This is a quick guide for drilling standoff holes inside cases. I bought a Supermicro H11DSi and a Fractal Design North XL to build a home server. Supermicro lists this motherboard as "EATX" and has the 330mm measurements, so I assumed a case that says it supports "EATX (330mm)" on the website would have the correct standoff holes for this type of motherboard, but only a few of them lined up.

Only the red highlighted screw-holes above were aligning. Ignore the extra screw at the top; I forgot to take a picture before I had one of the standoffs drilled in. The top of the motherboard only having one screw was the most concerning as this motherboard would be fairly top-heavy with two heatsinks installed. I also did not want the motherboard to flex and bend in the top left of the case. Not sure if the motherboard is some non-standard EEATX or CEB format, but I really wanted to use this case, so I decided to just drill holes and risk ruining it. I bought a cheap drill and tap set from Amazon and got to work. I started by putting the motherboard in the case and securing it down so I could mark where I needed to drill holes. I used the largest drill bit that could fit in the motherboard screw holes without damaging it (just so it would be as center-aligned as possible) and put some pressure on it while spinning it down so it would make a small mark in the metal.


After I had the mark, I used the smallest drill bit in the set to make a bit of a dent so I could center the larger drill bit. This was not the best idea, and I would definitely buy a center punch if I had to do it again, as it was very difficult to keep it centered. Afterward, most standard standoff screws are 6-32 sized, so I used the drill bit for that and slowly drilled a hole with some SuperLube applied to the area. I'm sure there are better machining lubricants out there, but this is the oil I had on hand.

After the holes were drilled, I applied a bit more oil and used the included tap set to create 6-32 threads. There were only 1-2 threads on the thin sheet metal, so I definitely made sure not to over-torque the standoffs, but they seem very solid and are certainly better than nothing.

After dusting out the metal shards and cleaning up the oil with some degreaser, I installed the motherboard, and luckily, all of the screw holes lined up. I was able to fully screw down the motherboard into all the standoffs, and it seems secure enough for my use. Hope this helps someone in the future to build more server/workstation builds in nice-looking cases.

Also ignore the quiet adapter for the Noctua heatsink, I only used it temporarily until I got my PWM fan extension cables in the mail =)

Only the red highlighted screw-holes above were aligning. Ignore the extra screw at the top; I forgot to take a picture before I had one of the standoffs drilled in. The top of the motherboard only having one screw was the most concerning as this motherboard would be fairly top-heavy with two heatsinks installed. I also did not want the motherboard to flex and bend in the top left of the case. Not sure if the motherboard is some non-standard EEATX or CEB format, but I really wanted to use this case, so I decided to just drill holes and risk ruining it. I bought a cheap drill and tap set from Amazon and got to work. I started by putting the motherboard in the case and securing it down so I could mark where I needed to drill holes. I used the largest drill bit that could fit in the motherboard screw holes without damaging it (just so it would be as center-aligned as possible) and put some pressure on it while spinning it down so it would make a small mark in the metal.


After I had the mark, I used the smallest drill bit in the set to make a bit of a dent so I could center the larger drill bit. This was not the best idea, and I would definitely buy a center punch if I had to do it again, as it was very difficult to keep it centered. Afterward, most standard standoff screws are 6-32 sized, so I used the drill bit for that and slowly drilled a hole with some SuperLube applied to the area. I'm sure there are better machining lubricants out there, but this is the oil I had on hand.

After the holes were drilled, I applied a bit more oil and used the included tap set to create 6-32 threads. There were only 1-2 threads on the thin sheet metal, so I definitely made sure not to over-torque the standoffs, but they seem very solid and are certainly better than nothing.

After dusting out the metal shards and cleaning up the oil with some degreaser, I installed the motherboard, and luckily, all of the screw holes lined up. I was able to fully screw down the motherboard into all the standoffs, and it seems secure enough for my use. Hope this helps someone in the future to build more server/workstation builds in nice-looking cases.

Also ignore the quiet adapter for the Noctua heatsink, I only used it temporarily until I got my PWM fan extension cables in the mail =)