The Home Server You Didn't Know You Wanted

[@HardwareHaven]

If you're wanting to do something similar, I have 3D models in the comments, and you can pick up some great deals on components or an entire system over at jawa.link/HHAug24!

[@topperdude2007]

I have been following your channel since almost the beginning starting with the Budget home server couple years ago and have always appreciated your creative thinking - be it the ultimate router that you built (and still seem to be using) or the many builds you have repurposed for other uses. This one might be your best yet and your creativity is a testament to your channel's growth. Reminds me a bit of the early days of Kyle @Bitwit. Keep up the great work. And the creativity. 👍

[@l1fenr]

JAWA IS A MASSIVE W

[@AlistairBrugsch]

Dayum. Jawa looks cool AF but USA only... 😢

[@LojikSupreme]

Sick server build! Thanks for sharing!

[@kolbyadams9979]

I've been trying to find a good CAD software to use for making my own 3d designs. I'm not familiar with any tbh. In your video you showed a 3d design software. What is it? And would you recommend it? Edit: looks like commented too early and after I unpacked the video you said what the software was.😂 would you still recommend onshape though?

[@JeffGeerling]

+10 watts for RGB +1000 hp for proxmox

[@saiferrahman5645]

More RGB more Gbps🎉

[@BinkersGaming]

+10% Speed Booster - Permanent

[@BinkersGaming]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 35% Speed Debuff - Whilst Windows Is Equipped

[@ranjitmandal1612]

🔥

[@JeffGeerling]

Ah 3D printing and the whole "a dozen prototypes", it happens every time!

[@HardwareHaven]

That’s how engineering works, right..? 😅

[@ThePCPitStopInc]

@@HardwareHaven I got a question why not modify your hard drive caddy to use hotswap bays? then you wouldn't have to mess with the back plain of the cables and it adds a lil more flare with the cool functionality of the drives being more easily removable.

[@jddes]

I just tell everyone I'm "fully utilizing my tools by performing an iterative design process," and it's suddenly engineering!

[@ChristopherHailey]

The tangential relationship with 3d printing here and on Jeff's channel is always interesting

[@computer1up]

@@HardwareHavenit definitely does lol. I’ve been toying with the idea of designing a very basic SATA backplane with the only purpose of passing the physical through. Probably sometime around the end of the year xD

[@TyroSean]

Would be so cool to have each HDD have their own LED strip so you could identify drives easily if you ever need to swap out! Or use the RGB to easily see what the case temps are (red = too hot, orange = hot, yellow = warm, green = ok) So many possibilities!

[@HardwareHaven]

Would be sick!

[@VistasSrinagarun]

Shouldn't be too difficult if you have the headers/controller for it. There's a script that you can run on arduiono for music reactive rgb soo there's that.

[@idzan-private]

Dayum, that RGB tho on this server, every kiddo want it now to save "Linux ISO's" and "homework" for foreseeable future. Great video as always.

[@HardwareHaven]

Hahaha thanks

[@kekistanifreedomfighter4197]

What more would you need a home server for besides torrenting Linux ISOs and storing "homework"!?

[@HardwareHaven]

@@kekistanifreedomfighter4197 Self hosting a game server, home assistant, photo libraries, VPNs, development projects, cloud storage, etc..

[@Its-Just-Zip]

​@@HardwareHavensounds like valuable space that could be used for more "Linux ISOs"

[@Maglcite]

@@HardwareHavenhe was making a joke about gaming on it

[@drakkon_sol]

Okay, those card shrouds look subtle and functional. I like this idea very much. THIS BUILD WAS SUPER COOL....even With having enough RGB to make a unicorn-nyancat jealous.

[@HardwareHaven]

😂😂😂 glad you like it

[@mirandahw]

Hey lol - Miranda here from Blue Ghost Technology - thanks for highlighting (and buying!) my A2000 listing, I honestly didn't even notice it was you when I shipped it out! If you need more, I do have a couple more, most of them have full profile brackets but you can buy or 3D print LP ones if needed.

[@HardwareHaven]

Yo! Glad you caught the video haha. I think I’m good, so I’ll save those for other peeps.

[@eljefe7070yt]

So frickin dope!!!!! I built my truenas server in a gaming case and I DO NOT regret it. Love your idea and how awesome it looks.

