I found out about this chassis when I was building a new homelab server. It had *just* been released, there were no reviews that I could find, and it wasn't stocked anywhere. I had such a great experience with the original Enthoo Pro seven years ago when I built the lab server the new one is replacing. I called Phanteks, confirmed some compatibility questions (Noctua NH-U14S for Epyc Rome), and bought it direct from them. This thing is a beast. It's holding a dual Epyc 7452, 512GB RAM, and 8x 3.84TB enterprise U.2 NVME disks. I have three Noctua PPC-2000 industrial fans in the front, three Phanteks T30-120 (I think is the model) up top to exhaust, and one more PPC-2000 in back for exhaust. My only complaint, and it's pretty minor all things considered, is that the bracket that moves to mount a fan on the side does not fit with the NH-U14S. The cooler is too tall. That's my fault, and I should have asked a more specific question about that, but cooling isn't an issue either way. I also really dig the slick white LED ring around the power button. It's understated, with a bit of a Tron vibe. Very clean. EDIT: As for it being a risk, I'm not so sure about that. The Enthoo Pro was so ubiquitous as a server chassis among the homelab crowd that when a number of small shops sprung up offering pre-built homelab servers, many if not most were built into it. It's definitely not going to see the same sell-through, but for the homelab and DIY server crowd looking for big specs, it's perfect.
I actually am running a home server in the Enthoo Pro II, SSI-EEB sized board. I have the same criticism with this case as I do with mine: I want more space for 3.5" drives. The way the sleds mount on the case wastes a ton of space. If they gave me an option to have a backplane and 3.5" drive holder like they do in actual server hardware, it would an instant buy from me. As is, in tower formation, they could even do as Jay said in the video and put mounting points in the bottom so I can make my own tower of drives with their sleds.
I plan on doing up a home server soon. While it may be old, my Cooler Master Cosmos II is gonna be perfect for what I need. Plenty of storage options, plenty of fan mounts for cooling and proper E-ATX support. All within a durable and well-designed chassis.
Having been in a career where I used to build servers on the daily, that's probably as close to what I used to work on while maintaining a full tower functionality. Instead of one PSU, most of the builds I commissioned had 2 or more PSU's as 'redundancies' (obv. we're talking about a long time ago now, but that's how they were back in the late-90's). Back then, the largest build I ever set up was for 36x 18Gb hot-swappable drives on the good old Win NT platform. The largest server I ever commissioned was like a giant mini-fridge and weighed about 50kgs with nothing in it. So large that the box it came in had its own wooden ramp that the unit had to roll off to get it on the ground, and took two people to lift.
The Fractal Design Define R5 is still one of my favorite chassis to build a home server in. Really, any of the Define R series chassis are awesome when kitted out with all of the drive sleds. Been using one for my media server for quite some time now and it's been awesome. Plenty of fan mounting options. Some sound deadening panels that also help control airflow. The R5 even has 5.25" bays for when you need an optical drive.
@@alexfair6653 it's the perfect size for a home server. Plenty of space for a variety of Motherboards, flexibly fan mounting options, great filtration, easy cable management, and stays quiet. All packed into a mid tower.
Hmmm, I'm definitely with you on the front USB cover, and the wasted space for the 3.5" drive bays. I think my preference would be for the Fractal Design 7XL in this regard. I guess each has their positives and negatives.
Ive been pricing NAS desktops and rackmount cases for the past year for a ceph build I want to do. Cheap 4u multi-bay cases are now super expensive. Even stupidly designed 1u four bay cases are reaching $400 dollars with no included PSU / backplane / or even other computer parts. This Phanteks case comes in the middle of a super expensive server white build time, so it is absolutely a calculated move.
A few years ago, I was playing around with some SSI-EEB boards ( for dual 2011-V1 processors ) At the time the only options were the Corsait 1000D ( which at the time was just coming to market ) or the Phanteks Enthoo PRO SE, which was also waaaaaay cheaper ( 130€ at the time ) I used this case for around 3 years, and it was great ! Sold it to a friend who still uses it to this day. A big plus with pretty much any Phanteks case is that they use A LOT of screws, so that you can pretty much gut the whole chassis out, IIRC on my Enthoo PRO SE, I was able to unscrew the 2 HDD cages, the HDD cage support, the ODD cage ( Yes, it had 3 ODD slots ) the side reinforcement / decorative plate, and parts of the actual motherboard plate
Nice case. I recently just built into a Fractal Design Meshify 2. Has space for 14 drives and I am running a custom loop in it. Dedicated home server where i self host all my services. Love home server content!
I've got an Enthoo 719 tower: Currently mostly used for gaming, but also a work computer. It was a gift build as a thank you for a team project I was a part of a couple years back. Its super quiet, & has lots of upgrade possibilities. I love the brand so much, I got a 2nd case, an Eclipse P360A, for my other computer! Great review as always, thank you Jay & Team!! 😎
I love how Jay pre-empts certain arguments in the middle of the video. It's almost like he's heard it all. I have a Core X9 for my storage server: 8 internal 3.5" bays filled with 4TB Ultrastars and 2X 5 1/4" bay to 6X 2.5" SSD hotswap bays with 8 2TB MX500 SSDs, and still have 4X2.5" SSD bays left to expand later. The HDDs are the iSCSI storage for my home lab hypervisors and the SSDs are the SMB file share. This case doesn't look like it would works as well. I love 5 1/4" bays for storage servers, as you can get 2.5" bay adapters to get dense levels of storage, and hot swap.
I use the Enthoo Pro v1 case. No garbage RGB, plenty of room for optical dives and HDD, just a real good all around do anything with case..... And it doesn't glow in the dark! Cheers 🍻
Yep, I've got a home server that I've put in a Fractal Meshify 2. I do love to see more cases like this. I would love to be able to do a full blown rack, but doing a standard build just makes more sense right now. So... nice to see more options.
I agree. It is nice to see additional case options to the Fractal Meshify 2 XL. I have 3x Fractal Meshify 2 XL cases which at the time was the only tower case that could hold the have Supermicro X9DRI-LN4F+ boards for my Proxmox HA cluster.
I have the Meshify 2 for my server as well, and the hard drive mounting system is much more space efficient than this one since it's a mid tower and it can hold 15 3.5" HDD drives and 2 2.5" SATA SSD
I'm considering modding my TV stand to accept 15-19 inch rack chassis. I forsee a 1u for a media server. And a 2-3u for a media center whenever Strix Point hits desktop.
@@EnricoAnsaloni Running the non xl meshify 2 for my gaming rig / plex / nvr-blue iris server / vm box. Only thing i wish i would have went with the xl as i lost two drive slots due to gpu power plugs.
@@nwngunner yes the XL has more space I made a build with it for a friend and the space for radiators especially in thickness is much more, also I believe there are 3 more HDD sled slots in the XL in storage configuration
Definitly a nice case to have as server case. I have a server running in an old case. Sharkoon Rebel 12. A bigtower from 2008. My first watercooled system ran in this tower for years. It has 11 5.25" bays at the front and a 3.5" bay. 6 dedicated drive bays inside the case. It now houses a supermicro serverboard with 2 Xeon E5645, 96GB ECC memory and 10+ drives.
