Rack Mountable PC Case

[Harkin Banks]

Just curious if anyone has had any experience putting together a rack
mountable PC? I have put together plenty of rack-mounted servers, but not a
PC. The PC case would be shallower (~20 inches) and I think I would need a
4U box. Any issues with cooling, fit, etc?

Possible candidate:
http://www.alltec.com/services/perfcomp/4U20ATX350_iv.php. I have seen boxes
on ebay that are much cheaper but I am not sure about the quality. Any
others that you can recommend?

Thanks.

 

[Al Dykes]

Just curious if anyone has had any experience putting together a rack
mountable PC? I have put together plenty of rack-mounted servers, but not a
PC. The PC case would be shallower (~20 inches) and I think I would need a
4U box. Any issues with cooling, fit, etc?

Possible candidate:
http://www.alltec.com/services/perfcomp/4U20ATX350_iv.php. I have seen boxes
on ebay that are much cheaper but I am not sure about the quality. Any
others that you can recommend?

Thanks.

This may be OT if you really need rack mounts, but if you are working
on a tight budget (like I frequently am) you can find mini-towers that
are less than 17.5 inch high and put them on a shelves in the rack.

Not too ugly.

 

[MrToad]

Just curious if anyone has had any experience putting together a rack
mountable PC? I have put together plenty of rack-mounted servers, but
not a PC. The PC case would be shallower (~20 inches) and I think I
would need a 4U box. Any issues with cooling, fit, etc?

Possible candidate:
http://www.alltec.com/services/perfcomp/4U20ATX350_iv.php. I have seen
boxes on ebay that are much cheaper but I am not sure about the
quality. Any others that you can recommend?

Thanks.

I have my 4 PC's all in 4u rack mount cases, mounted in a home made rack
enclosure.
The only thing you have to be certian of when buying a case is to make
sure the backplane is a standard ATX form factor.

I like the 4u's due to the excellent airflow, however I had to put in fan
buses, otherwise the 4 120mm fans at full speed sound like a B17 at
crusing speed!
;o]

The fit is the same as with the servers, tight. It's good you have
experiance with server rack mounts, you'll have no surprises when
installing the hard drives, etc, [for those who don't know, you have to
install the drives last, otherwise you can't get the MoBo in].

I found my [steel] cases for $110 USD each, so they are inline with some
of the other mainline PC cases as far as pricing goes.
One other caveat though; I hope you have the room for it, because my
whole setup makes for a seriously big footprint, not to mention the
weight, the aluminum cases are $50-60 more....

 

[MrToad]

Forgot to add, use Pricewarch.com and you'll find decent 4u cases, here's
one that's similar to what I have: http://www.mpcparts.com/list.asp?
cat=cases&parca=rack [the SkyHawk 4u case on the right].