Has anybody else tried to make a 1U Server Form Factor as part of a Desk PC / Personal Rig?

It’s a interesting challenge to get your daily PC into a standard 1U form factor and have it mounted underneath the desk.

But have any of you wanted to put your PC’s into a #U form factor and shove it underneath a desk or into a Multi U Tower of sorts?

I absolutely would love to have my PC in the desk. But I would get creative with the form factor to avoid crazy limitations when it comes to hardware and cooling.
I already had enough of limitations and measurement after building one “SFF” system (RVZ03 - 14.6L).

The 1u is a bit too extreme, especially the noise it will generate because it is so cramped inside the fans need so much RPMs to clear the same amount of air. 4u is more reasonable and can fit standard consumer stuff. Not sure about those bigger Noctua fans, though.

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Yeah @oO.o did. He’s got a cool thread about it.

Would mount them vertical, and do some funky stuff for vibration isolation. Else the whole desk turns into a guitar body…

I’m your man. Will post later tonight or this weekend.

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Any questions, ask me.

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I did a measurement of my Lian Li Full Tower.

If I did a Vertical Rack style Full Tower, but have the Server Racks slide foreward instead of upward, I found out that in the space of a standard:
Lian Li Full Tower with 10" Case Width, I can fit 5U of Racks
Lian Li Full Tower with 12" Case Width, I can fit 6U of Racks

A standard Lian Li sized Full Tower can be designed to fit vertically orientated 23" Wide Standard Server Racks Chasis
A standard Lian Li sized Mid+ Tower can be designed to fit vertically orientated 19" Wide Standard Server Racks Chasis

All Tower configs can use standard 24" Deep Server Rack Chasis

Has there ever been a time in your life where you wanted a “Full Tower”/“Mid Tower” like case but has sliding foreward U-Racks of your choice so you can customize your Full Tower to be multi-machine in any way you wish?

e.g. One Full Tower can have a 4U & 2U racks in it
One Full Tower can have 6x 1U racks in it
One Full Tower can have 3x 2U racks in it

What ever config you feel like as long as it adds up to 5U/6U depending on the Tower Width you buy.

I once used a 2U dell power edge as a desk on 2 small end tables because my dumbass bought a 43" 4K tv without anywhere to put it on
I have a proper desk now though
not sure if that’s gonna be relevant enough for the thread though

It is, but I want to see what people can do with U racks in the consumer space.

It would be neat.

Was there a question in there for me? Not sure why you quoted me.

Would you ever want a U-rack Chasis mounted in a Standard Consumer end Full Tower size case?

You want to put a rack inside of a chassis so you can rack mount another chassis inside of it?

I have definitely never wanted to do that.

Only 1 level of recursion =D.

Get new Custom Full/Mid Tower Case for yourself, design it to be able to fit U-Racks into it of variable “U” sizes up to design limit.

Ergo one person can have a Single Tower with multiple “U” Rack Chasis computers to themselves =D.

It’s a unique case design melding Consumer / Enterprise together.

I know I might be that one crazy case designer thinking “Outside of Bounds”.

But every now and then, you need somebody to come up with crazy ideas like that. =D

You can buy rack chassis in all shapes and sizes. I don’t see why you would want to retrofit a PC case for that purpose.

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I wish all computers were standardized into rack chassis years ago. Computer desks could have 4u slots and the computer would have never been in the way. When you get a new pc, just swap it out. All coolers, motherboards, heat sinks, fans, etc would be made for the same form factor. Hell, by now 1u could be standardized and be cool and quiet.

I love computers… but I hate the box.

I wouldn’t Retro-Fit so much as make a new Tower that is in the same Volume as my Lian Li Full Tower and design it to my listed specs above.

=D

Then design it as a Vertical Standing U-Rack Chasis where you can slide the U-Racks foreward for easy servicing.

If we had more PC’s with MoBo Add-in Cards like the “Intel Ghost Canyon NUC” and a custom Base Board to link the MoBo AiC to the GPU, we could potentially get 1U into a standard form factor ready for super thin and quiet computing.

Or half width 4u slots, imagine what that would do to your usable desk space… :slight_smile:

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You mean like a studio desk?

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