NORCO RPC-230 2U Rackmount Server Case

Comment:
Low-cost, heavy-duty metal housing, removable difficult drive mounts. A wee bit tight on space. If you only will need 1 tough drive in the case, you can eliminate the 3 other drive mounts for added space. That tends to make a big difference! I bought the Antec energy supply suggested by another reviewer...Antec EA380D PSU (N82E16817371033)It is a good PS, but as soon as it is installed there are a tremendous number of wires that add to the clutter inside the case. My develop included 1 SATA difficult drive and 1 DVD drive (mounted on opposite sides of the chassis. It would have been really tricky (but not not possible) to mount four hard drives in the case. I will purchase this chassis once again.

Comment:
Solid construction, not flimsy mid-towr box. It is what it says - 2U case which holds 4 internal drives. I built a good server in the finish. Finding there a bit of a work. Had to take the case total apart to mount the motherboard and run the wires. Took about an hour. Fans have been actually loud. Replaced with quieter units. Will buy once more for my subsequent server project.

Comment:
Nicely engineered & manufactured case, logical layout, sturdy construction (no flex) takes regular ATX PSU (flow thru design) and inexpensive as dirt! Loud fans (as an audio guy there's nothing at all worse than loud fan noise - replaced with these - N82E16835226001 Silenx units from the egg).The assessment that talked about that the fan noise is caused by the front panel venilation holes is correct - the "vortex" designed by the air flow is clearly (and annoyingly) audible. Instead of cutting away the front panel I chose to replace the fans with those of a decrease rpm. Air flow is superb and the loudest element is intel stock cpu cooler.Incredibly small screws for the lid & drive mounting - don't let your cat play with these cuz they're actually tough to come across on the floor! Suggestions for "newbs": slow down, take your time with your builds - you CAN put ten pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag!Words for reviewer "DT": EIA is only 1 regular in the planet - as such, numerous producers of racks & enclosures regularly "miss the mark". The RPC-230 fits completely in my Middle Atlantic racks.As a qualified systems integrator I've created & constructed hundreds of "rack mount" installations. Anticipated less & got a lot more for the $ spent. Built a WHS box with this working with the following:Norco RPC-230Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L (N82E16813128357)Intel E1500 Duo Core Celeron (N82E16819116075)Important two GB PC2 6400 (DDR2 800) (N82E16820148163)WD Caviar Blue 250 GB HDD (OS Drive) (N82E16822136161)two Each 1 TB WD Caviar Green HDD (N82E16822136317)Antec EA380D PSU (N82E16817371033)two Every Silenx Pro Series Quiet Fan (N82E16835226001ƛ Every OKGEAR six" 3-pin fan split cable (N82E16812123321)Gonna get a couple much more for HTPC use.Newegg Rocks!

Comment:
I genuinely like this becase of its size. It is not very deep so it worked really effectively in my half cabinet in my closet. No instructions, but not a lot to the case and if you are purchasing a server sort case you almost certainly know what you are doing. Wonderful price tag. Decent searching It is quite tight to work with this case. It has area for 4 hard drives. Once again really tight space but you can manage. It is two U depth so you will have to shop for low profile pci/e add ons. Not that massive a deal. "LOUD" Largest gripe is the two 80mm fans in the foront of the case sound like a twin prop plane. I have ordered vantech fans so hopefully that will aid me some. I have it in a closet with solid (exterior like) eight foot door and the sound nevertheless provides me a head ache even with the door closed. Only reason i gave it three eggs was since of the noise. If you can have it where you won't hear it then no huge deal. But It is he loudest case i have ever built all due to the 2 80 mm fans in the front. But that must be easily fixed with some larger finish fans.

