Cray C916 (Supercomputer) scratch build - NAS case

[HCP]

Cray supercomputers are probably not a new name for anyone.

As on my other builds i make something strange or odd, so will this be

Dont miss my Wargames WOPR case build!

I will go with a ITX motherboard for it, dont know wich one yet. The future will tell

I have eight 2TB S-ata drives waiting for a housing, dont know if all will fit but atleast 6 of them.

It all started with a email to CRAY asking for measurements for their old computers and casings

Then i told the story, im a fan of older big computers with some soul in the case and wanted to make a working scale version of it.

I get alot of questions why and how i can manage to keep all this projects alive, and why i dont make one done before starting another.

So here it is, before i get the same question again

I do not have a job after a heart attack and a back injury, im at home with my 4 y.o. kids and the hours when they are on kindergarten and late night i need to fill with something to do (except for my company i spend some hours on), and there it is. I have probably 10 times more time for this than other modders.

Enough of the text, here my first sketch of the C916 based on information i got.

I still need to put into some more changes and details for it.

Rough rendering

My first idea is to have the drives standing up, two in each corner of the case.

Cray systems picture of it.

Did some planning, i will probably go with a ITX mobo and six 2TB drives. I have a 3-ware raid card somewhere in low profile that fits pretty good. Now i have the basic footprint size done, time to cut it in 4mm acrylic

2x120mm fans in front of the harddrives pushing air in, over pressure when the case its not air tight it will work perfect.

Did some templates for cutting the acrylic and noticed one crucial part... The PSU.

So, instead of cutting panels its time to check up a PSU that fits into this creation.

I know i know, planning first, making later

I have 140x90cm "floor" space and about 20cm high, i probably go with a SFX or TFX from Be Quiet!

The SFX measures 125 x 100 x 63,5mm and the TFX 70 x 85 x 177mm, probably need to run the power into the case as its impossible to fit the PSU to a panel for connecting the power cable.

5 minutes rendering, dont know why i rendered it in the first place, but here it is

The white box is the SFX PSU size. SSD will probably be replaced by a SD-card for OS.

[TicTac]

oooo this is going to be good :P

[Nicktrance]

This looks interesting xD

[josh_05]

What an awesome idea! cant wait to see progress :) Subscribed!

[HCP]

It begins...

This is the base i going to add fiberglass to

ops, out of focus. Better pics later when its cut to size and braced.

[Dûblaìdd]

Will be monitoring this thread

[HCP]

​Started out with making a template for the shape.​

Its only half, i flip it to get 100% accurate bend on the part im cutting.

​And the tops parts done, time fore some gluing!​

The smaller ones are internal to hold the front pieces. (need 20 of them)

[HCP]

Some more parts cut in acrylic.The case will NOT be transparent, i use it to get stiff plastic to hold it up.

Time to start gluing the puzzle :)

[Wats]

You can't just stop here. MOAR

[sniksder16]

cant wait to see, any windows going in to see the innards?

[HCP]

cant wait to see' date=' any windows going in to see the innards?[/quote']

No windows, im doing it as a 99% (100% is impossible :) ) replica of the original one :)

I will add some LED´s to it to light it up a little more.

[HCP]

The puzzle begins...

[HCP]

And, one of three almost done.

This is just the external shape, internal they will look different depending on where it goes.

nevermind the pipe, the real one is drying from fiberglassing :)

And the real thing...

[HCP]

Really advanced gluing, got to make some jigs and parts to get spacing correct and at the same time angle in two dimension at the same time holding it so the glue could bite :)

Not sure if im satisfied with this, will see later after the internals of this parts is there and some paint.

Some parts missing, its 1.25 AM here so my neighbours probably dont like me starting the table saw :)

More work laters!

(and again, the pipe is just for demonstration, not the one going to be used in the case)

[HCP]

The one part where the drives go. Only one fan here.

Primed to see where i need to make some changes...

Its still missing the front panel that goes outside of the fan.

Its coming along pretty nice now :)

[HCP]

And this is what it looks like after 8 layers. Now its time to let this cure over night, and tomorrow add some wood and plaster reinforcements to it before i take it off the pipe. In that area i will only use about 3" wide, im making it big now makes me cut out the best part to use for the mold later.

And...!

Be Quiet! helping me out with PSU and Silent Wings 2 fans for this case

I have used Be Quiet! in alot of other cases and i totally love their products, i love quiet pc´s and i will go all in on Be Quiet! in my other cases too.

[HCP]

My camera light didnt start so i got to pitch the contrast in the pic. Sorry about that.

Just a smaller "right-now" status, top part drying.

Sanding the rounded top now and going to fiberglass it tonight to get that one done.

Here its more easy to see where the parts from the fiberglassed pipe is going.

Took me a great deal of time to get all angles right.

[HCP]

Colortesting, looks nice. Waiting fore some more plastic to be delivered before i can make the bottom and all parts holding the motherboard/drives. Hard to get correct tone into the camera. And its no matte clear on either, will make the walls first :)

[<boss2939>]

nice build I would have spray painted it black that would look really nic. Great job.

[HCP]

Next step...

Got delivery of some more plastics, my acrylic bending for the front pieces didnt work so i use 1mm styrene and glue them in layers to keep the bend, along with some heat while gluing. Probably do 3-4mm thick totally.

The front pieces, this is the outer one.

More coming up...

[qwertywarrior]

i was going to tell u to post these on bit-tech too since EVERYONE who mods posts them there

but i found that u already had

hope u win :)

[HCP]

Hehe, im posting it on other forums too, but im not into any kind of competition or doing it to win anything.

Just a fan of old big computers with a soul in the case :)

Going for a Cray T94 next after this, already started some, and after that its the Weebo robot from the movie flubber in the making.

So, im a little strange in that way making wierd stuff :P

The Cray T94 is a beaty, imagine running watercooling in the top hoses/pipes, gonna be a cool case to build also :)

[TheAsian1337]

I like the idea but is this for a NAS or storage or an actual PC for running casual/gaming programs. Otherwise I love it and I'm going to follow this project.

The Asian is Everywhere

[TheAsian1337]

This is going to be the dream of all NAS's that I'm going to have and I have 1 4U servers for storage and 1 1U server for server hosting and game hosting. Must need this in my house. :P

The Asian is Everywhere

[HCP]

I like the idea but is this for a NAS or storage or an actual PC for running casual/gaming programs. Otherwise I love it and I'm going to follow this project. The Asian is Everywhere

Going to run OpenBSD on it, so storage is the first mission for it. Later on i will probably retire my web server for developement and move it into this C916.

When i made the plans for this i was planning on moving the hardware from a Xtreamer NAS but it changed during the build to regular ITX motherboard to house more drives. But it will still perform as a NAS, i dont have anything stored at my computers, everything is shared trough my network.

If i get some space left i probably hook up my old Corsair H60 for cooling.

2 of 3 front panels done now, pics laters :)