Interest in a simple 4U case for dual CPU systems?

C

chx

Gawd
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Jun 21, 2011
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With the E5-2670 deluge suddenly enthusiasts look at dual CPU systems and it turns out, it's very hard to find a good case. SSI EEB support is thin on the ground, Supermicro EE ATX even more so.

I might be interested in funding the development of a 4U case which
  1. Supports all those motherboards based on this http://blog-imgs-72.fc2.com/d/u/a/dualsocketworld/EE-ATX-FFSSSF.png great drawing.
  2. Uses an SFX-L PSU on its edge. Supermicro cases for EE ATX use 73mm wide 1U PSUs so a 63.5mm wide PSU would fit and would be a lot more quiet than industrial PSUs. There are 700W, 750W and soon 800W SFX-L PSUs. While none has a second 8 pin EPS plug, there are adapters from 6 pin PCI-E to 8 pin EPS and also since these are all modular PSUs perhaps we could get a custom cable. I would put this to the left of the motherboard with the CPU sockets on the right with the fan pointing to the outside, separating the PSU airflow from the case.
  3. I would leave space in front of the motherboard for two 140x38mm fans with an eye on the Silverstone FHP141.
  4. Similarly, if you are not using an EE ATX board then the right edge has space for two 140x38mm fans as the EE is 42.2mm wider than normal ATX. If you do use an EE ATX board then you can have two 120mm fans here as the edge only contains DIMM slots and a 120mm fan in a 4U case clears the DIMM height: 1U cases are possible so then there's 3U clearance above the memory and 3U cases sell with 120mm fans. So the airflow would be tons of air from the front exiting on the right. Not ideal but still, there's so much air moving it's OK. Supermicro has a case with a 120mm fan on the rear but noone else does so perhaps only two 80mm fans could happen but we will see.
  5. On the left, in the front of the case, there's space for a vertical 5.25" bay not that I expect anyone would use a 5.25" drive any more but there are many useful things you can put in one. I would even add an optional cross piece and two small slits in the bottom so that two PCI bracket can be mounted here for additional I/O. Both the 5.25" bay and two PCI brackets require 1.6" so that's good. If we want to be crazy about space usage, one can squeeze a 2.5" disk on the left wall practically touching the PSU -- it's thin enough to not pose a problem for modular cabling.
  6. Between the 5.25" bay and the edge of the motherboard, the front of case would have the front I/O and the power switch, behind them, on the wall of the 5.25" bay there's space for a 2.5" HDD. Also, there's the DIMM latch clearance area in front of the motherboard (parts of the) front I/O can safely overhang so there's a lot of space here for an I/O panel.
Would anyone be interested in this?
 
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the issue is most of the dual socket 2011 boards are not eatx or ssi ebb. all the supermicro boards have a custom layout and my sr-x is htpx. for my case i took the time to build a custom black foamed-pvc and acrilic case exactly to my liking with 1 inch clearence on the side and top for wires and airflow, a fan layout that allows 0 dust into my case, 6 15k sas drives with proper airflow. room for 2 280mm rads and 1 240 (i could add even more if i wanted). looks very nice. has excelent cable management. and cost me less then 70 to build (including shipping)
 
A lot of Supermicro boards are EE-ATX (not E-ATX but EE-ATX) and I definitely want to support that! While the 13.6" HTPX vs 13.68" for EE-ATX seems like almost the same but EE-ATX extends past the I/O shield while HTPX has the I/O shield in the corner like the rest of the ATX boards. Well, I'd rather support EE-ATX than HTPX fully -- I would imagine if the SFX PSU is aligned with the top of chassis then the HTPX board will slide under it and the first two PCIe slots are (almost) unusable. Or perhaps just one. No problems there, triple SLI with dual CPU is not possible with an SFX PSU anyways. You still have five (or perhaps six) slots. Also the obstructed slots can be used by brackletless very low profile U.2 or M.2 cards like the Addonics ADSF8643PX4 or the Asus Hyper M.2 Mini. The ADSF8643PX4 PCB shape is annoying because it's too high right at the bracket end but moving the PSU back with spacers should be doable -- then the too high piece sits between the PSU and case wall. Or the Bplus M2P4S has an FFC adapter for a second M.2 PCIe... Anyways, you can use even the obstructed slots for speedy storage at least.

Being crazy long on the other dimension doesn't matter, it's just two inches more than SSI EEB and I was planning for 2.5" HDDs lying on the case floor between the motherboard and the case wall, well, for HTPX you won't have that but it definitely fits the design.

So... where can I find a HTPX mechanical drawing?
 
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chx said:
A lot of Supermicro boards are EE-ATX (not E-ATX but EE-ATX) and I definitely want to support that! While the 13.6" HTPX vs 13.68" for EE-ATX seems like almost the same but EE-ATX extends past the I/O shield while HTPX has the I/O shield in the corner like the rest of the ATX boards. Well, I'd rather support EE-ATX than HTPX fully -- I would imagine if the SFX PSU is aligned with the top of chassis then the HTPX board will slide under it and the first two PCIe slots are (almost) unusable. Or perhaps just one. No problems there, triple SLI with dual CPU is not possible with an SFX PSU anyways. You still have five (or perhaps six) slots. Also the obstructed slots can be used by brackletless very low profile U.2 or M.2 cards like the Addonics ADSF8643PX4 or the Asus Hyper M.2 Mini. The ADSF8643PX4 PCB shape is annoying because it's too high right at the bracket end but moving the PSU back with spacers should be doable -- then the too high piece sits between the PSU and case wall. Or the Bplus M2P4S has an FFC adapter for a second M.2 PCIe... Anyways, you can use even the obstructed slots for speedy storage at least.

Being crazy long on the other dimension doesn't matter, it's just two inches more than SSI EEB and I was planning for 2.5" HDDs lying on the case floor between the motherboard and the case wall, well, for HTPX you won't have that but it definitely fits the design.

So... where can I find a HTPX mechanical drawing?
Click to expand...

i dont know where to find drawings. if you really need a mesurment or dementio i could go messure my board. and htpx isnt common enough to really need to be supported their is onl;y one for the 2011 socket (sr-x)

and for the supermicro they are ee-atx in size but the holes are completly differant. if this case was able to change the hole locations that would be very benificial so it supports suppermicro boards and propriatory dell, hp, lenovo boards. and from wat i have found haveing the psu on to of the mobo is very awkward and makes the case too tall. it would be better to get like a 3.5 inch backplain and have the psu there
 
cdabc123 said:
and for the supermicro they are ee-atx in size but the holes are completly differant.
Click to expand...

Hrm? EE ATX is not a standard, it's something that Supermicro invented in the first place. Do you have some model numbers?
 
they officialy support one or more of their cases but often betwenn difernt sockets they switch it so people have to get the new cases with the new motherboards
 
I'd be interested in a case if it could be had for sub 300
 
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