Looking for a SM chassis 2U with full-height PCIe expansion and takes ATX motherboard

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gsrcrxsi

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Dec 12, 2018
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Does this exist? Can anyone share a model number?

basically something like this: SuperChassis 825MBTQC-R802WB
but more affordable and takes a normal ATX or EATX motherboard and not some proprietary board.

Basically I have a Plex transcode server setup for remote users, which transcodes on the GPU (EVGA GTX 1660, power savings). It is currently in a 4U SC743 chassis with a X9DAi motherboard with E5-2630Lv2 CPUs. But it feels silly to be taking up this much space for a relatively low power system. it runs fine, I just want something smaller. I just want a bare chassis with PSU, I'll add my own MB/CPU/RAM/GPU/etc.

I do really like SM stuff, but if SM doesn't have something that fits, I'm open to other suggestions, but I do strongly prefer a SM solution.
 

mmo

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Sep 17, 2016
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hmm...i doubt there is any. Only proprietary form factor takes full-height in 2U.
 

gsrcrxsi

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Dec 12, 2018
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I found a single model that seems to allow it: 216BE2C-R920WB

but I don't see any availabe on ebay and something tells me it would be expensive.

what about non-SM options?
 

mmo

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Sep 17, 2016
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i dont think 216BE2C-R920WB works for regular ATX or EATX, you can find the compatible MB for the chassis on SM site.

upload_2019-8-16_13-48-53.png
 

gsrcrxsi

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Dec 12, 2018
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But the same page also lists the MB layout as ATX and EATX. Which should correlate to the MB mounting points. And is a standard. Unless the info on their page is just wrong.

I don’t always trust the recommended motherboards. If it has ATX standoff layout. I can put any ATX board in it.

But it’s moot because I can’t find that chassis anyway.

Any non-SM options? I’m browsing Newegg now. There are some, but they look pretty jank so far.
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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But the same page also lists the MB layout as ATX and EATX. Which should correlate to the MB mounting points. And is a standard. Unless the info on their page is just wrong.

I don’t always trust the recommended motherboards. If it has ATX standoff layout. I can put any ATX board in it.

But it’s moot because I can’t find that chassis anyway.

Any non-SM options? I’m browsing Newegg now. There are some, but they look pretty jank so far.
An ATX board is 99% unlikely to work with a riser needed to fit a FH card in 2U.

If space isn't a concern I would keep the 4U it makes things a lot more simple.
 

gsrcrxsi

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Dec 12, 2018
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An ATX board is 99% unlikely to work with a riser needed to fit a FH card in 2U.

If space isn't a concern I would keep the 4U it makes things a lot more simple.
As long as I can physically secure the GPU to the case in the horizontal position, I can use a flexible riser to get it hooked up to the PCIe slot. that's really simple.

I just need a 2U case to fit it all.

currently only have a 12U rack (full depth)
1U- PDU
1U- switch
1U- router
3U- FreeNAS box + Prime Plex server (serves LAN only) + various other jails and VMs
4U- remote plex transcoder
2U- UPS

so yeah, I'd like to free up some space
 

Netwerkz101

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Dec 27, 2015
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currently only have a 12U rack (full depth)
1U- PDU
1U- switch
1U- router
3U- FreeNAS box + Prime Plex server (serves LAN only) + various other jails and VMs
4U- remote plex transcoder
2U- UPS
Could you not combine the PDU/UPS functionality?
I'm going without details of course ... but seems like you could free up 1U there.

If you are dealing with 4-post rack ("Full depth" - whatever that means in actual depth measurement) ...
could you not mount the switch and router back to back to free up 1U?
(again ... just visualizing without details of your equipment and setup)
 

gsrcrxsi

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Dec 12, 2018
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IPC-2029X
2U (2x5.25" + 9 x 3.5" Bay) (3 Horizontal slot full high cards by Riser Card) or (7 slot low profile) (Extend EATX / ATX / Micro-ATX / ITX) (25.98" Deep) (Rackmount Chassis IPC-2029X

Fits EATX 12x13 MoBo
(Why would you bother looking at ATX size with your X9DAi EATX?)

Full height PCIe card with max length of 342mm
(Detail not specified: you left out the length of the card you have)

Add Optional Riser: 2U1PCIE16XL-S
cool, I'll look into that. I just said ATX to get an idea of general options. I have an X9DAi now, but not necessarily opposed to downsizing to an ATX case if I had to. I just didn't want to be stuck in proprietary-ville.

my card is only 10" long. so that's fine.

Could you not combine the PDU/UPS functionality?
I'm going without details of course ... but seems like you could free up 1U there.

If you are dealing with 4-post rack ("Full depth" - whatever that means in actual depth measurement) ...
could you not mount the switch and router back to back to free up 1U?
(again ... just visualizing without details of your equipment and setup)
combine UPS/PDU, maybe, but I like the way it's setup now with things plugged into the PDU that are close to it (router/switch/rpi) with short cables, and it gives me easy access to plug something in at the rack if I need an outlet real quick without fumbling around behind the UPS.

yes 4 post rack. full depth was just expressing that this is not some tiny network rack. it's adjustable, max depth something like 40" but I think I have it set to like 30-32" or so.
 

gsrcrxsi

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Dec 12, 2018
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I just did something like this with short depth as a requirement and used this case Industrial Chassis | iStarUSA Products | E-20 - 2U Rugged 15" Compact Rackmount Chassis It had to fit in one of those 4u mobile racks and take 2 gpu's(nothing huge quadro p600) as a display system we used some silverstone pcie risers but there's a ton of options there.
I was looking at that case. Seems a bit pricey though and would mean I have to change some things. What PSU did you use?
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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deslok.dyndns.org

Wolfstar

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Nov 28, 2015
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So to clear up some confusion here, the chassis from supermicro that end in WB are WIO chassis. They are ATX form-factor at base, with a different rear window than the equivalent non-WIO chassis to support horizontal mounting of the PCIe cards - if I remember correctly, 3x full height on one side and 2x half height on the other. Other than the rear window and MAYBE one or two standoff holes, they're identical to non-WIO chassis.

So yes, you could in fact get one, put a standard ATX or EATX board in it, use a riser cable, and it should work. Note too, the Supermicro WIO motherboards tend to be an awful lot cheaper than standard EATX or ATX boards are.that's part of why the chassis are a bit more; the other part is there's fewer of them.

Source: converted my ancient X7-generation SC815TQ-R700B to run an X9DRW-iF successfully by replacing the rear window with a WIO window - you can purchase them from Supermicro's RMA department - and using a couple of plastic standoffs where the older chassis was missing standard ATX standoff holes.