High quality chassis aside from Supermicro?

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ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
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Hello,

I'm keen to explore high quality rack-mount chassis (esp. 1U and 2U) for servers whose boards may be as small as mini-ITX or as large as SSI-EEB. Normally I use Supermicro and I think they are great but I would like to experiment. Also, SM are sometimes expensive.

There are a lot of other manufacturers, but I'm not sure which are the high quality ones? Obviously power supplies and backplanes need to be taken into consideration, so unless you're getting those somewhere else then making a good chassis is a lot more than simply stamping and welding/riveting together a few sheets of metal.

Can anybody please recommend some brands that I should investigate? Thanks!!

ubk
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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Supermicro > Chenbro > Norco/Intertech/XCase

Can anybody please recommend some brands that I should investigate?
Before buying a server/rackmount chassis check ebay or web shops for spare parts and how long it would take to get them to you.

(This is one of the reasons why I didn't buy chenbro chassis, they are cheaper but it's harder to get the spare parts here (Germany))
 
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DavidB

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Aug 31, 2018
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my personal list in terms of quality to availability ranks as follows:
  1. SuperMicro
  2. Intel Chassis (more expensive than SuperMicro for similar chassis)
  3. SilverStone/Chenbro (only feasible if you have a distributor close by, if you do those are great chassis and every distributor can get you all parts)
  4. Inter-Tech (they have a "premium" line of chassis and offer different variants of every rack case they make)
  5. Chieftec (Reasonable quality cases but their rails are horrible to mount/install)
  6. Everything else (Rosewill / Fantec / XCase / Norco etc.) only usable if cost is your only argument
 
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ullbeking

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Supermicro > Chenbro > Norco/Intertech/XCase
Thank you. I like the look and specs of Chenbro and Intertech but I need a variety of opinions. I heard so many good things about Chenbro, and my official Supermicro vendor here in the UK sells them. (They only sell SM and Chenbro.)

Before buying a server/rackmount chassis check ebay or web shops for spare parts and how long it would take to get them to you.
My SM/Chenbro vendor here _should_ be able to get spare parts. I will ask them.

In fact, in some situations I've found it's cheaper and less hassle to buy new. I've been finding this now that I am in the market for M.2 NVMe SSD's.

Except for last week when I scored a 1U Supermicro SC815 with 600 W PSU for super cheap and the freight within EU cost very little.
 

ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
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my personal list in terms of quality to availability ranks as follows:
  1. SuperMicro
  2. Intel Chassis (more expensive than SuperMicro for similar chassis)
  3. SilverStone/Chenbro (only feasible if you have a distributor close by, if you do those are great chassis and every distributor can get you all parts)
  4. Inter-Tech (they have a "premium" line of chassis and offer different variants of every rack case they make)
  5. Chieftec (Reasonable quality cases but their rails are horrible to mount/install)
  6. Everything else (Rosewill / Fantec / XCase / Norco etc.) only usable if cost is your only argument
Fantastic!! Thank you for the list. I will investigate these options in detail.

@DavidB and @i386 with regards to Chenbro, I have looked at them and I thought they looked great. But then a friendly acquaintance told me that one of his Chenbros had some malfunction and destroyed the server it was in. In not sure what he was getting at there, perhaps it had a faulty backplane, or _something_? I will ping him later and ask details because I don't want to be put off an affordable and good quality brand unnecessarily.
 

EffrafaxOfWug

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Feb 12, 2015
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From previous threads, I've been pleasantly surprised with InWin chassis as a "not as eye-wateringly expensive as Supermicro but still good enough" alternative, I've been very happy with my MS08 (mATX tower) and RS212-02SC (2U 12-bay rackmount).

Although it seems they're not really a thing in the US and some of their newer models seem to come bundled with pretty expensive power supplies which is a big turn-off for me.
 

DavidB

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Aug 31, 2018
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I can't find the premium line. Could you please help with a link?
it's the models ending with 255 (like 20255, 30255) with better fan options as they're updated models as well as the newer 2098 line. Note my "premium" is between quotes as they are nicer than their base models, but definitely don't have the fit and finish of a SuperMicro or Chenbro case.
 

ullbeking

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Jul 28, 2017
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it's the models ending with 255 (like 20255, 30255) with better fan options as they're updated models as well as the newer 2098 line.
Awesome!! Thank you so very much, The helpful attitudes and community spirit of STH is fabulous.

Note my "premium" is between quotes as they are nicer than their base models, but definitely don't have the fit and finish of a SuperMicro or Chenbro case.
I would not have expected that for some reason. A "premium" Intel rack chassis isn't finished and refined as well as a Supermicro or Chenbro, really? Wow.
 

DavidB

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Aug 31, 2018
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Awesome!! Thank you so very much, The helpful attitudes and community spirit of STH is fabulous.



I would not have expected that for some reason. A "premium" Intel rack chassis isn't finished and refined as well as a Supermicro or Chenbro, really? Wow.
I'm talking about Inter-Tech not Intel. Intel mostly has barebones (with motherboard) or stupidly overpriced chassis but their build quality is on-par or better with SuperMicro.
 

ullbeking

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I'm talking about Inter-Tech not Intel. Intel mostly has barebones (with motherboard) or stupidly overpriced chassis but their build quality is on-par or better with SuperMicro.
Ohhhhh, yeah you got me there ;-) Yes, I've looked at Intel's system's and I'm only interested in their chassis. When I read their data sheets, I can't tell what form factors will work because they only list the Intel board it's intended for.

But I will keep them in mind. Perhaps one day a nice Intel chassis will float by my way. Thank you @DavidB !
 

TLN

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Feb 26, 2016
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My ASUS TS700 workstation is good quality I should say. Pretty sure it's one of OEM manufacturers, but still