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks! Hope it's still running well for you

[@JordosTechShack]

My main server is in a "Gaming" case from 2004, from one of the first PCs I ever built and sold. It was an office build but the customer saw a previous gaming build I did and liked the case. 20 years later I'm doing a large scale WiFi job for the same customer and he mentions the PC is in the pole barn set to get scrapped. PC was pristine and still booted. The case has lots of drive bays, and full ATX. So I removed the old AMD Geode NX 1750 and it now houses a 16 core /32 Thread V4 Xeon, used a floppy bay adapter to add USB 2.0 and 3.1 front IO.

[@HardwareHaven]

Nice haha!

[@JordosTechShack]

@@HardwareHaven I showed this video to someone. He then commissioned me to build him a RGB filled first server/NAS, in a gaming case, with an AIO. Not sure if I should thank you for the business, or curse you for what I am about to build.

[@HardwareHaven]

@@JordosTechShack hahahahaha sorry/you're welcome I guess

[@JordosTechShack]

@@HardwareHaven I just finished the hardware, still have to set up his plex, Ollama LLM, and a few other services. It looks better than I thought, so Thanks!.

[@DustinShort]

"who would want this?" *Stares in techno Tim*

[@HardwareHaven]

Hahahaha

[@skyline8121]

Me also

[@pallasplaysyt]

dang! Those PCIe shrouds are nice! As you were showing off the gray ones I was like "wow he made a NIC look like an external hard drive". I think in the end it looks great and I especially like how you designed the ability to add lighting into your custom shrouds and hard drive bays. I still think @TechnoTim would be proud of this one!

[@HardwareHaven]

I sure hope he is… I need the Tim approval

[@zeroturn7091]

Don’t sell yourself short on your 3D printing talents. These are the conversions that companies should be implementing.

[@Skyverb]

Love this one. I just started working on 'pimping my ride' for my server. It's super fun; and doesn't even look like an old HP anymore after all the upgrades.

[@BwsboyPlayGames]

Honestly really sick build. I thought the case and the drive storage worked incredibly well together. Good work & keep it up!

[@OspreySoul]

I LOVE what you managed to do with this! The custom shrouds and drive cage are such great implementations of 3d printing.

[@yerachmielb1]

15:20 my heart just aged 10 years in less than 5 seconds

[@HardwareHaven]

Hahaha good

[@fanaticdavid]

Amazing build!! And I envy your CAD skills, even if you don't think highly of them yourself. I recently discovered your channel (I don't remember what I searched for) and KZbin's been suggesting your videos to me ever since. I can't complain about that because not only is the content great, the production quality is too! I'm now subscribed 😉

[@Aruneh]

I'm honestly surprised the top of the case could hold the weight of six drives. If you extended the cage so it also sat on the floor of the case it would have room for more drives! Losing the one fan probably wouldn't matter.

[@HardwareHaven]

I was surprised at how sturdy it was honestly. Shoutout Antec haha

[@RecycledSkills]

Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination. I love a good project where I tinker, prototype, revise, and find the final form in the end. Good video.

[@anminter33]

Dude. I love it. Build is fantastic and is exactly what homelabbing is about. It doesn't need to be for anything other than you learning and inspiring others! Wonderful video as always, but one of my favorites.

[@Pyrobob4]

This was awesome. Love seeing the design iteration. And the J2C glam-tage.

[@HardwareHaven]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JamesJohnAgar]

Looks great, love the fact you actually 3d printed your own parts to fit the specifications.👍

[@eksquirrel1879]

That final product turned out really clean, well done! I haven't gotten into 3D printing yet but I'm sure it's super useful for homelab stuff.

[@HardwareHaven]

It’s been super useful for lots of things!

[@robertwixon2855]

This might be one of my favorite videos from you! I think it looks incredible and now have something new on my to-do wish list!

[@Dr.Dkbt_JD-PhD-MD-MBA]

The card shrouds, the RGB, the fishtank style case! 11/10 build and probably one my favorite of your videos

[@Redd00]

Please do more like this! This is awesome I love the creativity and as a new person into 3d modeling it’s nice to see you combine both the new ways to learn + making enjoyable content. Great work can’t wait to see more!!!

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words. I do plan to implement more things like what I did in this video in future projects.

[@TheQuickSilver101]

Stealth server! I was wondering what direction you were going with this and I'm really impressed. It looks great (if you like that sort of look) and the fact that it's also serviceable is icing on the cake. Thank you!

[@arkanewizdom9363]

this may be my favorite video you've ever done. great job!

[@HardwareHaven]

Glad you liked it!

