Dell XPS 410 (DXP061) Frankenserver


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I set up my unraid server about two months ago. The computer is a Dimension 9200 / XPS 410 / DXP061 - I bought the 410 in 2006.  I am running a Core2 Duo 6600 @ 2.40GHz.  The system has 4 GB of ram and 6 sata ports.  I had replaced the power supply some time ago with a 550W Corsair 80 plus PS.

 

I installed a EverCool Dual 5.25 in. Drive Bay to Triple 3.5 in. HDD Cooling Box in the two 5.25 bays to hold three hard drives.  The case is designed to house two hard drives on the bottom in an unusual setup but I placed two drives there.  Now, because of the PS SATA power cabling, I was forced to put only three drives up top (there is room for an additional two drives beneath the two 5.25 bays), and a third drive on the bottom of the case with the other two.  There is another reason for this - the distance between the SATA PS ports is too small to span the distance between the two drives situated horizontally, so using the third drive in between allows use of all three power ports.  This drive I leave standing on its side - quite inelegant but the box does not move.

 

I have two Hitachi HDS5C302 2 TB drives (one is parity),

One Samsung HD204UI 2 TB drive,

A WD WD20EARS 2 TB,

A Hitachi HDS72101 1 TB,

and a Samsung HD102UJ 1 TB drive

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Here you can see the PS and the cabling.  I am not skilled at making the inside of a computer look like art, but one complaint I have about the PS is that the cabling is hard to work with - perhaps the case is on the small side.  The power connectors for SATA are too close together and then I have a bunch of unused molex connectors.  hmm. 

 

On the back here I have added a case fan to pull air out of the box, but I havent needed it yet.  The Cooling Box helped a lot.  now that its cold, I have the cooling box fan unplugged to keep those two drives up at about 38 C during operation. 

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Here you see the cooling box from behind.  I have two drives in it - three is a tight squeeze, and in the summer, when the ambient temp in the basement was about 20 to 25 C iirc, the three drives with the box fan running (but not the case fan you can see above), the three drives were in the 40 C range, so I removed one and placed it under the cooling box as you can see. 

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Here you can see the two stock drive locations on the floor of the box.  I have added a third drive here, resting unmounted on its side.  Note the close proximity of the SATA power connectors to each other; placing a drive in the middle is the only way to utilize all three; adjacent SATA power connectors are too close to connect to these two drives. 

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