Looking for rackable case

Hello everyone,

For my future Ten64 board, I would like to change the case and go to a rackable 1U, short depth, case.
Since we have ATX accessories shipped with the Ten64 board, I was wondering if there are any recommendations available for a server case (1u, 19 inch) that would be known to be compatible?

Regards,

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Hi,
I would suggest holding off for a little bit, we have not yet had an opportunity to test any ourselves.

I do have my eyes on the In-Win RF100 which looks like itā€™s well suited to this sort of application:

There are some short depth storage enclosures which are also on my TODO list:

There are a couple of challenges to be aware of:

  • 1U cases require different (custom) I/O shields, the ATX I/O panel is actually taller than 1U and wonā€™t work with these cases.

    This can be done by laser cutting or CNCā€™ing a plate so not too hard to solve, but it does require a bit of money to design and build.

    (Iā€™ll try and post a drawing of the Ten64 I/O panel in case anyone wants to try this)

  • We have not verified clearances between the CPU heatsink and SO-DIMM and 1U.

    You will need to have a case fan blowing air onto the CPU as the ā€˜standaloneā€™ fan supplied with the Ten64 will not fit inside 1U.

    The SO-DIMM should fit inside 1U (our desktop case is 1U high as well) but this depends on how high the board is mounted inside the case.

    If it doesnā€™t, there are various ways around this, such as low profile SO-DIMMs or refitting a Ten64 board with a right angle RAM slot.

Best Regards,
Matt

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Thanks for the advice, another alternative I could think of is to keep the original case (since you mention it is about 1U size) and add ear brackets so it can be rack mounted.

Would you know any compatible ear brackets?

I have mine in the IW-RF100 - it basically works - with a couple of modifications.

The RAM is fine, but the fan mount needs to be reversed, and then the board raised off of the standoffs by a few mm as the board has mechanical interference with the fan mounting posts.

The other issue I think may come up is the heat sink fins are the wrong way to the air flow, so it may limit performance down the line a bit - I am still building / prototyping the os, so I havenā€™t hit any major temperatures yet.

If you do get a drawing of the IO shield that would be great - happy to release any dxf / stl files I create for 3d printing or cutting. Right now, I am trying to measure everything, which is a bit tedious, and slightly error prone :slight_smile:

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I have added the drawing from our desktop enclosure to the documentation: Schematics - Traverse Ten64 Documentation

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I donā€™t know if it is all compatible, but there are dual Mini-ITX rackmount chassis too, if you want higher density. I have one of these which holds dual Mini-ITX in 2U (with a non-Traverse board).

http://www.circotech.com/rm-2270-2u-rackmount-case-for-dual-mini-itx-motherboard-system-14-deep.html

I see they also have a dual motherboard version in 1U size too:

http://www.circotech.com/rm-1171-1u-dual-mini-itx-rackmount--case.html

Happy hacking :slight_smile:

Is it possible to supply 3D CAD geometry for the Ten64 circuit card assembly (PCB and components/connectors? If so, file format would ideally be a Solidworks file, but .STEP, .IGES, or Parasolid would be ok. This would be to enable modelling the Ten64 card mounted to a 1U 19 inch rack enclosure with fan and PSU and custom front and back interface panels.

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Has anyone made progress on rack case?
Iā€™m building a small home lab and was thinking of using the Ten64 for all the networking.

Thanks,
Frank

I have mine in 1U Rackmount Chassis / InWin / IW-RF100

It works - it is a tight fit though:

I had to remove the fan on top of the heatsink, but I upgraded the fans to 3x noctua, so airflow is ā€œfineā€ - keep a cpu temp of ~ 50C, with fans at about 50-60% speed. I am using DAC cables, so heat isnā€™t a huge issue for the SFP+ cages, but if you have optics in there, I would probably want to do a little better on airflow management.

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