Comment:
Really like the truth that unit is all screw building, no spot welds. This suggests that I can take it all apart for custom mods. I chose an Intel D510M0 micro itx board so space was not an situation. The Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D powersupply match so perfectly. Overall match and finsih - no sharp edges. Front control panel is the major failure here. 1st there is not a second HDD activity LED for a RAID controller, but there is a second LAN activity LED. On mine the Energy button circuit was defective, so I ended up working with the Reset lead as my Energy on switch. Only a single front USB port means you need to have a hub to attach a front KYB, mouse and thumb drive for in the rack upkeep. When the unit does use a standard ATX type element energy supply, care ought to be employed in your selection. NO Best or BOTTOM fan venting will work. You will need a straight through sort. I will probably make a replacement manage panel and consist of Front panel audio for diagnostics. I will also probably reduce the front panel for common chrome wire fan grills to strengthen flow and lessen the noise.Also note that the fans are well positioned for cooling the main board but the two HDD's mounted above the optical bay may possibly have heat build up.I will obtain another so I can mod the front panel, then swap and mod the other panel.Overall this case is worth just about every penny.

Comment:
Does what I require it to do. none Fantastic case and it handles the job effectively. Suggest you replace the fans with one thing with significantly less db. Only dilemma was my 4pin was too short and had to pick up a extension cable. not a major deal and not the case's fault.

Comment:
Cheap. Small. Accepts regular ATX power supplies. You can put x5 three.five hard drives in it. (in descending order of importance) Unrolled/de-burred edges. No active ventilation above the motherboard I/O panel. Cramped and tough to function in (not surprising). I'd obtain this chassis once again. I know what I am acquiring and I am comfortable with the trade-offs.

Comment:
Effectively made, quiet fans, good form element. None. good case

Comment:
Nice and compact. I am employing this at household on a small 12U network rack, and this case is a nice match. The fans are not as loud as other people that I have heard from equivalent instances. I had to take a bunch of stuff apart to get the motherboard in. Generally, you have to take away the front cover and the platform that holds the drive bays in order to attain some of the screw holes for the motherboard.All of the drive bays are designed to use screw holes on the bottom of the drives, rather than screwing two screws on every single side. This is perfectly fine for standard drives, but I wanted to place a hot swap tray in the 5.25" bay, and it doesn't have the needed screw holes on the bottom. That's not necessarily a fault of the case, but something you must be conscious of if you are planning to add a hot swap tray. Taking it apart is not that huge of an challenge, considering that I'm not most likely to ever have to do it once more.I'm fairly happy with this case. To be honest, I was expecting much less, for the price. So, I am pleasantly surprised.

Comment:
Good look, mounts good in my compaq rack, affordable Tight fit to get wires in Constructed a FreeNAS file server with this. Took a small longer than expected to create since I had to figure out how to run the wires. Would acquire again but only with a smaller sized PSU with no as a lot of cables. Will possibly go with the 4U case for the other three servers I'm planning. Also, the stock fans are loud. It dosent bother me also much, I'll replace them with quieter ones if need be.

Comment:
Shallow, mounts on my 18" deep LAN gear racks!Typical ATX power supplywould be a tight match but difficult to believe you can cram four HDD's AND a DVD-ROM...Quiet for a RackmountLightweightDecent cost, could be a small better Wish they tapped holes to place the rackmount ears on the backside of the case allowing someone to mount the case with the back facing outward. This would support with firewall installs (i exclusively use these instances for firewalls).If they had been reverse mountable then it'd be good if the back was painted black, but I'll take what i can get. I believe Norco fills a great niche here with these shallow 2U cases and there are only a couple things keeping them from becoming perfect. I utilised to get a equivalent sized case from another manufacturer for 20 bucks much less, but Newegg stopped carrying them.If Norco made the case reversible on the rack so that the network ports had been facing out, i would absolutely be a loyal buyer of this item, but as it stands if i can come across a comparable 2U shallow rackmount for less i'll prob be obtaining it.Norco, are you listening?

Comment:
The case is a shallow one, Best for not so deep racks and shelf systems.Strong construction, comes with rack ears. Definitely! Want to use the following energy supply (N82E16817703018) As advisable by GregMI purchased a advised energy supply whilst in the verify out stage, it does not operate. I would have to cut a 4" hole in the bottom of the case for air flow. The front fans only cool the motherboard side and not the power supply and 5.25" side.The leading cover requirements perforated holes for expanded hot air ventilation. Not tall enough for premium cooling (pipe and fin) heatsinks. newegg should spend interest to the upsell provide of energy supplies.Other wise i would buy again, with the right front to back air flow energy provide.

