{"video_id":"tf2lYw5jCA8","title":"Norco RPC-4224 24 Bay 4U Storage File Server Case Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2011-05-08T14:53:29Z","duration_s":704,"segments":[{"start_s":0.64,"end_s":7.44,"text":"So today we're going to be unboxing something a little bit different. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.48,"end_s":13.36,"text":"don't think we've done anything like this. Okay, so this is a computer case.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":11.12,"end_s":19.4,"text":"This is probably the largest computer case we've unboxed on the show before.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":15.759,"end_s":21.92,"text":"It comes in a stylish brown box which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":19.4,"end_s":29.199,"text":"includes no information about the product inside whatsoever except for a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":25.84,"end_s":31.199,"text":"part number. So, 10 points if you know","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":29.199,"end_s":36.48,"text":"what this is already, although I really doubt it because it's a brand new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.96,"end_s":39.0,"text":"product from Norcco Tech. Now, Norcco","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":36.48,"end_s":45.2,"text":"Tech is a little bit different from Norcco that makes bicycles.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":42.399,"end_s":50.96,"text":"Now, Norcco is not really focused on uh you know what kind of high-end video","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":47.76,"end_s":54.64,"text":"card fits in their case or you know how","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":50.96,"end_s":57.199,"text":"many uh you know stylish plastic bezel","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":54.64,"end_s":63.68,"text":"designs they have or what kind of aluminum chassis they're using. Norcco","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.48,"end_s":68.08,"text":"is all about functionality on the cheap.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":63.68,"end_s":69.76,"text":"So, this is a 4U ATX case that is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.08,"end_s":73.08,"text":"designed. You know, I'm just going to have to bring this down to the ground","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":71.119,"end_s":80.72,"text":"because there's no way I can uh it's so heavy. It's a 4U ATX standard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.08,"end_s":87.84,"text":"case that is designed to load up with as many hard drives as you could pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.68,"end_s":89.6,"text":"much need as a home user. So, let's just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.84,"end_s":95.36,"text":"uh keep working on getting this box open. You can see it is double boxed to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.24,"end_s":98.479,"text":"protect it during transit. And here is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":95.36,"end_s":100.96,"text":"the case itself. So, this thing weighs","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.479,"end_s":107.2,"text":"like about as much as I do. So, I'm going to have to find some way to unbox","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":103.799,"end_s":107.2,"text":"it. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":107.24,"end_s":115.6,"text":"uh this may be my most difficult unboxing yet. So, we're going to go","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":112.799,"end_s":126.399,"text":"ahead and tilt it this way and then tilt it this way. And finally, there it is.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.92,"end_s":129.52,"text":"The RPC 4224.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":126.399,"end_s":131.599,"text":"So, four, it is a 4U case. I don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.52,"end_s":137.68,"text":"remember what the first two stands for, but the 24 means it holds 24 hard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":135.52,"end_s":141.959,"text":"drives. So, let's go ahead and put this down over","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.239,"end_s":147.12,"text":"here. Okay, like I said, steel construction.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.28,"end_s":151.84,"text":"It's not going to fall apart. They actually have a wide variety of uh rack","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.0,"end_s":156.959,"text":"mountable chassis that are designed for just building little file servers. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":154.239,"end_s":162.4,"text":"what makes them great for home users is the fact","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":158.2,"end_s":165.68,"text":"that unlike enterprise level chassis or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":162.4,"end_s":169.84,"text":"um or barebones, they're cheap. This","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":165.68,"end_s":171.519,"text":"case only costs in the midunds versus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":169.84,"end_s":176.48,"text":"what you might pay for something from a super micro or from another rack","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.0,"end_s":181.519,"text":"mountable chassis brand which might be as much as $1,000 just for the chassis","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.959,"end_s":186.4,"text":"itself. So, like I said, 24 hot swappable, uh, 3 and 1/2 in, also 2 and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.48,"end_s":192.239,"text":"1/2 in compatible. You can see it has 2 and 1/2 in mounting holes, hard drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":188.68,"end_s":193.92,"text":"bays. Okay. And these all run off a very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":192.239,"end_s":198.72,"text":"large back plane. Now, I might have to run inside and get a uh screwdriver. