NORCO RPC-430 Black 4U Rackmount Super Short Depth 15.25" Server Case 2 External 5.25" Drive Bays - OEM

Pros: Excellent layout in a very short rack mount case. Utilitarian design that looks good (IMO) and is functional. Tool-less HDD holders work well.

Cons: The finish sucks on this case. The paint literally chips off just removing the top cover. I didnt fully believe the other reviews, but it is very true. The good thing is that if you are careful, once it is mounted it looks good and is just fine.

Second of all, the holes DO NOT LINE UP. I had to drill an extra set of holes in the front to mount it in my standard 4U rack.

Other Thoughts: Overall this is a great shortmount rack case for a lot of drives. I use mine in a tripp-lite wall mount rack that only has two front posts. It is great as a file server.

Pros: Full size atx board in a rack mount case that fits in an 18" deep wall mount relay rack with enough room for cable connections on the back. 6 3.5" drive bays.

Cons: Holes on mounting flange don't line up with rack, drive cage not super easy to remove, fans no good.

Other Thoughts: I really like this case for my 19" wide, 18" deep wall-mount relay rack. For my home/media server, I used this case with asus sabertooth z77 motherboard, 4x 3TB drives, thermaltake 430w powersupply. I didn't have any problems w/ screws stripping. Drive cage took a few minutes to pop out but I don't expect to remove it again until I replace the motherboard. I have the server sitting on the bottom of my wall mount relay rack and didn't have secure it to the rack--would definitely need to drill flange holes to do so. I picked up two 80mm fans to attach to mb-- case is super cool and quiet enough for the closet it's in.

Pros: This is a great 4u case, includes everything needed to install a tyan tiger s2725 dual xeon with dynatron 1u coolers.

Cons: cooling fans are junk! order some good fans when you order this case, save you some time and agro.

Pros: It's an inexpensive case, and it's short.

Cons: The case gives a cheap appearance. The paint comes off already when you slide the case on the floor. There is the drive cage that takes up the whole width of the case, and both it and the front panel must be removed to install mounting rails. Also, to clean the air intake filters at the front the front panel has to come out. Everything is held together with soft 2mm screws that it is too easy to strip the thread from.

Other Thoughts: One can but a decent desktop case for fifty dollars. But in the server market the price points are generally set higher, which leads Norco to charge USD 65 for this awful pile of junk.

Pros: Size is a pro. I do not mind having to remove the HDD cage to install motherboard. Price and Norco reputation is why I purchased this case. It was also on sale.

Cons: Where are the front fans???? I tried to rip it apart and like others are complaining, the screws are small and cheap. You get what you pay for. I thought I might be able to slip a couple of Scythe slipstream fans in the front, but that is not going to happen. Also, don't even get me started on the filter design.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this while my partner was in the hospital in another state. I regret not checking the fine details and other reviews. This was just going to be a music server with four HDDs, but now it is still in my server closet in pieces and most likely either headed for the trash or possibly a CCTV build. I could cut holes in the top with a hole saw and put two 1TB on each side with a 80 mm fan blowing down atop each HDD. But I do not know if they make a 80 mm filter and guard as I have never had to look for one. I just do not trust this in my rack as it is a 42 space rack nearly filled and has a locking plexiglass door. I am already concerned about heat, but so far so good on the rest of the equipment.

Pros: Short depth, simple flat black design, many 3.5-inch hard drive bays.

We bought this case for use as basic rack mount server. The short depth is great and it fits a mATX or ATX motherboard. Six 3.5-inch Hard drive bays, Two 5.25 bays, and a middle area that will hold a 2.5-inch SSD boot drive.

Cons: This case required 4 adults to rack mount. First, the screw holes do not line up to a standard 19-inch rack and the front holders had to be removed to get the lower screws to line up. The case required absolute disassembly to install components and did not come with any instructions.

The case screws are very soft metal and will strip very easily. This case does not live up to the Norco name brand. While it works for the basic application we're using it for, I would recommend not buying this case if you're going to rack mount it. The math is off on the screw holes and you'll need a whole team of people just to hold the chassis and make major modifications to the case just to make it fit securely.

The clips to hold 5.25-inch drives are a joke. They are a 1-way ticket, because once you put the drive in with them it will not release. Buyer Beware!!!

Other Thoughts: I was really disappointed with this case and it does not live up to the Norco name brand. Almost every chassis hole is mathematically off by critical centimeters, meaning the holes do not line up to standard racks. What's worse is that you have to remove the front rail holders just to get the bottom holes to accept screws. The front dust vents are pointless because they will require absolute disassembly just to clean. I am really not looking forward to cleaning this chassis annually. Be sure to buy quality aftermarket chassis fans as the ones it ship with are absolute junk.