Yes I am running a server now (HP micro gen 8). Also building a new one with watercooling (first time) in a Thermaltake level 20 HT case. What I dont like about this case and also the Thermaltake is just 4 harddrive slots. They should include 5.25 inch mounting strips, so we can use enclosures from icy dock or others
In answer to ask someone who has home servers, this case would be perfect for anyone who doesn't want a whole rack setup and at least where I live they are allot cheaper than a 650mm+ 4U chassis. Have also built 5 systems in the regular version of this chassis its great to build in and the RGB control on the front is cool if you don't want software controlled RGB, just connect a lamptron RGB hub or similar off the D-RGB header on the case. Love to see companies catering for more niche markets.
I already have the original Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 works great. Mass airflow and I love Phantek's drive cages. The server edition looks good if I went with server mobo options etc. Thanks for vid Jay!
Thank you Phanteks for taking the risks at creating something niece. I don't have home server, would love to make one... And this definitely is in my radar if and when the time for it comes.
@@arnox4554 Bruh, I'm 97', ofc I understand why you'd want one lmao. I remember having CD's burned for me, and playing on grandparents old white box, playing those games that came on cereal boxes, and the practical applications of retaining old data whiles it's still usable. It's a bit of an hoarders mindset, but I get that since I had CD rack with bunch of DVD's and shit.
@@arnox4554 Yea why do you need multiple 5.25 bays? I use external BR mdisc drives and like them. There's so much space for 3.5" drives you don't even need icydocks anymore.
Had a thought in a reply to reply; Jay, you have 3d printers... Could you print mock-up parts and put like magnets at "PCIe slots" to make a fast'n'blocky mock-up build inside the case? PLA with low infill is light enough to stay around with magnets or 1~2 screws; print some stubs for watercooling connectors and you've got pretty good aproximate for planning a loop etc.
Running a Enthoo Pro M-TG for my home server now. It's doing ok, top fan is 1/2 obstructed by the front of the case and you have to buy the drive sleds separately but it's holding (5) 3.5" drives perfectly.
@10:19 : For offloading I really like ProGrade card readers. They have a powerful magnet to stick to your case. I ran a cable to the back of my chassis so that they're always plugged in.
FYI, for those who are interested in this case and prefer SAT SSDs, by using 3.5" to 2.5" adapter sleds of the correct design, those four drive sleds can be used to hold 8 SSD drives total not counting the SSD sleds already in there, and then if the motherboard can use at least one SSD then that could be at least 12 drives in that chassis.
I've got a home server running older consumer grade parts in an ancient Dell workstation case that I got for free from a family member. I would love to get actual server hardware, but what stopped me for my current server is a lack of space for a server rack. If I ever build another server, a case like this is absolutely something that I would consider building in!
He could just use failed/junk/scrap components to do it. It would be a better use of dead parts than landfill if you're not stripping them for parts. It wouldn't have to be anything recent either.
I've got the Pro 2 currently and i love it. The current nv7 looks amazing as well and I'll update to that once i move. But the pro 2 is still great. Amazed it took this long for phantex to make a proper server chassis considering they are leading the full tower case market imo.
You actually can put the 4 bays on the bottom like he shows, the attachment point is just on the left side of the case under where you're motherboard would be. That allows you to keep the plastic covers for the ssd's or to get more slots and store 8 more 3.5" drives on the side. Up to 12 3.5" drives.
I have case in the pro2 (non server) and love that case. Dual loop, dual GPU hardline in that with 2 separate distribution blocks as well. This case is HUGE!
love the idea off that case. but seems like it only support like 10 drives? I use the fractal define 7 XL with 10 3.5 drives and 3 nvme`s as my home server atm and its decent. i would wish it had that extra fan bracket you could move inside the case. So i didn't have to zip tie the fans i have on the inside off my drives to make sure the HDD gets enough air on them.
i got the luxe2 were it was solid on front and the follow up enthoo pro with the mesh for quit some time now fully costum watercooled, love that case! best big ass case so far, and i got a lot like 2 tower500, the corsair1000D(biggest crap ever) and lot others. changed layouts so often, its just great experience to build in. no worthy replacement out there so far!
Hey Jay, life is much easier when you cut the tape at the bottom of the box and lift it straight up. Just an FYI. Handles will not get in the way and you don't have to risk hurting your back on heavy cases.
I upgraded to a corsair 100D from a 900D which I've promoted as my new SAN! Because of this I really like the case and I approve for this move to create a "server edition" desktop case!
I currently run my home server in my old Thermaltake Overseer RX-i Another modern option might be the beQuiet! Silent base 802 with the mesh front..... that case like the entoo has got 3.5 inch drive mounts that can be put in the front
Funny thing: I have been looking for a case that supports many 3.5" drives with good airflow and that is under 12" of width. I have been going through your case reviews these last few days. Now that you uploaded this video I went to look for your video of the Pro II non-server version of this case (which was surprisingly 3 years ago) and that's definitely the case I need, even if it's extremely huge. I'm going for that one.
I'd take a look at the Thermaltake Core V70, got one of those as my home server, space for 8+ HDD's plus some SSD's, 5 1/4 drive bays, up to 200mm fan support, room for large radiators front and rear and decent IO
Running my home lab in the Fractal Design Define 7 and as for this case. I have the none server variant and I've got 2x 360 1x 480 and a 240. Moved from the OG Enthoo to the Pro 2 for a downsize in case size but an upgrade in mountable space for rads and also that drain port is a nice touch.
I did an a cyberpunk build in the Enthoo Pro II and I loved how much space i had for an internal city design and lcd's and all the cooling and a distroplate designed for the TT P5 so i had all horrizontal runs.
Full tower server cases are not new, it's what the full tower case format was made for. Full tower = server and mid tower = desktop was what the sizes were for. It's also why they call the rack mount server chassis rack mount rather than just server chassis. Full tower wasn't used enough with server motherboards to warrant continued support so they eventually became desktop motherboard only.
If you're interested in doing another desktop/server case review... I can suggest the Thermaltake Core V70, as I have one for my home server with 8 HDD's fitted 4 on the motherboard & 4 on a PCI-E 4 port sata controller. Good cable management, comes with space for more than 8 HDD's without the need to buy additional bays. Up to 200mm fans top/front (comes with some 2200mm fans fitted) Plenty of room for cable management and watercooling with large rads front/top. It does have a tinted glass side panel. So good for desktop too. It wasn't expensive either, costing me about £150 GBP
I run multiple servers, one of them inside that very case. I love it, doesn't come with any fans though, which is not necessarily bad (pick the ones that fit your hardware). Do need to budget for them though.
So close. It'd be nice if they had an option to stack two lot of 3 5 columns together, giving you an option of 16 3.5 bays in total. In doing that, they'd really need to engineer vibration dampers on the hard drive holders.
@ProjectSmithTech Only word of caution is that most AIOs don't have the tube length to support being front-mounted in that case, and in the storage configuration you'll be limited to 280mm rads on the top. So don't buy larger than a 280mm AIO, do a custom loop, or just stick to air cooling. I also recommend 4 120mm intake fans (with or without a rad) in the front for better static pressure to push air over the hard drives and into the rest of the case.