Comment:
This is a great case. I bought two and use them for a webserver and a PBX. The webserver has 4 3.5" SATA disks and no ODD. It's a pretty tight fit inside and it looks like 4 drives + ODD would be nearly impossible.I will be purchasing some of these again.

Comment:
Excellent heavy walled construction, USB port in front panel is good, components go in simple*. Packed really effectively, double boxed, could have taken a massive hit by a forklift and not damaged the case. Fans are WAY As well loud for me. Had to modify the power plug from 12V yellow to 5V red. Flow decreases a lot, but a lot quieter.Inside edges could have been smoother, watch your hands and wires, you could nick them easily.Would like to have noticed a much more air flow conducive front panel than the stamped out slots. *Be incredibly careful when deciding upon your elements, power provide should have a normal finish mounted fan, no side mounted fans.I built with a MSI G31M3-FV2 board, 430 Celeron, Antec Earthwatts 430 and I'm operating about 40 watts at idle, so this tends to make a good low power household server.Challenging drives mount over the best of the memory slots, so don't get memory with tall heat spreaders.

Comment:
Heavy duty steel, solid construction. ten,000 screws to open it up, fans vibrate badly and are LOUD, challenging drive racks overhang motherboard. Good thing I only require 1 challenging drive in it - would've been challenging to install far more.

Comment:
Wonderful construction... Had a little difficulty with the IDE and SATA connector on the motherboad.. Was working with ASUS P5QPL-AM... Make certain you find a fantastic energy provide that has a lengthy energy cable if your motherboards' energy connectors are far away! Tiny loud, since fan is close to top rated.

Comment:
Very clean, and straightforward to assemble situation. Operates with a regular ATX power supply. No specific connector for lights. none

Comment:
Shallow depth, takes regular energy supply, three SFF PCI slots, up to 4 HD's, 1 CD/DVD, requires standard micro-atx motherboard. Tight fit and hard to cable handle but doable if you know what you're executing. The 2 front 80mm fans are extremely loud. I am using this case to replace an older 1U linux router. This case enabled me to use all typical components other than the tiny type aspect pci cards. Make positive you get a power supply with lengthy sufficient cables to reach the motherboard.Assembling your program can be a challenge the first time around but when you are familiar with the case and its issues it isn't as well bad and you are willing to place up with it for it's compactness.

Comment:
Great design, lightweight, ATX PS compatible, can\'t beat the value. Like the front panel buttons. Lots of drive bays. No riser card. A bit loud. I did not get from Newegg, but contrary to other reviews, I identified this case to meet specs. It is indeed slightly better than 19" wide, but fit in my rack fine. It is precisely 2U higher. I would suggest replacing the front fans with 'case' fans that have RPM built-in. This way they may possibly not run all of the time. Have been hunting for a good 2U for a long time, and simply because most are > 贄, I had to jump on this a single. It is not as good as my RM-2520, but at 1Ǚ the cost, it does the job. And it does not want an expensive 1U supply. I will likely get one more.

Comment:
It's small type aspect tends to make it amazingly simple to set up in the rack. I mounted it with out rails at initially just to see if the case would hold its own weight. It did. I did set up rails however. I was impressed with its construction. It does not feel inexpensive at all. The left most drive cages could result in difficulties IF your making use of a full height AMD AM2 cooler. Get a 1U or 2U cooler and you can use all the drive cages. The ATX energy connector on most motherboards is going to be painful to hookup. You have to take some of the screws off the rack ears and half disasseble the front aspect of the case to get your power connector hooked up appropriately. Took two minutes, so not a large deal. It's a modest case, so of course its going to be tight. Dont attempt to fit a complete size ATX board in this Micro-ATX case and you will be in good shape. Make sure your ATX energy supply cables are extended sufficient. I got a cheap one particular from newegg to test with, and though the major ATX power block hooked up, the 12V rail was not long adequate. I had some Athena energy 12V rail extensions laying around, so it worked out for me in the end. Yet another reviewer complained about the sound. Guess what, its an Rack chassis, what do you anticipate? No, its not quiet, its designed for a rack, and a rack need to be in a closet or information center exactly where noise doesn't matter. Its not the noisiest thing I have owned. Had been speaking 50DB, which is fairly good for a rack server. I have owned 80DB rack servers, but mine go in the IT closet where they belong :)

