SilverStone SST-CS381 - Case Storage ATX Midi Tower Computer Case, black internal, support 8x 3.5" or 2.5" Hot-Swap HDD Bays, lockable front door, black

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Overall, the SilverStone CS381 makes an elegant case for a mATX build. The challenge here is that mATX is not as popular in the server market as it once was. We see examples of server motherboards reducing features such as removing DIMM slots and PCIe lanes just to fit in ATX form factors. The Supermicro X11SPH-nCTF is a great platform, but an example of this. When we look at the lower-power embedded products that make great NAS units, such as the Supermicro X11SDV-4C-TLN2F, Tyan S32272NR-C958, Gigabyte MB10-DS3, and others, the mITX form factor has become the platform of choice. As such, we wish that the SilverStone CS381 was either a little larger to accommodate a full ATX motherboard or a little smaller based around mITX. SilverStone has other products that can handle smaller and larger motherboards, so perhaps this is unfair. SilverStone CS381 Many Screws The build quality of the case is solid and it can support CPU coolers up to 160mm in height, graphics cards up to 320mm in length, up to 240mm radiator, and an ATX power supply. The case features a transparent left side panel and has got removable dust filters for all intake fans including the PSU fan. Overall a high-quality case that can be used to build a NAS or a relatively powerful workstation. Fractal Design Node 804 Micro-ATX Case Specifications

The case itself fits up to mATX motherboards and can handle 4x rear I/O slots. That is a huge upgrade over the mITX options out there. This is doubly so if one wants to create an entry deep learning server, such as we saw with Optimizing a Starter CUDA Machine Learning / AI / Deep Learning Build. I am planning my first build starting with 4 12TB Seagate EXOS drives. I am going to use the Silverstone CS381 case as I already have it. I will be mainly using it for archiving video and audio files but will also plan to use it for other tasks including a light Windows 10 VM and occasionally host a Minecraft server from it. Buy SilverStone CS380 Mid-Tower Case Antec P101 Silent Mid-Tower Case [Quiet, Great Quality, Value for Money, 11 Drives Support, Spacious] Nov 23rd 2023 QNAP Releases New PCIe Interface SATA HDD JBOD Storage Enclosure Series to Obtain Petabyte-class Storage (1)We are specifically using this Flex ATX Supermicro Xeon D platform with passive cooling because it has an onboard SAS controller with SFF-8643 SAS ports and a passively cooled CPU. Other features like the M.2 slot sit on the same plane as the motherboard. As a server motherboard made specifically for this type of application, one immediately notices a nuance of the SilverStone CS381. The entire front of the chassis on the motherboard plane is solid. SilverStone CS381 Standard Rear IO Airflow

Perhaps this is a workstation chassis with great storage instead of a server chassis. Coming soon, we are going to do a build that will force the system to do both that we think is going to be excellent featuring the 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, 192GB of RAM, a GPU, high-speed networking and more. It is taking a second full build, but now that we understand the chassis better, we are very excited. The challenge here is that these chips felt a bit like no-mans land. We know that the eight high-speed cores offer excellent performance, but it is not exactly inexpensive, it is not exactly low power. We do not get RDIMM support for higher capacities for a server that could use that much power with enough memory. Maybe it was the fact that we had just done over two dozen pieces on the series, but I just did not feel this was the right fit for me especially given the lower-cost pre-built solutions out there based on Xeon E-2200 series. Those two fans are 3-pin fan models. This chassis was released in 2019, and at this point just about every motherboard has 4-pin PWM fan headers. We wish that SilverStone included 4-pin fans here. SilverStone CS381 3 Pin FansThe case has a swing-open front panel that opens up like a door for easy access. For noise reduction, the case front and side panels are fitted with sound dampening foam. The front I/O ports include two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, Audio ports, and a fan speed controller switch (high/stop/low). The front USB ports are illuminated with White LED that lets you spot them easily in dark or low lighting conditions. If we could not get an mATX Atom C3000 solution, the next thought was going big. Specifically, getting an Intel Xeon Scalable solution. We have dozens of Xeon Scalable CPUs to use, so this seemed like an easy option. Supermicro X11SPM TPF Overview Full Tower and Super Tower Cases can be a little too big for server use for some of the users. However, if you still want to go with them, then here are some big ATX cases that support a good number of hard drives. Full Tower Cases As we saw in our FreeNAS Mini XL Plus Review 8-bays and 10GbE, the 8-bay FreeNAS platform works very well, so we wanted to replicate in a system with larger fans. One major note here is that the CS381 is a 28L design measuring 400mm (W) x 225mm (H) x 316mm (D) or 15.75″ (W) x 8.86″ (H) x 12.44″ (D). It feels like a large system even though it is based around a mATX size motherboard. Motherboard and CPU Selection

During our review, we found that there were a few updates, but that system still works exceptionally well. SilverStone CS381 Front Drive Bays Today we have an article that stems from a personal project. Ever since I first saw the CS381, even before our SilverStone CS381 review, I wanted to turn one into a ZFS storage server. Usually, these types of builds are extremely easy. This ended up being harder precisely because of the mATX form factor. In this article, we are going to talk about the thought process behind the build, and what you can take away from it. The particular system was planned as a FreeNAS build, but we are going to let this system run TrueNAS Core starting with nightly builds. You can apply everything here to FreeNAS today, or we expect TrueNAS Core in a few months as that is launched. Building a FreeNAS TrueNAS Core ZFS mATX Appliance Video The case can support up to 450mm long graphics cards (270mm with HDD tray), 180mm tall CPU Cooler, up to 360mm Radiator, and up to 290mm ATX PSU. It is a good-looking case, and other features include removable dust filters (front/rear), cable management, and tool-less drive installation. Overall, an excellent case for building a silent workstation or server and is also very affordable. Antec P101 Silent Mid-Tower Case Specifications Dec 22nd 2022 SilverStone Intros First SFX12V 4.0 (ATX 3.0 Comparable) PSU with 12VHPWR Connector (20)

With the CS381 is even room engineered to fit up to a 240mm liquid cooling radiator but by default there are just two 120mm exhaust fans. There are plenty of mesh areas on the case to allow for sufficient ventilation and there are filters included as well to reduce the dust intake. The chassis itself is long enough to fit large GPUs. If you do not like the look of clear chassis and have a mATX motherboard in mind for your workstation, the CS381 can easily provide enough cooling for a very nice workstation platform. SilverStone CS381 Expansion Card Slots