[ballzdeep]

I am looking at picking up some xserves for a render farm. I will be getting about 10 nodes and was looking for something that would fit nicely in the corner of an office, or something. I am not looking for a full rack (too big for my space) but something that can offer well built, and well venilated is a plus, as is noise reduction. Any suggestions?

[OreoCookie]

We had some smaller racks in our office with noise insulation -- which worked well. I definitely do not advise you to put 10 XServes in your office without a rack! You won't be able to work in that room anymore, trust me. Even 20 off-the-shelf pcs will make a lot of noise (we have a small cluster like that in one of our rooms).

[mduell]

Are you sure you want to put a dozen Xserves in your office? In my experience, "comfortable temperatures in the office" and "good temperature for a server room" are mutually exclusive. Although the noise from even one 1U server will make you want to work from the conference room, so maybe the cool temperature won't bother you.

[Simon]

Check out the GizMac Xrack Pro 2. It's 12U, has got noise reduction, fans, and comes with casters. The AppleStore sells them for $1800. We're planning on getting one for our own little Xserve/XRAID station. As a backup solution I'd think of where to put the cabinet in case you can't work next to it.

[ballzdeep]

thanks for the tip, when looking at that rack, for a few hundred more you can 'future proof' it a LOT by getting the 24U... that might be a good investment.

anyways, again thanks for the tip... though they do seem expensive for just a metal enclosure with wheels.... If I were at all in manufacturing, I think I could produce one for $800-1000 of the same grade/quality.... $2k for a 1/2 rack is expensive..