Or just a board. I've gone the route of BOTH. I'm in the process of retrofitting OLDER SuperMicro hardware with NEWER motherboards. Try that with HP and Dell servers.

The EATX footprint and multiple mounting screw placement makes the SuperMicro case as easy as using an ANTEC " white box " case.

The Supermicro hardware is a perfect example of NO PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE like the HP gen 1, gen 2 gen 3 and gen 4 products.

My only complaint with the Supermicro MBs is that you have to go liquid cooling in an ANTEC case..;-). It's HARD to get rid of 200 watts of heating power with air cooling, not so hard with the SuperMicro axial flow in the rackmount case...

The reuse of components is also what is wanted when you throw out the word GREEN.

How many HP, Dell and IBM servers/desktops are really GREEN??

Answer: NOT MANY!

( and I am not talking about the latches and component parts inside a Dell )