This is an update to a build I posted last year. All original specs can be found here:
2U NAS Killer 4.0 Build
My motivation for moving to a 4U case was two fold 1) mitigate heat better compared to the 2U and 2) make room for a decent GPU for transcoding, which wasn’t going to fit in a 2U case.
Enter the Silverstone SST-RM4400. I was hesitant about purchasing this case because it’s 18.5" deep, and my open-frame Navepoint 12U rack is 18" deep. The RM-4400 includes a front-folding vanity door, which protects the actual front of the case and provides a very clean look. However, I discovered that the door adds roughly a full 1" of depth to an already long case which I desire to fit into a 18" deep rack.
After purchasing, I discovered that the front folding cover is removable, which would provide me the ~1" of additional clearance I was looking for; bringing the actual depth to ~17.5". The Silverstone chassis is pre-drilled to accommodate different versions of their cases and therefore I removed the handles and reinstalled them further back to provide the ~1" of extra space needed to clear the back of my rack. This brought the new depth to ~17.5". Silverstone makes several variants of the RM-series cases, especially the RM41-H08 which is a shallower chassis out of the box than the RM-4400. The RM41 chassis includes a 5-bay hotswap drive where the 5.25" bay sits in my RM4400 case.
The RM4400 case is exactly $135 cheaper than the RM41-H08, which is exactly the cost of their 5-bay hotswap drive purchased separately. Yes, the RM41 includes a 5-bay hotswap drive but one less 4-bay 3.5" internal shelf for HDDs. If you’ve read this far, then buy the RM4400 and pick up any 5-bay hotswap that you desire. If you do that, then technically the RM4400 can accommodate 13 3.5" HDDs with a 5-bay hotswap drive to replace the 5.25" bay. That’s impressive.
This case will fit comfortably in a shallow 18" deep open rack if you can extend your rack ~1" off the back wall to allow for cables to clear. Thats easy to do with a 1x2" pine board from your local hardware store. I also swapped the original PSU power cable to a right angle 16awg cable from Monoprice (via Amazon). The original PSU cable sticks out too far and was hitting the back of my wall.
The RM-4400 accommodates a single 120mm fan and 3 80mm fans for HDD cooling and rear case venting.
NOTE - For those of you on X9SCM boards, make sure your CPU is connected to the Fan 1-4, not FanA. Supermicro specifically reserves FanA for case fans.
I went with the Arctic P12 PWM (no piggy back)
Arctic P12 PWM
Finished build. Added a USB 3.0 card from the previous build. I removed the right most 3.5" bay for additional airflow from the 120mm fan.
The handles moved back from the original position, with the front vanity cover removed:
I hope this helps someone who may have contemplated this case for their rack build.
Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of this case over any Rosewill. Yes, the Rosewills are cheap but I didn’t have near the quality issues with this chassis compared to my original Rosewill 2U. You can also add Silverstone rails to this chassis for those of you that build tanks.