[@codeman99-dev]

13:33 Looking at the test fit makes it very obvious why a drive caddy would be a good idea. 1. Access to screws on the motherboard side of cage. 2. Plugging in cables is going to be fun with the fan directly behind the cage.

[@saintgtx]

This is my favorite video on your channel! It's cool to see such creativity! The finished product looks amazing, too. Makes me want to buy a 3D printer and try this out myself.

[@MarloMitchell]

I like the black motherboard, the contrast makes it work.

[@chrismay2298]

Just finished up printing two 6 drive bays with slide in caddies for my NAS on my three deltas. Next is an ITX case. Nice job.

[@2pack4norbi]

WOW!!! I am amazed how good the project looks at the end of the video. You have cool ideas and great skills!

[@MasonzeroDigitalWorks]

This looks 10x better than I thought it would when I clicked the video. It's so clean, and manages to look like a sleek gaming PC! My NAS is in a normal case that has a glass side panel and I've been pondering whether to just put RGB fans in it for the heck of it. It definitely would not look this good though!

[@HardwareHaven]

It looks 10x better that I expected haha

[@LilRobbo34]

Love the PCIe shroud idea, my NAS/home server is very much built for looks (theme build) so this will really help cover up some of the more server looking parts, keep up the awesome content

[@HardwareHaven]

Nice!

[@MiamiJamrockSpice]

Great video as usual. Best thing about servers are that they're just computers, so making a home server look cool versus being a boring, albeit practical, corporate design is A-okay. I don't have a 3D printer, but if I did, this would be a dope project to follow.

[@greenprotag]

This looks GREAT! The poly-carb light diffusion looks better than the original strip diffusers.

[@gumy9853]

I didn't expect, it'll turn like that Man!! u did a really great Job, KEEP UP!!

[@relucentsandman6447]

That turned out so good! My first server is a gaming rig I retired because it couldn't do the fps I wanted but still had more than enough life in it.

[@hauntedaesthetic5733]

That HDD design is perfect. I have a Lian Li that has been my Jellyfin/Jellyseerr for about a year now and I was trying to think of ways to put more HDDs into it. Thank you for the 3D files!

[@BRBTechTalk]

21:50 I love it. There is nothing wrong with coming up with an idea and following through on it. It is your lab/office create what makes you happy. 🙂 I have a NAZ with four 4 TB WD Yellow drives running RAID 10 in an old discarded CoolerMaster PC case that has many drive bays it is a sleeper for sure but I like it.

[@chris_hertford]

One of the best custom pc build videos I've seen in years! Elements of old school pc mods hits the nostalgia notes!

[@Sandmansa]

Giving the fact that these modern fish tank cases have so much open space for air flow, that this hard drive cage turned out to be a great idea to fill in the otherwise unused empty space. And those shrouds you made for the add-in cards look amazing. But I was thinking that a mesh grill to cover the hard drives would help with the aesthetics a bit. I know a lot of people are not a fan of the RGB, but the idea here was to combine the looks of the modern stereotypical "gamer" PC, with the power and functionality of a home server. I think you nailed it! Nice work.

[@wrek1988]

20:42 .. I'd take this over a plain server any day! This looks so good. Great job, man!

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks!

[@Francois_L_7933]

Back in the early 2000's, we used to spray paint our cards to make them blend-in better 🙄 All the stupid things we used to do to make our beige boxes look snazzier. Along with slicing the IDE cables to make them round and other things.

[@HardwareHaven]

Now I feel like beige is cool haha

[@Dr_De4th]

Could you pls stop mentioning sliced ide cables. I feel old now. 😅 Did u have those round UV active ide cables back then? This was the real shit. 😂

[@HiSk0L]

I think techno tim would be proud

[@HardwareHaven]

I sure hope so

[@lifefromscratch2818]

Definitely Techno Tim vibes going on with this build. Just needed some bubbly water with it.

[@MarloMitchell]

you would be surprised, it looks awesome man. You could have extended the drive cage to the bottom of the case that way u can store more drives and not worry about the strain on the top. Really loved this project.

[@charlesgi5058]

Wow. Great work! Really went the extra mile with those LED inlays!

[@kenoalbatros]

That’s awesome! I really like the RGB illuminated PCI-E device shrouds. Really cool!

[@jsbaltes]

Nice build ! All that function AND form as well.

[@ChristopherHailey]

This was a fun different kind of project, thinking outside of the box so to speak. The shrouds for the cards with fans could actually be a practical use for cases that don't have the super high airflow like a server chassis. Good fun project that still has useful info.

