I am helping a colleague of mine with his workstation build. The plan is to do a quad GPU setup with dual xeon processors ( image processing :) ).
I am looking for cases that have good options for intake fans that help that 3/4 blower style gpus behind them breathe . The corsair 540 case seems to fit the bill with separate sections for the PSU and Drive-bays and the motherboard.
Here are the cases, I have considered:
Cheers!
you'd be better picking up some server 4u cases.
Like this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811147164
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811182566
tower cases are not well made for dual-cpu, multi-gpu setups.
If you insist on using a desktop PC case, The CM Storm Trooper will take 4 GPUs. As for intake fans, a bit of modding will provide plenty of fan positions.
build thread with more pics on fan mounts.
Server cases will do better than tower cases. Having worked on servers that would have literally burst into flames without the cooling they had, I can garuntee this.
I am on the fence with rack enclosures in the lab. Aren't the fans that come with these cases insanely loud? These machines will be under office desks :|
I might be wrong, but wouldn't the top cover hinder the GPU power connectors? See image.
depends what kind of fans you are using. The loud ones are from 2u servers using small fans that crank up to around 4k rpm.
If you are using larger case you can put any type of fans you want, and set them at speeds you want. You should be more concerned with noise from GPU's.
No it would not hinder the gpu power connectors, 4u is large enough to squash few small 4.5" fans on top of gpus.
Well its your choice of fans.
Cardboard is best workstation case.
Ah I didn't think of form factor. I remember removing the top lid on a rack enclosure to get a GTX 690 to sit there.
I believe it was 3U.
Supermicro SC747TQ-R1620B
Supports quad GPU, dual CPU.
You get a nice PSU with it aswell.
https://www.supermicro.nl/products/chassis/4U/747/SC747TQ-R1620.cfm
Downside: Pricy!
A divide the price by 3 and you get this:
Supermicro CSE-743TQ-865B-SQ
you'd be fine on 4u, i'd be sitting on 4u myself if i only didn't have supermicro enhanced-eatx board.
@CrossCarbon
while i like how supermicro cases look like, i simply cannot justify the cost for it.
Considering the pre-installed PSUs... Well, the $1200 is a bit overkill.
the only great thing they have is dual-psu's (backup), but they are too expensive... you can grab similar psu's for $200 from used servers - sometimes even cheaper.
Take a look at the Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 Rev. B. It is monstrous and will swallow all the hardware you throw at it.
I did upgrade to a dual CPU system in it's little brother. You can take a look at that here.