind of project.

So now the upgrade process.. I forgot the hardware specs from the OP, so lets first list the old setup.

CPU: AMD A10-5800k (4C/4T Socket FM2 beast APU from 2012, ran 24/7 since new)

MoBo: ASUS F2A85-M (ran 24/7 since new)

RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR3 2x4Gb (ran 24/7 since new)

PSU: Nexus NX-5000 R3 (been running like 10 years 24/7)

NIC: Intel i350-T4 4x1GbE (LACP with VLANs)

HDD: 2x4Tb Ironwolf mirrored

This setup served me well but its getting on the limit with vm's etc. Also PSU started going (BIOS gave sometimes surge protection notifications) so its was time for an upgrade. Old hardware will continue its life as a desktop machine in garage, mainly for internet access and access to 3d-printer controller (OctoPi).

New setup:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (8C/16T Socket AM4, pretty cheap from a friend who's upgrading his main rig)

MoBo: AsRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 (also bought used, no idea of usage)

RAM: Chinese Reeinno DDR4 4x4Gb (never heard of these, came with the motherboard so lets test)

PSU: Corsair VS650 (new)

NIC: Intel i350-T4 4x1GbE (LACP with VLANs)

HDD: 2x4Tb Ironwolf mirrored (2x ssd cache to be added when I find out what size I need)

GPU: Asus GT520 Silent

Then the case... Took everything out, and put new motherboard tray with ATX support and proper backplate to screw cards on

Recycled PSU support from the old HDD holder thingie

PSU in for test fitment, also mounting done for HDD cage

Put C13 plug thing with switch top the rear panel, still needs some plastic covering so I wont electrocute myself. Second HDD cage ordered so there will be room for 10 disks. Motherboard in, first 4 sata cables in, disks in... waiting for CPU and cooler. New front plate already designed, need to get some time on a laser.