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":196.879,"end_s":202.319,"text":"just pause that video. Okay. So, we got the case open. That was step number one.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":200.72,"end_s":206.8,"text":"So, I want the cameraman to come have a look at the inside of the case, which is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":204.64,"end_s":213.68,"text":"where we will find all of the things that make this otherwise very plain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":209.44,"end_s":216.159,"text":"steel box uh worth a lot of money and uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":213.68,"end_s":219.92,"text":"what make this one a particularly good value compared to the other stuff out on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":218.08,"end_s":229.36,"text":"the market. So, first I want you to have a look at the inside here. The interface","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.599,"end_s":234.239,"text":"that actually runs that 24 drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":229.36,"end_s":236.239,"text":"um hot swappable like massive storage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":234.239,"end_s":240.64,"text":"compartment here. So, this this whole part of the case is dedicated to this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.239,"end_s":244.64,"text":"back plane. Okay. So, you can see here there are actually uh two redundant","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":243.12,"end_s":248.4,"text":"power inputs. I'm not talking about the fans yet, cameraman. There are two","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":246.48,"end_s":252.64,"text":"redundant power inputs. So if you're using a redundant power supply, it means","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":250.159,"end_s":256.239,"text":"you take one Molex from each redundant power supply and plug it into each of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":254.159,"end_s":261.84,"text":"these two Molex here. So you can see there's a total of six. Okay? So that's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":258.959,"end_s":266.32,"text":"6 * 4 is 24. All right? So that means 12. Six on each power supply. And then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.4,"end_s":270.4,"text":"over a little bit further, you can see there are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":267.56,"end_s":275.84,"text":"SFF887 connectors. So there's a total of six of those, each of which runs four","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.12,"end_s":280.72,"text":"drives on each one of these PCBs here. You can actually remove these. Although","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.84,"end_s":283.919,"text":"it's not really necessary to do so, and I can't really think of a reason to do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":282.16,"end_s":290.24,"text":"it, but I'm going to do it anyway because that's what unboxing is all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.16,"end_s":292.32,"text":"about. Like, you know, just taking stuff","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":290.24,"end_s":298.8,"text":"apart for the Oh, there it is. Okay. So, you can see here we've got activity","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":295.16,"end_s":302.24,"text":"LEDs. We've got the actual SATA or SAS.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":298.8,"end_s":304.4,"text":"You can run either SATA 2 or SAS drives","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":302.24,"end_s":308.0,"text":"off of this back plane. So we you can see we got the four interfaces here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.56,"end_s":313.36,"text":"There's the connector I was talking about. Here's the power inputs. So this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.8,"end_s":317.199,"text":"distributes data to all four drives and this distributes power to all four","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.52,"end_s":321.28,"text":"drives redundantly. So even if one of your power supplies fails in a case like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":319.68,"end_s":325.84,"text":"this, if you're using a redundant power supply, the other one will continue to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":323.12,"end_s":330.4,"text":"power the drives. The case does not or the u the system does not even need to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":327.68,"end_s":335.8,"text":"be shut down. So now if I can figure out how to get this back in there, that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":332.8,"end_s":338.4,"text":"would be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.8,"end_s":344.479,"text":"tremendous. And my battery ran out. Okay, now let's talk fans. So this case","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.039,"end_s":345.919,"text":"includes six what appear to be 80 mm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":344.479,"end_s":350.16,"text":"fans, although the ones at the back might be No, I think these are all 80","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":347.52,"end_s":355.16,"text":"mm. So these ones here, the four that are mounted on kind of a a mid plate,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":353.039,"end_s":361.36,"text":"those are all a single set of blade fans.