just brew it! wrote:There's a good chance I'll still be using my old Chieftec full towers for my home server builds when they're past the 2 decade mark. They're at around the 1.5 decade mark already, and current gen motherboards are still ATX (I typically use hardware from about 2 generations back for my home servers).
Got an old Lian Li PC-61 that is housing a desktop for a sibling, I know what you mean, and if I'd ever bothered to build a home server, it'd probably also be housed in whatever it started with. For another example: My Define R3 still works, and still works great, even though I've destroyed one of the two USB3 ports up top, ports that I bought a kit for from Fractal Design because the case shipped with USB2 ports (which I also probably destroyed- I'm good at that). I haven't bothered to repair those again because I simply don't need access to USB ports that often, and this Define R3 case, which is six or seven years old itself, might become a server of sorts. It's black, has all of its noise insulating panels (they're around somewhere), and has all of its drive trays, so it'll be perfect for the 'out of sight, out of mind' role I think.
But for performance and/or gaming desktops, and I'm sure you'll agree at least somewhat... things change
I'm moving to the Define R5 because I want to be able to put a larger CPU closed-loop cooler up top with the GPU closed-loop cooler on the back, and this configuration is not possible with the R3; not only are the drive cages non-removable, but the case is just a little
too compact, as there's no room for a radiator and fan assembly above the motherboard. The 8700k I have coming will get baselined, delided, and then it's getting the screws, thus the desire to house a 280mm radiator and a streamlining of airflow- the 120mm closed-loop cooler that came with the 1080Ti is currently exhausting out of the bottom of the case! I'm looking for 5.0GHz for all cores under load for that one if I can, while my 6700k is good for 4.5GHz max with an H80i (120mm double-fan closed-loop cooler).
And you know that I'm doing this almost completely for fun: the
Cryorg Taku that's receiving my 6700k is in no way a thrifty purchase, but it's at least mostly functional. It'll be part of a 'clean' workspace, something which I find ironic when I'll be using it to work with Linux builds that will probably be blown up weekly. I find that a little irony makes me more productive