I want more companies to start doing this. I was frustrated enough when having my PC built that the Phanteks G500A ONLY has a glass side panel option, but it always frustrated me more that it was wasted potential for some extra cooling. Function > form
I still have my Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS case. It is a heavy beast, with steel construction. Fully loaded, that thing is a hernia maker. As long as I don't have to move it anywhere, it is fine. I'm not motivated to get a new, lighter case as long as this one will do the job. It is dated and doesn't provide much for cable management. It is also pre-SSD, so it is designed for up to 10 5.25" storage solutions. I don't know that I would ever need 10 internal drives. I currently use 4 for storage, and 1 for the boot SSD.
Yes i would use this, i already put it (the glass panel version) on my wishlist on Newegg last week, so im glad you reviewed it. I still haven't planned a build yet but it might just start with that case and go from there
The vented side panel should be used as either a passive exhaust or active exhaust, not intake(fans). Let the front fans do the intake. As someone who has run SLI and Crossfire with a case that has a side vent back in the day I can testify that getting that heat out instead of washing it over the CPU is helpful.
I use the Corsair Cube case (D600? maybe?) for my homebrew build. It has plenty of room behind the MB tray for all the drives I need and works great for what I use it for. It's neat that there are alternative cases with Servers in mind that aren't part of proprietary SI packages. Thanks for sharing! Cheers 🍻
I'm watching this video, and my mind already going over all the ways I could move my media server for my home theater into it and modify my existing system... Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Sure would use this case at home for my in-progress ‘new’ dedicated PlexServer IF the drive bays were as suggested all connected together in one large pillar rather than the 2 ‘caddies’ only. Currently building it in an older Corsair 780T chassis where I have bought additional bays & caddies to maximise the number of 3.5” HDD’s I can install (along with SATA HBA PCIe cards). I do like the look of the Phanteks though & the adjustable inner fan layout would certainly help to cool the drives down a bit. The non-window side panels also appeal to me as not keen on windowed side panels if honest as would rather look at the screen instead of at the components I know I have! Just depends on the cost as well tbh.
If i recall correctly, evolv x from phanteks can have 10 3.5 hdds and 9 2.5 ssds at the same time. Plus 3 nvme drives on my mainboard, i am up to 22 drives in a regular case, not even a server case. Using the same hdd cages from evolv x but removing bottom mounts for the said cages ruins it, imo. It has fan bracket and additional pci brackets though, but who in general uses multiple gpus in a home setup nowadays, storage server is still the main route for home servers. A network card, a gpu for encoding, maybe sata/sas controller, you are good to go.
I like the case with its modularity, however it doesn't have hot swap. From personal experience not having hot swap makes it a major royal PITA to swap a drive. If you need to change a drive, you have too many potential problems with cables and taking things apart that should not be necessary, not to mention you will have to take the system down to perform a simple drive swap (you'd be crazy not to with a setup like this, to many opportunities for corrupting data). If you could get a back-plane with a drive cadge and it mounted the same way the current drive bays mount and could slide the bare drives in and click into place, now that would cool. To me this configuration is not really a server case but for those who would like to do water cooling it looks to be pretty good.
I had a P600S to house my main server, and then I upgraded to the 719 for more drives. I currently have space for 14 HDDs without impeding on a dGPU. I agree with the point about the mechanism on the floor of the chassis being useful for stacking extra drive cages, but I do prefer the wall mounted drive cages having some space between them as it appears to help with airflow (for me). In the future, when I finally take the plunge into open-loop water cooling, I want to use the 719 for that.
One huge fail with that case is that if you use all the 3.5" drive carriers then half your airflow is blocked. It would have been a much better idea to make the case wider and put the 3.5"drives behind the motherboard. The front panel flap arrangement would be much better as a 5.25" bay for optical, removable hard drive, backup solution, fan controller, or anything else. I would configure the side fans as exhaust and front panel intake, not side intake. This would avoid forcing hot air from the GPU(s) into the motherboard shortening the life of, or causing failure of, passively cooled components and other hardware and get it out of the chassis as soon as possible. The air would be filtered as the front panel has the filter. It's also easier to see how dirty a front filter is and clean it.
Funny that a couple of decades ago before the big switch to 3u and smaller most of the X server cases from IBM/HP/Compaq/etc were setup to be rack mount or standing. Of course back then they were like 6u or 8u or bigger. You could order them either way and could get a simple kit if you needed to change it. I remember HP even had a series that allowed you to change the 5.25 bay rotations. It was 2 screws and a couple of clips and you could pull out the cage that housed the bays and turn them.
For me personally any server case must have a hot swap cages for HDD. In past I had a two cases without hot swap and it was pain in the butt to work with drives in them. Especially if you need something smaller to built in.
If all you're after is hard drive storage, your best bet is the Define R7 XL (it can hold 16 3.5" drives + 2 2.5" drives). This seems less of a server case and more of a high-end workstation where you need a lot of local storage and ALOT of Pcie expansion
If using eight of the 3.5" drive bays one could always get eight 3.5" to double 2.5" SSD adapter allowing for at least 16 SSDs in those bays, and if done right one could have 20 SSDs by mounting one to the bottom of each double bracket. Plus the three spots on the back of the motherboard tray for a potential total of 23 SSDs not to mention however many M.2s could be mounted to the motherboard. On another note. My first thought about the removeable fan bracket on the side is that one could mount a 360mm rad or AIO if there's no GPUs to get in the way.
Ages back I got the Antec P101 Silent, another great example of a home server case, it's massive holding up to eight 3.5" drives and a 5.25" bay. That said it is totally enclosed so there is no point in water cooling in it.
sick case......absolutely I would use it for watercooling over having a server. and it annoys me to when people bang on about heating components because they don't know better. I've even heard a certain popular RUclips channel here in the UK say that having a front rad is bad design because it heats component when they have zero water cooling experience outside of using AIO coolers (no it WASN'T KitGuru if anyone is wondering who I'm talking about but I'm not going to damage another channel's rep either by stating who it was because on the whole they do a really good job)
To answer the question: Yes, I'm running a home server, and I'm using an old Thermaltake Xaser III for the case, and it's doing a good job for my needs. For a brand-new solution, I think the case you showed us today can offer a lot of great options for building something nice.
I'm actually using a rosewill thor v2 for my server because it has 5.25 drive bays, and I'm able to use the 200mm "monsta" radiator from alphacool which I feel like nobody has the proper case to utilize unfortunately. I'm also running a 280x45mm on top. The build has a 7950x, 96gb of ram, and I'm about to buy 8 orange pi 5s and custom make a bracket to hold them all in there. I'll be running kubernetes, and proxmox, this allows me to run all my services, and with a 3080 in there, I'll also be able to run a windows vm, and game over my own website from my phone!
You can also use an old PC or even an old laptop as a server, if you're not going corporate or whatever. Just be sure security protocols are adhered to.
I have the Ethoo Pro case and love it! I wanted a more modern case that has a full tempered glass side panel and USB-C on the front panel and still had 5.25" Drive Bays. So this case was prefect!
Saving this video, because I currently run a unraid server, and I currently use almost all my space in my cooler master case, I need something much better and this fits the bill nicely
I'm running a TrueNAS Scale server as a Hyper-V VM on my Windows 10 Pro PC. It's an old Xeon in a Cooler Master Stryker case. I've got all kinds of crap stuffed into it! GTX 970, GTX 1060, LSI HBA card, 2.5GbE card, 6x 2.5" SSD SATA drives, 4x 3.5" SAS HDD's, 2 Blu-Ray burners, and a 120mm AIO water cooler for the CPU. It's been running 24/7 since about 2016. If I need more space, I've always got my wife's old HAF X case. That thing's so spacious it's got it's own zip code!