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":358.28,"end_s":363.36,"text":"Now, they're normal fans, okay? As","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.36,"end_s":368.6,"text":"opposed to the counterrotating fans at the back. I'll get more into those uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.36,"end_s":373.199,"text":"when we talk about them. But these eight","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":368.6,"end_s":374.72,"text":"eight four 80 mm fans draw air through","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":373.199,"end_s":381.68,"text":"the front of the case. So, if you look at the front of the case, we have ventilation holes over every single hard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.8,"end_s":387.36,"text":"drive. So they pull air through there and then all the way through the entire","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":385.12,"end_s":391.84,"text":"interface back here and then push it into the case. So these are all about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":390.479,"end_s":396.4,"text":"static pressure. These are going to be high RPM fans. They actually all run off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":394.639,"end_s":401.199,"text":"a single Molex connector though, which is very convenient. They've already gone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":398.639,"end_s":406.72,"text":"and wired all of the fan. Don't move around so much. They've gone and wired","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":403.759,"end_s":409.52,"text":"all of the fans into a little PCB down at the bottom of the case. So, I'm going","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.0,"end_s":412.8,"text":"to tilt this so you can have a look down there. See? Just like that. So, the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":411.36,"end_s":417.039,"text":"power goes in there and then gets distributed to all four fans. So, these","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":414.8,"end_s":421.919,"text":"are going to be quite loud for you cases. In fact, any rack mountable case","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":419.44,"end_s":425.199,"text":"is generally not designed with silence in mind. So, that's something you have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.68,"end_s":429.199,"text":"to bear in mind. If you wanted to build yourself a file server based on a case","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.44,"end_s":433.199,"text":"like this, you would either want to replace the fans with something quieter.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":431.199,"end_s":437.919,"text":"Mind you, remember there's loud fans in here for a reason. There's a lot of heat","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.759,"end_s":440.88,"text":"being generated if you actually have 24 hard drives running in here. So, you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":439.759,"end_s":444.88,"text":"want to make sure you're removing it effectively. Or alternately, you can go","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":443.12,"end_s":448.479,"text":"ahead and throw it in like some closet somewhere where you don't have to listen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":446.24,"end_s":451.759,"text":"to it. All right, let's move into the actual motherboard compartment. You can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":450.0,"end_s":456.24,"text":"see this is an EATX motherboard compartment. That means you can put in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":453.84,"end_s":460.96,"text":"up to an EATX motherboard. Although the beauty of Norcco's cases is you can just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":458.639,"end_s":464.639,"text":"use a standard ATX power supply, a standard ATX board if you want to build","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":462.8,"end_s":468.639,"text":"yourself a simple home server, and boom, you're done.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":466.039,"end_s":472.639,"text":"So, you've got seven PCI expansion slots, and I want to have a closer look","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":470.319,"end_s":475.599,"text":"at these counterrotating fans. You can't really see it too well from the Oh,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":474.08,"end_s":479.68,"text":"maybe you can. Maybe you can. Okay, so there's actually two full sets of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":477.28,"end_s":484.16,"text":"blades. The reason for that is because at the back of the case, you've only got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":481.599,"end_s":488.639,"text":"three fans. So, one power supply fan, two 80 mm fans here that actually have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":486.8,"end_s":493.599,"text":"to move out all of the air that those four at the front drew in. So, that's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":491.36,"end_s":496.8,"text":"why we're using a very advanced design where it's going to be high RPM. It's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":495.36,"end_s":500.319,"text":"got two sets of blades which are spinning in opposite directions, counter","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":498.56,"end_s":503.599,"text":"rotation, because if you actually spin the blades in the same direction, you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":501.759,"end_s":507.84,"text":"don't get any additional benefit. So, those are going to be very high static","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":505.28,"end_s":512.8,"text":"pressure, very high air flow fans, and extremely loud. I think we've talked a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":510.639,"end_s":516.08,"text":"lot about the features of the case in general. Let's talk about why you'd","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.24,"end_s":520.0,"text":"actually buy one. If you have a ton of storage space and you don't you're not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":517.599,"end_s":526.56,"text":"content with just a simple NAS, then you can buy one of these. You don't have to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":523.159,"end_s":528.959,"text":"run all 24 drives. They've actually got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":526.56,"end_s":534.04,"text":"two U cases, three U cases, and other four U cases that take fewer drives. