Hello everyone!
 
So I've had an EVGA SR-X for a while now, I bought it on pre-order, held it unused for two years or so, finally finished the build, and used it as a personal rig for a while with one CPU.
 
During this period, I bought a server rack, put it in my house, and found an old Dell 2970 which I crammed full of RAM and ran ESXi on, hosting minecraft servers, discord & mobile game bots, and learning how to host and network, even without a static IP.
 
I upgraded my SR-X with 64 GB of RAM, two 8 core CPUs, and was rocking this setup (Attached image), beyond powerful for an occasional gamer and 3D designer.
 
Then, the Dell 2970 (as is the predictable case with an ancient server) started crashing. Power failure issues, overheating issues, etc. So I had a choice. Continue using a server as my personal PC for no reason, or get it in the rack ASAP.
 
So I drilled out all the rivets for the Rosewill case, mashed it down to 19" (I didn't realize 19" was from mounting hole to mounting hole on a rock, not the distance in between the mounting rails) riveted it back together, swapped out the reservoir for a bay one, and got it into the rack (Had to remove the side, and one of the rails to get it in there, it was a CHORE)
 
And it works. This beast functions well, and it hosts everything I need it to host without complaint. However, there are two big problems with it:
1. The radiator is crammed in there with bad ventilation, the machine can't be removed without an hour of disassembling the rack, and the case was simply not designed to be a server at all.
2. I can't remote manage the power/RAID/motherboard functions.
 
The second one, I dunno. Can't solder an iDRAC controller on there. But the first one? I've got a dremel, a pop rivet gun, a 3D printer, and I like planning out long term projects.
 
So I tore apart the Dell 2970, down to bare metal. I need to remove some rivets, and then it'll be an empty box with 17.5" by 26" of empty space inside. This is exactly wide enough for a power supply and the SR-X, I believe. So I'm going to design and slowly build a new 4U server chassis on the base of this 2U Dell POS server. That's the plan. My next post will contain the current machine's state image, and some sketches I've made of the potential new design.
 

 
--Pyrebuilder / Erica
She/Her please. Thanks.
 
 
 
 

So, after I got so excited yesterday, I re-measured the Dell 2970 case. It's 16 5/8" wide, not 17". So this plan will require a little more fenangling!
 
With the PSU overlapping the motherboard, however, and set back from the back of the case, I think I can make this work. Here's the current plan:
Bezel and front design (first draft)

 
Internal rough draft done in Sketchup because I am fastest with it, when producing actual 3D printed parts, I'll be using Blender. (Removed image for newer version below)

 
For the internals, we have roughly half an inch overhang of the PSU aboveand over the motherboard, and I will have to modify the CPU1 left power distribution heatsink for the radiator to fit back there, most likely.
In this design the Reservoir (white block with round bit) would be mounted to the side of the case with quick disconnects hanging precariously over the CPU0 socket. Also one big weakness is that it only has .01" between each HDD, to fit all 16 of them (WD drives are a full inch thick, Seagate would be thinner but I already own several WD ones) I might consider cutting it down to 14 3.5" drives, and 10 SSDs instead of 12, for better spacing and ventilation.
 
Parts list to make this design work:
Sheet metal parts - bridge over top of the 3.5" drives, sides to bring up to 4U, back panel, PSU mount, PSU inset, lid.
3D printed front section parts - 16x 3.5" HDD trays, 32 3.5" track/dividers, 12x 2.5" SSD trays, 24x 2.5" track/dividers, Screen/button/IO panel, side latch attachments, Bezel
3D printed body parts - 4x fan holders, radiator shroud/mount, cowls to direct air around reservoir and PSU
Bolts - Long bolts to hold together HDD track sections, bolts for holding fan brackets/cowls/radiator mount down.
Plugs - 2x 24 pin plug for RAID card LED connectors, 2x 12 pin plug for RAID screen/etc connectors, SATA plugs to mass-power and bulk plug 2.5" drives
PCB - Custom make/order 3 PCB for linking 2.5" drives for power and plugs, possibly a PCB for LED connectivity
Bits & Bobs - 28 green, 28 red mini LEDs. 2 normal sized LEDs, 2 buttons, 1 LED segmented screen
Hardware - RAID card, 4x SSDs for primary VM RAID
 
Existing hardware list:
EVGA SR-X - 2x Xeon E5-2687W, 64GB ECC RAM running VMware ESXi 6.7 evaluation version
Primary storage RAID - 10 2TB HDD (only 4 currently plugged in due to space limitations)
Primary VM host RAID - 4 1TB SSDs
extra drives - 500 GB SSD, 4x 500GB HDD raid as temp
LSI MegaRaid which can't be managed without restarting the entire machine
super cheap simple GPU
 
Problems with this first draft that may require changes:
Mounting for Radiator will be a huge pain and require motherboard modding. I may switch to only 2 fans on the Radiator, and squeeze the radiator in just in between the heatsink and the IO plug blocks.
HDD spacing is poor
Reservoir is just bad in general, it might be best to manufacture my own and use an old pump I have instead.
I've never done this much sheet metal work and don't have the tools, I'll have to learn quickly and make it work.
I've never designed a PCB even though I've done wiring, it would be easier to just plug these all in individually and deal with a mess of wires, but it wouldn't be the right way to do it. The "right" way to do it would be to have the RAID card plug from miniSAS plug to miniSAS plug directly, and have a PCB that has the miniSAS plugs, SATA plugs spaced properly for the hard drive trays, LED headers, and LED screen headers all built in. I'm thinking doing it halfway would be enough. Do all the power and Sata for the small drives would be enough. We shall see.
 
