Best big mining case? Airflow? Other parts? Open discussion welcomed.

[underminer]

I keep running into the same problem with my mining builds and that is that I want a clean way to mount additional cards with risers.  How do you all cope?  I'd prefer to use a "real" case for most of my builds but this is not a necessity.  Is there a case that is "double wide" to allow an additional layer of expansion cards?  I have all full tower gaming cases and my current plan was to simply bolt on another mid tower to put extra cards in, then install extra fans and panels sort of like a pushout section in a modern RV.  What is your favorite case on amazon?

Thoughts?  Comments? 

[Desolator]

I just ripped apart an ancient case from like 15 years ago.  It was huge and full ATX and I removed quite a few panels from it like the front and top.  Then I added a wooden frame around the top and dremeled in a small slit for the edge of the PCI card.  Then I used 16x -> 1x risers and put 2 huge, high powered fans underneath the cards, blowing up, sitting on top the motherboard with shin wooden dowel stilts It ran cooler than most I've seen here.

I really don't think that anyone should run any overclocked card or really even a standard clocked card at 100% 24/7 inside of a case but if you really wanted to, the Rosewill Challenger is the best for the money.  It's huge and has so many fan mounts that $30 worth of fans will get the air evacuated from the case at a rate of all of it every 1.5 seconds.  It's usually only like $50 on sale too.  Without a fan blowing directly onto the card though, you're probably not going to get great cooling unless the card's fan spins way up, which is not good for it.

[kwoody]

Coolermaster HAF-932 Advanced Full Tower
Little on the pricey side, but one hell of a good case for overall circulation

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213

[Stephen Gornick]

I have all full tower gaming cases and my current plan was to simply bolt on another mid tower to put extra cards in, then install extra fans and panels sort of like a pushout section in a modern RV.

I keep scratching my head trying to figure out why people are still adding on more GPU capacity.
In about seven weeks is halving day, otherwise known as GPU retirement day.

[underminer]

Honestly dude, I have a bigger bet on the world ending in December 2012 then gpu mining becoming completely worthless.

What do you guys think about buying a case such as the cooler master suggested and adding storage for cards on the left door by expanding?  I am thinking I will give that type of mod a try on an ancient pentium ii full tower that I have this week and see how it goes.  I'm hoping for a little cleaner look than chunks of wood though lol!

[Graet]

I just don't use cases for miners - extra expense, heat and hassle
I had been running a "naked" home server for years before I started mining

[Desolator]

Honestly dude, I have a bigger bet on the world ending in December 2012 then gpu mining becoming completely worthless.

A conservative estimate of the split plus ASICs releasing plus about 2 months time results in a Radeon 5830 significantly overclocked making 0.27 BTC/month and using around $19 in electricity.  You may want to rethink that.

[underminer]

I know this argument is in every section now (it's only going to get worse in the next few days) but I think litecoin, etc are going to valuable and worth my time to mine.

The issue with me is space.  Quite often I have to reorganize / clean up the work area and I'd eventually like to get to the point where everything has its own neat little place. 

[jjiimm_64]

I keep running into the same problem with my mining builds and that is that I want a clean way to mount additional cards with risers.  How do you all cope?  I'd prefer to use a "real" case for most of my builds but this is not a necessity.  Is there a case that is "double wide" to allow an additional layer of expansion cards?  I have all full tower gaming cases and my current plan was to simply bolt on another mid tower to put extra cards in, then install extra fans and panels sort of like a pushout section in a modern RV.  What is your favorite case on amazon?

Thoughts?  Comments? 

whats a case?

I use a piece of plywood to lay the mobo on, and two little wood frames to hold the cards above the mobo.

[underminer]

Lol.  Aesthetics be damned is what I am hearing from you guys.

[psilan]

I used to use this for 4x GPU. Works great. 2x 140 mm on the front pointing at the GPUs. Had a 140mm sitting on the handle also. Looked nice and tidy.

