Cases w/ Knockouts Up-To 10 I/O Ports?

SpdyVkng asks: "Once, I worried if I ever would have the money to buy a significant number of expansion cards for my PC; then I worried about the number of slots available; now most cards I have in my computer use not only one back end, but two (or more in some cases), for their I/O needs. That has me worrying about the cases I can use: 7 knock outs for expansion cards are too few, since I really would need someting like 9 or 10. To make it perfectly clear, I don't need more than 6 PCI slots on the mother board, and an AGP, but I need more physical knock outs in the case to have access to the extra I/O ports I need and which every card seems to have these days." Of course, necessity being the mother of all invention, how difficult would it be to "adapt" some off-the-shelf cases with added ports? I would figure that an adept person with the right tools might be able to add in side and front ports, depending on the case. Are there any places out there that will custom make chassis with these and other modifications?

"My computer is used for audio edting and I need all those extra audio channels and SCSI connectors for my external equipment. Unfortunately these audio cards and scsi cards take two or three PCI places, while only utilizing one or less slots on the motherboard.

Anyone who knows of cases which can accomodate more backends than seven?"

Comments

Industrial PCs

[Chris Hiner]

One option is to go with an industrial PC chassis like one of these:
http://www.lannerinc.com/iac-c800c.htm
http://www.lannerinc.com/iac-c820b.htm
http://www.lannerinc.com/iac-c607ax.htm

Its easier if you don't mind using a passive backplane, and a single board computer,
but some of their chassis take ATX motherboards.
They've got backplanes with up 16 PCI slots on them, and chassis with up to 20 slot holes in the back.

I've seen several places on the net that sell these exact cases at varying prices.

How about a nice Greenlee punch?

[unitron]

Of course if you don't know about Greenlee punches you probably aren't familiar with the Hawaiian Punch commercials I made fun of in the subject line either.

If anybody knows about (and makes the equipment for) making holes in cases for electrical and electronic gear, it's Greenlee.

Check out http://www.greenlee.textron.com/products/holemakin g.html

One place that carries them is Mouser

I'm not sure where to tell you to find them overseas (relative to my U.S. mainland location), but check with any amateur radio operators you can find, ask radio-television repair shops where they buy their parts and supplies, stuff like that.

You'll be able to tell by the price that Greenlee stuff is designed to be used much more often than once or twice, so maybe you can modify cases for other people in your situation and get some of your money back.

Good luck, e-mail me if I can help (except with paying for them, of course :-)

Re:How about a nice Greenlee punch?

[SpdyVkng]

I owe you a beverage of your choice, this really was an interesting link. Perhaps I might create a custom made case, since with the right tools I don't mind doing the job.

They also have a lot of other interesting hole punchers. I'm going to read through their site and see what ideas pops up. I do have several years of electronics experience as well as my computer experience.
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

Re:How about adapting drive bays?

[Kris_J]

There are serial and USB cables with internal connections, but the rest do loop outside the system and back in.

--

How about adapting drive bays?

[Kris_J]

Have you tried anything like the "Live Drive". I mention is since you appear to have an audio application.

Or there's FrontX for more generic ports.

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Re:How about adapting drive bays?

[SpdyVkng]

Did I mention that I do professional audio? Most of the stuff I do is via ADAT interfaces, going from the computer to different D/A and A/D converters (24 bit stuff). I also use scsi for connecting to samplers.

Finally, my computer is loaded with harddrives in drive bays on the front. They're used for bringing data to and from my computer to other people.

What I really would love was if all those different I/O ports on the cards could just use a big scsi-like cable to a rack mount system. :)

Thanks for the links. Though the FrontX solution needs a knockout on the back to work...
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

More room

[adolf]

ATX cases don't seem to exist which fit the bill. intel designed the ATX spec to have 7 available slots.

You're an audio guy. Computer cases are designed for computer people.

That said, check around at various case distributors (jinco.com comes to mind), and find something with knockouts that fit whatever SCSI connectors you need. These all seem to have fairly standard mounting, so it should be easy (trivial, even) to relocate the connector from the bracket to the back panel given some basic hand tools. It shouldn't be much (if any) different in cost from something without SCSI knockouts.

If that doesn't free up enough slots, try using different audio hardware. I'm not aware of anything with an external ADAT breakout box, but it might exist. ;) If you're doing lots of analog I/O to the PC, plenty of things are available which connect via DB-25 (or similar) to a breakout box covered in jacks, thus consuming only one slot.

I've got a Lexicon core2 which does this, but it's somewhat limited (4 in/8 out in a box, ADAT in/out on the card).

If that's not an option, you'll need to be more creative, unfortunately - nothing off-the-shelf (short of a PCI bridge as another poster mentioned) exists.

Convert an old AT case to ATX. They're available with dozens of slots, for next-to-nothing.

Or, start punching/drilling holes in the back of an ATX box. Looking at the expansion bracket on an RME DIGI9652 (www.rme-audio.com/english/hammer/d9652.htm), it seems possible to mount to the back of any box given a drill bit and nuts for the BNC jacks, and some creative metalwork for the TOSLINK connectors.

