Case for Hot Dual Proc Rig

BillytheImpaler

BillytheImpaler

BillytheImpaler

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Following up on my previous thread I'm looking for a case to house my dual Xeon rig. The overclocked 130 nm processors and X850 XT PE throw out a ton of heat.

I'd like for it to be aluminum and available in silver but it's not 100% necessary. Cooling is of first priority with sound as a distant second. I don't run many hard or optical drives so room for 2 or 3 HDDs and 1 or 2 optical drives is sufficient.

I've considered:
  • Lian-Li PC-7 (too small, insufficient cooling)
  • CM Stacker 810 (long-in-the-tooth, hard to get, still $30 overpriced IMO :()
  • Akasa Eclipse 62 (hard to find in the US, a bit expensive for what it is, not silver)

I quite like the look of the V1000 but I don't know if its cooling shall be sufficient. The area circled below needs a ton of cooling due to my mobo's very hot MOSFETs:
hotcirclemt9.jpg


Do you think a V1000 would be a good choice? Is the PC-A16A better for my purposes? Are any of the Silverstones both in my price range and up to the task? What case would you select in my position? I'm looking to spend around $175 but I can stretch for more.
 
depending on your budget lian li cases i think are the best. in the uk i bought a v2100++ for £220 and that is big enough for 8800gtxs and dual xeon boards i would say it is huge. :D
 
The V2100 would be VERY nice but it's about $125 over budget. :( I don't really need all the hard disk space it offers and I think I'd prefer the V2000 door-less model.
 
fair enough, i bought it because of the hdd space, already filled one rack, one to go. I dont like the v2000 but the smaller version of my case is still big and probably big enough for what u want.
 
The Akasa is probably the best choice if you can handle it being black! I suppose you could always paint it silver if you wanted! ;)

I also like the Antec Titan. Massive case and i've heard it cools fairly well - again though... it is black!

If you really want a silver case then (aside from Lian Li) Silverstone is your only other choice. Good solid cases that cool well. I've seen a few TJ-09's with high performance gaming rigs installed and they do very well... but they are pricey! :(

Hope you find something you like!

Let us know what you get! :)

gt

Edit: Cheers for the feedback Breeze! :)
 
If you are genuinely not too fussed on noise, then the Coolermaster Stacker (original) would be my choice with the big cross-flow blower. Not silent by any means, but highly efficient.
 
Just noticed the Lian Li A16 reference. It's the same case as a PC7+ with a more open front.
 
I've got an overclocked set of Dual Xeons and they run pretty cool in an ATC200 with 7v'd case fans.
Which particular Xeons are you using? Mine are 2GHz Prestonia's voltmodded and overclocked to 3.05GHz with stock cooling. According to motherboard monitor the temps are hitting 60 degrees under full prolonged load but it doesn't really overheat the case, the psu is the only thing kicking off any real heat.

As an overall system it runs far cooler than the one in my sig in an Eclipse.
 
PinkFloyd said:
Which particular Xeons are you using?
Click to expand...
I've got 1.6 Ghz Prestonias running at 3.08 Ghz. The CPUs don't get nearly as hot as the chipset and MOSFETs on the Asus PC-DL motherboard.

The original Stacker is called STC-T01, isn't it? Would that be better than a Stacker 810? I've heard that the cross-flow blower isn't that great. Would it be possible to mount the blower in an 810?

Water cooling is an option but it's a bit out of my price range. I'd still need a new case and it might be a bit of a chore to machine my own waterblock for the MOSFETs. The option is definitely on the table for the future.

I'm still leaning toward a V1000+II. Can anybody say if this would be a good choice for a hot rig?

Thanks for all the replies so far, guys. :)
 
I'm not sure on the Stacker 810 - I've used the STC-01 and the 830 and one was very good and one was very bad.

As for chipset and mosfet blocks, you'd be surprised what they make these days. EK makes an ASUS chipset block that fits about 85% of all ASUS motherboards. It's designed for the 680i, but thankfully, ASUS like to drill the motherboard holes in roughly the same place, roughly the same distance apart each time, so it fits most things including the Northbridge, Southbridge and MOSFETs on ASUS 965, 975, 650i and 680i boards.

Have a look and a measure, it might well fit your board.
 
I have a PC-101B which is basically internally identical to the V1000+II.

If you look at my thread here you can see the build.

I put a Scythe Kama bay in my lower 3 optical bay slots and it rather effectively supplies cool air to the board. I'm going to put a 38mm deep panaflo in place of the akasa fan in the scythe bay.

The power section on my DFi board runs quite hot when overclocked (my Opty 165 is @ 2.8ghz... 1.8ghz is stock) and in this case it's fine!

Actually, a cooler that blows down over the board could be a better idea as the scythe i originally used blew air through itself and nothing else. The typhoon i use now cools the chip just as well but also blows air over the power section around the chip helping to cool it!

gt
 
BillytheImpaler said:
I've got 1.6 Ghz Prestonias running at 3.08 Ghz. The CPUs don't get nearly as hot as the chipset and MOSFETs on the Asus PC-DL motherboard.
Click to expand...
Same board here too. Imagine we have both used the thread on Xtreme System for clocking these! Nice little chips aren't they -> great for my 3dsmax work. Means I can leave them rendering whilst gaming on this one ;)
Yes it does get very hot, as does that little chip just above the AGP slot!
Really need to find something to stick a small heatsink to that.

Because I'm using the stock coolers which are blowing down on the mobo the mosfets and chipset is getting pretty good airflow so I've just left it as it is.
I've left it under full load in Orphos for 10 hours without any issues, and thats only on a 400W Akasa psu :)

I'm looking at water cooling this one over the summer, means I'll be able to up the voltage to the cpus with the 3rd wire voltmod and hopefully get a few more MHz out of it! If something goes wrong with my first trip water cooling I'd prefer to kill my xeons than my main rig!
 
I'll definitely have a look at watercooling in the future. I'm not afraid to do it but seeing as I just dumped $125 on heatsinks and fans for it... ;)

I quite like the look of that Scythe Kama Bay whatchamadoo. Since I don't ever run many optical drives do you guys reckon I could put one of those in the front of a V1000+II? I seem to recall the V1000s have a funky sort of cooling setup wherein all the fans are intakes or some'at.

I'm still thinking V1000, convince me not to get it! :p
 
Yeah, PinkFloyd, I really need to get a wee heatsink for that chip above the AGP slot as well. I'm at 1.6 Vcore with all three wires in place. I run Folding@Home on mine and it's been working stably for about two years now. It's a great setup and yet it makes me yearn for dual Kentsfields even more. :D

I'm running the 500W FSP power supply reccomended in the XS thread. ;)
 
If you place a CM 4-in-1 module in line with memory slots at least you'll get some air movement across it.
And with dual 12cm exhausts any hot air will be expelled pretty quickly.

Not my pictures, but gives you idea of cooling potential

IMG_1176.jpg


IMG_1168.jpg
 
a v1200 would be better
as its longer than the v1000 but not taller
yoiu could add a fan in the front bays like the kama bay
 
Before my psu fried the motherboard on my dual athlon mp1900+ rig I was looking at changing to a lian li pc767

Not saying it would be ideal for your setup but it may be worth considering.

And I have to recommend the chieftec dragon range - that was the case that I have/had my old dual cpu rig in :)
 
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