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The right case is essential for any NAS undertaking
For a lot of, a pre-built NAS (Community Hooked up Storage) made by Synology, QNAP, Asustor, TerraMaster, or one other model is okay for his or her wants. For a perfectionist, these units pass over essential options, may be inconceivable to improve, and are sometimes constructed round proprietary applied sciences.
The apparent answer is to construct your individual utilizing TrueNAS, UNRAID, or different off-the-shelf NAS OS, enabling the specification to be exactly tailor-made to the proprietor’s wants. In idea, any PC case can be utilized to construct a NAS. However making a system designed to run indefinitely with out overheating and effectively use energy makes some desktop enclosures unsuitable.
Whereas there is not an unlimited vary of case designs particularly made for NAS builders, there are some glorious decisions for the NAS self-build group to make use of. These vary from the acquainted dice or shoebox designs that appear to be branded NAS to extra specialist enclosures and people meant for rack mounting. Some designs concentrate on mounting many drives, and others on supporting highly effective processors.
The right case is essential for any NAS undertaking, and these NAS instances ought to match most necessities, masking these constructing their first system or seeking to create one thing distinctive.
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Jonsbo N3
Greatest general
$166 $299 Save $133
General, the Jonsbo N3 gives a strong basis for any NAS construct with loads of drive capability and room for highly effective ITX motherboards. Its comparatively excessive price is well-countered by the design’s magnificence, sturdy engineering, and Jonsbo’s expertise in making NAS enclosures.
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SilverStone Know-how CS351
Premium choose
The SilverStone Know-how CS351 is a high-quality NAS field designed to carry 5 SATA or SAS drives, a Micro-ATX motherboard, and an ATX energy provide. The PCIe slots are full-height, permitting this NAS to be fitted with a discrete video card if required. The CS351 is one other stylish product from SilverStone.
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Fractal Design Node 804
Greatest worth
The Fractal Design Node 804 is a small system case that works nicely for a lot of purposes, together with NAS. Constructed to the exacting requirements of Fractal Design, the 804 presents house for eight 3.5-inch drives and two 2.5-inch positions. It has room for a Micro ATX or Mini ITX mainboard and a full-sized ATX PSU.
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Jonsbo N2
Greatest small
A follow-up to the favored N1, the Jonsbo N2 is a extra familiar-sized and formed NAS enclosure with 5 hot-swap bays and room for an ITX motherboard. Accessible in both white or black, that is a reasonable choice for NAS builders however best for making a strong system with loads of storage.
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AudHeid K7
For an eight-bay NAS case, the K7 is reasonably priced, and its capability to just accept Micro-ATX-sized motherboards gives many platform decisions. They’re bought below a number of model names, however all of them have the identical fundamental metal construction and drive choices. The K7 is the popular various to utilizing a desktop PC case.
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Fractal Design Outline 7 XL
A PC tower case has discovered favor with NAS builders worldwide. Removed from a small enclosure, the benefit of the Fractal Design Outline 7 XL case is that it will possibly settle for any motherboard as much as E-ATX and SSI-EEB measurement. However the place it actually shines is within the variety of drives it will possibly embrace, with room for as much as 18 3.5-inch mechanisms.
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KCMconmey NAS-411
The KCMconmey NAS-411 is a fundamental four-bay enclosure with room inside for an extra 2.5-inch drive, a Mini ITX motherboard, and a Flex or 1U PSU. It will additionally accommodate a single full-height PCIe card and has an 80mm fan that attracts air by way of the mesh door to maintain the drives cool. This selection’s low price may be offset by the expense of Mini ITX boards and Flex energy provides.
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ASUS Prime AP201
$65 $80 Save $15
The ASUS Prime AP201 is a mid-tower case that may settle for any Micro ATX motherboard and has room for the standard ATX energy provide, a number of followers, and even 280 and 360-mm radiators. It even is available in black or white with both strong sides, a transparent facet panel, or mesh on all sides. Constructed for gaming, the air flow on this design can be best for preserving NAS drives cool.
How do I choose the proper case and motherboard mixture?
All NAS instances have a most motherboard measurement they’ll settle for, typically smaller than a typical desktop case. The smallest is Pico-ITX, then Nano-ITX, Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX. ATX is most frequently present in desktop PCs, however servers use bigger layouts like E-ATX. NAS instances usually take Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX, and yow will discover these with both pre-installed processors or with sockets to take desktop processors.
These with processors mounted on them typically use silicon designed for laptops and embedded units, just like the Intel N5105 or Atom. These platforms are greater than highly effective sufficient to run a file server, however they do not have the ability to deal with extra demanding duties or massive numbers of customers. Additionally they may not help ECC (Error Correcting Reminiscence), which is fascinating in a NAS the place reliability is essential.
It’s attainable to get Mini-ITX boards with a desktop processor socket, however Intel would not help ECC reminiscence on its ITX platforms. AMD does with AM4 socketed CPUs, however you will want the house within the NAS case to suit an efficient cooler on the CPU to keep away from overheating. The state of affairs is best with Micro-ATX, the place desktop processors are extra extensively supported, and the variety of SATA ports on the board is greater than the 4 that many Mini-ITX boards help. Having adequate SATA ports is a essential characteristic if you’d like greater than 4 drives in a NAS, and it avoids occupying one PCIe slot with SATA controllers so as to add these connections.
One final consideration is the ability the system will eat and the way that balances with the supposed energy provide. Smaller instances typically use SFX or Flex energy provides, and these may be costly when rated above 500W. These planning to make use of a desktop CPU with many drives and a GPU may exceed their energy funds. Instances that may settle for an ATX energy provide are perfect for these techniques since 500W ATX provides are low cost and simply sourced.
What’s the very best NAS case you should buy?
The straightforward reply is the one that most closely fits your wants and funds, and relying on these necessities, one may not even be offered right here. Many might be wanting primarily for the ability to run companies or handle drive storage, however the precise steadiness is a private alternative.
The Jonsbo N3 is the most suitable choice based mostly on how individuals use NAS containers now and the way that differs from a number of years in the past. These constructing NAS at the moment are utilizing extra highly effective chip platforms that want extra cooling to handle desktop processors, and the N3 has room for these high-performance elements blended with loads of drive house.
For these working with a good funds, the Fractal Design Node 804 forgoes the hot-swap bays however can take an ATX motherboard and ATX energy provide. As many system builders may need these components helpful, the whole price of a NAS constructed utilizing the Node 804 is perhaps low. Or, not less than till you add the storage. Relying on what number of drives you propose to make use of, the ASUS Prime AP201 can be an excellent funds alternative for these with legacy components to repurpose.
What elevates the SilverStone Know-how CS351 to the premium choice is its capability to take SATA/SAS drives within the 5 hot-swap bays on the surface and one other ten mechanisms internally. Whereas not a small-scale NAS enclosure, the CS251 can go from a modest performer to one thing extra substantial. Flexibility permits a NAS constructed utilizing it to evolve as wants change, and it has the house and cooling to change into a strong choice with the right funding.