Chenbro RM42300

[markwill]

So, in looking around I see some reasonable reviews and no obvious problems with this 4U chassis. Then I read this from @Chris Moore...

So, here I am , Chris, asking that question :) You don't indicate why it is "a bad investment". Is this contextual to that specific post / scenario or is there some general problem with the case?

I have also looked at Rosewill but have read some reasonably strong opinions (not always good) about build quality, but still considering this,

By the way, I am back and forth between a rack mounted chassis and a regular PC case (looking at the Fractal Design Node 804). If I was only building a FreeNAS box I'd probably just go with the latter, but quite soon I plan to have another 24x7 box running Blue Iris. Therefore, I kind of like the idea of going with rack mounted solutions and putting them together in a rack.

 

[markwill]

Anyone else have any opinions, either way, on this? Although not a huge factor, this is on sale at NewEgg at the moment and for my reasonable humble needs I am not seeing any obvious problems.

But I am concerned about Chris' comments that it was a bad investment for a previous poster here, as well as the suggestion that questions should have been asked first. So I want to be sure I'm not missing something obvious.

Any opinions would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Jessep]

I won't speak for Chris, for me getting a rackmount without a backplane and hot swap drive bays is silly.

Even if the case was free you would end up spending a LOT on quality drive bays that would not be as good as a properly designed and built in backplane.

I would suggest you are in too much of a hurry, time to go back to your requirements. I typically spend 3 months on design/research and one weekend on the actual build (plus 2 weeks on burn in and testing before loading data). Unless you can afford to pay for multiple build iterations take your time to work out what you actually need. Keep in mind that a properly designed system will last 3-5 years, so time investment upfront makes a lot of sense.

Budget?
What are your use cases?
What are your requirements?
How much storage?
Growth rate?
Redundancy?
Backups?

 

[markwill]

Well, while the backplane issue is a good spot (and precisely why I am asking questions here), I don't feel the need to delay this by months. I have the majority of what I need lined up, including motherboard, CPU, SuperDOM, memory, PSU, etc. All is generally recommended here, in context and after asking a bunch of questions. This includes my use cases (pretty narrow) and storage (pretty small, compared to most - and yes, that included extrapolation :)). I have little doubt it will serve my needs for a long time.

I'll confess I have not decided on a chassis yet and I am not too familiar with the options. I've seen Rosewill used by some folks here, though I have also seen some pretty negative comments (here and elsewhere) about build quality.

I'll pay decent money for a chassis but only if I have a sense why that is justified. I am not there yet and the backplane issues you raise are now on my radar. But that's exactly why I am asking questions here :)

 

[markwill]

By the way, pending any major concerns about Rosewill, I am also considering this one, the Rosewill RSV-L4312.

 

[stevenmcw]

So, in looking around I see some reasonable reviews and no obvious problems with this 4U chassis. Then I read this from @Chris Moore...

View attachment 34101

So, here I am , Chris, asking that question :) You don't indicate why it is "a bad investment". Is this contextual to that specific post / scenario or is there some general problem with the case?

I have also looked at Rosewill but have read some reasonably strong opinions (not always good) about build quality, but still considering this,

By the way, I am back and forth between a rack mounted chassis and a regular PC case (looking at the Fractal Design Node 804). If I was only building a FreeNAS box I'd probably just go with the latter, but quite soon I plan to have another 24x7 box running Blue Iris. Therefore, I kind of like the idea of going with rack mounted solutions and putting them together in a rack.

As it was me he said this to i thought i would weigh in on this.

The build quality of the case is solid.
My Rack is only 600 mm deep so i needed something less than that .
I decided to build up the server gradually.
The amount of passable bays suited my needs
I decided on removable drive cage bays rather than builtin backplane so i can repurpose them at a later stage to one of my other rack mount cases.

since the original post i have not had a singe issue with the case.

It has the option to be used as regular PC using feet , so it would give you that flexibility if you decide on rack mounting later


Hope this help you out. if you have any additional question let me know and i try my best to help you out.

 

[nikalai2]

What about the rails? Did you have any issues regarding mounting the chassis in the rack? How much the rails can be extended outside the rack?

Thank you,

 

[stevenmcw]

What about the rails? Did you have any issues regarding mounting the chassis in the rack? How much the rails can be extended outside the rack?

Thank you,

No problems with the rails, they extend about an inch and a half outside the rack, i reckon that they could be cut and work fine i do not have enough diy skill to do so. to give everything inside the rack good airflow i do not want it on to the wall. i use door stopped to prevent anything pushing it onto the wall.