Suggestion for NAS cases - Should I upgrade?

PC Hardware & Gaming
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I am currently running a truenas CE server with random set of drives (2x500gb sata ssd in mirror) and 6 hdd in mirrored stripe for data with a small nvme boot drive. I have installed this on a B450 motherboard in a coolermaster Force 500 case. found it pretty cheap when I bought it (about 3000rs) but managing cables is becoming a pain. Airflow feels fine (I have 3 120mm fans in front and 2x120mm fans on side for intake and 1 120mm fan in back and a 140mm on other side for exhaust) but drives hitting 40-50c (again probably not high for Indian summer). I am thinking of adding 3 more hdds to the case with 5.25 to 3.5 inch adapter but concerned about cable management as well as airflow.

Does it make sense for me to upgrade the cabinet? I was thinking of Silverstone CS380 (8 hotswap bays +2 5.25 bays) or fractal design - define 7 XL. Like fractal better but price is quite steep. I am pretty sure cable management would be much better in either of these and fractal should have better airflow too but hoping someone can tell me its not worth it :slight_smile:

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You can also focus on upgrading HDDs itself to get more space with lesser no. of drives.

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Would you not prefer a more compact size instead like, say the Node 804? Only limitation would be the micro atx motherboard size limit, so if you have an atx board, this automatically rules out that option.

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Yeah, that’s an option but was thinking will buy bigger ones going forward. doesn’t seem like there is not much point in just discarding 4tb ones. they are less than a year old. Also have enough space for disks at the moment so even without case upgrade can easily add 3x12 or 3x18 in raidz1 I thought. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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Yes, using ATX board right now. Could potentially change to m-atx but based on reviews, reaching to drive connections is a pain in node 804 though. isn’t it? Thanks for your reply though.

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The Silverstone is honestly quite expensive but if you have the budget and space for it, maybe that’s a good choice.

The Fractal case is definitely an overkill for a home NAS setup.

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