Comment:
Fantastic server case, can use standard power supplies but not if they have a major fan! Bought three of these and a single had paint missing in the front, below the DVD drive. Could use yet another mount below the corner of the board exactly where the front panel connectors are. Leaves out 1 motherboard screw. I have two normal micro atx boards and one particular that is a tiny deeper. The screw mounts are there for it but it was a trick to hook up the power connector. The major cover is not seriously toolless, it either just sits there or is scr*wed on the sides with tiny screws. The major sits there pretty fantastic even though with tiny "hooks?" on the back that hold it from sliding off.

Comment:
It makes use of a normal psǘ powersupply, and looks great. Newegg is excellent, recieved it in three days. 1) They should have mounted the power supply on the other side of the MB, to stop the need for long 24 pin connector. had to get an extention. 2) I mounted four distinct MB's, I had the exact same dilemma on all four, when installing four tricky drives not sufficient room between the hdd and the RAM heat sink. (so watch your RAM). 3) once again as others have stated the fans are loud, they drown-out the other two - 4U Servers that are above them in the rack. four) all of the sharp edges, have a box of band-aids handy. If your looking for a 2U form element, conserve your cash and the band-aids, and get a various a single Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,For RPC-230, the optimum distance amongst power provide and 24pin connector of motherboard is 15 inches. Most ATX power supplies come with longer 24pin cable than the want.Greatest Regards,Norco Support Group

Comment:
Read my prior critique The only con i have for this case is that it's as well wide. I can't uncover rails to use with it. Rosewill and recommended rails rl-20 by norco don't perform. The case is a small bit wider than a regular server circumstances. Thinking about just mouting it with out rails. Manufacturer Response:Dear valued client,The width of the enclosure physique of RPC-230, and all our other rackmount instances, is 17 inches. It works fine with sliding rails mounting to common rack cabinet with 17.75-17.81 inches two posts' distance. One particular RPC-230 client contacted us for this issue today, and he found out that his rack post's width is 17.625 inches, 1Ǟ inch much less than typical. The problem could be that the rack cabinet is not the standard width. Can you check your rack cabinet's post width?Norco help team

Comment:
Great little case i used for a webserver.Fans are quite quiet for server fans.Not sure what the guy above is talking about, it fit in my rack just fine.

Comment:
Compact 2U design. Solid construction, almost everything is held with each other with screws which makes it simpler to modify. Fits four three.5"s and a 5.25" which sounds like loads of space to me. It just feels solid. Very simple, but it looks great. Fans only hit two of the 3 three.5" spots, but the PSU really should pull air from around the 4th spot I assume. 1 fan was broken when I got the case but it was quickly repaired with a dab of super glue. I guess it's loud.. but it's a server going in a operating atmosphere. Fantastic luck discovering a modular PSU that functions in this case (and you require one particular to save space). You need to have a single that pulls air from the ends. Top rated/bottom fan PSU's won't be in a position to breath devoid of cutting some vents. Bottom facing fans will breath a small.. 1mm clearance. The airflow in the case is wonderful even though. I fit an Intel Atom 330 mini ITX board in it with out a issue. It has modest coolers on it. Working with my CF-IDE adaptor in the IDE slot I block access to one of the challenging drive trays, and it's a tight fit in the case. It's only three.five" tall with about 3" of usable height more than the motherboard, so be careful picking add-on cards, heatsinks/fans, CF-IDE convertors, etc..It's a tight squeeze to fit elements in here, you've got to spend consideration to cable routes so that you aren't pinching or squeezing or pushing anything.. but there is enough room. I'd recommend round IDE cables (who utilizes IDE?) and modular PSU if you can come across 1 with end fans.Bottom line.. I like it.