Hope you all enjoy my planning stages!

As promised, here's an image of what the server currently looks like:

So, as you can see, it's a zip-tied together mess with poor airflow and barely any drive space.
 
Now, I spent today disassembling the old Dell 2970 case, resulting in a clean slate:

 
The back panel was a folded up section of the bottom, needing some dremel work, but now at least we have an empty box.
I've ordered an HPTX motherboard tray, a low powered PSU, and the RAID card (I switched to a SATA III card with 16 ports that I think will work better) and when they arrive I can play jenga with the parts to see how they look.

The photos besides the first post don't seem to be showing for me.

Sorry about that, I was using google drive and trying to make it fully available, I'll edit everything to attach photos instead of embed.
 
edit - I've attached all but one of the images, so they should be visible as attachments now. Thank you for letting me know, DEJ915, and Cool GTX I'll look into Imgur, thank you.

*Insert the unholy screeching of frustration when I am forced to use Imgur no matter what I do*
Ok, made an Imgur account, walked an hour to get cell signal, activated it, uploaded images, and added them to the posts.
 
Pleaaaase tell me you can see them now?

I soldered two of these by hand (no reflow oven) and will test them before I solder the other three.
 
In addition, I've been struggling with the layout of the interior, and I think I've found my solution, to make sure there is adequate spacing for the motherboard, power supply, and other components.'

With this layout, the radiator would be before the motherboard, with airflow pulling the heat out the back over the top of the motherboard.
This would also increase PCI-e card capacity to 4, two vertical direct into the motherboard, and two on extension cables laid down under the fans.
I've also taken the time to make the pretty front design in 3D!
 

I really really should switch to using Blender, but I'm so much more experienced with Sketchup, and I can import the file to Blender later to refine.
There would be a main bezel with a lock on the right side, and then a bezel section behind that which holds a filter into the bezel, to pre-filter the air.
I've designed a first draft of the 2.5" drive bracket, but need to design an enclosure before I can print and test the fit/durability of both.
I'm also considering removing the LCD from the design, leaving just the USB and LED/buttons, and adding 5 more 2.5" drives to the design. Even if they aren't filled currently, that would allow for expansion later on.

Okay, so after some work, the power supply will be just fine with the case off, I can modify it to fit pretty easily and make a small cover to shield it and direct airflow. The back part of it with the AC plug also comes off, and I know how to make an extension to the wire that connects it to the rest of the PSU, so I'll use the backplate from the PSU for part of the back of the case.
 
The radiator fits well, but now I have a new sticking point. The pump/reservoir combo is just barely too large for the lid to fit onto the case. So I have a few options on how to handle this, I could cut into the case quite a bit to make it fit, or I could shave down the top and bottom of the reservoir to make it fit properly. I'll debate this, but most likely go with the second option, to maintain case integrity.
 
The motherboard fits, of course, as will the HBA card and GPU, looking good so far!

Any further updates or pictures?

nice update

Hah! Yes, yes I really am!
Update:
Last night I played around with the top cover and the black plastic and how they fit together.
It's uuuhhhh not optimal.
So I'm probably going to be redesigning it a bit, either removing the top surface of the black plastic and extending the back of the lid, or some other solution.

 
Getting there.   

thats busy!

And so now I continue the saga of Eris, the worst server ever.



I hacked together a back of the chassis out of aluminum angle, pop rivets, and dreams. Beautiful, isn't it? Notice the terrible airflow, that will come back to bite me.

I was having some leaks so I bought new water cooling hardware, and tested the loop under pressure for a week straight before declaring it good.



Then I bent and shaped a metal cover for the front and the internal top, to keep the PSU from being exposed and to guide air. The internal top cover is bolted so it can't move up or down to touch anything it shouldn't.



Tada! She's done! I turned her on, installed ESXi, and then I realized a few things.

First off, the water cooling keeps the CPUs cool, but the motherboard and back of the case were getting up to 110 degrees or more.

Also, after a year of running a Dell R540 which sips energy like a fellow Californian worried about the drought, Eris was guzzling it with abandon.

In the middle of a heat wave and power outages, I turned Eris back off.

Now I'm debating whether to piece her out to interested buyers, or work on improving her airflow.

I should go back and try to find threads with cool stuff that people almost forgot about. If I knew about this thread, I would have definitely chimed in to see what's been happening in a year! lol
 
Yeah, I had a feeling it was gonna get toasty in the back.  What I may have tried:
- Flip pump 90 degrees
- Try to squeeze cables to the left of the radiator closer together to move the radiator an inch or so to the left
- If cables are already squeezed together enough then I probably would have cut them up to make them exact fit so not to have excess cabling
- The point of moving the radiator at least an inch to the left would be to give space for:
- Make a hole for an 80mm fan on the front right of the case & install a 80x38mm high speed fan
- Make a duct to redirect air around the right of the radiator towards the back.  I did a similar thing when I wanted more air going towards my GPU.  My PSU gets it's own air from the bottom of the case.

- But all this air still needs to get out somewhere.  I'd drill holes above the mb plate on that aluminum section. Or maybe I'd reposition the HDMI port to above the mb plate and use the area where the HDMI port is now for a blower fan like this.  I'd try to find the biggest blower fan I could possibly find to fit in that area.

 
Or maybe just move up to a 3 or 4u?