Question 1

My motherboard is an ATX board with front facing SATA ports. Will there be enough space for the SATA cables for such ports or will I run into the fan wall?

Accepted Answer

I ended up buying a SuperMicro Micro ATX mainboard (MBD-X10SL7-F-O), and I had no problems at all.  You can remove the backplane with the fans if they are in your way.

I found the connectors to the harddrives themselves to be an actual pain, but the backplane wasn't really in my way.  I also used breakout cables.

Question 2

Some reviewers are saying there isn't enough room between the fans and the SAS connectors on the backplane. If using a small mobo (e.g. mini-itx), can the fans be re-located to the other side of the fan wall to provide more space for the connectors?

Accepted Answer

I bought a SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O (micro-atx) and had no issues with anything. The only thing I think people don't realize is that you can remove the back plane with all the fans out of the case and run your wiring then put the back plane in place. It was impossible to run the cables without removing the back plane.

Question 3

For those who have all 16 bays populated, what PSU are you using?  Unsure what the power draw would be off 16 drives.  Right now i don't think i will be using 7200rpm drives.

Accepted Answer

Your problem wont be watts it will more likely be amps, specifically at startup when all the drives spin up. Look up the drives you want to use and it will list the amp draw at startup.

Some drives or mobos can stagger the startup, I believe.

Be careful when looking at PSUs as the amperage may be divided between more than one rail or set of plugs, so you'll have to think about how you'll split those up.

Brand	NORCO
Model	RPC-3216

Chassis Type	Rackmount
Form Factor	3U
Color	Black
Motherboard Compatibility	Support EEB (12"x13"), CEB(12"x10.5"), ATX (12"x9.6"), Micro ATX (9.6" x 9.6"), Mini ITX (6.7" x 6.7") motherboard

Hot-Swap Drive Bays	16 x SATA/SAS
Internal 2.5" Drive Bays	2 x OS drive brackets
External Slim Drive Bays	1 x slim CD-ROM bay

Dimensions	16.9" x 25.5" x 5.1" (430mm x 650mm x 130.1mm)
Weight	12.3 kg/27 lb (NET)

NORCO RPC-3216 Black 3U Rackmount Server Chassis

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Cooling System
60mm Fans	2
80mm Fans	4

Item#: N82E16811219034