Norco RPC-4020 questions

Good point.  Well the other nice thing about the thermaltake fans is that they come with a little fan control unit.  So I can manually set the air flow and have it remain constant.    The two fans in the back of the case I will attach directly to the main board and let the board control the fan speed there.

Once I am all done I will post my entire setup and let everyone know the results.

Thanks for the advice.

Er.... what software do yo plan to use to control fan speed via the mobo?

Seems like the motherboard bios can control the fan speeds.  If I can't get that working I will again add the manual speed control dial that was included with every fan.

Anyone with this case have any ideas for the remaining drive slots that are not yet supported by Un-raid?  Are you setting them up to be ready?

Seems like the motherboard bios can control the fan speeds.

Excellent.  I highly recommend letting the BIOS control the CPU fan.

If you get adventurous, it is possible to get lm_sensors and fancontrol going ion unRAID, and even vary fan speeds on the mobo fan headers based on tems of the hard drives.

I think there is a good chance the thermaltake fan sensors will work out for the 5 forward fans.  Here is a like to the ones I am using : http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1165&ID=1735

The temperature sensor cable can reach about 7-8".  This will allow me to position each sensor between drives.  When Idle I don't anticipate the drives generating any heat, and the system should run silent.  If a drive heats up it should be enough to trigger the fans to speed up.

Once I am up and running I will be sure to report my findings.

You are on the right track... Here's the problem.  With 17 drives, which ones do you put the sensor on?

With hot-swap caddies, you can't attach the sensor to the drive.

Jesseasl,

I have my box pre-wired for 20 drives.  The empty drive bays have black foam padding stuffed in them so that airflow is restricted to them.  The fans that came with my unit were too noisy for me even though they have reasonable airflow.  I bought about 7 different brands of fans to evaluate as replacements.  None of them were adequate with regards to noise versus airflow.  I decided to remove the fan plane altogether and replace it with a piece of plywood that is mounted with 3 high capacity 120mm fans.  I've also removed the back 2 80mm exhaust fans as they provide very little benefit.  As soon as I've finished (few more days), I will report back.

Regards,  Peter

Can you upload some pics somewhere as i think alot of people will be interested in this.. me especially

I'll upload pictures so long as nobody makes any comments on the ugly unfinished wood!  I have no plans to paint or stain it as it is not visible under the cover! 

Regards,  Peter

lol no promises

Ok.  I'm still testing various fans but here are pictures of the completed fan plane.  The first is the plane itself.  It is made from 1/8 inch hardboard.  I measured the original plane and used that for the basic template.  I used a circular saw to cut it.  I then determined the mounting points for the three 120mm fans.  Using a jigsaw, I cut holes.  They are not perfect but a hole saw blade was about $35 (too much).  A little sanding and drilling and I have the basic design I want.

The second pic shows it mounted with a trio of SilenX 120x120x38 fans.  They are rated at 90cfm and 18db.  What a joke.  They are neither as quiet as stated nor do they move as much as specified.  And this is in a free air environment.  Putting the case cover on reveals that they have very low static pressure.  Replacing the SilenX with some PanFlow units shows that the PanaFlows have much greater static pressure capabilities.  Although they are rated at 87cfm which is less airflow than the SilenX, they seem to get much closer to their spec, especially when the top is mounted.  Unfortunately, they are quite noisy.  I changed the connection so that they are receiving only 7 volts.  That dropped the noise and the air output.  I think somewhere around 9 volts will be about right.

In any case, I think this mod is a worthwhile project.

Regards,  Peter

When you first posted I didnt imagine it would be like this lol I imagaed somehting way less fancy.

That looks excellent.

In your opinion is it worth the effort?

Also your backplane is differnt from mine... my SATA connectors are spread out over the entire backplane

I always go to SilentPCReview for fan info:

  http://www.silentpcreview.com/taxonomy/term/12

They don't test static pressure, but other than that, they do a good job.

When you first posted I didnt imagine it would be like this lol I imagaed somehting way less fancy.

 

That looks excellent.

 

In your opinion is it worth the effort?