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":531.76,"end_s":540.16,"text":"not all of the cases they have have the SFF887 connector. So many of them uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":537.04,"end_s":542.399,"text":"including the I believe it's the 4020","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":540.16,"end_s":547.279,"text":"although I may be wrong. That one I believe uses simple SATA 2 connectors.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":545.6,"end_s":551.76,"text":"So you could run SAS drives, SATA 2 drives. You could just take a standard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":549.2,"end_s":555.36,"text":"desktop motherboard, fill it up with PCI uh four port SATA cards and then run","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":554.08,"end_s":559.36,"text":"them to drives. And I mean, if you're not running a high-end RAID array, if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":557.92,"end_s":563.2,"text":"you're just running like a Windows home server or something like that, that kind","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":561.12,"end_s":568.88,"text":"of setup could be perfect versus spending a ton of money on like a more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":566.32,"end_s":572.0,"text":"expensive rack mountable case or trying to find a desktop case that's really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":570.56,"end_s":576.64,"text":"going to hold an appropriate number of drives cuz I believe the 4020 holds 20","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":574.72,"end_s":581.36,"text":"drives. Now, if you are doing something high-end, you can take this case and you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":578.959,"end_s":586.08,"text":"can turn it into something really file server worthy with just a RAID card. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":584.08,"end_s":592.24,"text":"this is about a $1,500 RAID card. This is an ARA RX1680 EX 24. So, if you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":590.16,"end_s":597.519,"text":"wanted to use this particular case to its full potential, meaning you're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":594.08,"end_s":599.68,"text":"running 24 drives in RAID six or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":597.519,"end_s":606.48,"text":"hopefully not RAID 5, if you got 24 drives, or if you're running uh several","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":602.399,"end_s":608.0,"text":"arrays in varying levels of RAID, this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":606.48,"end_s":611.519,"text":"is exactly the kind of thing you'd want to use. So, you go ahead, you put like a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":609.6,"end_s":616.079,"text":"nice reliable motherboard in there, or maybe you buy a cheap uh cheap tie or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":614.32,"end_s":621.36,"text":"super micro board. You go ahead and throw a card like this in there, and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":618.16,"end_s":624.72,"text":"there are your six 8087 connectors. You","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":621.36,"end_s":626.72,"text":"can actually run up to 24 drives off a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":624.72,"end_s":631.279,"text":"card like this. So, for two grand, you can have the case and the card. All you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":628.8,"end_s":634.56,"text":"need to do is throw in some valuepriced hardware for all I care. I mean, if it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":633.279,"end_s":642.64,"text":"just going to be a file server, you don't have to be too worried about that. and you can run basically any hard drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":639.36,"end_s":645.2,"text":"setup that you could pretty much want in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":642.64,"end_s":650.959,"text":"a case like this. So, I think that covers everything I wanted to say about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":647.44,"end_s":652.399,"text":"the 4224 from Norcco. And thank you for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":650.959,"end_s":656.72,"text":"checking out my video blog. I will actually be doing a build in this case","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":654.399,"end_s":660.0,"text":"just to show it and uh for the fun of it, I guess we might see what kind of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":658.16,"end_s":664.959,"text":"numbers we can pull out of 24 hard drives and RAID six or whatever it is we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":663.12,"end_s":668.399,"text":"decide we want to do. So, thank you for checking out my video blog, and I hope","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":667.04,"end_s":673.079,"text":"you've learned something useful about Norcco and their uh I mean, it sounds","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":671.12,"end_s":678.16,"text":"expensive, but believe me, these are inexpensive rack mount cases. Oh, one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":675.92,"end_s":683.44,"text":"last thing I did want to explain for our viewers who aren't really up on all of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":679.92,"end_s":687.279,"text":"the server terminology, what 4U means.