I run an Enthoo Pro2 and run dual system with 2 AIOs. I bought the extra drive brackets to allow 12 x 3.5 drives along with 3 ssd's. It's a great case but if you want the most drives try the Fractal Design Define 7 x I've put 22 x 3.5 drives in mine.
I just finished a building in the fractal design define 7xl in the storage configuration. 7950x, 64gb ddr5 6000mhz, asus hero x670e, 4090 stix oc. X2 samsung 990 pro 2tbs. X1 870 evo 4tb and x5 wd red 10tb hdds. Awesome case to build in and am enjoying my gaming/plex server.
I have a home server but I'm using the fractal design meshify 2 Midtower it was built for water cooling and servers especially highly recommended since it has what Jay was looking for and can hold up to 12 3.5 in drives
This reminds me of my first storage server, where I took a coolermaster case that had twelve 5" external drive bays in which I stuffed three four-drive cages, each with a 120mm fan in back. Felt so awesome with twelve drives --- until I realized it overheated too easily. I think this Phantek case with ten drives have big enough gaps between the drive cages to allow enough air flow to keep those hard drives cool. With a solid side panel, think of all the money you save not being tempted to buy RGB fans...
@JayzTwoCents I was looking for a case to upgrade my plex server and u just gave me ideas apart from the lack of hdd rack u Can always buy the server racks in size and put them in and stack up to 12 with the right size specs
I crammed 14 hard drives ( with room to spare if I went crazy) Into a Fractal Design 7 XL complete with water cooling and enough oomph to game on if I wanted too. Great case.
Choosing this for my new PC. It's an incredible case in a lot of ways, and it was surprisingly hard to find any competitors that would even come close for what I needed, apart from the highest end monster super towers. For me the highlights are excellent 3.5" HDD capacity (I have six total and may need more), enough space for two big cooler GPUs even if adjacent 3.5" slots are in use (Phanteks confirmed to me there's 350mm of clearance with HDDs), and very good cooling capacity. It's not really a server case for me, more like a gaming/workstation case that has the exact features I want.
I use a Rosewill RSV-R4000 for my TrueNas Scale system(with an 8 TB mirror for media and a 32 TB Raid Z2 array), a Dell Poweredge R620 for VMs and a Poweredge R710 for my domain controller. Honestly, for me, I don’t think I could ever go with a non rack mounted server in my home lab. I’ve just become far too accustomed to having my rack store all of my critical systems.
Great case unboxing and review! Would really like to see a home server build in a case like this, built with off the shelf products (not necessarily server grade parts), that would show performance with multi-load use. I have been considering doing this at my home since I have 5 desktops running, along side multiple laptops and tablets. Its a load on power and internet to handle all this. Was thinking that if the computing could be consolidated into one unit, and not lose too much performance, it would be great. Any thought on doing a build like this, Jay?
I have the Phanteks Enthoo Pro -- I guess that is the predecessor to this case. I only have 3 hard disk drives and 2 SATA SSDs along with one gtx-1050 video card, but I needed something that could handle a SSI-EEB motherboard, and this was one of the only reasonable cases that could handle that. It has been a great home server.
i actually have the enthoo pro 2 that you have showed previously, and i love it as its such a giant case with lots of space. also site note, you can mount 3.5 hdds directly on the fan back wall with a little messing around to get the screws to fit
I feel like this would be a great case for anyone who is wanting to make their first home server and is already familiar with building computers. It's a more familiar form factor to the average DIY builder and I _feel_ like home servers are becoming more and more of an interest, whether it be for self serving IOT or for hosting a PLEX collection, that this provides a perfect entry point for those looking for a relatively easy-to-build-in option that also doesn't take up too much space. Well, at least not too much space in comparison to the average server rack. I'm certainly more interested in this case were I to build my server in the near future rather than a standard server rack!
my old home server is/was an antec p183... planning on changing over to a fractal node 804 due to its compactness and drive capacity. Ones used before were cheapest ATX with most drive slots as it lived in another room. current plans are to diy my own cloud kinda and have a gpu pass through to use for a gaming vm(chimeraOs) as it will live in my living room, unless I can get an HDMI power on signal to trigger the VM to start then it may get shoved into a closet. Alternatively I kitbash some Ikea end tables and make a stealth living room server box. Or i just get the chassis and call it done.
I use the Phanteks full towers.. LOVE the room and expandability. Not only can I build a beefy rig in it but can ALSO double it down as a server. Will never buy another case for my "daily user" PC. Have your fancy glass and RGB puke, I want a place to sleep at night in a comfy box! I will add that the 5.25 flap for the USB is a downside, but I can look past it. I just wish they kept the optical drive bay availability. My current one has 5, 5.25 bays so I can load up some BD-rom burners, etc.. Do mad tasking!
I have entho pro but with my own modifications. In the panel, I changed USB 2 to 3 and added USB C. I replaced the 5.25 bays with a 4x3.5 bay to fit the AIO GPU.
First Home Server was built in a Phanteks Eclipse P600S very nice case, then the motherboard got upgraded but was then too big to fit, so now using an Corsair Obsidian 900D but anyways i digress the Eclipse was sooo nice i tried to look for the equilavent but bigger but at the time i couldnt find one, so very happy Phanteks has done this even if it is to late for me, the case is very high quality, sound proofing is lovely, Vertical mount option ment i could use more pci-e slots for extra Sata controllers and NVME pci-e cards, 10GB Lan Cards etc.... lots of HDD mounting options, PSU basement and plenty of Fan mounts, plus the instructions and screws sorting box was a surprise and welcome addition i wish every brand would employ.
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But when microcenter in Europe...
There isn’t even that many in the US
This. A family trip would be cool
Or Alabama
In Italy, please! It would be awesome lol
When every state has their own
And every Canadian province has one
And every Mexican state has one
And every....
I found out about this chassis when I was building a new homelab server. It had *just* been released, there were no reviews that I could find, and it wasn't stocked anywhere. I had such a great experience with the original Enthoo Pro seven years ago when I built the lab server the new one is replacing. I called Phanteks, confirmed some compatibility questions (Noctua NH-U14S for Epyc Rome), and bought it direct from them. This thing is a beast. It's holding a dual Epyc 7452, 512GB RAM, and 8x 3.84TB enterprise U.2 NVME disks. I have three Noctua PPC-2000 industrial fans in the front, three Phanteks T30-120 (I think is the model) up top to exhaust, and one more PPC-2000 in back for exhaust.
My only complaint, and it's pretty minor all things considered, is that the bracket that moves to mount a fan on the side does not fit with the NH-U14S. The cooler is too tall. That's my fault, and I should have asked a more specific question about that, but cooling isn't an issue either way.
I also really dig the slick white LED ring around the power button. It's understated, with a bit of a Tron vibe. Very clean.
EDIT: As for it being a risk, I'm not so sure about that. The Enthoo Pro was so ubiquitous as a server chassis among the homelab crowd that when a number of small shops sprung up offering pre-built homelab servers, many if not most were built into it. It's definitely not going to see the same sell-through, but for the homelab and DIY server crowd looking for big specs, it's perfect.
