Do you have a picture or otherwise a description of what isn't fitting? Or a picture of the case as-is? Is it that screw-holes don't line up, or that you can't get any purchase on the screws in the case?

SE440BX-2 and GA-5AX is an ATX motherboard, but may fit in some AT-style cases (some cases take AT and ATX). However if the case only takes AT form boards, it likely won't have proper standoff positions and the rear I/O panel may not be cut-out correctly for an ATX board either.

Anyways, for the two boards you've mentioned, you would need an ATX compatible case - there's an almost endless number of options for that, new and used.

The screw holes in motherboards are like 99.9% universal.

That said, ATX motherboards will NOT fit into AT cases, but AT boards WILL fit into ATX cases (with adapters)

As for what to do with your obviously AT case... build a 486. Thats what I'd likely do.

obobskivich wrote:

Do you have a picture or otherwise a description of what isn't fitting? Or a picture of the case as-is? Is it that screw-holes don't line up, or that you can't get any purchase on the screws in the case?

SE440BX-2 and GA-5AX is an ATX motherboard, but may fit in some AT-style cases (some cases take AT and ATX). However if the case only takes AT form boards, it likely won't have proper standoff positions and the rear I/O panel may not be cut-out correctly for an ATX board either.

Well, first thing is first the screws do not line up properly with my 440BX board as the I/O panel only has one port and some other ports above it. If I try to screw the motherboard in to the case, the 440BX is not lined up correctly and the motherboard board ends up sideways. The same can be said for the Gigabyte GA-5AX.

luckybob wrote:

As for what to do with your obviously AT case... build a 486. That's what I'd likely do.

Are there any other options than building a 486? Lately it seems as if the costs to building a 486 are becoming quite high.

Mod the case so it works with your system?

EDIT:
also pics would help

Pictures! I can't really follow. It seems to me that you're trying to fit an ATX board into an AT case, I always thought this isn't possible, but maybe there are some cases that allow it...

You could build a socket 7 AT system instead of a 486...

As you can see it is just not fitting.

TheVibe wrote:

Well, first thing is first the screws do not line up properly with my 440BX board as the I/O panel only has one port and some other ports above it. If I try to screw the motherboard in to the case, the 440BX is not lined up correctly and the motherboard board ends up sideways. The same can be said for the Gigabyte GA-5AX.

That's an AT case and a atx motherbord. You will need to remove the box for the AT keyboard, that can be done with a drill, just drill out the rivets. Next you will need to make holes for the motherboard connectors, this can be done with the same drill and a cut off disk. You can get a low end dremel or drill for cheap at most hardware stores if you don't already have one.
Option 2 would be to get a different case or motherboard.

EDIT:
You may also need to drill holes in the motherboard tray to mount the motherboard.

Well, honestly I think I rather keep it in its original format. I rather not mod the case. I may use it for another build someday. Maybe, I will mod it another day.

TheVibe wrote:

Well, honestly I think I rather keep it in its original format. I rather not mod the case. I may use it for another build someday. Maybe, I will mod it another day.

I see, modding is not for everyone. However it is a simple mod. You would need to use an AT motherboard if you don't mod it.

frisky dingo wrote:

TheVibe wrote:

Well, honestly I think I rather keep it in its original format. I rather not mod the case. I may use it for another build someday. Maybe, I will mod it another day.

I see, modding is not for everyone. However it is a simple mod. You would need to use an AT motherboard if you don't mod it.

Why ruin a perfectly good AT case when you can purchase an ATX case from literally anyware? You can still find old white ATX boxes really cheap online or buy a budged ATX case and PSU combo from a retailer (like I did for my PIII V2 SLI build). Don't cut up the AT case, they are becoming harder and harder to find - especially big towers like the one you have. I payed 25$ for this:

It came with a cheap, quiet PSU (perfect for a P3) and I added a black DVD-RW pata drive and a black FDD. It has side cutouts on witch I mounted a 120mm fan to cool my Voodoo 2 cards.

You can use the AT case for a 386, 486 or Socket 7 Pentium MMX / AMD K6-2 or K6-3 / Slot 1 Intel Pentium 2/3 with the right motherboard. AT socket 7 motherboards with AGP that support K6 CPUs are plenty.

As a clarification, ATX cases look like this:

As you can see, they have a rectangular cutout above the expansion card slots witch matches with the multitude of ports at the rear of the ATX motherboard. In the cutout you are supposed to install a metal I/O shield that comes with the motherboard. An ATX case will also fit a full AT motherboard - but you will not be able to use a I/O shield to cover the hole.

This is what an AT case looks like from behind (like the one you have)

As you can see, it doesn't have the cutout required to fit an ATX motherboard's rear connectors. An AT case will only fit an AT motherboard

You're currently stuck with a Bigtower AT case and an ATX motherboard witch are not compatible.

AT and ATX power supplies are different too. Some AT boards (namely newer socket 7 and Slot 1 boards) have support both ATX and AT power supplies, but 90% of ATX boards only support ATX power supplies (different connector). There are exceptions (some ACER and Gateway Pentium 2 / 3 motherboards come in ATX form factor but require an AT power supply).

The motherboard you are trying to use is ATX form factor has an ATX connector - so it will only work with an ATX case + power supply combo. Sourcing a cheap one is easy - slot 1 systems don't require much power so almost any power supply will do.

