Bench test chassis that will hold a SM serv er MB ?

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Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Does such a thing exist? Anybody have any suggestions as to setting up a bench test rig ?

Thanks
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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You should specific motherboard size there's A LOT of sizes SuperMicro makes.

I have a "Server" motherboard by SM in my bench/test box... but it's an E3 ATX board and fits a lot of cases ;) It's in a Lian-LI mid-tower with 8x SSD hot-swap and 4x3.5" hot swap, and some cables coming out for SAS drive testing, 2x M1105, 32GB ECC, E3-1230 v3, insanely over kill for a test box but I needed it to do some 'performance' testing too. Probably will end up 're-using' it someplace else eventually!
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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E-ATX, sorry. I'm not sure if one even exists that has the proper MB mounting holes.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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What about using one of those super cheap SuperMicro 846 for $199 or less with redundant PSU, made for E-ATX and SM specifically... strip out the bakplane, drive caddys, mid plane fans (replace with 120mm if you need/want), remove rear fans and you have a open-air bench box capable of taking FH Cards the Motherboard you need + power supply(s) come with it.

You could even put it on a little tray and build a 'top' on top so you can slide it in and out and still have a monitor/keyboard on top.

Maybe even recoup some of your $$ selling the HDD Caddys and Backplane....
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Thanks Patrick. That looks good and the price is right (It's cheaper at the Egg).

I need to be able to test ECC memory without opening up a working server. I have a spare MB and CPU. Just didn't have anything to mount to MB in.
 

Patrick

Administrator
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Dec 21, 2010
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I use the 4U SM heatsinks in it as well. It has worked well for the last few years.
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Problem solved. I pulled out an old Rosewill 4u case and it had a removable MB tray loaded with more mounting holes than I'll ever need. I had a X8DTu-F that mounted to it just fine even tho it's a proprietary board. All the holes lined up except for two and they're not in critical spots. I also had a PDU from a SC847 that allows me to also test SM PSU's. I had to order a couple of active HSF's as passive coolers don't work when the MB is not in a case. I temporarily put a fan on each CPU so I can use this rig to test some memory. It seems to be working OK. Without the jury rigged fans it goes into thermal shutdown after a couple of minutes.

The removal MB tray really works better for me than a full case because my space is limited. It's nice that this board has IPMI, I can remotely monitor what's going on. :)
 

William

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May 7, 2015
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I use a piece of foam for testing, got tired of setting everything up on test stands, tear it down and move on to the next. Big air coolers work just fine for cooling.

Not sure if that will work for you.
 

TuxDude

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Sep 17, 2011
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I usually just use an old motherboard box, or sometimes just set the system right on my wooden workbench.
 
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William

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May 7, 2015
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Yes a Dimas Tech table is very nice, I have one here and used it for my main rig setup for a long time. Problem is the cost and they will not hold many dual socket motherboards. I don't think any of those list will fit a dual socket MB.
 

Paul Bommel

Member
Oct 30, 2015
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He asked for E-ATX (SSI EEB), which is 12 × 13 in (305 × 330 mm)

The dimas listed on this site are only for XL-ATX, which is not standard and smaller.
So it's clear that they don't support the most E-ATX DP boards...