 

Also your backplane is different from mine... my SATA connectors are spread out over the entire backplane

Thanks for the kind remarks.  I do believe it is worth the effort.  In general, I think the original design of the Norco case with regards to airflow is not particularly good for a home environment.  The fan plane in particular is badly designed as all the remarks regarding blocking holes will attest to.  It seems to be designed for air conditioned cabinets in data centers.  Compared to my Coolermaster Stacker 810 with four of the 4-in-3 cages, the stock Norco is much louder and much less effective in cooling drives.  Where the Norco tries to pull in air via the path of least resistance, the Stacker modules push air directly over the drives themselves.  In reviewing the temp data of the Norco array, you can see that there are drive bays that are getting less airflow than others.  With the new fan plane, I have been able to increase the airflow while reducing the noise level.  I am still in the process of evaluating fans.  The 39mm thick fans seem to offer better static pressure capabilities so I am going through them and hope to find a good solution.

I have what is supposed to be the latest version of the Norco (drop-shipped from them via Newegg).  It lacks SAS connectors and has similar connectors grouped together.  It has blue and green LEDs and uses (used?) Delta fans rated at 3000rpm 35cfm each.

Regards,  Peter

I always go to SilentPCReview for fan info:

 

   http://www.silentpcreview.com/taxonomy/term/12

 

They don't test static pressure, but other than that, they do a good job.

Thanks for the links.  Looks like I have more candidates to add to my list for testing.

Regards,  Peter

Delta fans are a deccent frand, and I have used them in may systems (PC and other electronics, suchas audio equip.)  They are well made, but they are definately NOT engineered for low noise or highest performance.  They are dependable -- which in a machine room where you don't care much about noise, is a big plus.

In general, thicker fans will give the blades more transit time contact with the air, and give better head performance, but not always.

Nice thread find

Still not one pic of the damn rails installed though 

fyi some posts on the new RPC-4220

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=16499329&postcount=178

...

I just got one of the new Norco RPC-4220 cases delivered today. I will try and post pictures later. It looks like a nice setup at first glance. The large drive/power connector backplane is gone, replaced by 5 individual

horizontal boards (one for each row of 4 drives) the dual molex power connectors are all along the left sides and the mini-SAS connectors are along the right edge. The fan assembly is changed also. It looks like they are using

high static pressure fans and they are all lined up along the bottom of the new plate. Cable openings are only on the sides now, the center is solid (other than the fan holes). Did the old drive trays have plastic rails on each

side? The new ones have blue plastic rails on both sides for alignment.

...

New Norco RPC-4220 Server Case pictures

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1149005

Bleh..... they made the fan plate WORSE.

But I like the fact they turned the backplanes 90 degrees... much less resistance to airflow that way.

bubbaQ,

I just received my 4220 a few days ago, and while I am in agreement with you about the fan plate, those 80mm Deltas they have on there mean business.  I went ahead and decided to create my own plate that would be quieter. It uses three 140mm fans and is darn near silent. CFM-wise, it might be a bit less than the 4 Delta's on the stock fan plate, but the new plate will have better isolation between the HDD backplanes and the motherboard area. I'll post a few pics once it is done.

What 140mm fans did you use?

I have 3 XIGMATEK XLF-F1453 fans for the job.  There is not much of a selection in 140mm fans right now and those fans claimed to have good static pressure.  They are rated at 63.5CFM and are very quiet; the stock CPU cooler on the Athlon II makes more noise than 3 of these fans combined.

The 3 fans side by side leave half an inch or less of gap between the sides and about the same at the bottom. I still have a final test fitting to do with the fiberglass mounting plate and am awaiting the delivery of some 140mm grilles because the fans blades come quite close to the power and data cables plugged into the backplanes. (In regards to clearance for this bracket, I think it would be easier to use 20 angled SATA cables in the 4020 than the SAS cables required for the 4220.) I also have to finish the lower part of the bracket this weekend which will include the wiring openings.  The finished bracket will also have foam rubber stripping to seal any gaps between the sides and the bottom of the bracket.

As I said before, the new Norco design with the PC boards of the backplanes turned parallel to airflow is an excellent change... one I suggested 2 years ago.  It should make several degrees of temp difference, and permit much quieter fans.

I would look at a different fan however... the  R4-C2R-20AC-GP 120mm Case Fan  and related ones, have more blades and have a higher static pressure and CFM.... they will work better than the 140mm, and are quiet.

I wish someone would just sell me a new fan plate with 120MM fans installed and a cutout on the bottom for the wiring.  I think many people would be willing to pay upwards of $50 to get quiet more effective cooling in their system.