Project : 5th gen - 20TB gaming rigs

Project : 5th GeN
Building a 29TB monster rig

Well... the time has come to yet again start on a new project, the old one just didnt fit my needs anymore, so decided to give it my all to build a awesome dual pc case, with a additional atom rig to run the upcoming touch screen =)

Anyways, have set some personal goals for this build


* 2 Mainboard spots
* Watercooled
* Removable harddrive rack
* Enough space for atleast 40 disks
* Good radiator
* Only use 250mm fans where its possible
* double PSU area
* Aluminium frame, welded
* Plexiglass exterior
* Silver and black finish, go for style
* Buildt in 2 sections, 1 for main pcs, 1 for radiator and atom PC

Sponsors!

Huge thanks to EK for awesome products and great prices =)

Stuff are still being planned, but have some decent ideas on what i want, and how i want it executed

Might as well start with the hardware list

PC1 :
Asus p5q Premium x48
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
4 GB OCZ Flex, pc 9200
Radeon 4870x2
1200w Thoughpower PSU


PC2 :
Asus P5K Premium - p35
Inte Core 2 Quad Q9550
4GB OCZ Flex, pc9200
Radeon 4870 - 1GB
1200w Thoughpower PSU

PC3 :
Intel Atom 1.6 ghz
Intel mITX d945gclf2
2GB OCZ, pc 5400
300w Chieftech PSU


Harddrives :
6 x : WD500GB, 7200rpm, IDE
16 x : WD500GB, 7200rpm, SATA
4 x : WD750GB, 7200rpm, SATA
4 x : WD1000GB, 7200rpm, SATA
2 x : WD1000GB, 7200rpm, E-SATA
4 x : SG80gb, 15000rpm, SAS

Får vel håpe å ha runda 20 TB før TG 09 =)


Watercooling :
Apogee GT cpu blocks
undecided on the rest (ideas?)


Concept - frame

Afraid i havent made a concept for the exterior of the case yet, but atleast have some plans for the looks on the frame itself, have allready been working on the case for a few days, so it didnt really turn out the way i though it would... a sudden burst of creativity came in the way for that part

- Christer Grevæg

The water tank
Concept

Would really love to have a watertank that can fill most of the front space of my upcoming rack, and create a nice waterfall effect, guess the total height would end up around 95x5x30cm some place

The main idea behind this one would be to cut out 40mm holes times 4 in a thick piece of plexiglass, get some rubber rings down there, mill out some space for em, and hopefully get it watertight. The water would travel trough drilled paths and enter / exit in the middle of the block on top and bottom. Plexi with that thickness can easily be mounted to the case too...

Allready found a suitable block of plexi 50mm thick -.- god its heavy....
anyways, found a circular saw, and cut it into usefull pieces

The weld

Had the chance to do some welding the previous days, using a mig welder for aluminium, at high voltage, welding corners is a pain, the alu tend to melt in ways you dont want it to

4 x 25x25x5000mm square profiles... a total of over 20 meters alu, this would be the base of the case

After running them over the cutter, we got some decent cut pieces, in the lenghts required

The amount of time this will take is probably endless....

Had to get a few pics of the rig doing some of the work too =)

The alu lined up and ready for welding

Welding in action

One part of the top part of the case done, NEXT!

Second part all done and god to go

First part of the welding done now, would need to get some sandpaper out , and some paint at some point

At the current state, will the top box be housing the radiator, the mITX, the touchscreen and some fans

Will also have to make some new "feet" between the top and bottom box

Also got some perforated alu for the disk rack, more on this later

CPU block, mainboard holders and 10 250mm fans have arrived

oh snap... this is going to be good.... where ya order the holders from??? lol this shall be great... welcome??? lol cant wait..

The radiator and the frame

Was able to get some fibersparkle(?) (stuff that gets hard after application)

Lotsa open ends in the alu, had to fill all of those up

Stashed in the "foam thingy" and sanded it proper to get a good surface for the upcoming paintjob

Decided to get a used radiator from some bike or something, partly for the looks, and partly for the killer performance these beasts can give compared to standard computer sized ones. Ended up with a radiator from a 94' mod GPZ 600, though, it needs some love to look good again...

So thought i should make a new shell for it, and spray paint it so it can look somewhat fresh again

Perfect! this plate looked to be great regards to what i was looking for

Cut it in proper lenght, found a steel tube, and bended it

And there we go... a somewhat better looking radiator

The fans

After alot of thinking did i decide to go for 250mm fans for the radiator, these are low noise, push lotsa air, and looks awesome =)

Would also need to pair em up, to ensure that one pair is allways on when one of the computers is shut down... so each comp will be fitted with 2x 250mm for the radiator

Had some 10x10x1mm alu around in the shop that i used for the framework

2 fans tightened up

First pair done

Second pair done

And finally, mounted up on the radiator and into the pc frame

The harddrive rack and progress pics

The rack will be build up with steel plates as place holders, self drilling steel bolts, perforated alu for holders, and rubber feet thats isolating vibration. This should ensure a stable , flexible and silent foundation for the disks

Bought in a steel plate with 3mm thickness for the base of my harddrive rack, steel can take ALOT more weight then alu, so its proper for this kind of use. Cut it up in the size needed and measured up the holes for the harddrive "slides"

Cut up some square alu to fit my needs

Attached them to the plate

And added a plate in front to keep the upcoming sideplates in place

Mounted up with vibration isolating feets

Top and bottom holder all ready to use, they are using 6mm bolts to keep them in place

Cut out the plates for the drives, and fit em in the sliders, these should ensure decent air flow, and enough possibilities to get some disks in there


--progress pics--

This is the current progress pics

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Next update will come on thursday if everything goes by the plans, have 6 square meters of plexi coming in the shop about then =) thx for reading

this thing looks crazy! I can't imagine what all those HDDs cost :?

0.13$ a gig i would believe =)

thats purely redonkulous my friend :eek: 8)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grevaeg

0.13$ a gig i would believe =)

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That's about $2600 in case you're wondering.