NORCO RPC-470 Black 4U Rackmount Server Case 3 External 5.25" Drive Bays - OEM

Pros: I'm running 16 GB and very stable...

Cons: ...but had to clock down to 1066Mhz which is uncool.

Other Thoughts: I blame Gigabyte and AMD for the memory speed issue but honestly between 1066 and 1600, my clocks show little difference so I live with it.

Pros: 8 Cores!

Cons: Benchmarks could be better.

Other Thoughts: Update your BIOS first so you don't run into any snags.

Pros: Speedy! 15 second boot time! Reliable Instant on from standby! Comes with Ghost!

Cons: Should be cheaper considering its just a bunch of RAM essentially. Ghost didn't mirror correctly, so wiped and did a clean install.

Other Thoughts: It's been replaced by the 840 series.

Pros: Have not been able to make use of this server case yet. Therefore, I cannot list Pros.

Cons: Server case was sent without the documentation or installation manual such that a person would know where wires are supposed to connect, or how to install hard drives, dvd drive, etc.

Case has been changed from a prior version of the same case.

Other Thoughts: It would be extremely helpful if the manufacturer had full documentation of their products available via the internet. I will not be able to install a computer into this case until I can get the documentation which means a loss of two days. Note: I work seven days per week.

I shall provide an updated review when I have received the needed documentation AND when the manufacturer makes documentation available on their website such that future customers do not have a similar problem.

Pros: Pretty easy to work in and has plenty of space for drives and anything else you need.

Cons: This comes 80mm fans, but expect them to need replacing eventually (year+) these fans will fail and bind up.

Other Thoughts: Wonderfully case, could use some improvments in moving parts.

Pros: I used this case to construct a ten disk NAS using components that I had from a previous computer. For this purpose the case is wonderful, albeit probably deeper than necessary.

Cheap, lightweight, lots of fan mounts and holds a ton of drives.

Build construction is pretty solid, but has a lot of sharp edges. I managed to cut my hand once when I gripped it wrong.

Cons: The internal fan backplane has to be removed to get access to the drive bays in their shipped configuration. This isn't terribly hard, but would be impossible to do while the unit is rack mounted. I went ahead and left it out, since the front and rear fans move more than enough air to keep the drives cool. Once that was out I had no issues installing or removing drives.

Mounting the front fans was an exercise in frustration, and I recommend doing it first thing. The fan mounts must be detached to install the 120mm fans, but the screws which hold them in place are very tiny and hard to install again when you're done. I had to sit the unit on it's rear, with the front on top, and very carefully guide the screws into place with a magnetized screwdriver. Even with those changes it was like playing Operation and took many retries before all 8 screws were in place.

Other Thoughts: The 5.25" bays do not include the typical mounting mechanism one would use to mount an optical drive. There was some additional hardware included, but I couldn't figure out how to use it.

Images of the case depict a quick-release latch for the lid. This is NOT present, the lid must be secured with screws on the side of the chassis.

Pros: Bought this case for my DAW setup. It's very long, but works for my setup. The length is one of the best features of this case, along with the abundance of fans. The stock 80mm fans are loud as hell, so I swapped them out for some low dBA 80mm. Mine came with 4 80mm fans, and space for upto 3 more 80mm fans, a 2 120mm fans.

Cons: A few of the smallest screws were missing, but nothing critical. Plastic rack handles.

Other Thoughts: Basic system specs:
Celeron g530 (waiting for the i7 3770k in early May) CPU
16GB AMD 1600 DDR3 RAM
120GB Muskin Cronos SATA 3 SSD drive
XFX Radeon 7970 BE video card
GIGABYTE GA-Z68AP-D3(R2.0) LGA 1155 motherboard

Pros: Decent layout for 10 drive non hotswap rackmount server case. I have 2 Antec TriCool fans in front set to different speeds as my default HD fans and stripped the middle 5 fan array out to support the 7 drive setup I am currently running.

Cons: Several. The you get what you paid for cliche. The initial setup and fan swap took an entire afternoon. The drive cages were backwards and several other nuances slowed down the initial deployment.

The kicker is the sliding rail kit included. The holes had to be redrilled to operate with standard rackmount M6 screws. I am reinstalling the case in a new square hole mounting rack enclosure [Tripp Lite] and the holes have to DRILLED AGAIN to fit properly. Norco Cases seem to be about quarter inch wider than standard 17 inch width which prevents a wider selection of rail options for installing.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues you are experiencing with this case. Please contact us at service@norcotek.com, so we may get more details and assist you in resolving this issue.

Best Regards,
Norco Support Team

Pros: Extremely well designed;
Was able to fit 12x 3.5" HDs easily in here (with a 3x 5.25" to 4x 3.5" HD bay converter), and with a little modding 2x 2.5" HDs (near the PSU). It was also able to fit 11 or so case fans...

Cons: Ugly, has some pretty sharp edges, and is insanely heavy when filled... (Ah, it's a server... so duh!)

Pros: Decently built case.

*Tight quarters with eATX board, simply takes some extra time to plan out.

Cons: *Covered in plastic which is great, but a PITA to remove.

*HDD Cage not ideal - pain to remove as stated before as you must remove all of the drives.

*Not sold on plastic rails.

*Optical Drive is not secured in a way that inspires confidence