Supermicro 836 dimensions

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maes

Active Member
Nov 11, 2018
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I'm just in the preliminary steps of a slightly deranged mod and, before I buy any parts, I want to figure out if it's possible at all.

Putting it simply, if there's remotely enough clearance after shuffling some things around, I'm looking into increasing the capacity of an SC836 to 20 hot-swap bays instead of 16 (and possibly replacing the internal fan frame to use 2x 120mm or 2x 140mm instead of 3x 80mm). Either by mounting a standard ATX/STX PSU completely internally (as found on some other server cases) to use the room normally taken by the supermicro PSUs (and the ~2" unused between them and the motherboard) or by repurposing the room taken by 6 of the pci slots.

Would anyone with a 836 be willing to take some measurements? Here's what I'd need (numbered 1 to 6)

836-dim1.png 836-dim2.png
 

maes

Active Member
Nov 11, 2018
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Awesome, thanks! Already points that a 'full size' 2-high or 3-high 5.25 bay wouldn't fit anywhere, so I'll have to see if something more compact like the drive cages for the ML330/ML350s or an Intel AXX4DRV3GR might fit.

Eyeballing things, the AXX4DRV3GR should fit easily (looks roughly ~4.37" by ~4.47") after redesigning the rear plate and would still give enough room for a full-size ATX motherboard. No luck finding dimensions for the ML330/ML350 cages but I'll dig around a bit more.
 

maes

Active Member
Nov 11, 2018
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I'm well aware, however I'm trying to fit an extra 4x 3.5" drives for the storage array. Both as a bit of a personnal challenge and to better hit one of the 'better' '2n+raidz level' drive numbers for zpools.
 

BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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Why not just get an 846 instead since you presumably don't yet have an 836 chassis given your request for measurements?
 
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Termight

New Member
Jan 27, 2018
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I'd agree with BlueFox. Also, if your fan wall and psu system are anything like mine they're riveted in and would be a bitch to remove.
 

maes

Active Member
Nov 11, 2018
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That's understandable. I don't have the case yet, I was just looking at possibilities to see what's doable.