Case for Hot Dual Proc Rig

BillytheImpaler

BillytheImpaler

BillytheImpaler

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Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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.
 
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.
 
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'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. ;)
 
I currently have it in a very crap no-name case I picked up for $30 a few years back. I've got it packed with 120mm fans to keep temps under control so most any new case will be an improvement. :p
 
Well, gents, a quick chat with casemeister-emeritus Yewen convinced me to go for the Lian Li. Barreling toward me at the speed of a truck is a V1000 Plus II A with an EX-33A front bay adapter with fan and a windowed side panel. I don't usually like windowed side panels but this one cost just $5 more to order it with it so I ceded to temptation.

I'll be sure to have some photos of it when it arrives. Thanks for all your help.
 
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