I actually am running a home server in the Enthoo Pro II, SSI-EEB sized board. I have the same criticism with this case as I do with mine: I want more space for 3.5" drives. The way the sleds mount on the case wastes a ton of space. If they gave me an option to have a backplane and 3.5" drive holder like they do in actual server hardware, it would an instant buy from me. As is, in tower formation, they could even do as Jay said in the video and put mounting points in the bottom so I can make my own tower of drives with their sleds.
Love the big Phanteks boxes. Great for homelab stuff.
I have this non-server version of this and I love it. So easy to work with, especially with the water cooling.
I plan on doing up a home server soon. While it may be old, my Cooler Master Cosmos II is gonna be perfect for what I need. Plenty of storage options, plenty of fan mounts for cooling and proper E-ATX support. All within a durable and well-designed chassis.
Having been in a career where I used to build servers on the daily, that's probably as close to what I used to work on while maintaining a full tower functionality. Instead of one PSU, most of the builds I commissioned had 2 or more PSU's as 'redundancies' (obv. we're talking about a long time ago now, but that's how they were back in the late-90's). Back then, the largest build I ever set up was for 36x 18Gb hot-swappable drives on the good old Win NT platform. The largest server I ever commissioned was like a giant mini-fridge and weighed about 50kgs with nothing in it. So large that the box it came in had its own wooden ramp that the unit had to roll off to get it on the ground, and took two people to lift.
The Fractal Design Define R5 is still one of my favorite chassis to build a home server in. Really, any of the Define R series chassis are awesome when kitted out with all of the drive sleds. Been using one for my media server for quite some time now and it's been awesome. Plenty of fan mounting options. Some sound deadening panels that also help control airflow. The R5 even has 5.25" bays for when you need an optical drive.
Or you can use the 5.25 bays into space for 3 more 3.5 HDDs!
True, I forgot about those!
I never saw one, so I looked I up, and Jay's video was so old he barely had grey hair
I use one of these as well and I love it! 8x3.5" drive bays, 2x5.25" bays, and 2x2.5" sleds on the back.
@@alexfair6653 it's the perfect size for a home server. Plenty of space for a variety of Motherboards, flexibly fan mounting options, great filtration, easy cable management, and stays quiet. All packed into a mid tower.
Hmmm, I'm definitely with you on the front USB cover, and the wasted space for the 3.5" drive bays. I think my preference would be for the Fractal Design 7XL in this regard. I guess each has their positives and negatives.
Ive been pricing NAS desktops and rackmount cases for the past year for a ceph build I want to do. Cheap 4u multi-bay cases are now super expensive. Even stupidly designed 1u four bay cases are reaching $400 dollars with no included PSU / backplane / or even other computer parts. This Phanteks case comes in the middle of a super expensive server white build time, so it is absolutely a calculated move.
A few years ago, I was playing around with some SSI-EEB boards ( for dual 2011-V1 processors ) At the time the only options were the Corsait 1000D ( which at the time was just coming to market ) or the Phanteks Enthoo PRO SE, which was also waaaaaay cheaper ( 130€ at the time ) I used this case for around 3 years, and it was great ! Sold it to a friend who still uses it to this day.
A big plus with pretty much any Phanteks case is that they use A LOT of screws, so that you can pretty much gut the whole chassis out, IIRC on my Enthoo PRO SE, I was able to unscrew the 2 HDD cages, the HDD cage support, the ODD cage ( Yes, it had 3 ODD slots ) the side reinforcement / decorative plate, and parts of the actual motherboard plate
Nice case. I recently just built into a Fractal Design Meshify 2. Has space for 14 drives and I am running a custom loop in it. Dedicated home server where i self host all my services. Love home server content!
I've got an Enthoo 719 tower: Currently mostly used for gaming, but also a work computer. It was a gift build as a thank you for a team project I was a part of a couple years back. Its super quiet, & has lots of upgrade possibilities. I love the brand so much, I got a 2nd case, an Eclipse P360A, for my other computer! Great review as always, thank you Jay & Team!! 😎
Thanks for reviewing this case, it is exactly what I have been searching for!! 11 pci slots with drive support and solid airflow is incredible.
I love how Jay pre-empts certain arguments in the middle of the video. It's almost like he's heard it all.
I have a Core X9 for my storage server: 8 internal 3.5" bays filled with 4TB Ultrastars and 2X 5 1/4" bay to 6X 2.5" SSD hotswap bays with 8 2TB MX500 SSDs, and still have 4X2.5" SSD bays left to expand later. The HDDs are the iSCSI storage for my home lab hypervisors and the SSDs are the SMB file share. This case doesn't look like it would works as well. I love 5 1/4" bays for storage servers, as you can get 2.5" bay adapters to get dense levels of storage, and hot swap.
I use the Enthoo Pro v1 case. No garbage RGB, plenty of room for optical dives and HDD, just a real good all around do anything with case..... And it doesn't glow in the dark!
Cheers 🍻
PHanteks makes some of if not the best casses for all around, and personally the most asteticly pleasing, while still being simple
Yep, I've got a home server that I've put in a Fractal Meshify 2. I do love to see more cases like this. I would love to be able to do a full blown rack, but doing a standard build just makes more sense right now. So... nice to see more options.
I agree. It is nice to see additional case options to the Fractal Meshify 2 XL. I have 3x Fractal Meshify 2 XL cases which at the time was the only tower case that could hold the have Supermicro X9DRI-LN4F+ boards for my Proxmox HA cluster.
I have the Meshify 2 for my server as well, and the hard drive mounting system is much more space efficient than this one since it's a mid tower and it can hold 15 3.5" HDD drives and 2 2.5" SATA SSD
I'm considering modding my TV stand to accept 15-19 inch rack chassis. I forsee a 1u for a media server. And a 2-3u for a media center whenever Strix Point hits desktop.
@@EnricoAnsaloni Running the non xl meshify 2 for my gaming rig / plex / nvr-blue iris server / vm box. Only thing i wish i would have went with the xl as i lost two drive slots due to gpu power plugs.
@@nwngunner yes the XL has more space I made a build with it for a friend and the space for radiators especially in thickness is much more, also I believe there are 3 more HDD sled slots in the XL in storage configuration
Definitly a nice case to have as server case. I have a server running in an old case. Sharkoon Rebel 12. A bigtower from 2008. My first watercooled system ran in this tower for years. It has 11 5.25" bays at the front and a 3.5" bay. 6 dedicated drive bays inside the case. It now houses a supermicro serverboard with 2 Xeon E5645, 96GB ECC memory and 10+ drives.
Yes I am running a server now (HP micro gen 8). Also building a new one with watercooling (first time) in a Thermaltake level 20 HT case. What I dont like about this case and also the Thermaltake is just 4 harddrive slots. They should include 5.25 inch mounting strips, so we can use enclosures from icy dock or others
In answer to ask someone who has home servers, this case would be perfect for anyone who doesn't want a whole rack setup and at least where I live they are allot cheaper than a 650mm+ 4U chassis. Have also built 5 systems in the regular version of this chassis its great to build in and the RGB control on the front is cool if you don't want software controlled RGB, just connect a lamptron RGB hub or similar off the D-RGB header on the case.
Love to see companies catering for more niche markets.
I already have the original Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 works great. Mass airflow and I love Phantek's drive cages. The server edition looks good if I went with server mobo options etc. Thanks for vid Jay!
