[SOLVED]Maybe a strange question but..

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vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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Maybe a strange question but can some one tell me if I can reuse dell r720dx innards in a supermicro case.

I have an am 846a case but want to upgrade the mb and cpu.
I can get a dell r720 bare bone with 2 cpu and 64gb ram for like 200$.
But no disks and no cadies and anyways the 720 is 2.5in disks share all mines are 3.5.

Is it possible?

If it is it will be easy cheaper for me than getting sm. Parts.
 

mmo

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2016
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$200 for a dell r720? damn, that's the deal of the year for sure!!
 

Aestr

Well-Known Member
Oct 22, 2014
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Seattle
Short answer is no. It is a proprietary format with connectors and a layout that will not work. It would be far more effort and expense to try to make it work than to buy a motherboard and CPU that will fit.
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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$200 for a dell r720? damn, that's the deal of the year for sure!!
Well if I to use the server as is it will a bit more as I need to get the cadies and hard drives for it.
I thought if I could stripp it and use the MB and ram it would be a perfect deal. As it is, not so much.
 

Peanuthead

Active Member
Jun 12, 2015
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@vl1969 are you in the US48? I have a R710 with 2.5" drive bays sitting here. Should pretty much be the same chassis (or so I would think).
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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hi Peanuthead, my issue is not the chassis
I have a SuperMicro 846A server. it is old, based on AMD opteron CPUs and 48GB ram.
I thought it would be a good opportunity to upgrade the hardware on the cheap :).
the 720 chassis is too small and only support 2.5 drives. I have about 16 3.5 hard drives now. and a very good SM chassis.
just want to swap the innards.
 

funkywizard

mmm.... bandwidth.
Jan 15, 2017
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ioflood.com
hi Peanuthead, my issue is not the chassis
I have a SuperMicro 846A server. it is old, based on AMD opteron CPUs and 48GB ram.
I thought it would be a good opportunity to upgrade the hardware on the cheap :).
the 720 chassis is too small and only support 2.5 drives. I have about 16 3.5 hard drives now. and a very good SM chassis.
just want to swap the innards.
Get an esas card for the dell.
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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Get an esas card for the dell.
Why? I don't have DELL machine.

I was looking at one I could get for about $200 with idea to part it out and move the MB/RAM/CPU to my existing server. than I could sell the chassis and other parts.

that train is gone. I just ordered new SM MB/RAM and Xenon CPUs and will simply upgrade my setup.
yes it cost me a few bucks more but I know it is compatible to the chassis and all.
 

funkywizard

mmm.... bandwidth.
Jan 15, 2017
848
402
63
USA
ioflood.com
Why? I don't have DELL machine.

I was looking at one I could get for about $200 with idea to part it out and move the MB/RAM/CPU to my existing server. than I could sell the chassis and other parts.

that train is gone. I just ordered new SM MB/RAM and Xenon CPUs and will simply upgrade my setup.
yes it cost me a few bucks more but I know it is compatible to the chassis and all.
could have fooled me:

"Maybe a strange question but can some one tell me if I can reuse dell r720dx innards in a supermicro case."
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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could have fooled me:

"Maybe a strange question but can some one tell me if I can reuse dell r720dx innards in a supermicro case."
funkywizard, did you read the whole post ? I said I have a SuperMicro case and I CAN GET a DELL for good price. but since the DELL have none desirable configuration, for me, I want to only use parts from the DELL in my Super Micro chassis . and ask if it was possible. what was so confusing?

here I put it here and emphasize the main parts.

Maybe a strange question but can some one tell me if I can reuse dell r720dx innards in a supermicro case.

I have an SM 846a case but want to upgrade the mb and cpu.
I can get a dell r720 bare bone with 2 cpu and 64gb ram for like 200$.
But no disks and no cadies and anyways the 720 is 2.5in disks share all mines are 3.5.

Is it possible?

If it is it will be easy cheaper for me than getting sm. Parts.
 

funkywizard

mmm.... bandwidth.
Jan 15, 2017
848
402
63
USA
ioflood.com
funkywizard, did you read the whole post ? I said I have a SuperMicro case and I CAN GET a DELL for good price. but since the DELL have none desirable configuration, for me, I want to only use parts from the DELL in my Super Micro chassis . and ask if it was possible. what was so confusing?

here I put it here and emphasize the main parts.
Ok.

So, you can get it for cheap, and, if you do, throw an esas card in there so you can use the drive bays from your current chassis.

Or, because you don't already own the thing, and because it's not a great fit for your purpose, don't buy it.
 
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vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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Well it's too late now. The deal is gone. Also I got a new sm mb and memory for a nice price too so this work out ok.
 

WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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For the future record - unless the chassis manufacturer specifically mentions compliance with known motherboard sizing standards (like SuperMicro specifically stating that the 846 series 4U chassis accepting motherboarss up to E-ATX size boards), just assume that the motherboard are propietary and won't fit in the chassis of other manufacturers.
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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WANg I did not want to use supermicro MB in DELL. I want to use DELL in SuperMicro.
I know that I can fit most off-the-shelf MB into my superMicro case as I tried it before and it worked.
since I never seen DELL MB out of the chassies it was difficult for me to speculate if it would fit or not.
I know that usually DELL and HP have specialized MB but thought that maybe some one tried it and knows for sure.
 

WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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WANg I did not want to use supermicro MB in DELL. I want to use DELL in SuperMicro.
I know that I can fit most off-the-shelf MB into my superMicro case as I tried it before and it worked.
since I never seen DELL MB out of the chassies it was difficult for me to speculate if it would fit or not.
I know that usually DELL and HP have specialized MB but thought that maybe some one tried it and knows for sure.
Did I say anything about sticking a motherboard from a 4U machine into a Dell 2U chassis? No, I did not. What I am saying is that unless the manufacturer state specifically what is possible and permissible, just assume that it will not work. Servers are not like regular PCs - they have relaxed views to standardization so manufacturers can do their own engineering and capitalize on advantages/force customers into vendor lock - this is why some people consider servers to be similar to laptops - commodity parts put together in non-commodity ways to differentiate offerings. SuperMicro is a bit of an exception to the rule in that some of their hardware do conform to industry norms, but this is not guaranteed either.

The SuperMicro website specifically stated that their SC846 series chassis can take standard motherboards (PicoATX/ATX/E-ATX), while Dell made no claims of that sort for any modern PowerEdge machines. Dell do not sell their chassis separately nor do they expect their customers to bring their own boards into a Dell chassis. SuperMicro however does - you can roll your own, and you could buy board, and/or a chassis and/or a complete system from then depending on your systems integrator. Whether the end results from such kit-bashing work better than a custom solution from Dell/Lenovo/HPe is a different matter altogether.
 
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