Hi I got a very specific recommendation request:
I would like to build a fanless rackmount NAS for my homelab. Fanless because I am sleeping next to it. So to achieve that I don’t want any moving part, hence SSDs and fanless cooling. Rackmount So I can neatly store it in my rack. Ideally I want to run Truenas on it and be not fendor restricted so I cam expand and modify it myself. So I thought about getting a maybe 2U maybe higher case. But here starts my trouble: I want it to support at least 6 external drives and consumer tower PSU because industrial server PSU are not build to be silend. I hope you guys can follow me.
TL;DR: I need a 2U rackmount case with 6+ (4+) external drives and supporting consumer PSU (fanless Design) for a NAS. No pre-build or at least easy modifiable.
Please ask any questions or ask for any infos you need :) Thank you for your time.
Is it just a NAS? What cpu usage do you expect? Because I built a tower server with a fan less psu and a Ryzen 5600g and if the server is mostly idle the cpu fan never turns on and even under full load it’s just 30% duty cycle and I can’t hear it. That being said a u2 has a lot less passive airflow.
Where are the external drives living? Hard drive make their own noise. Might consider going with solid state if you want silence.
One example of this that’s making the rounds: https://www.asustor.com/en/product/FS67
Those machines have a fan at the bottom of the case.
I am looking into something similar. Sharing some thoughts here.
- Use a low power CPU and a passive cooler
- Or, use mainboard with passively cooled on-board CPU
- Go all-SSD, HDDs need more power, need more cooling and produce noise
- Use a Pico-PSU and an external power supply brick
- Or, use a fan-less PSU