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":683.44,"end_s":690.56,"text":"4U is 4* 1 U, which is the height of a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":687.279,"end_s":692.959,"text":"rack. Okay, so a 1U rack mountable case,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":690.56,"end_s":697.2,"text":"you're using lowprofile heat sinks, low power hardware. It's going to be about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":694.399,"end_s":701.6,"text":"this thin. A 2 U is like this. A 3U is like this. And a 4 U is like this. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":699.12,"end_s":704.64,"text":"it just means how many rack spots that one case takes up.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"So today we're going to be unboxing something a little bit different. I don't think we've done anything like this. Okay, so this is a computer case. This is probably the largest computer case we've unboxed on the show before. It comes in a stylish brown box which includes no information about the product inside whatsoever except for a part number. So, 10 points if you know what this is already, although I really doubt it because it's a brand new product from Norcco Tech. Now, Norcco Tech is a little bit different from Norcco that makes bicycles. Now, Norcco is not really focused on uh you know what kind of high-end video card fits in their case or you know how many uh you know stylish plastic bezel designs they have or what kind of aluminum chassis they're using. Norcco is all about functionality on the cheap. So, this is a 4U ATX case that is designed. You know, I'm just going to have to bring this down to the ground because there's no way I can uh it's so heavy. It's a 4U ATX standard case that is designed to load up with as many hard drives as you could pretty much need as a home user. So, let's just uh keep working on getting this box open. You can see it is double boxed to protect it during transit. And here is the case itself. So, this thing weighs like about as much as I do. So, I'm going to have to find some way to unbox it. And uh this may be my most difficult unboxing yet. So, we're going to go ahead and tilt it this way and then tilt it this way. And finally, there it is. The RPC 4224. So, four, it is a 4U case. I don't remember what the first two stands for, but the 24 means it holds 24 hard drives. So, let's go ahead and put this down over here. Okay, like I said, steel construction. It's not going to fall apart. They actually have a wide variety of uh rack mountable chassis that are designed for just building little file servers. And what makes them great for home users is the fact that unlike enterprise level chassis or um or barebones, they're cheap. This case only costs in the midunds versus what you might pay for something from a super micro or from another rack mountable chassis brand which might be as much as $1,000 just for the chassis itself. So, like I said, 24 hot swappable, uh, 3 and 1/2 in, also 2 and 1/2 in compatible. You can see it has 2 and 1/2 in mounting holes, hard drive bays. Okay. And these all run off a very large back plane. Now, I might have to run inside and get a uh screwdriver. So, just pause that video. Okay. So, we got the case open. That was step number one. So, I want the cameraman to come have a look at the inside of the case, which is where we will find all of the things that make this otherwise very plain steel box uh worth a lot of money and uh what make this one a particularly good value compared to the other stuff out on the market. So, first I want you to have a look at the inside here. The interface that actually runs that 24 drive um hot swappable like massive storage compartment here. So, this this whole part of the case is dedicated to this back plane. Okay. So, you can see here there are actually uh two redundant power inputs. I'm not talking about the fans yet, cameraman. There are two redundant power inputs. So if you're using a redundant power supply, it means you take one Molex from each redundant power supply and plug it into each of these two Molex here. So you can see there's a total of six. Okay? So that's 6 * 4 is 24. All right? So that means 12. Six on each power supply. And then over a little bit further, you can see there are SFF887 connectors. So there's a total of six of those, each of which runs four drives on each one of these PCBs here. You can actually remove these. Although it's not really necessary to do so, and I can't really think of a reason to do it, but I'm going to do it anyway because that's what unboxing is all about. Like, you know, just taking stuff apart for the Oh, there it is. Okay. So, you can see here we've got activity LEDs. We've got the actual SATA or SAS. You can run either SATA 2 or SAS drives off of this back plane. So we you can see we got the four interfaces here. There's the connector I was talking about. Here's the power inputs. So this distributes data to all four drives and this distributes power to all four drives redundantly. So even if one of your power supplies fails in a case like this, if you're using a redundant power supply, the other one will continue to power the drives. The case does not or the u the system does not even need to be shut down. So now if I can figure out how to get this back in there, that would be tremendous. And my battery ran out. Okay, now let's talk fans. So this case includes six what appear to be 80 mm fans, although the ones at the back might be No, I think these are all 80 mm. So these ones here, the four that are mounted on kind of a a mid plate, those are all a single set of