Check out what I scored for $50: The one with the door open is backwards. They were a pain in the ass to get upstairs to my apartment, seeing as how they're 80" tall and weigh at least 2x what I do. You can't quite see it in the picture but there are attachments to secure them together as one big unit. I took the side panel (leaning on the left) off the one on the right and put it on the other one to make an enclosed box. Here's one I took after I put it on (and closed the door): And here's a closeup of one of the side panels to show the color. I'm debating on whether or not I should repaint them. See, these are essentially brand new. They bought them for a contract at work and were never used. They sat around in storage by my cubicle, and when I took over for the guy I was brought in to replace, I inherited them. They were going to be surplused so I asked to have them... $50... how awesome is that. Anyways, they're a little scratched up now (the one on the right was first up the stairs so we hadn't gotten a "system" devised yet) so I may repaint them. If I do, I was thinking of maybe having the panels (sides, top, bottom, and door) done and leaving the frame that blue color... I'll probably put a black plexi door on the front as part of The Omega Project (more details soon). So whaddya think? Paint it or not? (Yes, they will requite some moddage to facilitate air flow, but for The Omega Project it may not matter all that much... you'll see ) EDIT: I guess I lost a picture somewhere, sorry... fixed now
don't paint it. That 80's blue is perfect. It just screams tackyness... tackyness is good what are you going to put in the racks?
Eventually it'll turn into a bank of 3 computers (2 dual Opterons and the dual PIII in my living room) tied together by a custom built rackmount watercooling system of all 3 computers. (I spilled the beans on the project, who cares ) I have some ideas in mind, once I get them down in text with some images of the cases I'm gonna get I'll post them. Also in the rack will probably be an lcd monitor (integrated into a panel) and some other computers I have but won't be watercooled (although I'm leaving room for expansion in the setup), and some rackmount UPSs (which I'm shopping for now if anybody has any suggestions)
go with APC .. they are excellent. We use them at work (an ISP) extensively, and I have one on my computer (specs in sig). I'd watercool the rack (I've had this idea for a while, here goes) Get some pipe and run up each side. Every 2-4U put a quick disconnect. Have one pipe be the flow and the other be the return. Put waterblocks on all the necessary parts in the computer with a quick connect on each end. Easy and simple to remove and reinstall.... Sound fun?
holy freaking cow. That's unaturaul Those belong in a temperature controlled server room back at the office.
nice catch mate! As for UPS's - I run a data center, and we've had problems with APC UPS's on a semi-regular basis (luckily everything is dual PSU into two different UPS's). We have a growing number of Compaq UPS's which have all been excellent! All that being said, I run APC's at home where its not critical
Most people these days goes for smaller PC's...... There is always one that has to be different.....Nothing wrong in being different...The the word that i am after is orignal... What are you going to use those three PC's for????? Those cases has loads of possiblities....I wouldn't know where to start... Happy
$50?!?! grrr.... iv'e been ebaying for server racks and mounts... you sir, are very lucky... and the project sounds amazing!
I have the brothers to those racks in storage right now, the little brothers... They are half height racks (about 4'6") but the same color and base dimensions (depth and width)... They're nice and big to work in, plenty of space in the sides to run essentials, such as cooling lines. Nice find...
I wish I had taken a picture of my hands after hauling them upstairs to my apartment. I have slice lines from the edges, not sharp edges, just the weight of the cabinets pushed the rails through my skin. One computer is going to be my new workstation, one will be a file server with SCSI raid, and the dual PIII is going in there just to get it in a case (currently caseless in my living room, see here) My idea was to make some plexi distribution "panels" for the watercooling, massive ID hose to and from the cooling units to handle the flow. I need to find some opteron-compatible waterblocks though... I dunno if the machining guy at work would help me make those. I have some plans for actual case mods besides the watercooling setup, I may post those plans tonight when I get home (at work now waiting for a 1-hour navigation run to finish). As for the UPSs, I was thinking of some of these or these. So should I repaint the sides/top/door panels or not? If I can refrain from having to paint the frame itself (imagine the rack on the right with no door on the back and no top panel) and just paint the sides/top/door it could look neat, 'specially if I do like a nice deep blue-green or something... and maybe a silver/black flame job? In the end this should be a simple looking yet elegant mod (from the front), as well as a truely bitchin computer setup . And about the other rack (the one without sides), I may try and sell it off. I'm currently unsure as it would mean getting it back down the stairs (like I said they weigh much more then I do) and shipping it would be hella expensive.
not to spoil your party but those UPSes are trash. A chrome or gold paint would look neat on the racks.
