Riveco 10U 2-Post Desktop Rack Review

The frame is built from 0.08 in (2.0 mm) cold-rolled steel with a powder-coat finish, and an additional horizontal beam ties the two posts together. That beam is the design feature that adds stability and resistance to twisting compared with a bare two-post frame.

Assembly is straightforward. The rack ships flat, with rack-mount screws, cage nuts and a guide in the box. The clear U markings on the rails make it quick to line gear up.

Access, airflow and antennas

Nothing encloses the gear, so you can reach the rear of every unit without sliding it out, which matters when you patch cables or swap a device. Heat escapes freely, and Wi-Fi or AV antennas are not boxed in.

Size and placement

The rack measures 19.7 inches wide, 11.8 inches deep and 19.7 inches tall and weighs 5.3 lb (2.4 kg), so it stands on a desktop or on the floor in a corner without taking much room. The reinforced top beam gives a safer top surface around people and pets, which is the design intent behind it.

It suits 19-inch network, server, media, IT, AV, home-theater and studio gear, and one buyer on Amazon singles out rack-mount audio equipment as a good fit. The warranty runs 2 years.

The mounting holes are threaded rather than square, so the rack takes the screws supplied with it and the included cage nuts. Buyers on Amazon are divided on the mounting hardware for this reason, and one buyer notes it does not use standard rack screws.

The load rating is modest, which makes this a light-duty desktop frame. Switches, patch panels, shelves, NVRs and AV units are fine; a heavy rack UPS or a dense server chassis is not what it is built for.

Depth and rear support

At 11.8 inches deep, network switches and AV units fit, but deeper gear overhangs the back. There is no rear rail, so weight is carried by the front mounting ears alone.

What is not included?

There is no cable management, no blanking panel, no dust cover and no lock on this frame. It is also a desktop or floor rack only: it is not a wall-mount or under-desk model.

The rail math is worth doing before you buy. The 19.7-inch outer width leaves room for the panel width of 19-inch gear, so a switch or patch panel lines up with the rails rather than the outer edge of the frame.

A typical network stack fills 10U faster than people expect. One workable layout is a 1U patch panel, a 1U switch, a 1U PDU, a 2U shelf, a 1U NVR and 2U left spare, which leaves room for a later addition without rebuilding the rack. An AV or studio stack of 1U and 2U units fills the same space in much the same way.

Depth decides what fits as much as height does. Switches and AV units sit comfortably within the 11.8 inches, while deep servers overhang the rear of the frame. Ten units is the middle of this desktop family's size range: smaller sizes suit a couple of units, and larger sizes suit a fuller stack.

The build goes together from the parts in the box: posts onto the side panels, the bottom beam onto the side panels, the top beam onto the posts, then the rubber feet pressed into place. The M6 and M4 screws and a wrench are included, so basic tools cover the rest.

Buyers on Amazon most often describe assembly as easy.

A home lab built around a switch, a patch panel and a small server or NVR fits this rack well, and so does a studio or AV setup of rack-mount audio gear. The steel gauge, the cross beam and the open structure are what you pay for at this size: a compact, rigid, fully accessible 10U frame.

Anyone who needs square-hole cage nuts, rear rail support, a higher load rating, cable management or an enclosed and lockable cabinet should look at a different class of rack. The same goes for a wall-mounted or under-desk installation, which this frame is not made for.