Smallest E-ATX Chassis?

[DDWill]

I am going to build a new workstation. I have already chosen all the internal components I need, just having problems finding the right chassis. I am looking for a chassis that will directly fit one of SuperMicro’s X8 E-ATX motherboards measuring 12” x 13” inches, with all the mounting holes used and lined up correctly. I already know of several full tower cases that these boards have been tested in, but what I am looking for is the smallest possible case to house this motherboard in. I travel around a lot and sometimes the PC has to come along, so smallest possible dimensions and a very solid build are the most important things. The Titan650 and akasa’s Omega chassis seem to be about as small as I can find with a good build quality, but their width is not necessary for the SuperMicro Cpu coolers I will be using. Some of the smallest E-ATX cases I have found so far come from Chieftec but the build quality looks very poor. SuperMicro’s own chassis selections are also very compact but way overpriced, and always come with a PSU that I will not have use for, and that adds to the price tag. Any suggestions?

 

[canadian69]

As to the width of available chassis, if its going to have 5.25" drive bays for a DVD drive the widths are going to be standard. I have not heard of an ATX case without.

 

[mrh100]

Hi,

I was looking for the same answer only a week ago. I spent 3 solid nights trying to find the smallest EATX case with a good build quality. Like you, I found all the ones you did but in the end I settled for the Akasa Omega which suited all my needs.

I did find two cases that I thought looked really good and it was even smaller than the Chieftec but I could not find it anywhere in the UK.

Chenbro SR105 D533xW198xH425

Chenbro SR111 D533xW198xH425

Since then I have now found that Supermicro makes a mATX and ATX socket 771 motherboard. So it looks like I will be selling it and getting something smaller.

Hope this helps and it would be great to know what you get.

Mike

 

[DDWill]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your post. I ordered the parts for my new build today. I decided to stick with my first choice, the Akasa Omega in the end. It’s still a fairly big case, but it’s the lightest E-ATX case I could find at 8.6kg and has a very solid build. The new system will be used mainly for 3d rendering so needed as many cores as possible meaning 2x 6 core Xeon’s, giving me 24 threads (when AutoDesk fix the 16 core limit bug that is!), so E-ATX is the smallest size I could go down to. My only worry is if the Supermicro board I ordered will align correctly in the MoBo tray with all the mounting holes positioned correctly, as some people have reported anything from 1 to 5 of the holes not aligning in various other cases. I will get the parts in a few days, as some parts are special order, and see how it goes.

Simon.