Once I decided to Frankenbox my SYS-E300-8D into a new form factor, the hunt was on.
The central item of this build:
- Fractal Design R5 – I loved the modular design of this and the ease of swapping drives. Plus it has plenty of room for fans.
A few weeks later, everything arrives!
A modular power supply, LSI 9300-8i, a bunch of 120MM fans:
Just in case I need them:
Then goes some RAM shuffling. 64 GB from the 5028D-TN4T goes into this new server, and this 96 GB goes into the 5028D-TN4T.
The power supply. I’ve never had a modular power supply, but I like the idea. The SeaSonic seems to be a trusted modal, and at least visually, I was impressed:
Any time you include a cloth bag, it gives it an instant premium feel, even if it’s really not.
An LSI HBA. 12Gb/s is probably overkill, but I wanted this to have a long life over eventual upgrades. And I got the correct breakout cables! I love it when planning pays off:
The Case
When I was researching cases online, everyone seemed to really like their Fractal Design cases. I felt REALLY good about the purchase of the case until it actually arrived.
The size of this case is impossible to capture in a picture. IT. IS. HUGE.
Putting it all together
Mission accomplished. It fits!
Disassembling the SYS-E300-8D to get the Xeon D-1518 board out of it:
It’s extricated:
Another place I was glad I planned. The new I/O plate arrived in the mail the day before!
And mounted in its new home:
It’s so small that it looks a bit comical in the giant case (with a bunch of drives that I later found out I mounted backwards):
Hrm, those SATA cables feel a bit tight… I wonder if something is wrong:
And a picture of it all hooked up:
Oops…
And a few days later when I realized that I mounted the drives backwards:
The CPU was also running at 70C despite all the fans and positive airflow. A jury-rigged Noctuna was placed in there when I redid the cabling:
Perfect temps:
