EATX for My Dual Xeon

[Bootup05]

Hey guys.

You may have noticed my halved output today, or not.

I've been spending pretty much all my day testing PSU's, which meant cruncher downtime.. and moddind a new case I got delivered.

I was origonally bidding on an EATX Case on Ebay, Untill some guy put a huge stake in. :down:

So I've gone down another route instead. Get a Cheap ATX Case, remove the drive bays and voila! Room for an EATX Board.

I've been using a limited selection of tools so my work aint the best, This system is only going to be a cruncher anyway, so it doesnt really need to look good, just perform well ;)

Anyway, on to what I've been up to.

Ripped out the 5.25" & Drive Bays.
Taken out the back PCI Plates to make way for another 120mm fan.
Lifted off the top of the chassis to strengthen everything.
Added another 120 where the old optical bays used to be.

So in total, thats 2 120mm fan's for intake, a 120 & 80mm for exhaust on the back, and another 80 on the side.

I've also added a small length of wood inside as alternatives to motherboard standoffs, as there's no way to screw real standoffs into the back panel of the case. The board needs SOME support, this is where both CPU's & heatsinks will be afterall.


Pics..


http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8741/pict0054ro0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/755/pict0051jn8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/2226/pict0050cv2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9924/pict0052vz1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/2825/pict0047vh2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3600/pict0053iu1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1136/pict0055ev8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Mess will be sorted out as progression is made with the case :)

Jobs to do tomorrow will be to add feet to the case, to allow for screws to be placed underneath to support a HDD which will be on the bottom (inside).

Level the rest of the risen standoffs, and make some blocks in place of those so that the board doesnt bow.


You can already see one of my attempts to flatten a risen standoff, except I leveled the wrong one. Im clever like that :rolleyes:

Second clever moment was picking up the wrong glue to attach a standoff with. It takes 24 HOURS to dry! :shakes:

Which is why I've been stopped straight ever since I made that mistake :down:

Once the above is done I'll have the board in. Also have a few graphics cards on ebay, which will hopefully raise the money for both CPU's, heatsinks, and the hard drive.

Should help me out a bit with my dailys once I get this system up and running :)

[KaptainBlaZzed]

looks nice, i have a case or 2 like this.:up:

[loonym]

Totally ghetto, I love it!

[littleowl]

Very Ghetto!
I like it. keep us up to date!!

[Bootup05]

Finished it now :)

Added some extra wood pieces in for motherboard backing.
Feet to the case are on.

Motherboard is now in and secured.

Still have space for an ATX PSU, and the HDD will be on the bottom, mounted sideways, via 2 screws through the case floor.

(Was originally thinking about mounting it up top. But I don't want to risk it, vibration over time could cause the screws to loosen, then drop!

This is the reasoning behind me adding case feet, so that I can now have screwheads underneath my case.

Pics below :)

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5325/pict0061lt2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Ready for the motherboard.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1376/pict0062hj3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

With the motherboard in.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/5509/pict0063zx0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8903/pict0064jc0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/4741/pict0065lf4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Bootup05]

All Crunchers will be back up by tonight, Right now its just the E6400 that isn't folding.
I'll probably have a huge load of WU's waiting to go in. Usually send them in myself. Also the E2200 isnt connected to the net right now, as the net printers using its port! Dual networks aint running yet, better go connect it now incase its run out of WU;s!
BTW, Floppy Bay covers, on / off?

I can't decide :shrug:

[Bobsama]

Nice. If I was in your spot, though, I'd have bought a Chenbro e-ATX chassis or an XClio Windtunnel. Not very expensive and eATX. Anyways--still, nice ghetto work lol.

[sierra_bound]

Looks good. One note about Xeon dual-socket boards. The heatsinks generally are attached to the motherboard tray and not the back of the board. Intel recommends this method because of the weight of two heatsinks. Some motherboards come with a special metal retention plate that attaches to the tray. The heatsinks are then screwed into the plate.

The plate for Supermicro boards looks like this.

[s0lid]

What cpus that thing eats :)?

[Bobsama]

Dual-sossamans. 2GHz dual-cores, based on Merom iirc. x86-only, no 64-bit available for them.