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I know you can use cables so you don't have to have a motherboard that have all the slots but I was wondering what strategies or things or cases people are using to fit them in.  Since I need to place them somewhere that isn't where I live, I can't have it open air otherwise I would do it. 

Lol, was just going to say... I have one just dangling by the power cables and halfway sitting on the PCIe extension.  And I have a 240mm fan resting on top of that card feeding into the rest of the case.  Now I just need to integrate some twisty ties, and it'll be as ghetto as it gets.  :P

haha,

I wish I can do that really but I got some nice space where I don't have to pay for electricity (but one I need to case it properly).

I guess most of us are just keeping it ghetto all around.  I know I can fit 3 with one of these board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274)

I actually did setup 3 video cards using extended cable but I had to balance the 3rd one on top of the 2nd one.  It won't be good if someone pushes the case by accident :(

I have 4 on a MSI 5 PCI-E board.  But no case....  I think it might work in a Lian li case.  A lot of those have 8 slots instead of the normal ATC standard of 7.

What PSU are you running for 4 5830's?

I haven't gotten this setup yet.  I'm just interested in making one.  I would assume one of the 1k psu would be ok.

Also, one of the problems I found with the big cases is that the extender is actually just 7 inches so you can't really lay it on the side.  I'm not sure how you can do this unless you just lay the PC on the side with the cover on and stack 2 of them together that way.  It'll look weird but it might work out.

1k is probably enough for 5 x 5830's, so I am looking at smaller PSUs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

I think the above PSU would be sufficient for 3 x 5830, unsure about 4x

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153106

I am thinking either one of these would be sufficient for 4 x 5830

What about (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182072)

I just got this yesterday and also I have the 1K corsair.  Basically I just need to order a case and 4 5830s.  I'm just not sure which specific board, case and how to arrange it without causing issues.  Like I said I will need to have a real case and close it off.  Even if I say it on the side, I might not be able to balance the other card on the others. 

I was looking at this case which is on sale on newegg now (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147108)

got alot of nice cooling but not sure if its deep enough for me to stack the cards together.  An idea I had was to get one of those boards with 2 pci-e 16x and 2 1x pci-e but might have to opt for the (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274) which I know 3 cards will fit fine.

I'm actually only running three of them, because the top PCIe slot on my motherboard is dead.  But the bottom one is too close to the bottom of the case to use without an extender.

And I use that exact PSU for 3 of them.  I have a feeling it is overkill, but oh well.  I bet it would run 4 just fine...

I found that cooling becomes an issue even with 2 x 5830 (OC'd) with a closed case, and so I keep the side off of my case, and my other rig is currently running caseless. Running 4 cards in a closed case... I don't know, good luck!

From my own testing, each 5830 card uses about 140W. A base system will need about 100W, so 520W for 3 (69% of 750W PSU), 660W for 4 (88% of 750W PSU, 77% of 850W PSU).

With that said, the Rosewill PSU you linked appears promising. It has four 12V rails @ 20A each - convenient for running 4 cards that seem to require less than 20A.  One of my 2 x 5830 rigs uses a 550W PSU with +12V1@16A, +12V2@17A.

So the question I have whether to run with 4 rails or 1 rail.

You are using the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX for three of them?

Yes, works just great.  I have one of them overclocked to 975mhz on a little more voltage too... would have overclocked all of them, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it with Trixx.

I actually have 3 5850 sapphire Xtreme OCed to (372mhash) in a case (coolermaster full tower) with very little issue.  I just need a way to stick 4 cards in a case somehow but maybe 3 is the way to go as I know it'll work (IE fit in the case). Too bad this mobo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274) doesn't have the pic-e 1 on the top.. that way I could actually balance a 4th on top.

Temps?

low 70s and extremely stable.  It has been running without a hiccup for 2 weeks now.

with four cards in a closed case your overclocking limits will be quite tight unless you manage to somehow create a very good airflow through that case...

I ordered that case.. we'll see if I can do this.  Will be interesting to see.  I just wish I could extend the slots longer then 7 inches so I could put the card on the front.

Get a single rail PSU otherwise you have to dick with adapter cables to get power from all the different rails.

I wouldn't take the chance, four 5850s...? maybe, but 5830s use more power than 5850s and almost as much power as 5870s, if you OC them they'll probably use about about as much a quad 5870 setup, would you trust anything lower than a 1kw PSU with a quad 5870 setup...? I wouldn't...

Just FYI, my 750TX just died last night.  I was running 3 5830's and a C2D processor (50%-60% usage).  I suspect heat had something to do with it, as the air coming out of it was always blazing hot, and I don't have any case fans (just left the side panel off).  Still, it may be insufficient for 3 5830's, so I thought I'd send out the warning.  I bought an 850w ThermalTake to replace it, as that was the only decent PSU available within a 2 hour drive.  Now I have the case laying on its side, so less heat will be directed through the PSU.  We'll see how things go this time around...  :)

Thanks for the warning.  I will be using a 1K psu if I was to do 4 of them.  Also do you regularly check the temp?  Did you know how hot it got?  I've been running mine pretty hot (low 70s to low 80s) and the cards seem to work fine (5850s etc).

I will be getting the new stuff this tuesday so we'll see what happens.

Do you think that if the heat from the cards hadn't been directed to the PSU it might not have died? I am running caseless setup

The temps of the cards were generally 70-85c.  I didn't check the temps of the PSU (is that even possible?)

Certainly possible.  I know that much heat doesn't help a PSU run its best, so it might just have died due to the heat.  Hard to say whether it was overload, or heat, or both.  I need to just hook it up to my battery backup to see how much it is actually drawing, but don't want to shut down my server to do so.

Why can't you do open air?

4 cards in squeezed together inside of a case will not work... not at stock clocks at least... you will probably have to underclock them (gpu and mem) to get your temperatures to an acceptable level for running 24/7...

I have 3 Sapphire 5830s in a case, but they keep getting too hot. Top one was at 102C when I had it overclocked, but I backed it down.  It's now at about 92C. To keep sound down, I'd prefer to keep them in a case, and it also protects them from my pets.

How can I cool these things if they're stuck in a case? They have a 1/2 centimeter of space between them, and the case already has a top fan and a side fan.  Help please.

Put a couple of intake fans on the front.

I'm getting this fan just waiting for it to be delivered.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835213001

Ill let you guys know how much of a difference it makes.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17699049/IMG_0053.JPG

4x 5830's there ya have it.
msi 890fx gd70 (6 pcie slots)
295mhps per card
950 core /300 mem
runs 24/7 with help of a small house fan
linuxcoin

oh yea i recently cut that grill out of the front and have a fan exhausting the air

Hey Sgt --

Are you one of those who thinks a 5830 is wasted unless it's OC'd to the 300+ range?

Personally, I have my 5830's bringing in about 270 MH/s each.  After all, it's not like they ARE a 300 MH/s card -- that's not exactly their stock output. I don't do aggressive OC'ing.

My point -- did you have them overclocked much? Because if so, they use a lot more than 140W each.

Matthew