I just wanted to start a thread to try and gain as much collective knowledge as possible on a project I will be starting shortly.

I am aiming to build a studio PC for my friend , and to have it rack mounted. I was just wondering if anyone had had any experience of rack mounted PCs.

For the most part , what I have seen is noisy units, and all the pre made ones seem kinda low spec, or over priced for what they are. I wanted to make a good sized one (2U), with a decent enough spec.

I just wondered if anyone had any hands on experience with them, or know anything that I should know that differs from building a standard tower case (I can imagine there is quite a lot, what with the size difference and less ability for optimal cooling versus spec, but I would rather know as much as possible).

Cheers in advance

lol im in the middle of putting parts together to buy and build my comp i suggest u make sure ur socket on ur mother board and ur processer match other wise ur gonna fuck ur self just saying lol

for the rack thing ive never seen one or heard of it so no i cant help u there

Cheers man. I have built a few PCs before, I was more looking for specific help on rack mounted PCs. It's like having a server rack unit, but it runs as a PC instead of a server. They are good for studios because you can just have it all mounted on one unit with all the other rack mounted stuff you have. You can get a keyboard on rails as well, its all just neater than having a desk unit. Also leaves more room for monitors (both kinds) and a mixing desk.

y not get a laptop lol :| just saying lol i relize laptops dont have the videocard power but its an  idea

any ways gl man sounds like fun

My friend already has a Macbook Air, he wants something that is more dedicated to his home studio that we set up last year. I was originally going to build him a Hackintosh tower, but I reckon I can fit all the necessary parts inside this rack mount , and thus.... the Rackintosh shall be born!

Cheers for the well wishes

y not get a laptop lol :| just saying lol i relize laptops dont have the videocard power but its an  idea

any ways gl man sounds like fun

my two laptops have 4250 and 5870... you're wrong=)

y not get a laptop lol :| just saying lol i relize laptops dont have the videocard power but its an  idea

any ways gl man sounds like fun

my two laptops have 4250 and 5870... you're wrong=)

The M5870 isn’t really much anymore... I had 2 of them and could not play on maxed settings for a few games that were already out.

The Mobility platform struggles with power and heat in terms of gaming... realize, that if the machine is powerful, it’s going to be loud with fans, or run very hot, and not be stable. I will probably never get a laptop as my main rig ever again... It just costs too much for something that isnt as good as the desktop. Mobility cards are always 2 steps downgraded from their larger desktop versions... Also they strugle to get enough Vram on the cards nowadays for the insane games coming out.

y not get a laptop lol :| just saying lol i relize laptops dont have the videocard power but its an  idea

any ways gl man sounds like fun

my two laptops have 4250 and 5870... you're wrong=)

The M5870 isn’t really much anymore... I had 2 of them and could not play on maxed settings for a few games that were already out.

The Mobility platform struggles with power and heat in terms of gaming... realize, that if the machine is powerful, it’s going to be loud with fans, or run very hot, and not be stable. I will probably never get a laptop as my main rig ever again... It just costs too much for something that isnt as good as the desktop. Mobility cards are always 2 steps downgraded from their larger desktop versions... Also they strugle to get enough Vram on the cards nowadays for the insane games coming out.

I'm talking about asus g73jh, it's called stealth because it's quiet, and has 1gb vram, I played battlefield bc2, black ops maxed out 40-50 fps... itel core i7 alone with good video card works perfectly fine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd-0WVA6FJI[/youtube]

My life is mobile, so it works for me.

ooh i helped to build a rackmount pc for my friend. Here is my advice, it may seem like a good idea at first, but don't place in near corners  :-\

y not get a laptop lol :| just saying lol i relize laptops dont have the videocard power but its an  idea

any ways gl man sounds like fun

my two laptops have 4250 and 5870... you're wrong=)

The M5870 isn’t really much anymore... I had 2 of them and could not play on maxed settings for a few games that were already out.

The Mobility platform struggles with power and heat in terms of gaming... realize, that if the machine is powerful, it’s going to be loud with fans, or run very hot, and not be stable. I will probably never get a laptop as my main rig ever again... It just costs too much for something that isnt as good as the desktop. Mobility cards are always 2 steps downgraded from their larger desktop versions... Also they strugle to get enough Vram on the cards nowadays for the insane games coming out.

I'm talking about asus g73jh, it's called stealth because it's quiet, and has 1gb vram, I played battlefield bc2, black ops maxed out 40-50 fps... itel core i7 alone with good video card works perfectly fine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd-0WVA6FJI[/youtube]

My life is mobile, so it works for me.

I know exactly what laptop you have and the specs of it.  There is no way you played battlefield bc2 maxed out without the frames going lower then 40 and black opps is a console port to PC, designed to run on a game systems that were built years ago... ( Xbox and PS3 ). Anything lower then 60FPS is unacceptable for me with gaming... I guess it just depends on what your used too.

Try playing Crysis maxed out... It'll fall on its ass... I know, I used to have one as well. =|

I understand some people live a mobile life... and thankfully there are decent laptops out there that can get the job done... so to speak, like the laptop you have.