blade fans. Now, they're normal fans, okay? As opposed to the counterrotating fans at the back. I'll get more into those uh when we talk about them. But these eight eight four 80 mm fans draw air through the front of the case. So, if you look at the front of the case, we have ventilation holes over every single hard drive. So they pull air through there and then all the way through the entire interface back here and then push it into the case. So these are all about static pressure. These are going to be high RPM fans. They actually all run off a single Molex connector though, which is very convenient. They've already gone and wired all of the fan. Don't move around so much. They've gone and wired all of the fans into a little PCB down at the bottom of the case. So, I'm going to tilt this so you can have a look down there. See? Just like that. So, the power goes in there and then gets distributed to all four fans. So, these are going to be quite loud for you cases. In fact, any rack mountable case is generally not designed with silence in mind. So, that's something you have to bear in mind. If you wanted to build yourself a file server based on a case like this, you would either want to replace the fans with something quieter. Mind you, remember there's loud fans in here for a reason. There's a lot of heat being generated if you actually have 24 hard drives running in here. So, you want to make sure you're removing it effectively. Or alternately, you can go ahead and throw it in like some closet somewhere where you don't have to listen to it. All right, let's move into the actual motherboard compartment. You can see this is an EATX motherboard compartment. That means you can put in up to an EATX motherboard. Although the beauty of Norcco's cases is you can just use a standard ATX power supply, a standard ATX board if you want to build yourself a simple home server, and boom, you're done. So, you've got seven PCI expansion slots, and I want to have a closer look at these counterrotating fans. You can't really see it too well from the Oh, maybe you can. Maybe you can. Okay, so there's actually two full sets of blades. The reason for that is because at the back of the case, you've only got three fans. So, one power supply fan, two 80 mm fans here that actually have to move out all of the air that those four at the front drew in. So, that's why we're using a very advanced design where it's going to be high RPM. It's got two sets of blades which are spinning in opposite directions, counter rotation, because if you actually spin the blades in the same direction, you don't get any additional benefit. So, those are going to be very high static pressure, very high air flow fans, and extremely loud. I think we've talked a lot about the features of the case in general. Let's talk about why you'd actually buy one. If you have a ton of storage space and you don't you're not content with just a simple NAS, then you can buy one of these. You don't have to run all 24 drives. They've actually got two U cases, three U cases, and other four U cases that take fewer drives. And not all of the cases they have have the SFF887 connector. So many of them uh including the I believe it's the 4020 although I may be wrong. That one I believe uses simple SATA 2 connectors. So you could run SAS drives, SATA 2 drives. You could just take a standard desktop motherboard, fill it up with PCI uh four port SATA cards and then run them to drives. And I mean, if you're not running a high-end RAID array, if you're just running like a Windows home server or something like that, that kind of setup could be perfect versus spending a ton of money on like a more expensive rack mountable case or trying to find a desktop case that's really going to hold an appropriate number of drives cuz I believe the 4020 holds 20 drives. Now, if you are doing something high-end, you can take this case and you can turn it into something really file server worthy with just a RAID card. So, this is about a $1,500 RAID card. This is an ARA RX1680 EX 24. So, if you wanted to use this particular case to its full potential, meaning you're running 24 drives in RAID six or hopefully not RAID 5, if you got 24 drives, or if you're running uh several arrays in varying levels of RAID, this is exactly the kind of thing you'd want to use. So, you go ahead, you put like a nice reliable motherboard in there, or maybe you buy a cheap uh cheap tie or super micro board. You go ahead and throw a card like this in there, and there are your six 8087 connectors. You can actually run up to 24 drives off a card like this. So, for two grand, you can have the case and the card. All you need to do is throw in some valuepriced hardware for all I care. I mean, if it's just going to be a file server, you don't have to be too worried about that. and you can run basically any hard drive setup that you could pretty much want in a case like this. So, I think that covers everything I wanted to say about the 4224 from Norcco. And thank you for checking out my video blog. I will actually be doing a build in this case just to show it and uh for the fun of it, I guess we might see what kind of numbers we can pull out of 24 hard drives and RAID six or whatever it is we decide we want to do. So, thank you for checking out my video blog, and I hope you've learned something useful about Norcco and their uh I mean, it sounds expensive, but believe me, these are inexpensive rack mount cases. Oh, one last thing I did want to explain for our viewers who aren't really up on all of the server terminology, what 4U means. 4U is 4* 1 U, which is the height of a rack. Okay, so a 1U rack mountable case, you're using lowprofile heat sinks, low power hardware. It's going to be about this thin. A 2 U is like this. A 3U is like this. And a 4 U is like this. So, it just means how many rack spots that one case takes up."}