Question 1

Can this case support a micro-ATX motherboard?

Accepted Answer

Yes, of course any PCIe cards would have to be 1/2 height (as it's a 3U case) but that is the same for any Motherboard.  It has all the correct standoff slots for a micro-ATX board, and the standoffs are included.

Question 2

Anything available with the chassis for internal storage, like 2.5?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  Above the two left hot swap bays there are two 3.5" internal drive bays.  They have a caddie inside of them that slides out the front after releasing the catches that are on the inside.  You can fit a 3.5" or 2.5" (inside a 3.5-to-2.5 caddie) drive in them.  The case comes with an alternate face plate with a slot that can be put on one of these bays if needed it for a tape drive.

Question 3

Can I connect the backplane to the sata connectors on the motherboard I'm getting with a SFF-8087 breakout cable, or do I HAVE to get a raid controller card?

Accepted Answer

Actually the backplane connects with standard sata cables.  So you can simply connect from the motherboard to the backplane with a standard sats cable(s).

Question 4

are the drive bay trayless, as in no trays?  Also will the SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller fit in this case?

Accepted Answer

It comes with trays. Low profile controllers fit the case. Please note that this case does not include a motherboard.

Question 5

Does this have a backplane? 
will the backplane run my 12 gb/s harddrives off of a 12 gb/s raid controller at that speed or will it throttle down?

Accepted Answer

It has a BPN-SAS-825TQ backplane, which is limited to a 6 Gb/s transfer rate. If you need 12 Gb/s capabilities you should purchase something with a BPN-SAS3-* (i.e. BPN-SAS3-826EL1, BPN-SAS3-216EL2, etc.) backplane.

Question 6

On the front panel I see a VGA port... is that actually a front panel video port? Or is it used for other things?

Accepted Answer

That is a DB9 serial port (COM port), not a VGA port. VGA ports have 3 rows of 5 pins.

Question 7

What are noise levels like with this case? Do the fans spin down under light load? Would you put it into a home office?

Accepted Answer

That depends upon the motherboard you put in the case, and the heat distribution around the case.   If the motherboard will very fan speed based on the temp it is running at, and they all do, then it will slow the fan speeds down.  You could also replace the fans with quieter fans.  This is a server so it's not really made to be quiet, but at the same time, it's just another case.  Just like every other case, you can modify the noise level.

Question 8

Will this case accomodate a Mini-ITX supermicro board?

Accepted Answer

Yes it will. All SM cases are almost like a PnP configuration when it comes to using their board and their cases. No issues

Question 9

Does the BPN-SAS-825TQ Backplane support drive sizes larger than 2TB?  Is there a maximum size for this backplane?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The capacity of the drive does not matter as long as it supports the same SATA interface. I'm using 4 TB drives in mine.

Question 10

I have a short depth rack (9U 17.8"). Will the included rails mount to this depth and allow the server to stick out the back?

Accepted Answer

your rack will give you headaches. my 48U is 48 inches deep. the included rails allow you to extend to this length but for your case, you will have to get different rails or get a deeper rack. there is no way to allow the server's rails to go past the configured length and thus allowing the case to protrude past the actual rack frame.

Questions & Answers