NORCO RPC-231 Black 2U Rackmount Server Chassis 2 External 5.25" Drive Bays - OEM

Pros: In my opinion, it's an attractive case. I really like the control panel buttons and LEDs. It looks semi-professional grade.

The short depth was a must for my wall-mount rack, and made the search for a compatible case quite difficult. This case is 15 3/4" from front-panel to back. This measurement does not include the front handles.

The buttons are solid and responsive. The LEDs rather subdued - which is nice compared to the blinding LEDs you find on a lot of cases these days. The two front USB ports are very nice to have to booting, especially if you can't fit a CD/DVD drive.

Norco's support is very good. I spoke with a gentleman named Allen Liu via email, and he answered several questions for me before purchase.

Cons: This case isn't perfect. There are definitely some sharp edges (I have a few small cuts on my hands to prove it). Some edges have been rounded, too. The sticker on the control panel was peeling up around the buttons - though a little carefully-placed Krazy Glue was all that was needed. It doesn't appear to be the most rigid construction, but I suspect it will be better once the top of the case is installed.

The fans are a bit noisy, but I'm not sure whether I'll even use them (I'm using all very low-power components).

Other Thoughts: With all due respect, I have to disagree with some of the points the previous reviewers made:

1. This case *should* fit your rack. I measure a case rack mount spacing of 18 3/8" on-center. My rack's spacing is 18.25", so given the ~1/4" hole slot, it fits just fine.

2. There is a plastic sheet on the top and bottom panels, but it's removable, and appears to be in place to protect the panels from scratches during machining and assembly. It peels right off. On my case at least, this plastic was present on the non-painted panels only. That said, I see absolutely no problem with the quality of the paint.

3. I'm using this case with a Supermicro CSE-M28SAB drive bay, and can't comment on the 3.5" drive holders. I've removed them and won't be using them. For the record, the Supermicro bay fits quite nicely; use only one of the provided retainer clips to hold it in place.

4. One reviewer stated that the stand-offs were not in the correct places for his board. I, too, found this to be the case for my Supermicro X9SCL-F board. However, this is really something you should always check for before mounting the board - for any case. The stand-offs are removable, and the case comes with a couple of extra ones, too. I was able to match up all 7 holes on my board to stand-offs (after some adjustment), and had no shorting issues.

Also, make sure you buy a PSU that has only a rear-mounted 80mm fan. PSUs with a 120mm fan will not work (there's not enough clearance). I am using an Antec EarthWatts 380W 80 PLUS Bronze power supply and it fits/works quite nicely. I wanted 80 PLUS Silver/Gold, but given my low wattage system and 80mm fan constraints, the choices were limited.

Overall, if you need a short depth case, this is a very solid choice for the money. I did a lot of research, and this turned up to be the best option.

Pros: U2...short...two 5.25 external drive bays...takes a standard-sized power supply.

Cons: Extremely poor quality control...the one I received was not drilled right...rackmount screw holes do not come anywhere close to matching standard width rack rail screw spacing...does not fit in a rack at all. Several screws that hold it all together were stripped out. Some weird plastic coating over every single part is supposed to keep it from oxidizing (the metal is low quality, so it really needs protection from moisture), but this makes it real difficult to prepare for use. Paint job is poor. HHD holders can only be used with ill-considered rubber grommets. Such a shame. The basic layout is great, but there are just too many things wrong to recommend it.

Other Thoughts: Newegg service was good, as always, but the product I received is really poor. I was hoping that this model was going to upgrade my Norco RPC-230 (only one 5.25 external bay), but it is just a total piece of junk...THE RPC-230 I have is way better. The one star I gave it would be for Newegg's timely shipping.

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: 2U height, takes standard PSU
3 front USB ports

Cons: Fans. But this IS a Server Case- get over it. There's ways to wire the connector to get 7 volts, which would reduce the noise. The fans are 50 or 60MM.

Other Thoughts: I needed something that will take a harsh environment, and this case is it. Installed Gigabyte H61M. DS2, Pentium G620, 4 gigs of Ram and Win7 32 bit "no problemo". Temps are circa 30F over ambient. Could have gone with less than the Antec 380 PSU but why mess with something that always works? Good solid, VERY low cost build.

