Case recommendation for e-atx board for my NAS server

[cgtechuk]

Hi all. 

 

I've been running a few servers over the years and all has been well but decided on building my own now and in a desktop style tower build as opposed to rack more for noise reduction more than anything else. The case I want has to fit a general criteria though 

 

Needs to  Support e-atx / ssb form factor

Needs to be able to house 8 to 10 x3.5'' drives

Needs to have a window or tempered glass

Needs to look decent to blend in with desktop pc

 

I am currently using a fractal r5 which I have modded to the 15 drive trays which is excessive but I'm not sure my eatx board will fit. I really like some of the inwin and nzxt cases but lack of spinning disk support again doesn't help

 

My desktop machine currently lives in a Corsair 900d which I could reuse as my server and buy a new atx case for it instead so that's also an option. Just seeing what's out there really =)  doesn't need to be new either. 

[UMxMarky94]

@cgtechuk

I would look at using the 900d for the server as it has a 9 drives with another 3 if you buy another cage and you still got 5.25 bays if you want even more 

 

 

[cgtechuk]

10 minutes ago, UMxMarky94 said:

@cgtechuk

I would look at using the 900d for the server as it has a 9 drives with another 3 if you buy another cage and you still got 5.25 bays if you want even more 

 

 

With the 900d what is the max 3.5 drives it could take? I know Corsair sell the backplane and cages separately so I could add some in the bottom section as well as in the windowed section. 

 

I would try to avoid the 5.25 bays as I don't want the ugly adaptors to show out the front of the case. If that makes sense 

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

The Cooler Master HAF X can take E-ATX.  It only has room for five 3.5" bays as standard but you can expand that to 13 drives if you put a pair of their 4-in-3 modules in the six 5.25" bays

[UMxMarky94]

Just now, cgtechuk said:

With the 900d what is the max 3.5 drives it could take? I know Corsair sell the backplane and cages separately so I could add some in the bottom section as well as in the windowed section. 

 

I would try to avoid the 5.25 bays as I don't want the ugly adaptors to show out the front of the case. If that makes sense 

15 if you use a shorter PSU 13 if you use a longer one 

 

also you could use THESE in the 5.25 bays

[cgtechuk]

2 hours ago, UMxMarky94 said:

15 if you use a shorter PSU 13 if you use a longer one 

 

also you could use THESE in the 5.25 bays

Those adaptors aren't too bad actually. The ones I am not a fan of are those 3 in 2 bays and 4 in 3 as they would ruin the look of the front of the case but those internal ones aren't terrible if not a little untidy. Surely there must be a case out there lol. I did see the cooler master one actually but I think I'd struggle to keep it silent. 

[UMxMarky94]

On 3/24/2017 at 6:00 PM, cgtechuk said:

Those adaptors aren't too bad actually. The ones I am not a fan of are those 3 in 2 bays and 4 in 3 as they would ruin the look of the front of the case but those internal ones aren't terrible if not a little untidy. Surely there must be a case out there lol. I did see the cooler master one actually but I think I'd struggle to keep it silent. 

yeah they are alright but i have had issue  with them playing nice with the 5.25 tool less designs . if you can take of the tool less bracket and use just screws 

[TLN]

I'm in the same board, and wanna got with caselabs. Either Mercury S8s, or upcoming Bullet BX8 or some tower case.