Where are the drives supposed to go?

[Shrek]

I feel so stupid; I just got a second-hand gamming computer with lots of space on the case; but where are all the drives supposed to go?

 

[Vayra86]

Behind the board? In the space underneath next to the PSU?

That's how my Fractal Define C did it anyway. There was a two-HDD cage on the bottom of it. Rest has to be SSD

No wait! This one is 'built for the cloud'! Of course!

 

[R-T-B]

Some cases today are minimalist / don't bother with SATA bays.

I hate it too. Not sure if that is your problem though or if they are just hidden.

 

[Shrek]

Phew... I really thought that I had finally lost it.

I may just get a normal case for the parts.

 

[natr0n]

You can use grip mat in the bottom and place drives creatively so they dont clang and bang assuming you are not a savage user.

 

[Frick]

Modern cases are basically empty boxes with some fans in them. Look for used Fractal Design stuff, my Define R4 is amazing, and it was like €45.*

*with busted USB ports at the top, but when I mailed FD about buying spare parts they asked me for the serial number and then sent me the part for free. For a decade old case I bought on swedish Ebay. No questions, just "send me the serial number and i'll send you the part".

 

[R-T-B]

Modern cases are basically empty boxes with some fans in them.

I feel that. I'm running an old used honestly pretty crappy Thermaltake but at least it has plenty of fan mounts and drive bays.

 

[londiste]

Some better pictures from the case? Is it a fully custom case or built by some other OEM?

Behind the board? In the space underneath next to the PSU?

On top of the PSU shroud? At the front of the case? There are inventive places for drives these days.

How many drives have you got?
2.5" SSDs are easy enough to stash somewhere or double-sided tape it to a random surface.
3.5" of spinning rust or several is a more difficult problem

 

[Legacy Ivy Terascale]

behind the motherboard tray or below the PSU shroud

or

you can replace the case
judging by the size of MB and GPU that you have , many cases can substitute that one and have HDD slots
i suggest ATX ( with 7 expansion slots )
SATA SSD can be tied vertically on the optical-drive bay using zip-tie

 

[Shrek]

I'm trying to avoid duct tape and zip ties. It is a Cooler Master case rebadged by CyberPowerPC

It had a bust USB 3 port and I have a replacement on the way, but I am beginning to regret fixing this case.

 

[londiste]

Masterbox MB520?

MasterBox MB520 | Cooler Master

MasterBox MB520

www.coolermaster.com

Two 2.5" behind motherboard
Two 3.5"/2.5" with trays at the bottom in front of PSU

 

[Shrek]

Ah ha! you found the hidden hard drive bays; that works as I just need to add one SATA SSD.

Except in my case the shelves seem to be missing.

 

[dirtyferret]

Ah ha! you found the hidden hard drive bays; that works as I just need to add one SATA SSD.

why not use the two open SSD drive mounts on the mother board tray?

 

[xtreemchaos]

ive put some drives in some strange places , nuff said .

 

[dirtyferret]

ive put some drives in some strange places , nuff said .

explains that look on your face

 

[xtreemchaos]

yes but that's only with a M.2 .

 

[Ivan Bliminse]

There's an M.2 under your fan in the main pic, perhaps get a larger capacity ssd ?

 

[Shrek]

That I will probably do.

Explains the two threads I opened recently:

• NVMe advice
• Best microATX case?

 

[GerKNG]

• NVMe advice
• Best microATX case?

anything under the sun that is TLC with DRAM Cache.
objective. but on sale the O11 Air Mini is just fantastic. my favourite case of all time.

 

[Onasi]

objective. but on sale the O11 Air Mini is just fantastic. my favourite case of all time.

That’s very true, but I would hardly call it an mATX case though. Although, I guess that would depend on what one means by that. I feel like it’s more of a compact-ish mid-tower (mid-cube?). There are definitely smaller mATX cases. Although @Shrek wants space for his drives, so that might indeed affect his preferences.

 

[Ruru]

Also you can get some 2x 2.5 -> 3.5" adapters just like I do. If you have no HDDs but some 2.5 SSDs, it's good to use their mounts for more drives.

That I will probably do.

Explains the two threads I opened recently:

• NVMe advice
• Best microATX case?

Just get a Kingston NV2 or something, I have two 1TB ones and nothing to complain. Great budget drives.

For a typical home user/gamer, paying for a fast drive is IMO pointless as a cheaper drive gets the job done just as well.

 

[Shrek]

I have a 2TB SATA SSD that will come over from the old PC, so I'll probably stick with the 500GB NVMe (WD blue) that is already there as a boot drive, keeping it mostly empty for speed.

Things are a little complicated at the moment as I let my son use the 'new' machine until he goes off to college in a few months (he helped me get a good deal on this machine).

One USB port was damaged, and at first it didn't look like I would be able to locate a replacement.

why not use the two open SSD drive mounts on the mother board tray?

The holes are huge, and I begin to wonder if I am missing some hardware.

 

[Onasi]

The holes are huge, and I begin to wonder if I am missing some hardware.

Might be, I usually see sleds that you use for SSD mounting that are then screwed into those holes. No sleds in your case?

 

[Ruru]

You could just put it to the SSD compartment and forget it there as SSDs doesn't care about vibration; they have no moving parts like HDDs.

 

[Shrek]

Might be, I usually see sleds that you use for SSD mounting that are then screwed into those holes. No sleds in your case?

No sleds; probably still in the previous owner's box.