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Need to add 50 micro-pcs to my homelab (dabbing in AI / clustered computing) - Seeking advice on how to rackmount. (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello all,

I'm going to be adding 50 micro pcs to my homelab, something similar to this: https://i.imgur.com/SvVeHLu.png Each unit is roughly 4.5 in x 4.5 in x 2.5 in and has hardly any weight to it.

I'd like to find a way to rackmount these in the most space efficient manner. For example, having each of these units slotted in from the top/down, similar to this mock-up I made: https://i.imgur.com/zRc4b7G.png

My research so far has shown me this: https://i.imgur.com/AWznyB5.png which is a simple rackmount on a slider that is metal. I imagine I could maybe build some sort of support framework on top of it to handle sliding things in, albeit I am not entirely sure how. Maybe I could 3d print something.

Would anybody have any ideas on how I could build a server rack that would support something like this, ideally something that is on slide-out bearings?

Note: I have a pretty healthy budget to buy whatever or modify whatever, so that should help option some options.

Thanks in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Is the primary air intake from the front of the box?

At 50 boxes, even if they heat up for example 20W each, you are still looking at 2kW equivalent hit air that needs to get removed.

That being said, id stack them in a manner where airflow is the primary concern here.

If air is from to back in that box, stack tight like a brick wall, leave no space around, and put enough fans from the back to pull all that heat out.

If the box expects air from the sides too, well I guess you'll end up spacing them and having even more fans to pull the less efficient cooled air out.

You want to measure the temps there as you are building/running this.

It's consumer boxes too, you really want to buy a fire extinguisher too, they are very cheap nowadays.