- Joined
- Sep 22, 2004
First of all... let's start with the parts.
First, the HAF932 bare from the factory.
The HAF supports a two power supply configuration with an upper and lower PSU mounting bay. The upper bay has support tabs that need to be removed to allow installation of the Supermicro SWTX board.
A quick dremmel run and some electrical tape to hide the rough edges and the upper tabs are gone.
The basic problem with mounting an SWTX board inside this case is the lack of surface to secure the upper mounting points on the motherboard. To combat this we created a 2" extension out of 0.032 aluminum.
The red circles represent where the extension will meet the original manufactured motherboard tray. The blue circles represent the mounting/standoff positions necessary to secure the SWTX motherboard. The standoffs were tapped with a 6-32 tap but they didn't hold well so the standoffs were secured with a 6-32 lock nut and loctite.
Here's the holes drilled in the original motherboard tray where the extension will be attached with steel rivets.
This is picture of the case with the extension mounted and all necessary standoffs in place.
The red circles represent where the extension will meet the original manufactured motherboard tray. The blue circles represent the mounting/standoff positions necessary to secure the SWTX motherboard. The pink/fuschia circles represent standoff mounts that already work with an SWTX motherboard.
Here's the backside of the motherboard showing all the custom mounts that had to be drilled and tapped. All but one custom standoff was secured by a 6-32 nut and loctite.
The red circles represent the points where the 2" extension attaches to the original mobo tray with steel rivits. The blue circles represent the other mounting points in the mobo tray that had to be drilled and tapped. This case is tight for an SWTX mobo. The mounting points are right on the edge of the openings in the mobo tray... but it's doable. All I can say is this... my mobo is in there... SOLID.
Overall I'm really happy with the case... especially for the price. I do want to say this though... Cooler Master fans suck. The 140mm on the back already broke on me, but to be perfectly honest I don't count on manufacturer case fans anyway. They always break. Delta, Panaflo, Scythe S-Flex, Yate Loon... those are real fans that will serve you well for a long time. Although I am using the included 230mm fans... at least until they die.
Here's the end result. Believe it or not... this only took ~3 hours to do. Big props to my father who is the handy man. I couldn't have done it so quickly without him.
Code:
Mobo - $720 (Supermicro H8QGi-F - Superbizz)
CPUs - $1920 (4xMC 6174 - $480 each used on eBay)
32GB RAM - $288 (8x2x2GB G.Skill 1600MHz CL8 - $36 each at Newegg on sale)
HS - $240 (4xNoctua NH-U9DO A3 - $60 each at Provantage)
PSU - $170 (Corsair AX750 - Newegg)
HD - $0 (500GB WD - already owned)
Case - $150 (Cooler Master HAF932 - Newegg)
Total - $3488
First, the HAF932 bare from the factory.
The HAF supports a two power supply configuration with an upper and lower PSU mounting bay. The upper bay has support tabs that need to be removed to allow installation of the Supermicro SWTX board.
A quick dremmel run and some electrical tape to hide the rough edges and the upper tabs are gone.
The basic problem with mounting an SWTX board inside this case is the lack of surface to secure the upper mounting points on the motherboard. To combat this we created a 2" extension out of 0.032 aluminum.
The red circles represent where the extension will meet the original manufactured motherboard tray. The blue circles represent the mounting/standoff positions necessary to secure the SWTX motherboard. The standoffs were tapped with a 6-32 tap but they didn't hold well so the standoffs were secured with a 6-32 lock nut and loctite.
Here's the holes drilled in the original motherboard tray where the extension will be attached with steel rivets.
This is picture of the case with the extension mounted and all necessary standoffs in place.
The red circles represent where the extension will meet the original manufactured motherboard tray. The blue circles represent the mounting/standoff positions necessary to secure the SWTX motherboard. The pink/fuschia circles represent standoff mounts that already work with an SWTX motherboard.
Here's the backside of the motherboard showing all the custom mounts that had to be drilled and tapped. All but one custom standoff was secured by a 6-32 nut and loctite.
The red circles represent the points where the 2" extension attaches to the original mobo tray with steel rivits. The blue circles represent the other mounting points in the mobo tray that had to be drilled and tapped. This case is tight for an SWTX mobo. The mounting points are right on the edge of the openings in the mobo tray... but it's doable. All I can say is this... my mobo is in there... SOLID.
Overall I'm really happy with the case... especially for the price. I do want to say this though... Cooler Master fans suck. The 140mm on the back already broke on me, but to be perfectly honest I don't count on manufacturer case fans anyway. They always break. Delta, Panaflo, Scythe S-Flex, Yate Loon... those are real fans that will serve you well for a long time. Although I am using the included 230mm fans... at least until they die.
Here's the end result. Believe it or not... this only took ~3 hours to do. Big props to my father who is the handy man. I couldn't have done it so quickly without him.
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