If you're afraid of metalwork, any decent machine shop can knock this out, near-flawlessly, for much less than $100. Even a tinsmith would have no difficulty with the project (and would likely charge less). They'll have an easier time if you use a case made from light-guage steel (ie, cheap), or aluminum (bloody expensive).

If you've got money to burn, look into using a single-board computer. These guys fit a (typically) high-end intel chip, integrated video (ATI seems popular), and standard I/O onto a full-length (sometimes shorter) card, which then plugs into a backplane covered with huge numbers of PCI slots.

They're intended for industrial use, and are thus expensive. And the backplanes are typically constructed to fit into a specific rackmount (!) case. Search for SBC on google.

Those are the easy ways.

The difficult way involves impedance-matched cabling bundled into a snake, plugged in with some high-density monolithic connectors to a breakout box of your own construction. It would be nice, and not expensive at all, but I surmise that if you were willing to go that route, you'd have already done so. :)

Good luck.

Re:It's amazing . . .

[SpdyVkng]

How nice a case looks now, and how ugly one could make it with a multi tool.

I do appreciate your idea though, if I were a much more practical guy I would probably do this.
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

Re:Neccessity being the mother of all invention

[SpdyVkng]

I ordered some today. The local dealer finally had the opportunity to get them.
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

Re:I have a case...

[SpdyVkng]

Probably an expensive endavour, since I'm in Norway, and you're in the us (according to your e-mail address).

But thank you for the offer. I think I need to look around on the used market.
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

Re:PCI Expansion Chassis

[SpdyVkng]

The best solution until now! Thank you for the info, now I just need to find someone selling this in Norway.

I owe you a beverage of your choice.
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

Re:Doing your work for you...

[SpdyVkng]

I've been looking around a lot, but everything I've found has been 7/8 slot solutions or raid solutions for rack mount.

Those people who have answered here has been of tremendous help. They've pointed me in new directions as well as helped me to find the pci-2-pci bridges which are used by Digidesign.

I knew something like this was available, but my searches always turned up normal tower or smaller cases. I generally do my research before asking, and I got a bit frustrated looking around and not finding what I needed.

I don't like the insinuitation that I did this as my first place to find info, that really goes against my grain. I've thought myself most of the stuff I know of computers and programming, as well as having a formal degree. I know how frustrating it is to have people comming and ask what for you is an obvious question.

Thanks for the company names you gave me. Now I just have to find someone selling this in Scandinavia, but that's a breeze when I know what to look for.

I must say that this discussion has opened my eyes for a lot of cool hardware. Much of it is pretty inexpensive as well.

Now I just need to find USD 2000,- to buy that Digidesign rack.
--
The Speedy Viking
http://zez.org/

PCI Expansion Chassis

[mfarver]

Try searching the web for "PCI expansion chassis" one example is Magma but there are plenty of others. Basically you get a PC or rackmount case with a PCI backplane (containing about 6-10 slots) installed. A PCI to PCI bridge card connects your PC with the expansion chassis. These are especially nice because you can orient the expansion chassis facing forward where you can easily reach the connectors. Or the chassis can be placed a dozen feet away from the PC in a rackmount enclosule with your other equipment. Not cheap, but a popular solution for people in your situation.

Thinking outside the box

[JohnnyBolla]

A: Why use a case in this situation? B: If you must have a case, use a saw. Add more holes or cut the back off? C: This is possibly the dumbest ask slashdot yet. Tied with this onewhich for some reason I can't find on the search page but it pops right up on google.

Re:Thinking outside the box

[return 42]

The dumbest ask slashdot in history has to be this one from yesterday. It's a pity they're not taking it to court - courtrooms need a good belly laugh now and then.

I have a case...

[ffsnjb]

It's a huge old 486 server case with room for 6 FULL HEIGHT drives (ahh, the days when seagate made 1.7gb scsi2 drives that take up the space of 2 cdroms...), 8 or 9 card slots and ~20 ports for db9/db25 ports. It's got my secondary DNS/IRC server in it now, but I'd gladly trade it for another AT case. I sure don't need all the space for a machine with 2 NICs and a video card. The power supply might not be adequate for your needs, but it is a 350W.

Re:Neccessity being the mother of all invention

[ffsnjb]

You really should be using rounded floppy/ide/scsi cables inside any cases where heat is a problem. Plycon.com, frozencpu.com and many others have them. Well worth the extra cost.

older server

[sporktoast]

Try shopping around any of the second-hand computer stores in you area. The case for an older 486- or early pentium-class server should probably do you. It won't be pretty from having gathered dust, various stains and nicks over the years; and it will weigh a ton.

The mount points might all not match up to an ATX MB, but enough should. There should easily be room enough inside for any extra fans you might need.

It would probably cost you between $25 and $75, depending on the vintage/speed/size of the other hardware in it that you don't really care about.

Shoot, I probably have one around that has at least 8 knockouts. Plus at least a half dozen 9-pin and 25-pin D-shell outs, and other various openings. Reverse my email address and mail me if you are interested. You can have it for shipping costs, or pick it up if you can get to Central Ohio.

It's amazing . . .

[OvrLrd-Q]

what you can do with a dremel multi-tool. Case in point: http://killcat.com
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japh