Super Micro 815TQ-560UB desktop case?

[spyrizzle]

Let me start off with a big thank you to the toms hardware community THANK YOU. you will soon see why.

My adventure starts off with a humble and lowly intel core 2 duo. a whopping 2.2ghz on an lga775 mobo. with taxes due in just a few short days i decided an upgrade to a quad core would be fine. I do not really do any serious gaming or anything. just primarily pir..err downloading. and then burning. casual social networking and video watching ( G+, youtube ect) and of course mass tech reading. scientific articles, underground news ect. so nothing serious, but I just need a little more umph to my usual tasks.

the prices i found for quad cores was somewhere in average range of 150 usd. then as fate would have it, the google gods and goddesses pointed me to the direction of tomshardware.com. I looked and found a post mentioning a mother board that had two spots for cpu's and could boast an amazing ( to me at least) two intel xeon quad core cpu's my reaction? something along the lines of "ermahgerdwtfithastwocpuspawtsifreakinneedthisrightnaow" so of course naturally I went back to my google religion and prayed upon the might search engine to point me once again in the right direction to go. i came across this lovely little thing here. ( http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=815TQ-560UB-XQC20X2-R&cat=SYS) it comes with two xeon quads. for less than a single cpu upgrade to my current dinosaur. I am amazed. and once I came back to tghis site and found that i can run win7 ulty on the server jut fine and have two wicked cpu's. thus i can do whatever i want with speed and ease. now. i need a case, a desktop like case. i have some questions regarding this particular mobo. is there not usb ports on it? i will of course desire the wi-fi. is there a case around for a reasonable price such as $50 or so? and what type of hdd should i use with this board? would a wd green be accetable? or should i use something else?


yes. I am attempting to use a server in place of a regular old desktop.
i will need usb ports for wifi adapter an d external hdd and keyboard mouse. also,on this board, would i be able to replace the wimpy 4cm fans with 200mm blue led fans?


I am not set on this specific mobo. but i am set on dual xeon quad's and I am set on the max budget of $150.00 for the set up. the case not included in the price of the board. as in the desktop case i want. that is a separate budget. any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

 

[roguesmci]

Probably it was this server?
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/6015/SYS-6015B-T.cfm

There should be a link for the motherboard spec there

 

[spyrizzle]

I am not able to find a price for that mobo. and it seems that it does not come with the cpu's or ram. the hdd's are not a problem, I have several. but I am after one that comes with the cpu's at least.
and thank you for replying

 

[choucove]

I don't think there is any way in which you can convert this server to a desktop system with ease much less for limited budget. A 1U server chassis, like this SuperMicro system, is specifically designed for all the specific hardware that is in this chassis. In other words, the power supply for running dual processors is not going to be your standard ATX power supply. Fan connectors may be much different than your standard 4 pin fan connectors (both of my Supermicro servers have different types of fan connectors) and finding a case that can mount the motherboard in the first place is going to be much more than $50 as this is an extended ATX form factor motherboard.

All in all, if you are going to be buying the 1U server, and you don't have the money for a complete overhaul of the system (which would cost more than its worth) then leave it in the 1U chassis. Otherwise, you are better off with a different solution.

 

[spyrizzle]

would you know of any method or server i could get/use to achieve my primary goal?
( dual xeon quads. usb ports, vga port. ) for around the budget mark i have previously set?

 

[spyrizzle]

would you know of any method or server i could get/use to achieve my primary goal?
( dual xeon quads. usb ports, vga port. ) for around the budget mark i have previously set?

 

[kittle]

Its quite possible to use a server board as your desktop -- I did exactly that for a number of years.

is it cheap? no frigging way!.. its EXPENSIVE. For my first system, the motherboard alone was $750USD.. and it went from there. But in the end, that system ran for almost 24/7 for 10 years.
My second AMD Opteron system still works, but its really too old to do much anymore (I got in in 2005)

The server you listed has a vga port and a couple USB ports, so you can plug in your existing monitor, keyboard, mouse, add a single SATA HD and run ok. But dont expect to play any games on it.

as for a case -- it already comes with one. The motherboard is a EATX server board. you may be able to find one that fits, but its going to be HUGE. The cheapest one i see at newegg is $81.
However once you get the new case, the next task is how to get your board intalled. It may fit, it may not.. you wont know until you have both of them setting on your floor.

 

[spyrizzle]

Thanks for all the information everyone

you said do not expect to play any games on it. i do not really play anything. (recovering WoW addict ) as long as video, music downloading and surfing is good for the board i suppose it'll do. are you by chance able to tell if that board comes with the xeons and ram? i am having a difficult time deciding if it does or does not. i know some sites are quite sheisty

 

[nigelren]

A board which I started my multi CPU adventures with is a Tyan S2915 from a HP XW9400 - noticed there is one on EBay with 16GB memory starting at $91. It's also an EATX motherboard, but with a tweak and some luck on E-Bay I ended up with dual six core opterons running quite nicely. There is no graphics, but you have a few different slots to play with.

 

[spyrizzle]

That sounds pretty good. im guessing some sort of graphics card would have me up and running easy mode i'll check out the ebay and see where it takes me XD thanks!