Advice for a rack configuration (Europe) ?

[vincen 73]

Hi

I'm currently looking for a configuration to build a medium (all is relative) server for Emby with 6/8 mechanical drives 3.5" and 2 SSD or NVME for OS. I investigated already second hand servers but I'd like also to check what can be done with a hand-build configuration.

Is it me or it's difficult to find now empty chassis (small size like 1/2U) to build its own server ?

Vincèn

[Neminem 1641]

Yes that hard do to 1 / 2 unit servers usually only hold 4 X 3.5 drives.

I reused an old tower gaming pc with 8 slots + a possible expansion of 4 extra drives in the 3 5.25 slots above

Then flipped it on its side, now it only takes up the space of a 4 u rack enclosure.

The rest of this is fluff

This is my current setup.

Sorry can't finde the name of the chassis.

But look at PC Cases — Fractal Design those are often what people need / want.

Choose Your Parts - PCPartPicker without the case.

 

[vincen 73]

On 3/30/2026 at 4:28 PM, Neminem said:

But look at PC Cases — Fractal Design those are often what people need / want.

Choose Your Parts - PCPartPicker without the case.

Thanks a lot, will investigate these as they have quite nice designs 

[Apotropaic 62]

Not sure if you're specifically looking for a rack mountable solution - I imagine so with 'rack configuration' in the title so apologies if so.

But have you looked at microservers? There's a number of Gen8 and Gen10 HP microservers around at an ok price second hand. Enough space for 4 mechanical drives and one SSD, although they may not have the server CPU/GPU power you need. I ran my emby server off a Gen8 for years with 4-6 users, I imagine I could have handled more users but never tried.

Alternatively look for outlets that sell old business hardware as refurbished equipment, there may be some local to you but these are UK sites.

Refurbished Servers, PCs, Workstations & Parts | HPE, Dell | Bargain Hardware

Refurbished Servers, Rack and Tower for Sale - EuroPC

There are some good deals out there if you roughly know what it is you want and are lucky with availability. They will be very noisy however, the cooling fans will drive you nuts unless you have your rack out of the way somewhere.

If you're just looking for a really barebones solution and you have your own motherboard etc to go in, then this may be a solution, is UK as well but there must be something equivalent, although they will ship overseas..

https://cpc.farnell.com/cit/4u-rackmount/4u-atx-rackmount-case-/dp/CS35802

Edited April 1 by Apotropaic