# Project Old Gateway/Server



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Some of you may remember two projects I started quite some time back.

This one was an on-going project that never was completed because I never obtained the hardware for it. It ended up being bounced back and forth between different boards that I came across, but I had no need for another PC and I didn't want to sell/give away the case because I love the darned thing so much...

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f76/my-new-old-gateway-516070.html

This one was a scratch server enclosure that I had started to get experience with advanced metal-working and get a file/media/print server up and running at home. The friend whom I was using his equipment, tools and help got sick for quite some time and got behind on his own projects as well as financially. What little of the enclosure that was started ended up rusting in my attic while Keith and I concentrated on more important things.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f76/scratch-server-build-547967.html

With Project NES nearing completion, I have decided to renew these two projects as one by modifying the Gateway case to accept the Intel Server Board and associated equipment.

Here is what is done so far.

Stripped the case down to the bare enclosure.


















Due to the size of the Server Board and the placement of the CPUs, I have no choice but to permanently remove the 3.5" expansion bays... No real loss there!










Here is a mock-fitting of the board to make sure there is plenty of room in the case before I continue.










15 rivets and the front panel finally comes free... I left the rear panel on for the time being as a reference for mounting the board.


















I didn't take any photos of the process between here and there, but it went nicely so far.

5 of the 8 mount points lined up perfectly with the ATX mounts. I had to remove the single riser, which was pressed into place, because there was no mount at it's location.

I dry mounted the board using the 5 ATX points and marked the two corners for stand-offs. Made sure everything was square and drilled the holes to accept the stand-offs and mounted them. Hit it on the head first time... I'm getting good at this!!!! :grin: For the center, I used a simple nylon standoff cut to the proper height.

I don't know if you can tell from the pics or not, but there is an 1/8" drop at the end of the motherboard tray. Luckily I had two stand-offs that were 1/8" longer than standard. I need to procure four more for the CPU heatsink mounts.

Here she is mounted in the case, ready to be measured and marked for the CPU mount stand-offs and cable management access holes.


















I will have this server up and running... Hopefully by the end of this year, provided I can locate all the necessary parts and equipment!!!!


----------



## HARDHELPER (Jul 15, 2011)

Good luck.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Board is fully mounted with the heatsinks in place and the main part of the case is riveted back together.

Next step is mounting the HDD rack. You can see where I am contemplating mounting it. In this configuration I will have room for two drives in the HDD rack and two drives in hot swap bays. This is perfect for what I am using the server for (home back-up and media storage). I just need to find a good place to mount the OS drive.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Doing a little shopping and found this... I think I may have found my HDD rack...

Newegg.com - SANS DIGITAL HDDRACK5 5-Bay IDE / SATA Hard Drive Organizing Rack

And here we are for the hot-swap bays...

Newegg.com - iStarUSA T-5PF-SA 1 x 5.25" Bay Trayless Anti-vibration SATA Mobile Rack

Heck... I may be finished with this by Christmas! :grin:


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

You could always use a front mounted Icydock bay or dual bay


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

I was planning on using two hot-swap bays in the open 5.25" bays... Unfortunately, the server board is a bit too long to use the stock 3.5" bays at all (unless I mount the HDD bays on the bottom).

I am open to suggestions though!!! Gimme some links!


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Something like this is what I was thinking > SNT SNT-SAC2131B SAS SATA Drive Enclosure SNT Aluminum 3 Bays Mobile Rack for 3.5in HDDs Black-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

Just use it as the hd rack and forget the internal rack.

Or you could mount a internal(maybe 2) flat against the front of case using the screw holes in the bottom(normally the bottom) of the drive drilling any holes needed.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

I like that! I still want the 3 HDDs inside the computer... The OS drive, and the RAID1 array for media storage. The hot-swaps will be used for backups and personal storage for my wife and I.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Grab a couple drives and see if they will fit here.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

I was thinking about mounting the OS drive under the 5.25 bays like that, but I was thinking that I should keep that area clear for airflow around the CPUs.

Plus, all of the SATA ports are at the bottom of the board.

The lower part of the front panel is definitely a spot I could mount a drive, but the middle part is where the switches and LEDs mount... I would have to use a bracket similar to the old style Dell's to allow enough room for it.

They have that unit at NewEgg, so it is a shoe-in now...

Newegg.com - SNT SNT-SAC2131B 3x3.5" Hard drive in 2x5.25" Bay Hot Swap SAS/SATA Backplane RAID cage


----------



## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

This project lives on!

I got creative with the tin snips and made the original 3.5" drive cage fit around the motherboard and cpu's. I also cut a bit of an extra floppy drive and they just make it.


















I also took the original hdd rack and tin snipped it a bit and turned it sideways and mounted it with some small bolts.










Here is the 4 pin cpu connection that I spliced together. Turns out this actually works , provided the extra 4 pins you add are from a different rail. I used the unused pci-e rail and it's now powering a cpu.










And here it is together , wires are a mess but it's working!










Plans are currently to have it fold for my folding team , until I get a sound card and gpu for it.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Nice! Thanks for the update! I am glad that it is going to get use (and not gather dust)!


----------



## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

So after running some speed tests it turns out the cpu's together are only a little bit slower then my q6600. Now you may think "thats sucks"

But , because my q6600 is one cpu (with 4 cores), it can only run one instance of a program , like folding. But becuase the server has two actual cpu's , it can actually run multiple folding clients or program instances at once , 

which means it's faster , even though it's slower

Wrap your head around that , lol.


----------

