Win 10 mSTX Server

[Knolly]

So apparently you and I are kindred spirits. I have been trying to plan out a server setup in the Deskmini for the last week or so. I finally made a call and ordered one so I could try to get it to work. My thought is that it should absolutely be possible to fit two 15mm drives underneath the motherboard. I had never even considered putting them above the mobo, that's genius.

My goal is to figure out how to raise the motherboard by a few mm since with a Noctua or other low profile fan you should be able to gain a ton of vertical room. I could easily be wrong and will figure this out once I get my hands on the Deskmini tomorrow, but I think the main hardware mod will just be increasing the I/O shield opening a little bit to allow it to slide higher. You could also close off the bottom gap left after the extension, or it could just stay as a "vent."

Anyhow, I'll update with some photos once I have time to play around with it.

 

[BadDecisionDino]

Yo, that's awesome!

I will definitely be following your findings closely. Since I believe the mobo slots into rails inside the case, you may have trouble raising/lowering it, but I haven't gone hands-on yet either to confirm. I think the alternative would be removing the bottom panel and extending the height that way, maybe by using taller mobo risers.

 

[jeshikat]

Yeah, the way everything is assembled there's no real easy way to fit 15mm drives under the mobo.

Edit: Actually, I guess you could maybe add tall standoffs to the outer frame, drill out the rivets for the mobo tray and remove it entirely, and that should leave enough room between the case and the bottom surface of the motherboard for taller drives.

 

[BadDecisionDino]

Yep. What's the source for those images, btw?

Also - anyone know if the InWin version of the Deskmini I've been seeing on Newegg/amazon includes the wireless card and antenna? If so, $129 on amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L1HCHWY/?tag=theminutiae-20

otherwise I'm probably doing the newegg bundle that includes the USB2.0 epxansion cable and the VESA mount plate.

 

[BadDecisionDino]

Also - since this image
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71fsCbbLk-L.jpg
confirms the top panel is basically unobstructed, there's theoretically room for 15mm drives on the top side with no modifications.

view from front with two 7mm drives on left, one 15mm on right

view from CPU side (I'm mentally identifying L/R as M.2 side and CPU side) showing the incredibly tight clearance to what I can't even be 100% sure is the top of any given stick of RAM.

Realistically I think I'd want ~5mm of clearance for however you're bracketing the drive to the top to account for bracket thickness and a couple of rubber/nylon washers for isolation, so 15mm is proooobably still out. EDIT: unless you want a single 15mm 2.5" drive that sits over the CPU in the same orientation as the bottom-side drives. Anyway, good to know if I need more storage I could potentially jump to a hilarious six 2.5" 7mm drives.

 

[jeshikat]

What's the source for those images, btw?

Me

Also - anyone know if the InWin version of the Deskmini I've been seeing on Newegg/amazon includes the wireless card and antenna?

I'm not sure, one of the Amazon Q&A says it doesn't. But one of the customer pics shows a WiFi card.

 

[Ceros_X]

Per a reviewer, this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L1HCHWY/?tag=theminutiae-20 ($129) doesn't come with a wifi card/antennas, while this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L3J1JFQ/?tag=theminutiae-20 ($169) does come with both.

 

[EdZ]

Yeah, the way everything is assembled there's no real easy way to fit 15mm drives under the mobo.

Edit: Actually, I guess you could maybe add tall standoffs to the outer frame, drill out the rivets for the mobo tray and remove it entirely, and that should leave enough room between the case and the bottom surface of the motherboard for taller drives.

With the IO shild being removable, maybe you could flip the motherboard upside-down? Use some long standoffs to position it so the IO assembly is in the same place, just rotated 180°, and a low-profile cooler (anything below IO shield height AKA '1U'). You would need to drill out some ventilation in the motherboard plate, and possible in the case underside (the plastic motherboard rails look like they could be removed and reattached to the upper side of the case with glue, but that would still probably interfere with the front panel assembly.

 

[Ceros_X]

Eh, what about something a little bit different?

Leave the orientation the same, just chop a giant chunk out of the motherboard tray. These modded TweakTown photos show how much space could be gained (I extended the standoffs here to show how much room would theoretically be available) -- if the tray was left intact on three sides you could still use the default motherboard tray rails. The picture is a mockup of the front, of the mobo tray, but it should work for the rear also. I've illustrated what section would be removed in a mockup based on @Aibohphobia's photo. Maybe he could measure the space from the bottom of the mobo to the bottom of the case?