[@MisterSixty]

I'm not an RGB fan, but that's a sweet server! That drive bay is something you should market!! *Thanks for the video!*

[@richardmarkert7736]

I have an idea for the lighting on your shrouds: If you have a router (the woodworking kind), use that to write words into the side of the shroud that faces the window - NETWORK on the nic, STORAGE on the SAS/SATA card.. etc. If you couldn't 3D print the words into it, that is.

[@EMoncayoC]

This is sooo cool.... I agree that most of us would prob never personally have something like this, but this looks great and opens the door for other projects and a bunch of possibilities... thanks for the video.

[@Heyworld21]

This goes super well with my motives. I love gaming but I also love servers so seeing this video really made my heart light up

[@NickMattheus1]

That is clean AF! The nicest server i have ever seen! Now do that in an 19 inch server rack so i can get some ideas for my serverrack. 😛 Nice job!

[@markbenton4370]

Love the creativity .... Thank you for sharing this build...

[@hdjoe22]

Great job on all this! I have my gaming pc near my plain Jane Rosewill rack case for my server. All I did on that was add two led strips behind the mesh grill 👍🏼

[@Fiftykilowatt]

I also build my unraid „iso“ server in a define 7 and went the gamery route with custom watercooling and rgb and it blends really nicely into my gaming setup so i really enjoy watching yours ❤️❤️

[@james589]

Really glad you added the custom led lighting, icing on the cake! Those polycarbonate covers came out really nice!

[@JBothell_KF0IVQ]

Stayin' frosty in the Haven with this one. Really cool drive cage!

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks!

[@hazerdoescrap]

Hot-set inserts to make things a bit more secure/rugged..... And this is basically the base setup for a "TRON-style NAS/VM Server"...... and I'm all for it.... sadly, "Servers belong in a rack" and no one makes RGB Friendly Rackmount cases.... yet. ;) Cool build and very handy drive mount setup.... Technically easily expandable too if you wanted to go with a taller case for more drives....

[@Riverbend1752]

While this may not be the most practical way to build a home server from scratch, the custom bracket for drives is an absolutely fantastic approach to repurposing an old computer as a NAS.

[@kekistanifreedomfighter4197]

Love the top mounted hard drive cage. Definitely putting the side fans to good use. I actually wish those would be an official case component.

[@kristof9497]

Nice lightning build, love it.

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks Kristof!

[@AlistairBrugsch]

I love the shrouds! And those LED + diffusers look particularly sweet! Nice job Also if you wanted to hard on hiding the MOBO without spraying it, you could cover it with a custom cut acrylic panel or similar

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks for the tips!

[@darthkielbasa]

2:30 bro, I have an nzxt H7 that I wanted to use for an extra server but it lacks storage options. I was only looking at the bottom of the visible part of the case. Never considered the real estate at the top. Creating a disk cage for the top of the rack is a fantastic idea. You’re a legend. Now it’s time to talk my wife into a 3d printer!

[@rebel1988us]

As someone who is limited on space I love this idea. I have a Phanteks P600s that has a spot for an ATX motherboard and another for Mini itx. My thought was a gaming pc with a mini itx promox server all in one case. Love you hard drive cage idea!

[@marthinus.x]

That looks really nice! Congrats on the build!

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks!

[@asdoesstuff]

Incredible build here, love the custom pieces - very awesome!

[@elmestguzman3038]

That is a beautiful looking server and the PCI card covers are awesome... with and without the RGB they look practical to mount a fan, less jank than zip ties.

[@HardwareHaven]

Yeah they turned out exactly as I had hoped they would. (Much better than I though they actually would 😅)

[@acozad1]

Great job on the 3d shrouds. They look really good. Really like how you combined3d printing with computers.

[@isturma]

I think I would've used one of the spare fans up top for exhaust, otherwise it's a slick looking system! Just because a server is kind of a "bland, function > Form" device doesn't mean you can't do something like this to make it more fun! Put it on a local 10gb switc with your gaming tower, and boot up a VM, have your steam gaming library centrally located, instead of needing tons of storage in your device.

[@Skudster13]

Quite a slick build for a NAS. I might have gone a little further and added a white honeycomb mesh (or something similar) to cover the backs of the HDDs just to white-wash them a little more, but still allow for air flow. Sadly, I think you've inspired me to rebuild my NAS with some RGB.