Thank you Phanteks for taking the risks at creating something niece. I don't have home server, would love to make one... And this definitely is in my radar if and when the time for it comes.
All that space. Still no 5.25" bays...
INB4 "WHY DO YOU WANT OPTICAL DRIVES, BRO? IT'S CURRENT YEAR, BRO"
@@arnox4554 Bruh, I'm 97', ofc I understand why you'd want one lmao.
I remember having CD's burned for me, and playing on grandparents old white box, playing those games that came on cereal boxes, and the practical applications of retaining old data whiles it's still usable. It's a bit of an hoarders mindset, but I get that since I had CD rack with bunch of DVD's and shit.
@@arnox4554 USB optical drive
@@arnox4554 Got to agree. A couple of 5.25 bays and a better front IO position (bring it forward, with no cover) would make this near perfect.
@@arnox4554
Yea why do you need multiple 5.25 bays?
I use external BR mdisc drives and like them.
There's so much space for 3.5" drives you don't even need icydocks anymore.
Had a thought in a reply to reply; Jay, you have 3d printers... Could you print mock-up parts and put like magnets at "PCIe slots" to make a fast'n'blocky mock-up build inside the case? PLA with low infill is light enough to stay around with magnets or 1~2 screws; print some stubs for watercooling connectors and you've got pretty good aproximate for planning a loop etc.
Running a Enthoo Pro M-TG for my home server now. It's doing ok, top fan is 1/2 obstructed by the front of the case and you have to buy the drive sleds separately but it's holding (5) 3.5" drives perfectly.
@10:19 : For offloading I really like ProGrade card readers. They have a powerful magnet to stick to your case. I ran a cable to the back of my chassis so that they're always plugged in.
FYI, for those who are interested in this case and prefer SAT SSDs, by using 3.5" to 2.5" adapter sleds of the correct design, those four drive sleds can be used to hold 8 SSD drives total not counting the SSD sleds already in there, and then if the motherboard can use at least one SSD then that could be at least 12 drives in that chassis.
Phanteks makes some great cases. I have the P500a and absolutely love it.
I've got a home server running older consumer grade parts in an ancient Dell workstation case that I got for free from a family member. I would love to get actual server hardware, but what stopped me for my current server is a lack of space for a server rack. If I ever build another server, a case like this is absolutely something that I would consider building in!
I just love how much of a relatable dork Jay is.
As always I feel like Jay should build a quick "test build" when reviewing cases just to get a better idea of them
I was gonna make this comment. Assuming he has the parts, a mock-up build would be nice.
@@acidcrow4051 He has 3d printers, even proper mock up of fake parts would be pretty interesting.
Agreed.
He could just use failed/junk/scrap components to do it. It would be a better use of dead parts than landfill if you're not stripping them for parts. It wouldn't have to be anything recent either.
GN does this. Why can't Jay?
I've got the Pro 2 currently and i love it. The current nv7 looks amazing as well and I'll update to that once i move. But the pro 2 is still great.
Amazed it took this long for phantex to make a proper server chassis considering they are leading the full tower case market imo.
Finally, the version 1 was amazing, soo much space and perfect placement.
You actually can put the 4 bays on the bottom like he shows, the attachment point is just on the left side of the case under where you're motherboard would be. That allows you to keep the plastic covers for the ssd's or to get more slots and store 8 more 3.5" drives on the side. Up to 12 3.5" drives.
I have case in the pro2 (non server) and love that case. Dual loop, dual GPU hardline in that with 2 separate distribution blocks as well. This case is HUGE!
love the idea off that case. but seems like it only support like 10 drives? I use the fractal define 7 XL with 10 3.5 drives and 3 nvme`s as my home server atm and its decent. i would wish it had that extra fan bracket you could move inside the case. So i didn't have to zip tie the fans i have on the inside off my drives to make sure the HDD gets enough air on them.
Every time I see another one of these “server” cases that’s 80% there but no 5.25” bays and no hot swap, I die a little inside.
i got the luxe2 were it was solid on front and the follow up enthoo pro with the mesh for quit some time now fully costum watercooled, love that case! best big ass case so far, and i got a lot like 2 tower500, the corsair1000D(biggest crap ever) and lot others. changed layouts so often, its just great experience to build in. no worthy replacement out there so far!
love Phanteks. Still rocking my enthoo pro from 7 years ago
Hey Jay, life is much easier when you cut the tape at the bottom of the box and lift it straight up. Just an FYI. Handles will not get in the way and you don't have to risk hurting your back on heavy cases.
I upgraded to a corsair 100D from a 900D which I've promoted as my new SAN! Because of this I really like the case and I approve for this move to create a "server edition" desktop case!
I used to use an EVGA DG 87 for my NAS. This one looks amazing!
I currently run my home server in my old Thermaltake Overseer RX-i
Another modern option might be the beQuiet! Silent base 802 with the mesh front..... that case like the entoo has got 3.5 inch drive mounts that can be put in the front
Funny thing: I have been looking for a case that supports many 3.5" drives with good airflow and that is under 12" of width. I have been going through your case reviews these last few days. Now that you uploaded this video I went to look for your video of the Pro II non-server version of this case (which was surprisingly 3 years ago) and that's definitely the case I need, even if it's extremely huge. I'm going for that one.
I'd take a look at the Thermaltake Core V70, got one of those as my home server, space for 8+ HDD's plus some SSD's, 5 1/4 drive bays, up to 200mm fan support, room for large radiators front and rear and decent IO
Running my home lab in the Fractal Design Define 7 and as for this case. I have the none server variant and I've got 2x 360 1x 480 and a 240. Moved from the OG Enthoo to the Pro 2 for a downsize in case size but an upgrade in mountable space for rads and also that drain port is a nice touch.
I did an a cyberpunk build in the Enthoo Pro II and I loved how much space i had for an internal city design and lcd's and all the cooling and a distroplate designed for the TT P5 so i had all horrizontal runs.
Full tower server cases are not new, it's what the full tower case format was made for. Full tower = server and mid tower = desktop was what the sizes were for. It's also why they call the rack mount server chassis rack mount rather than just server chassis. Full tower wasn't used enough with server motherboards to warrant continued support so they eventually became desktop motherboard only.
If you're interested in doing another desktop/server case review... I can suggest the Thermaltake Core V70, as I have one for my home server with 8 HDD's fitted 4 on the motherboard & 4 on a PCI-E 4 port sata controller.
Good cable management, comes with space for more than 8 HDD's without the need to buy additional bays. Up to 200mm fans top/front (comes with some 2200mm fans fitted) Plenty of room for cable management and watercooling with large rads front/top. It does have a tinted glass side panel. So good for desktop too.
It wasn't expensive either, costing me about £150 GBP
I run multiple servers, one of them inside that very case. I love it, doesn't come with any fans though, which is not necessarily bad (pick the ones that fit your hardware). Do need to budget for them though.
So close. It'd be nice if they had an option to stack two lot of 3 5 columns together, giving you an option of 16 3.5 bays in total. In doing that, they'd really need to engineer vibration dampers on the hard drive holders.
The Meshify 2 XL fits 16-3.5" drives with vibration mounts for the drives with additional space for 2-2.5" drives.
@alexv8940 Thank you very much for your reply, I just checked it out, perfect.
