Building your own Rackmount Computer

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powellgb

New Member
Hey all. I've been researching all day to no avail. I've built computers before, but never in a rack server case. I'm actually trying to build a PC for audio stuff. My band wants to rack-mount it into our current racks, so it needs to be no longer that 18" deep.

Ideally we want it to be 2u. My main question is, can I just order any case out there that fits my dimensions and then plug whichever motherboard I want into it and rock and roll? Or are my motherboard choices severely limited because of how narrow a 2u rack space is?

What I need:

Intel Core 2 Duo e6700
A motherboard capable of handling up to 4 GB of ram (faster is better obviously), with integrated audio, video, and firewire
a front loading DVD drive
Space for 1 (or 2) internal Hard Disks
Rack case, no longer than 18" deep, 2u
and as efficient and quiet cooling options as possible


and all of that as cheap as possible! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
first of all if its a server you don't need all that stuff unless your the beatles and broadcasting to half the world
 
there is one major problem with rack mount server cases. They use system blowers, not case fans. The difference is that system blowers are extremely loud and make lots of noise. If you are looking for something that is small and protable and makes no noise look into a mac mini or something of the like on the PC side.

Otherwise you will get too much background noise when recording, trust me on this I have done work with studios before building their computer equipment.
 
It's not a server, we just need the computer to be rack mountable. I thought about the mac mini, but for what we're trying to do, we need the fastest and most cost-efficient processors. Macs, of course, tend to be more expensive.

However, we aren't recording with the machine. It's for live-sound reinforcement. That's another strike against just small, portable tower cases. Ideally, the less stuff to hook up, the better. By having it rack mounted, there is less to worry about as far as setting the computer up at live gigs.

As far as the studio situation, if we desired to use the system for recording, it wouldn't be a problem to keep the rack in a different room and patch it in.

Any suggestions on equipment? Thanks.
 
ah okay, I thought this was for recording purposes....

What type of live audio manipulation would use the PC for? Would a laptop not work for you at all? Laptops have Core 2 Duo chips in them, which make them pretty powerful.
 
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