[jjiimm_64]

Lol.  Aesthetics be damned is what I am hearing from you guys.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JRrZwB3LB_1-pqxdwEGOctMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

[underminer]

Ok love that case!  I have not liked what I've seen so far on open cases.


On a side note, I have that motherboard!  I love it!  I'd love to get it fully populated myself for now running 5970, 5830, 5770 in an antec armor case with all case fans maxed and the cards all clocked at minimum speeds.  They stay about 65-70 which I would like to bring down a bit.  How do you get the cards to stay on the other side of the wood frame in that pic?

[jjiimm_64]

Ok love that case!  I have not liked what I've seen so far on open cases.


On a side note, I have that motherboard!  I love it!  I'd love to get it fully populated myself for now running 5970, 5830, 5770 in an antec armor case with all case fans maxed and the cards all clocked at minimum speeds.  They stay about 65-70 which I would like to bring down a bit.  How do you get the cards to stay on the other side of the wood frame in that pic?

not sure what you mean.  10 1/4 inch frame in front, 5 1/2 high frame in back.  the cards are not even screwed on, just sit there

[underminer]

I get it--its the perspective that made it look like both frames where the same height to me initially...

[Desolator]

This thing is freaking sick!


It has reviews everywhere, there was an ad in CPU magazine stating that they're for sale right now on Tiger Direct and Newegg, my TD business rep couldn't find a single one in this entire country!  WTF!  Who buys an ad for something and then makes me want to go buy one and then doesn't sell it where they said they're selling it?!  It seems to have shipped out in Germany and England and that's it!  AAAGGGHHHH!!!

Anyway, for fans, these are very nice.  I used 2 to cool my card and they ran 800 to 1040 overclocked at 61C at low fan usage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103061
the price is decent, they're sickle bladed with some kind of exotic plastic material I don't see often in PC parts, and it runs quiet with a decent CFM.  These things absolutely BLASTED the cards above them.

otherwise if you don't care if it sounds like putting a Dyson in a microwave...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835706015

252.85 CFM, 66.5 dB rofl

btw your computer may take off similar to the aircraft carrier in Avengers if you install 4 of them.  According to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m3XusgQ9No
it will "fly out of control" and "nick your finger and make blood splatter all over the wall."  Also it sounds like a jet engine, lol.

[underminer]

What is that "case" called?  I don't care about noise much myself.

[Frequency]

I have all full tower gaming cases and my current plan was to simply bolt on another mid tower to put extra cards in, then install extra fans and panels sort of like a pushout section in a modern RV.

I keep scratching my head trying to figure out why people are still adding on more GPU capacity.
In about seven weeks is halving day, otherwise known as GPU retirement day.

Depends on how big your gpu farm is plus what u pay for electr. in my case i am still better off then the guys with 4 preorderd jallys and still making lots of BTC untill judgementday arrives.
And if BTC is +$10,= halving days isn,t  much different then mining in april/june@$5,-

[Stephen Gornick]

And if BTC is +$10,= halving days isn,t  much different then mining in april/june@$5,-

You are missing something in your math.

Right now, before halving, mining at $12 with 3.0 million difficulty is just slightly better than than mining at $5 with 1.5 million difficulty like what the situation was like last May.  If halving were to occur tomorrow though, it would be like mining at $6 with the current difficulty.   Unless you are paying way less for electricity than average (e.g., average is $0.12 per kWh, so "much less" would be like $0.05, or $0.07 even might be OK), then you will be paying more in electricity for each bitcoin than you would had you bought the coin at the market rate.

Nobody knows the future exchange rate and nobody knows the future difficulty.  But you do know your cost of electricity and you do know within a few days when the halving will occur.   There's no reason you can't keep mining at breakeven or at loss, but most people mining aren't doing it for the lulz.

[DobZombie]

If you're in Australia use a milk crate you can fit 4 x 5970s in one of them