@ProjectSmithTech Only word of caution is that most AIOs don't have the tube length to support being front-mounted in that case, and in the storage configuration you'll be limited to 280mm rads on the top. So don't buy larger than a 280mm AIO, do a custom loop, or just stick to air cooling. I also recommend 4 120mm intake fans (with or without a rad) in the front for better static pressure to push air over the hard drives and into the rest of the case.
I want more companies to start doing this. I was frustrated enough when having my PC built that the Phanteks G500A ONLY has a glass side panel option, but it always frustrated me more that it was wasted potential for some extra cooling. Function > form
I still have my Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS case. It is a heavy beast, with steel construction. Fully loaded, that thing is a hernia maker. As long as I don't have to move it anywhere, it is fine. I'm not motivated to get a new, lighter case as long as this one will do the job. It is dated and doesn't provide much for cable management. It is also pre-SSD, so it is designed for up to 10 5.25" storage solutions. I don't know that I would ever need 10 internal drives. I currently use 4 for storage, and 1 for the boot SSD.
Yes i would use this, i already put it (the glass panel version) on my wishlist on Newegg last week, so im glad you reviewed it. I still haven't planned a build yet but it might just start with that case and go from there
I have a phanteks p500a rgb and I have loved the room to build in the case.
The vented side panel should be used as either a passive exhaust or active exhaust, not intake(fans). Let the front fans do the intake. As someone who has run SLI and Crossfire with a case that has a side vent back in the day I can testify that getting that heat out instead of washing it over the CPU is helpful.
I use the Corsair Cube case (D600? maybe?) for my homebrew build. It has plenty of room behind the MB tray for all the drives I need and works great for what I use it for. It's neat that there are alternative cases with Servers in mind that aren't part of proprietary SI packages. Thanks for sharing! Cheers 🍻
I'm watching this video, and my mind already going over all the ways I could move my media server for my home theater into it and modify my existing system... Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Sure would use this case at home for my in-progress ‘new’ dedicated PlexServer IF the drive bays were as suggested all connected together in one large pillar rather than the 2 ‘caddies’ only. Currently building it in an older Corsair 780T chassis where I have bought additional bays & caddies to maximise the number of 3.5” HDD’s I can install (along with SATA HBA PCIe cards). I do like the look of the Phanteks though & the adjustable inner fan layout would certainly help to cool the drives down a bit. The non-window side panels also appeal to me as not keen on windowed side panels if honest as would rather look at the screen instead of at the components I know I have! Just depends on the cost as well tbh.
I have the Enthoo Pro, with the solid side panel (they only offer glass or plexi window options now). Great case, with tons of room!
If i recall correctly, evolv x from phanteks can have 10 3.5 hdds and 9 2.5 ssds at the same time. Plus 3 nvme drives on my mainboard, i am up to 22 drives in a regular case, not even a server case. Using the same hdd cages from evolv x but removing bottom mounts for the said cages ruins it, imo. It has fan bracket and additional pci brackets though, but who in general uses multiple gpus in a home setup nowadays, storage server is still the main route for home servers. A network card, a gpu for encoding, maybe sata/sas controller, you are good to go.
I like the case with its modularity, however it doesn't have hot swap. From personal experience not having hot swap makes it a major royal PITA to swap a drive. If you need to change a drive, you have too many potential problems with cables and taking things apart that should not be necessary, not to mention you will have to take the system down to perform a simple drive swap (you'd be crazy not to with a setup like this, to many opportunities for corrupting data). If you could get a back-plane with a drive cadge and it mounted the same way the current drive bays mount and could slide the bare drives in and click into place, now that would cool. To me this configuration is not really a server case but for those who would like to do water cooling it looks to be pretty good.
I had a P600S to house my main server, and then I upgraded to the 719 for more drives. I currently have space for 14 HDDs without impeding on a dGPU. I agree with the point about the mechanism on the floor of the chassis being useful for stacking extra drive cages, but I do prefer the wall mounted drive cages having some space between them as it appears to help with airflow (for me). In the future, when I finally take the plunge into open-loop water cooling, I want to use the 719 for that.
I've got the Enthoo Pro 2 currently and i love it.
One huge fail with that case is that if you use all the 3.5" drive carriers then half your airflow is blocked. It would have been a much better idea to make the case wider and put the 3.5"drives behind the motherboard.
The front panel flap arrangement would be much better as a 5.25" bay for optical, removable hard drive, backup solution, fan controller, or anything else.
I would configure the side fans as exhaust and front panel intake, not side intake. This would avoid forcing hot air from the GPU(s) into the motherboard shortening the life of, or causing failure of, passively cooled components and other hardware and get it out of the chassis as soon as possible. The air would be filtered as the front panel has the filter. It's also easier to see how dirty a front filter is and clean it.
Funny that a couple of decades ago before the big switch to 3u and smaller most of the X server cases from IBM/HP/Compaq/etc were setup to be rack mount or standing. Of course back then they were like 6u or 8u or bigger. You could order them either way and could get a simple kit if you needed to change it. I remember HP even had a series that allowed you to change the 5.25 bay rotations. It was 2 screws and a couple of clips and you could pull out the cage that housed the bays and turn them.
For me personally any server case must have a hot swap cages for HDD. In past I had a two cases without hot swap and it was pain in the butt to work with drives in them. Especially if you need something smaller to built in.
If all you're after is hard drive storage, your best bet is the Define R7 XL (it can hold 16 3.5" drives + 2 2.5" drives).
This seems less of a server case and more of a high-end workstation where you need a lot of local storage and ALOT of Pcie expansion
If using eight of the 3.5" drive bays one could always get eight 3.5" to double 2.5" SSD adapter allowing for at least 16 SSDs in those bays, and if done right one could have 20 SSDs by mounting one to the bottom of each double bracket. Plus the three spots on the back of the motherboard tray for a potential total of 23 SSDs not to mention however many M.2s could be mounted to the motherboard. On another note. My first thought about the removeable fan bracket on the side is that one could mount a 360mm rad or AIO if there's no GPUs to get in the way.
I'm working on parts for a home server. I picked up a Classico Storage Master case that can hold 12 3.5in HDD and 2 2.5in SSD.
Ages back I got the Antec P101 Silent, another great example of a home server case, it's massive holding up to eight 3.5" drives and a 5.25" bay. That said it is totally enclosed so there is no point in water cooling in it.
sick case......absolutely I would use it for watercooling over having a server. and it annoys me to when people bang on about heating components because they don't know better. I've even heard a certain popular RUclips channel here in the UK say that having a front rad is bad design because it heats component when they have zero water cooling experience outside of using AIO coolers (no it WASN'T KitGuru if anyone is wondering who I'm talking about but I'm not going to damage another channel's rep either by stating who it was because on the whole they do a really good job)
I have the Fractal Design 7 XL. Nearly the same design. A bit bigger than the one Jay has. A lot more room for water coolers, pumps and plumbing.
To answer the question: Yes, I'm running a home server, and I'm using an old Thermaltake Xaser III for the case, and it's doing a good job for my needs. For a brand-new solution, I think the case you showed us today can offer a lot of great options for building something nice.