As for attaching the drives, I'd just use velcro and afix them directly to the case bottom.

 

[Knolly]

My plan of attack was to try to figure out how to raise the mounting rails for the motherboard, then completely detach the motherboard tray from the rear case.

That said... I think by far the easiest way to pull this off is Ceros_X's idea. Remove the motherboard tray altogether. Have long standoffs and secure everything by screws from the outside of the case?

 

[Ceros_X]

My plan of attack was to try to figure out how to raise the mounting rails for the motherboard, then completely detach the motherboard tray from the rear case.

That said... I think by far the easiest way to pull this off is Ceros_X's idea. Remove the motherboard tray altogether. Have long standoffs and secure everything by screws from the outside of the case?

I wouldn't remove the whole tray, as the tray is what locks into the black rollers on the side of the case. Rather I'd cut a huge part of the middle/rear out with an angle grinder so that you get the space but also the support - I don't think the mother oard would be as sturdy on super long risers.

In the second pic I posted you can see how I traced a 'U' - the parts closest to the edges would be kept, the part with a red X would be taken out.

 

[Knolly]

Ah, I see what you mean, I was giving it too cursory of a glance. I'd agree that's the best and easiest way to go, good thinking!

Just got my Deskmini today, holy hell is this thing tiny.

 

[Ceros_X]

Spent the last 30 minutes making better mockups, but you got the idea lol

 

[BadDecisionDino]

Is that really going to buy you enough space for 15mm drives? Could be pretty tight against the mobo battery.

 

[Ceros_X]

Is that really going to buy you enough space for 15mm drives? Could be pretty tight against the mobo battery.

The mobo is superimposed behind the plate, but it wasn't to scale or anything.

The battery could always relocated somewhere else on the Mobo (or even detached from it and moved below). Also of concern is the HSF mounting plate. Think there might be enough room, but someone who has one in their hands and can measure it would be able to say for sure.

 

[Knolly]

I still haven't had time to rip it apart and start playing around with measurements. I also wonder how many mm you could gain by flattening those elevated screw mounts...

I think you can absolutely fit a 15mm drive in by cutting the bottom motherboard mount, but then it becomes another question of how to secure the drives to the assembly. Obviously you could just secure them to the bottom of the case, but then plugging the drives in would become VERY tricky.

 

[Knolly]

So I finally took the Deskmini apart and spent some time poking around.

Based on my Vernier caliper's measurements, I had the Deskmini and a 5TB drive in front of me, it would ABSOLUTELY fit if the tray was cut. Actually, based on my measurements, if you had some way to flatten the metal and remove the raised portions, you could fit a 15mm drive in there just based on that. Complete lack of airflow might be an issue, but it would fit. The distance between the non-raised portions of the tray and the case is about 14.85 and the 15mm thick drive was actually 14.7 mm thick based on my tool.

I really dig this project since I think it's cool, but the route I'm actually going to go is throwing two 2TB drives in there and making a storage space since that will be enough for me. I wish more manufacturers would make room for thicker drives because of the practically nonexistent effect it would have on the dimensions. If the Deskmini GTX has room for 15mm drives it would probably be the perfect SFF PC for every use I could have.

 

[BadDecisionDino]

Alright, bit of a setback.

It turns out that at least on my unit the topside SATA port (sata_3) is a blank with no actual header to plug anything into. I'm assuming it's there so ASRock could up-spec to a three-sata SKU if needed with minimal fabrication changes.

I could potentially get someone to solder a header on, but that's useless if the Mobo doesn't actually have chip accommodation for three SATA connections.

I need help in two accounts:

- can others confirm no actual header at the SATA_3 location? My unit isnt the 110W, who knows if they skipped a solder operation on the non-wireless config SKU to save a few cents.

- Would anyone currently running an H110mstx Mobo be able to check their hardware/devices and see if SATA_3 is listed anywhere? If it is there may still be hope.

 

[jeshikat]

Just for you I booted up my board without the CPU heatsink installed

The storage page in the BIOS only mentions SATA3_1 and SATA3_2 though

 

[BadDecisionDino]

Aye, much appreciated. Not what I was hoping for, but there's still the fallback of hooking drives 3/4 up via USB3.0.

Out of curiosity, were you able to see the COM port and mobo speaker in BIOS? Those are optional extras we know have been accounted for by an up-specced model and should be possible to add yourself.