Do I need a case?

[Monty Carlo]

I recently built a rig and considering it has no hard drive or CD/DVD drive, do i really need a case at all (it seems like it just gets in the way)? If not, what should the motherboard be placed on? What about heat?

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[SaintDevil]

It's better without the case. It gets hotter inside the case. You can set motherboard on anything that doesn't conduct electricity. In most cases on an anti static bag. I have it like that, my second motherboard is set on top of a laptop cooler.

[nomnomnom]

Yeah not really needed, but you can if you like ofc.
Here you can see some other mining setups: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7216.0

[Vdizz]

My experience is - buy a case with good airflow (I use Diablotek EVO with 4 fans, $35)
My first 2 rigs were naked, in CG miner GPUs were always hitting 90-92c with slight overclock - 6970s reference cooler.
I considered it normal until I built another rig with a case mentioned above - great airflow and temps around 83-85c. Less power usage as well.
Only down side is - it will take you longer to pay off your mining rig.

[Monty Carlo]

That's true.. it would take longer for me to pay it off lol, and I think we can all agree that this is a crazy time to try out GPU mining! Well, at least I knew what I was getting into.. free electricity will help. Thanks fellas.

[RyanRed]

The truth is you may not be able to really mine with GPU's in the near future with ASIC on the Horizon. If your building a GPU mining rig I would say cut as many corner as possible IMO. The down side of not having a case is protection. Be it from liquid spills, pets, what have you. If you can find a way to setup your hardware in an environment that would not be bothered, I say go for it You truly don't need one.

[Haihai]

It's better without the case. It gets hotter inside the case. You can set motherboard on anything that doesn't conduct electricity. In most cases on an anti static bag. I have it like that, my second motherboard is set on top of a laptop cooler.

Anti-Static bags are slightly conductive. Never place running motherboard on one of those.

[SaintDevil]

It's better without the case. It gets hotter inside the case. You can set motherboard on anything that doesn't conduct electricity. In most cases on an anti static bag. I have it like that, my second motherboard is set on top of a laptop cooler.

Anti-Static bags are slightly conductive. Never place running motherboard on one of those.

It depends on the bag. The best way to check is to use a multimeter before putting it on the specific surface.