Can you put an ATX motherboard in a server case?

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Weaksauce
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Nov 16, 2005
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Hi. Thanks to any of you who may help me with this.

I have a ton of research on building a new workstation/server. I've decided on the Chenbro server case - RM41416B. I have built numerous desktop computers but I have never built a computer in a server case.

My question is: will an ATX motherboard work in one of these cases? On Chenbro's website they list numerous server motherboards (many are no longer produced) and none of them (to the best of my knowledge) at ATX, they are extended ATX.

I have also considered SuperMicro's CSE-836TQ-R800V Silver 3U Server Case (16-bay). I sort of like the full-size CD/DVD drive in Chenbro's case. On the other hand, the SuperMicro case will be cheaper since it included a redundant 800W power supply and rails.

Anyway, any input on the use of an ATX motherboard in either case? Have you used either case - if so what do you think? Thanks for you time.
 
why not use a server motherboard? they're meant for extended use and whatnot, I'm not all that knowledgeable about servers, but i would assume there's a reason for the differentiation between server mobo and desktop mobos
 
That site says the case is eeb which is an intel spec for Extended ATX if I remember right. All that means is the board is wider then an atx board(for the most part). An atx board should fit fine.
 
The only way you'd have problems is if the case doesn't have removable standoffs. I had an antec server case where a couple of the standoffs weren't removable and one of the standoffs didn't match up.
 
ND40oz said:
The only way you'd have problems is if the case doesn't have removable standoffs. I had an antec server case where a couple of the standoffs weren't removable and one of the standoffs didn't match up.
Click to expand...

Thats a good point although it is easy enough to fix. Mr dremel and or mr hammer can take care of an extra standoff.

Generaly speaking an eatx case should have the standoffs you need for atx.
 
swatbat said:
Thats a good point although it is easy enough to fix. Mr dremel and or mr hammer can take care of an extra standoff.

Generaly speaking an eatx case should have the standoffs you need for atx.
Click to expand...

Yup, atleast 6 of them should work.
 
Thanks guys. I appreciate you looking at Chenbro's website.

Yes, I have considered using a server motherboard. The reason I was wanting to use an ATX motherboard is that the chips/fsb was faster than that of the Xeon motherboards. I'm going to be posting a listing of all the components I'm going to put into this thing and let people comment on it. I'm just not familiar enough with Xeon processors and the benefits they bring. Is it better to have a larger cache verses a higher fsb? Is that better for a workstation? I don't know.

But anyway, thanks again.
 
I had a Chenbro Netserver case (the big giant ass cube) and used a normal atx mobo in it...

most cases have holes for mounting points to accomadate different mobo types.

jake
 
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