This build will eventually be out in the Arizona Summer Heat. Let's see if the +30F Ambient holds up.

Pros: 1. Good size
2. Sturdy build
3. Standard ATX Power Supply
4. Price/value(if you don't need full sized PCI slots that is...)

Cons: 1. Edges are a bit sharp on some parts
2. No full size PCI Card slots( to be fair It's not likely possible with a standard ATX power supply and at this size )

Other Thoughts: It's the perfect size for what I needed, but alas I didn't realize that it didn't have full sized PCI card slots available before I bought it...simple oversight on my part. One egg off for the sharp edges. Overall a great value...

Pros: Nice size
Low price
Great build quality on the metal case service. Almost like a high-end Antec quality build. Room for full PSU and multiple drives.

Cons: Default motherboard stand-offs are not for micro-atx (at least not my SuperMicro) and two of the shorted the board, giving me an evening of troubleshooting before I realized the issue and removed them. System booted immediately after that.

However, once it booted it made a hideous SCREECHING sound. It woke the dog up. One of the small high velocity fans was going insane. I pushed on the middle to see if it was lose and the pressure seemed to fully seat the fan in the housing and the noise went away. Heavens knows how long the bearing life on that will be now.

Other Thoughts: Nice build quality, great size, low price. I'd buy again but the bove problems were a bummer. If your buying a 2U case you can fix these things but not consumer friendly.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

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: Fits standard PSU. Installing system was very easy. Stock fans move decent air and are silent (compared to the rest of my server room anyway).

Cons: Does not fit into my rack. The mounting holes are slightly too far apart (or not wide enough to allow "play") to allow me to mount the system. Only marking it down 2 stars as I assume I got 2 bad ones in a batch vs them all being like this.

Other Thoughts: I considered using a Dremel to widen the holes a bit but in the end, it's a return for me. It's a shame, as this was an otherwise nice case.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

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: Uses a normal size power supply! Plenty of room. Get some kits and turn the CD-ROM bays into more HD bays.

All in all, using this case, I built a nice, rack-mount, 2.8 Ghz, Quad-core server with a good quality Intel mini-itx board, 2 750 Gb Western Digital Black hard drives in RAID 1, and 8 Gb of RAM for right around 600.00ish. The OS is 64-bit Windows Web Server 2008, so I got a good quality web server for a little over $1000.00. Several of the system's other parts were from newegg as well.

Cons: Doesn't come with a power supply, but that's not a huge deal. That just lets you pick out the one you really want.

Other Thoughts: I've been building a lot of mini-itx systems. Mostly I've been using new HP slimline cases or old Shuttle PC cases, after the motherboards went bad in them. The PSUS have mostly been picoPSUs. As all my parts came together, I realized that a picoPSU wasn't going to be enough for a 95w quad core and 2 hard drives in a RAID 1 configuration. And power supplies that fit small cases cost way more than they should, so I was kind of stuck.

After quite a bit of looking, I found these mini-itx/atx Norco cases that just happened to take a normal sized power supply. I only had to make one small mod to the case because the power supply I had, had an air intake that I didn't want covered up. A few holes drilled in a circle at the bottom of the case took care of that nicely.

After working with the small cases, the Norco 2U case was a breeze.

Pros: Great build quality - approaching SuperMicro quality, quiet fans, rounded edges, good fit of lid, HD trays, etc.

Cons: A little tight to build but this is a symptom of all the 2U micro-atx cases

Other Thoughts: I also own a iStarUSA D-213-MATX which is a decent case but nowhere near the build quality of this Norco case. I almost went with the RPC-230 because I was concerned about noise from the 40mm fans in the RPC-231 but this turned out to be a moot issue as the fans are relatively quiet. The fans included are not the normal Delta "screamers" but seem much lower RPM but still provide adequate airflow. Hard Drive vibration dampening (rubber bushings) is a nice touch and not something you normally see at this price point.