# Rad_Ed's Crunching station!



## Radical_Edward (Mar 1, 2012)

So after working with a lot of rack mountable stuff at work, and getting a few rack mountable items (24 port switch, Supermicro case). I've had a great idea. 

A crunching home server rack station thing! (Not sure what to call it  )

So I'm looking to grab up a 42U server rack, some server shelves for my non-rack stuff (600T, the P4-775), and maybe some other crunchers. (Don't tell Lauren.  )

I won't get this project off the ground until Early May, but it's in the planning process at the moment. I've got some sketches going... 

Anyone done this kinda stuff for home before? Any advice?


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## Fuganater (Mar 1, 2012)

Will you be using cases, rack mount cases or rack mount open air "cases"?


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## Radical_Edward (Mar 1, 2012)

Fuganater said:


> Will you be using cases, rack mount cases or rack mount open air "cases"?



I have single rack mount 1U Supermicro case right now, my plan was to also get some server shelves and put my Corsair 600T and the Socket 775 P4 on those. 

I'll most likely end up buying a 4u rack mountable case if I build another rig. Heck, my HTPC case is rack mountable, if I get the mounts from silverstone.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 1, 2012)

I have a rack mounted server laying on my desk LOL its a 4U design with a E5200 4GB DDR2. I think it is a full ATX motherboard.


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## Radical_Edward (Mar 1, 2012)

Don't tempt me.


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 1, 2012)

Great idea ed. I think in the future i may try something such as this too!


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## de.das.dude (Mar 1, 2012)

sub


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 1, 2012)

Radical_Edward said:


> Don't tempt me.



I don't think my work would let me get rid of it unless it magically walked out HAHA


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## t_ski (Mar 1, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> I have a rack mounted server laying on my desk LOL its a 4U design with a E5200 4GB DDR2. I think it is a full ATX motherboard.





Radical_Edward said:


> Don't tempt me.



We have a slew of servers we're decommissioning at work, but i think they're all P3-class Xeons


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## de.das.dude (Mar 1, 2012)

t_ski said:


> We have a slew of servers we're decommissioning at work, but i think they're all P3-class Xeons



but something is better than nothing right?


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## Radical_Edward (Mar 1, 2012)

Eh, we have a bunch coming in at work and I think we'll be getting rid of some of our older P4 ones. 

We'll see where I end up taking this, I assume there's only so much Lauren we let me buy before it becomes too crazy.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 1, 2012)

We have some old racks here as well I think they are 8 foot with panduit cable management that we just took out for all new APC stuff.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Mar 2, 2012)

Great ideal. If Lauren gets upset just blame me. Tell her it's all my fault as I used "peer pressure" on you.


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## Radical_Edward (Mar 2, 2012)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Great ideal. If Lauren gets upset just blame me. Tell her it's all my fault as I used "peer pressure" on you.





I can't wait to get this project rolling.


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## Fuganater (Mar 21, 2012)

Radical_Edward said:


> I can't wait to get this project rolling.



We are waiting.... *poke*


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## Radical_Edward (Dec 7, 2012)

Okay guys, I think I'm going to make a hardware store run tomorrow and pick up some supplies. I have an idea for making a 28u or so rack on my own. 

Just need to get the supplies and take some measurements.


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## t_ski (Dec 7, 2012)

Should just hope on Craigslist to see if anyone is giving one away.  I've heard several stories on other forums where somebody picked up a rack for $10 or for trading some minor work.


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## Radical_Edward (Dec 8, 2012)

I'm going to our local college store on Wednesday to see if they have one. They've sold 'em there before for $40.

Tonight is sketching and planning night.


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## [Ion] (Dec 8, 2012)

Good luck!  That sounds like a great way to house a lot of systems 

Do you have a bunch of new builds planned that would inhabit this?


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## Radical_Edward (Dec 8, 2012)

First off it's to help house current builds, then I'm going to start build some nice 2u servers for myself. 

Quite a few I hope to have crunching. In fact I may rent out space to fellow TPU members on the cheap if they like.


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## Aquinus (Dec 8, 2012)

2U servers don't give you a lot of room to worth with. If you want to be able to fit GPUs and a decent cooler for crunching you may want a 4U chassis. Just as a heads up because 1U is tiny and 2U is small.


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## Radical_Edward (Dec 8, 2012)

I know. We use 1u boxes at work quite often, but we also use 3u and 4u boxes.

I only have one 2u server planned at the moment. For dedicated crunchers with "real" video cards I'll most likely use 3u or 4u cases.


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## Sir B. Fannybottom (Dec 8, 2012)

I've had to maintain some servers at my school, and I can say be prepared to pay thousands in cooling and power. Atleast you won't have to dust anything, it'll all be sucked into the servers!


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## Radical_Edward (Dec 8, 2012)

I work for an ISP/network consulting company and I'm aware of the costs. My plan is to build power efficient systems for crunching and other use. With the line of work I'm currently in I need to have a few servers at home to mess with, CentOS, Windows, ESXi, etc.


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## t_ski (Dec 8, 2012)

This kinda makes me think about a tower made of slide-out shelves (almost like drawers) that could hold several rigs in one spot.  A few low-speed 120mm fans on the front of each, a PSU, mobo/CPU/cooler/ram and an HDD and mothing else...


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 8, 2012)

I have a rack mounted UPS and 24 port patch panel if needed


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## Sir B. Fannybottom (Dec 19, 2012)

So how is this coming along edd?


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