RackChoice 2U Server case 6Gbps hot swap 8 x3.5 Bays M-ATX/Mini-ITX Depth 21.5" Support ATX PSU, Include Sliding Rail and Minisas to SATA Cables

I purchased this 2U 8-bay chassis on January 22 and finally got everything installed and mounted today. Several lessons were learned along the way. If you're in the market for an 8-bay 2U chassis, this can be a very good choice if you pay attention to the following:1. Do not install desktop hard drives because they will not be recognized and they will not be powered up. Only install NAS hard drives. I'm using eight Seagate Exos Enterprise hard drives.2. The backplane uses two mini-SAS SFF-8087 connectors instead of SATA connectors. This is actually wonderful because each connector supports 4 SATA ports, which reduces cable clutter since only 2 mini-SAS cables are needed. The unit comes with two SFF-8087 cables, each of which terminates in 4 SATA female ports.3. If your motherboard has SATA ports at the back of the board that are connected at a right-angle rather than facing up towards the sky, then those ports are NOT USABLE because they are too close to the chassis fans. This did not matter to me because I chose to install a Syba 8-Port SATA card that uses two mini-SAS SFF-8087 connectors (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NFRXQHC). We will need to buy our own SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 cables. I chose a pair of right-angle cables (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C2GN2KF) but straight-angle will work as well. Hence, only 2 cables with a single connector on each side are needed to connect 8 drives.4. I'm using a micro-ATX motherboard (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZTB87BY). After installing 8 or 9 risers, the motherboard installed easily and lined up perfectly with the cutout of rear IO panel. Although we can use full-size ATX power supplies, I chose a BeQuiet 600W SFX power supply (mounted upside down so the PSU fan will exhaust through vent holes at the top of the chassis; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZTW7TSW). This particular power supply (a) has a SFX to ATX mounting bracket that is necessary, and (b) has a molex cable that is long enough to reach the molex ports on the back plane. I initially tried a different power supply (Lian Li SFX) that failed in both departments.5. The 4 built-in chassis fans are surprisingly quiet. They are 4-pin PWM fans that I've connected to fan headers on the motherboard. The fans can also be connected to 4 fan headers on the backplane, but the backplane will run them at full throttle all the time (backplane will not regulate fan speed). I had this unit sitting on a table about 2-3 feet from my ears for 3 weeks with no disturbing noise at all -- and I'm quite sensitive to fan noise.6. Because this unit is mounted in a rack and there's no keyboard, mouse or monitor locally attached, I purchased a Geekworm X650 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4TPNF7J) along with a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLVV545C) to plug into the Geekworm. This provides full remote KVM capability through any web browser. Geekworm X650 runs PiKVM V3. I opted to install the operating system on an eMMC module that came on the Compute Module 4. Now I can start, stop, reboot, and interact with the rack mounted chassis from anywhere in the house or the planet!7. Obviously we cannot install a liquid cooler for the CPU. I chose the Noctua low-profile NH-L9i-17xx air cooler (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HCHYMJM) for my Intel i5-13500 that has a 65W TDP rating (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQ6CFDCX). Not only is it quiet, it does a great job of keeping thermals under control (28-30C idle temperate with chassis cover closed). With this Noctua cooler, there is enough space *between* radiator fan and chassis cover to allow built-in fans to blow that air to the rear.8. Rack Rails. Let's talk about them rails... This was the only frustrating part of the experience, but as you can see from the photos, the rails finally went in! First, we can lengthen the rail guides as shown in the first photo. This allows the rail guides to be mounted to the interior or exterior of the rack (interior would be better). Next, when sliding the chassis onto the rails, the chassis hit against the upper and lower lips of the rail guides and failed to go in. It seemed as if the rail guides were just a tiny bit too close to each other, but with the help of a friend (who is a professional installer), we managed to pull each rail guide slightly outward with our hands (away from the rack), which was sufficient to recess the chassis fully into the rack. The final result is shown in photo 3.I'm really quite happy with the final result:1. Build quality of the chassis is excellent2. Every component I wanted to install got installed quite easily3. Chassis cover is perforated in one corner for the power supply fan vent4. Fans are quiet (I was afraid that cheap noisy fans would be included, but we got some good fans)5. Backplane uses mini-SAS SFF-8087, which saves cables and cable clutter6. Airflow is quite good as long as a low profile CPU fan is installed7. There is space near the front for two 2.5” SATA SSDs, which I’ve occupied with two 1TB SSDsI’m running TrueNAS Scale on this system with 8 Seagate Exos hard drives in RAIDZ2 and two mirrored 1TB SSDs. TrueNAS Scale has been running flawlessly for over 3 weeks.

Good:More than enough drive bays for a small NAS/Media serverFits ATX components, so no loud and expensive server grade partsFits ATX power supplies. There's a hole in the top of the case to vent a standard ATX power supply. Only 3 Molex needed to power midplane for drivesFans are quiet and flow well when run at a slower speed.Bad:Just a little too long. I have a fairly standard home rack (NavePoint 12u enclosure) and the included rails are too long, and the case hangs out the rear of the rack a little. I solved the rail issue by mounting a 2u rack shelf to the rear rails in my rack, and using that to support the rear of the case. Regular cage nuts and screws support the front.Not much clearance for side facing SATA ports. There may be enough, but it gets very tight. Included cables are difficult to connect.Overall, a great case for a large NAS or virtualization server for the home or small business.

Used this for a Blue Iris server and it serves the purpose without and real issues.Get yourself a 2u CPU fan and you'll be good to go.You will also need 4 pin fan splitter cable if you want to use all the fans together (yes you do) and they are about $8.00.The fans are quiet enough and heat seems to move through it with minimal effort. I would not run a etherum rig with it but for video server, plex, jellyfin, storage etc. it is perfect.Rails are a little bit of a pain to work with but functional enough.

I've used other Rackchoice chassis and, to be frank, they are cheap and want to kill YOU and your equipment. Sharp edges, poor alignment, thin metal are all qualities they share.This case is much better quality overall than all the others which, given its price, it should be. Unfortuately, most of the case, is a B grade, with a couple of catastrophic faults that ultimately make it a total failure for me. Here are my thoughts.PROS:*The cable passthroughs are rounded off, without sharp edges.*There is a fair amount of included hardware, but this also shows up in the CONS below.*8-bay hot swap backplane seems of adequate quality*Build tolerances are good (not great), no equipment that was meant to fit had any issues, unlike other cases from this MFG.CONS:*RAILS AND INCLUDED HARDWARE ARE ABSOLUTE TRASH!!!**I had 1 screw for mounting the rails to the rack completely shear off at the head (not shown). Several screws to tighten the components of the rails together completely rounded the heads (soft metal).**I also had major misalignment issues for the rail mounts (see pictures attached). There is an offset to align the rails to the rail holes. This offset interferes with the slide mechanism, creating a ledge that the interior parts of the slide can't go past without jerking each side of the rail away from the slide (dangerous)**The major failing (aside from broken hardware) is that there is no way the included rails fit a rack greater than 25" deep...you won't be able to use 2 screws per bracket (seen from the side pictures).**Even if you can get the rails to fit, there isn't enough travel on the rails to allow the chassis to be fully pulled out to remove the lid, rendering it useless.*Drive cages are a little chintzy and cheap feeling. They do not slide in and out very easily. This is likely a machining issue, everything is a little rough.I ended up spending another $150 on a better case from another MFG with separate rails (toolless) that is much better quality and doesn't have any of the CONS of this case.