Hope this helps - good luck with your build.

kanecvr wrote:

Why ruin a perfectly good AT case when you can purchase an ATX case from literally anyware? Don't cut up the AT case, they are becoming harder and harder to find - especially big towers like the one you have.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. Hopefully one day I will make my AT case into a full on 486.

kanecvr wrote:

You can still find old white ATX boxes really cheap online or buy a budged ATX case and PSU combo from a retailer (like I did for my PIII V2 SLI build). It came with a cheap, quiet PSU (perfect for a P3) and I added a black DVD-RW pata drive and a black FDD. It has side cutouts on witch I mounted a 120mm fan to cool my Voodoo 2 cards.

I am curious as to how you managed to create a build like that with that PSU you got from a modern retailer. I am guessing the PSU was one of those newer ones that do not have a -5v rail for ISA cards. Since you have Voodoo 2 SLI, I am guessing you want to play early Windows and late DOS games but for DOS games you really need an ISA soundcard, as far as my knowledge goes these require the -5v rail to function.

I suppose I will look for one of those beige mid ATX cases on Ebay for my build.

Only a few (older) ISA cards do need -5V to work. Most of them don't.

I use a Creative Vibra 128 PCI since the mainboard doesn't have any ISA slots. Current configuration is this:

- 1GHz Socket 370 Pentium 3 256K + quiet socket A cooler (Titan heatsink + silent fan)
- ECS P6VXA motherboard (recapped)
- 2x256MB SDRAM (Hyundai chips I think)
- Geforce 4 Ti 4200 64MB AGP 4x from Leadtek (A250 I think) - replaced the stock noisy cooling solution
- 2x Creative Voodoo 2 12MB in SLi
- Creative CT4810 - Sound Blaster Vibra 128 PCI
- Intel 10/100 PCI lan card made by IBM
- 2x Maxtor 40GB PATA HDDs (the slim model)
- Hitachi PATA DVD-RW
- Sony 3,5" Black FDD
- DELUXE brand case and PSU.

Would have preferred a more period-correct looking beige case, but most early ATX cases you can find in my country are such poor quality they aren't worth using.

Then again, this modern case does have a great cooling advantage over period correct ATX parts - it has the aforementioned dual 120mm fan mounts, one of witch can blow right onto the voodoo cards, and it offers the posibility to install another 90mm fan on the bottom. That and most of my PATA CD-ROMS and DVD-RW are black... white DVD-RW drives are hard to come by in these parts...

kanecvr wrote:

frisky dingo wrote:

TheVibe wrote:

Well, honestly I think I rather keep it in its original format. I rather not mod the case. I may use it for another build someday. Maybe, I will mod it another day.

I see, modding is not for everyone. However it is a simple mod. You would need to use an AT motherboard if you don't mod it.

Why ruin a perfectly good AT case when you can purchase an ATX case from literally anyware? You can still find old white ATX boxes really cheap online or buy a budged ATX case and PSU combo from a retailer (like I did for my PIII V2 SLI build). Don't cut up the AT case, they are becoming harder and harder to find - especially big towers like the one you have. I payed 25$ for this:

Adding a atx i/o panel to a AT case by no means ruins it. You can still use a AT motherboard in the case along with a ATX motherboard. I done it countless time to generic AT cases. That is if you know what your doing. 🤣
A simpler thing to do is to removed the back panel all together and put a atx back panel in it's place, keeping the AT panel unmodified .

alexanrs wrote:

Only a few (older) ISA cards do need -5V to work. Most of them don't.

Some motherboards need -5v regardless if you have a isa card that need -5v as well.

oerk wrote:

It seems to me that you're trying to fit an ATX board into an AT case, I always thought this isn't possible, but maybe there are some cases that allow it...

I have an old ATX/AT hybrid case - I think it's an Enlight (it was repainted by the previous owner, so it's impossible to tell). It has a lot of mounts for movable stand-offs and a key engraved into the MB tray for the various form factors it supports. With an AT board the "ATX I/O connector area" is largely open - I used to have a blank for it, but that was lost ages ago. All the blank does is provide a single hole for the keyboard connector, and fills the rest of the void. I'm sure if you were so inclined you could modify a blank to include areas for the various ribbon-cable leads to mount, as opposed to using punch-outs on the case (or to augment them). 😊

TheVibe wrote:

Well, first thing is first the screws do not line up properly with my 440BX board as the I/O panel only has one port and some other ports above it. If I try to screw the motherboard in to the case, the 440BX is not lined up correctly and the motherboard board ends up sideways. The same can be said for the Gigabyte GA-5AX.

Like was already said (and as I assumed initially) - you need an ATX compatible case. They're very common/easy to find at a variety of price-points and in a variety of styles. Personally I preference models that support larger fans (e.g. 120mm) because I want quieter systems, but that's mostly an aesthetic choice.

TheVibe wrote:

I am curious as to how you managed to create a build like that with that PSU you got from a modern retailer. I am guessing the PSU was one of those newer ones that do not have a -5v rail for ISA cards. Since you have Voodoo 2 SLI, I am guessing you want to play early Windows and late DOS games but for DOS games you really need an ISA soundcard, as far as my knowledge goes these require the -5v rail to function.

I suppose I will look for one of those beige mid ATX cases on Ebay for my build.

Not all retro builds require ISA cards (and as already stated, not all ISA cards require -5V), and it isn't uncommon for Voodoo2 cards to end up in newer/faster machines for Glide support (and they do scale well with faster CPUs, like the P3). 😀