For a while now I've been thinking about building a PC especially for recording. I decided that I wanted to mount it with my other equipment in my rack, and set about searching for a rack case. After looking through various computer magazines, as well as business supplier catalogues, I could find only server rack cases. I then noticed that in the Readerzone section of your January 2001 issue the guys had built two rackmount PCs. As you've probably guessed, the point of this enquiry is: where can I get a rack PC case and how much is it going to cost me? I would very much appreciate your help!
Chris Tlusty
SOS contributor and PC specialist Martin Walker replies: Rackmount computers do look smart, and also enable you to take your PC on the road if they're properly ruggedised. This involves making sure that cables, expansion cards, hard drives, and so on are all tied down effectively and can't work loose due to vibration. It may also be wise to fit special vibration‑proof washers. If you mainly intend to leave the PC in your studio, you should also look at ways to ensure that vibration from the PC doesn't enter the rack, since this can amplify acoustic noise levels alarmingly. Using 'Silent Drive' sleeves for your hard drives will certainly help, and you may want to damp the rackmount panels in some way as well, to prevent sympathetic vibration (see my feature in SOS January 2000 for more thoughts on acoustic noise reduction).
Another important factor is temperature — the average PC can generate a lot of heat, and this must be extracted to avoid overheating. Although this applies to all computers, it's especially important in the case of a rackmount PC, since a rack of equipment is often quite hot already due to other items (especially if they include 'tube' circuitry!) Just make sure that the hot air emerging from the computer's PSU fan can escape fairly easily.
As you can see, the rackmounting requirements of the musician may be somewhat different from most other people's. Also, as you can probably appreciate, rackmount computer cases aren't a big‑selling consumer item, and therefore tend to remain rather expensive. Graham Woodcock of our Readerzone feature runs his own company supplying networked PC systems to businesses, and he took great pains to point out that his custom‑built PCs cost over £3000 each. You should be prepared to spend over £200 on the case.
At the moment, the most famous rackmount case as far as musicians are concerned must belong to Carillon Audio Systems, whose PCs will have a precision die‑cast aluminium‑alloy front panel. However, given their 'total concept' philosophy, it's perhaps not surprising that Carillon aren't keen to sell the case alone. However, I did manage to find a couple of other suppliers who have sourced suitable rackmount cases for their own range of music PCs, and who are happy to sell these as stand‑alone items to DIYers.
Area 51 (+44 (0)1442 235151) offer the sleek black case used in their Stealth PCs. The case has three 5.25‑inch drive bays, one suitable for a floppy or Zip drive, and space internally for two hard drives, and costs £269 including VAT. This price includes a 'noise dampened' 250W power supply. Red Submarine (+44 (0)870 740 4787) also have a smart black rackmount case, with exactly the same configuration of drive bays, and this is available for £229 including VAT with a standard PSU, and £48 more with an 'Ultra Quiet' version fitted. For more ambitious projects, they have a 5U case with a 300W PSU built in, five 5.25‑inch drive bays, one 3.5‑inch bay, and three internal bays for hard drives. An Ultra‑Quiet version of the 300W PSU is available for an extra £55.