I'm actually using a rosewill thor v2 for my server because it has 5.25 drive bays, and I'm able to use the 200mm "monsta" radiator from alphacool which I feel like nobody has the proper case to utilize unfortunately. I'm also running a 280x45mm on top. The build has a 7950x, 96gb of ram, and I'm about to buy 8 orange pi 5s and custom make a bracket to hold them all in there. I'll be running kubernetes, and proxmox, this allows me to run all my services, and with a 3080 in there, I'll also be able to run a windows vm, and game over my own website from my phone!
You can also use an old PC or even an old laptop as a server, if you're not going corporate or whatever. Just be sure security protocols are adhered to.
I have the Ethoo Pro case and love it! I wanted a more modern case that has a full tempered glass side panel and USB-C on the front panel and still had 5.25" Drive Bays. So this case was prefect!
Saving this video, because I currently run a unraid server, and I currently use almost all my space in my cooler master case, I need something much better and this fits the bill nicely
I'm running a TrueNAS Scale server as a Hyper-V VM on my Windows 10 Pro PC. It's an old Xeon in a Cooler Master Stryker case. I've got all kinds of crap stuffed into it!
GTX 970, GTX 1060, LSI HBA card, 2.5GbE card, 6x 2.5" SSD SATA drives, 4x 3.5" SAS HDD's, 2 Blu-Ray burners, and a 120mm AIO water cooler for the CPU. It's been running 24/7 since about 2016.
If I need more space, I've always got my wife's old HAF X case. That thing's so spacious it's got it's own zip code!
Love my fractal node 304. Perfect server case for the home.
I run an Enthoo Pro2 and run dual system with 2 AIOs. I bought the extra drive brackets to allow 12 x 3.5 drives along with 3 ssd's. It's a great case but if you want the most drives try the Fractal Design Define 7 x I've put 22 x 3.5 drives in mine.
I just finished a building in the fractal design define 7xl in the storage configuration.
7950x, 64gb ddr5 6000mhz, asus hero x670e, 4090 stix oc. X2 samsung 990 pro 2tbs. X1 870 evo 4tb and x5 wd red 10tb hdds.
Awesome case to build in and am enjoying my gaming/plex server.
I have a home server but I'm using the fractal design meshify 2 Midtower it was built for water cooling and servers especially highly recommended since it has what Jay was looking for and can hold up to 12 3.5 in drives
Looks like there is actually a mounting point for the drive cages on the bottom. It's just farther back then you'd expect
This reminds me of my first storage server, where I took a coolermaster case that had twelve 5" external drive bays in which I stuffed three four-drive cages, each with a 120mm fan in back. Felt so awesome with twelve drives --- until I realized it overheated too easily. I think this Phantek case with ten drives have big enough gaps between the drive cages to allow enough air flow to keep those hard drives cool. With a solid side panel, think of all the money you save not being tempted to buy RGB fans...
@JayzTwoCents I was looking for a case to upgrade my plex server and u just gave me ideas apart from the lack of hdd rack u Can always buy the server racks in size and put them in and stack up to 12 with the right size specs
I crammed 14 hard drives ( with room to spare if I went crazy) Into a Fractal Design 7 XL complete with water cooling and enough oomph to game on if I wanted too. Great case.
Choosing this for my new PC. It's an incredible case in a lot of ways, and it was surprisingly hard to find any competitors that would even come close for what I needed, apart from the highest end monster super towers. For me the highlights are excellent 3.5" HDD capacity (I have six total and may need more), enough space for two big cooler GPUs even if adjacent 3.5" slots are in use (Phanteks confirmed to me there's 350mm of clearance with HDDs), and very good cooling capacity. It's not really a server case for me, more like a gaming/workstation case that has the exact features I want.
I use a Rosewill RSV-R4000 for my TrueNas Scale system(with an 8 TB mirror for media and a 32 TB Raid Z2 array), a Dell Poweredge R620 for VMs and a Poweredge R710 for my domain controller. Honestly, for me, I don’t think I could ever go with a non rack mounted server in my home lab. I’ve just become far too accustomed to having my rack store all of my critical systems.
Great case unboxing and review! Would really like to see a home server build in a case like this, built with off the shelf products (not necessarily server grade parts), that would show performance with multi-load use. I have been considering doing this at my home since I have 5 desktops running, along side multiple laptops and tablets. Its a load on power and internet to handle all this. Was thinking that if the computing could be consolidated into one unit, and not lose too much performance, it would be great. Any thought on doing a build like this, Jay?
Nice case, been saving my old Ryzen 3900XT to upgrade my homelab server with it and this case looks perfect!
I have the Phanteks Enthoo Pro -- I guess that is the predecessor to this case. I only have 3 hard disk drives and 2 SATA SSDs along with one gtx-1050 video card, but I needed something that could handle a SSI-EEB motherboard, and this was one of the only reasonable cases that could handle that. It has been a great home server.
It’s always hilarious when Jay gets zapped by cases. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
i actually have the enthoo pro 2 that you have showed previously, and i love it as its such a giant case with lots of space. also site note, you can mount 3.5 hdds directly on the fan back wall with a little messing around to get the screws to fit
I feel like this would be a great case for anyone who is wanting to make their first home server and is already familiar with building computers. It's a more familiar form factor to the average DIY builder and I _feel_ like home servers are becoming more and more of an interest, whether it be for self serving IOT or for hosting a PLEX collection, that this provides a perfect entry point for those looking for a relatively easy-to-build-in option that also doesn't take up too much space. Well, at least not too much space in comparison to the average server rack.
I'm certainly more interested in this case were I to build my server in the near future rather than a standard server rack!
my old home server is/was an antec p183... planning on changing over to a fractal node 804 due to its compactness and drive capacity. Ones used before were cheapest ATX with most drive slots as it lived in another room.
current plans are to diy my own cloud kinda and have a gpu pass through to use for a gaming vm(chimeraOs) as it will live in my living room, unless I can get an HDMI power on signal to trigger the VM to start then it may get shoved into a closet. Alternatively I kitbash some Ikea end tables and make a stealth living room server box. Or i just get the chassis and call it done.
I use the Phanteks full towers.. LOVE the room and expandability. Not only can I build a beefy rig in it but can ALSO double it down as a server. Will never buy another case for my "daily user" PC. Have your fancy glass and RGB puke, I want a place to sleep at night in a comfy box! I will add that the 5.25 flap for the USB is a downside, but I can look past it. I just wish they kept the optical drive bay availability. My current one has 5, 5.25 bays so I can load up some BD-rom burners, etc.. Do mad tasking!
I have entho pro but with my own modifications. In the panel, I changed USB 2 to 3 and added USB C. I replaced the 5.25 bays with a 4x3.5 bay to fit the AIO GPU.
First Home Server was built in a Phanteks Eclipse P600S very nice case, then the motherboard got upgraded but was then too big to fit, so now using an Corsair Obsidian 900D but anyways i digress the Eclipse was sooo nice i tried to look for the equilavent but bigger but at the time i couldnt find one, so very happy Phanteks has done this even if it is to late for me, the case is very high quality, sound proofing is lovely, Vertical mount option ment i could use more pci-e slots for extra Sata controllers and NVME pci-e cards, 10GB Lan Cards etc.... lots of HDD mounting options, PSU basement and plenty of Fan mounts, plus the instructions and screws sorting box was a surprise and welcome addition i wish every brand would employ.
Love my non-server one. 360 rads top and bottom and 420 on the front.
Nice. Thinking of buying this now for my server. Thanx.