Which case for SAS Raid?

[coo-coo-clocker]

Looking for some suggestions on a nice case for my next build.
I will be putting a 4-6 SAS RAID5 config in there, so looking for plenty of room and cooling for the drives... I don't mind paying for quality. Any suggestions from the storage experts?

 

[Blue Fox]

Are you going to be using 2.5" or 3.5" drives?

 

[coo-coo-clocker]

So far I have 4 of the Cheetah 15k.5 SAS 3.5" drives.

 

[sabregen]

plenty of room for ATX, mATX, EATX? plenty of room is subjective and depends on the platform you intend to build. Initial thoughts are TJ07, Lian Li V1200B, RocketFish full tower

 

[coo-coo-clocker]

Thanks for the reply. Here's what I'm initially listing in terms of other components:
P45 mobo
Q9550
optical drive
3.5" boot drive (probably vraptor, etc.)
Beefy GPU (perhaps GTX 260 or 280)

I did like the looks of the LL V1200B, and the CM HAF 932.

 

[UT-Jackal]

LL V2100 Plus II is the one i'd get if i had the money. Might be a bit overkill for 6 drives, but room for expansion.

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=137&cl_index=1&sc_index=26&ss_index=65

 

[coo-coo-clocker]

Ordered the CM HAF yesterday from the egg.
I think it will do fine and the price is reasonable...I'll keep this thread updated how it goes.

 

[jay2472000]

...I'll keep this thread updated how it goes.

Please do , I really like the potential of that case. Also, how do you like those Cheetah drives? And one more quick one, what type of raid will you be using, Raid1, raid2, etc ?

Thanks in advance. J

 

[coo-coo-clocker]

how do you like those Cheetah drives? And one more quick one, what type of raid will you be using, Raid1, raid2, etc ?

So far, really well. I bought two of them from Nitro, and the other two I snagged on fleabay. They whirr a little (to be expected), but the benchmarks are very promising. I am curious about the controller being "capped" as is mentioned there, but we'll see what happens once the setup is installed in the new rig. I am still working through which configuration I will use... probably R5, but if I can find a couple more drives on the cheap, I may go R10. I'll try to take some pics and mebbe post a build thread...

 

[coo-coo-clocker]

OK, quick update.
The new rig is up and running. I have to say I'm impressed with the HAF case from cooler master. It has some nice features. The one thing that is a downer is that there isn't much room on the back of the drives (using the 3.5" bays) for clunky SAS connectors.

So I think I may go for a hot swap cage like this one:

RaidAge

Anyone else used one of these?