[@DennisBuys]

THIS is an absolutely beautiful PC System. You don't think others would want something like this? Hell yea we would. You should sell the drive bays. for those of us that dont have 3D printers... yet. You went from building a server, to doing outside the box case modification. And it looks quite like a gaming pc. This is genius. I want one Now, something I would have done. The shrouds would have the Hardware Haven logo and words lit up. That would make it much more, ummm, eye candy(ish).

[@wesbtrm]

"I don't imagine anyone would be in the market for a server like this one"....well you might want to roll the statement back. That is awesome!!

[@deechvogt1589]

Nice passion project build. I'm sure you're right some Twich streamer would love to have it.

[@emadedinalshugran3158]

Dope build!! I might actually go for this one instead of the 10inch rack that i was planning to use, i would also double the HDDs capacity to get more storage space 💃

[@draggonhedd]

Love it, looks sick. You did a great job. My file server is an old customized antec dragon case full of drives.

[@AdamTheGuitarist]

Your models are so fucking awesome man, insanely well made

[@Sulprax]

To be honest just the idea of modding a case to hold more hard drives is an absolute game changer for a home lab, you would save so much money and room and in my opinion showing off what you brought helps deal with the cost of having a home lab

[@bokami3445]

I really don't see why server cases and hardware can't look "jazzed" up with a few RGB Leds. I love the accessory card shrouds. Well done on this build!

[@jumpmaster5279]

Mom, mom this nas is so beautiful This is one heck of concept art, imagine in a few years, gamers having rgb nas for stream P.s more rgb equal more transcoding

[@HardwareHaven]

Oh duh... clearly.

[@richsilvestri7704]

Damn that is so sweet looking, I'm with you a white motherboard would have been the icing on the cake. Awesome build, got me wanting to do it now as well. To bad I don't have a 3d printer!!!

[@HardwareHaven]

The bambu lab A1 mini is extremely appealing if you're considering getting started!

[@MediumQuality]

This server really isn't my aesthetic either, but it has a certain charm to it. Really cool project overall. It's always fun to watch someone come up with an idea and problem-solve their way to completion.

[@phucnguyen0110]

The build looks great, Colten!

[@windrunnerKal]

I have a very similar case, the corsair 2500x, wich is a really nice case... except that cable management and the drive cage have been a nightmare to work with, wich is why this video is perfect for me. By modeling and printing a similar bay for all my SSD's, i might be able to solve the issues i've had working with this case. Thank you so much for this video

[@kevinoneill2170]

8:21 The prototype "montage" was my favorite!

[@geekcruz]

i love the build, the one thing i would have done different was us white heat shrink tube instead of painting it white. I would love that you do other types of builds like this every so often. especially with your 3D printing. Maybe do a RGB custom pi rack build

[@Viking8888]

Dude! That looks awesome! Definitely something you'd see on Jawa! The only thing missing is RGB memory! 😉

[@twrex-13]

This was awesome to watch come together!

[@savageyota]

Who cares if it’s “practical” or not. That build was definitely cool af. Adding those LED strips with the custom diffuser you printed was awesome! Black motherboard was definitely a good choice. You have black from the HDDs anyways, so it wouldn’t have been a purely aesthetic build regardless.

[@farnoushbabaie7823]

I am in the market for something like this. Thanks a lot. I'm printing the cage already 🙂. Nice job man.

[@RetroBerner]

If you're worried about warping the case, you could always remove the first bottom fan and have the drive cage go all the way from top to bottom

[@HardwareHaven]

My backup plan was just to flip it and have it connected to the bottom

[@cheeseisgreat24]

I love it when functional things also look good. I am still someone who prioritizes function above all else, but once all the functional needs are adequately met, who doesn’t like a little bling on top once in a while?

[@PremacyMazda-j5p]

Браво Маэстро! Кажется Вы нашли отличный способ строительства домашних серверов в новых корпусах предназначенных для игровых систем! Судя по свободному месту под напечатанной корзиной для HDD, её можно сделать ощутимо больше.

[@Srjn-99]

Hardware heaven just did what i was planning to do with my server. Thanks for the inspiration :)

[@HardwareHaven]

Have fun!

[@thomaslayman9487]

i think this is one of if not the coolest computer build i have ever seen.

[@the_true_joz]

That black mb and ram work really well with hard drives. Nice contrast and looks really good with lightning imho. Even though im not a fan of RGB, i gotta admit, this looks pretty dang cool. Great work!

[@phantomgunz1167]

The RGB card shrouds are sick af!