Pros: One and only short depth case out there, which can fit a lot of HDDs. It is very good quality, very good airflow, very good layout for its depth.
I do not understand, why people are rating this case low , because they have a hard time to fit. Buy a bigger case! This one suppose to be short and you WILL have issues with space.
Tons of tiny screws? Excellent! Much better then a lot of tine welds, because you cannot do anything about those! It is very flexible case.

Cons: Sharp edges. Kind of used to it though. No big deal.

Other Thoughts: For my purpose I completely dismantled HDD cage a created a new one with vertical HDDs. I'm able to fit 14 x 3.5" HDD in now + 4 x 2.5 SSDs in add-on cards. I'm using it as file server.

Pros: Cost, size. Thats about it.

Cons: This case "seems" solid. There are no instructions with it, they drive trays are flimsy. Standard 2.5 to 3.5 adapters wont fit in this case without getting really creative. 95% of the case is put together with tiny 2mm screws, very cheap feeling. Soft power on button, doesnt feel like it will last very long. Almost impossible to install a mobo without removing the top cage (and guess what? NO instructions on how to do that!!) An hour later, its all put together, THIS CASE IS SHARP AS KNIVES! BEWARE!! You will cut yourself!

Other Thoughts: Would I buy it again? No. Stick to iStarusa, chenbro, Antec, Thermaltake, wont be buying Norco again.

Pros: Good price, simple. good air flow. One of the few short depth rack mounts. Seems sturdy.

Cons: This case was made completely out of RAZOR BLADES! sliced my finger, blood everywhere. Handle with CARE!

Some of the mobo wires barely long enough for some boards. I had to work around it to connect wires to board once mounted. Make sure you get a low profile heat sink, just a little smaller for CPU heatsink space then most cases.

Other Thoughts: For 60ish bucks, makes a good deal, just dont ever put your hands inside it. LEDs are not overly bright, so its good for something in your room all the time running. And Its very quite. The rack I have is not for the full length server cases, so this was perfect fit.

Pros: You are looking at this case most likely to:
1) You need a short depth rack case. Telecom racks are sort of popular in homes but being only 19" deep you are limited in the cases that can be used.
2) You need a solid shippable system.

My need is #1, my home has a 19" deep telecom style of rack and thus full length rack cases are simply not possible. This is one of the VERY few server cases that fit into a 19" deep rack with enough space behind it for some venting.

- Good price.
- Many edges are rolled but still be careful when assembling so you don’t get cut.
- Able to hold 6 x 3.5" drives without any tools via the included slide-in holder (internal access).
- 2 x 5.25" for other uses.
- Holds most board types.
- Has holes in drive cage to allow full length motherboard to be secured (but you need a long screwdriver).
- Front USB (2).
- Front power/reset that is not easy to accidently hit.

Cons: - Many very small short screws - do NOT lose them! They are soft so don’t strip them out.
- Front holes simply don't line up with rack mount perfectly (they are a tad too wide apart - maybe 1/16"). Be ready to get your drill out and fix that.
- Existing front holes (2 per side, 4 total) are poorly placed, both bottom holes are too close to the handle making M6 rack bolts impossible to use. You can fix this by making new holes lower down. Given the weight of the completed system, I would recommend ignoring the bottom hole and drilling 2 new ones on each side, one above handle, one below handle, giving you 3 holes usable per side.
- Front power/reset is not intended for high duty cycle - use with care.
- With a heavy system, the overall mounting strength of the front should be improved. If you have ever used an APC smart UPS rack mount - you know what good engineering is. But this is low cost case so you can't expect perfection.
- Not a gaming case - max pci card length is about 7.5

Other Thoughts: I built a raid 6 LSI 9265-8i based system with this case; it holds 8x3TB drives with the 9th drive a small SSD for the boot. Vantec has a 2x5.25" to 3x3.5" adapter which gives you the ability to hold another 3 3.5" drives. If you go that route (like I did) you will use a USB DVD drive.

There are no fans for the drives, so if you are going to load up the drive bay with 6 drives, you will want to engineer your own fan bracket. I used some #6 threaded rods, tapped and threaded it into the end of the drive bay. This allowed me to attach 2x92mm fans to pull air across the drives. With this the max add-on card that will fix is about 6.5" but that is enough for the LSI raid card to fit.

If you take off the back panel, it will make installing the motherboard much easier.

If you find that you need to remove the drive cage - be prepared to spend a lot of time and DO NOT LOSE THOSE SCREWS.

I hope that Norco continues to make this case; there are simply so few that can fit into this