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Cheap Rackmount Enclosures/Systems?
gasp asks: "At work, our computer rooms use high-end rackmount systems. At home, I use the '8 year-old folding table piled high with computers held together by daisy-chained power-strip rat-nest' system. I find plenty of ATX and AT style midtower cases for about $30, but I haven't found any simple rackmount cases for less than about $200. Does somebody make the equivalent of a midtower-size case turned sideways with a couple of 19" rackmount brackets? It sure would be nice to find an affordable solution for home." Man, with four and soon to be five boxes sitting in my living room, I sure could use something like this!
The hi-tech music industry has pretty much standardised on the 19" rackmount format for synthesisers, samplers etc. so your best bet might be to look in the specialist music press for rackmount PC boxes. I'm not in the US so I can't give you the relevant title, but in the UK it would probably be "sound-on-sound". You'll also find this field to be a good source of the racks themselves, and even 19" rack-sized flightcases (should you need a bit of portability).
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Good question.
Most of the reason the cheapest rackmount case out
there is the Antec 4U IPC rack (ipc 3480 with
pp303x 300watt power supply, $239 at McGlen Micro,
here is the target market: servers.
People who are buying a server and putting it
in colo don't mind spending a couple hundred extra
dollars to get a high-quality case; they usually
go in high-vibration, high RF environments and
thus need to be substantially more durable than
desktop/tower cases. Additionally, they
generally have dust/cooling requirements which
are substantial -- adding 6 fans to a system
raises the price. Rackmount cases are all-metal,
just like the best desktop cases, rather than
plastic; plastic would disintegrate rapidly in
a datacenter.
The ATX/rackmount form factor is rather complex
to engineer, compared to a desktop or tower case;
it has to support a lot of weight. There are
some tower case with rails conversion kits, like
for the macintosh minitowers, but those are
rather specialty. They also tend to come with
higher-end power supplies, something which also
adds to the cost, and locking doors over drive
bays.
Also, the number of units of rackmount case sold
is much lower than desktop and minitower, raising
the price.
If you want cheap racking, I'd suggest using rack
shelves and putting minitowers in, or using
wire shelves and regular minitowers. Most of
the beowulf systems out there use shelves and
minitowers, rather than racks, for cost reasons.
Unless you're going in a facility with existing
19" racking, there's no reason to do racks.
Stainless steel wire shelving looks almost as
sexy as 19" racks, and can actually fit more
machines per unit volume than 4U rackmount boxes.
The shelving itself is cheaper, too.
Additionally, if you're putting a machine in colo,
the prices are usually such that spending $500
on one of the 2U cases rather than a cheap 4U
case will pay off in the long run. It's for
this reason that Yahoo originally designed their
2U high custom case -- they have thousands of
machines in colo, and when you pay $50-150/U/month, saving 2U per machine adds up
quick! People are even going to 1U now; there's
allegedly a Compaq DS10 in 1U rather than 3U on
the way, which I plan to buy in quantity for colo
use.
Rackmounts are going to be expensive, no matter what. Outside of the corporate computer industry, rackmounts are most commonly used by live sound & lighting production companies to mount amplifiers, effects, etc in sturdy cases to protect them. I know, I used to do it. So, the best place to find affordable rack-mount equipment is from the places that cater to the production industry, such as Middle Atlantic Products (among others).
One such solution is to buy a rack frame (by the way, a standard rack is 19" wide. and racks are measured in Units, 1U being approximately 1 3/4" tall, the average component size is 3U, like tape decks, amplifiers, etc.), get some flat rack pans, and simply place your ATX cases on the pans, you can fit 3 towers side-by side.
With the frame, rails and pans, depending on the height you need, this will end up costing you (sans puters) about 100-200 bucks.
If you're cheap like me, you'll go to Sam's/Office Depot and buy a set of adjustable steel shelves and put all your crap on them, organize to your heart's content. I think they go for the outrageous price of $20, no additional equipment needed. I have 3 towers, 2 cable modems, a hi-fi system, printer, and other assorted crap (omniview) sitting on the shelves, flanked by two smallish computer desks. It's neat, organized, and impresses the hell out of your non-nerdish friends (although they will probably leave with the feeling that you are a mega-geek with way too much free time) without spending a small fortune on enterprise-class gear. I mean, we ARE talking about home stuff here.
doc
This is a sig. It is like every other sig in the world, except that it is mine, and it is different.
How to Build Your Own 1U Rack Mount Server and Save a Bundle
CS 440 1U Rack Mount Chasis $268
Intel CA810 Motherboard $119
Intel Celeron 466 MHZ processor $85
Single Port Adapter $20
64 MB DIMM $80
13 MB Hard Drive $125
CD Rom and Floppy add $75 (Optional) -0-
Total $697
It also has links of where to buy all the stuff. Interesting article too.