Best case + fans for a "silent" 4x 7950 rig ?

[Joerii]

Hi !

I'm about to order parts to build my first rig. I can get free electricity if I do my best to make the machine look presentable ( no open case ) and if I keep the noise at an acceptable level. A friend of mine offered to put it in his office, he has free power.

Hence, I am considering a nice Antec or Nexus case. I will need big fans and super airflow.

Who has experience with this and could give me some advise ?

Also, I realise I cant put 4 7950's on the motherboard at the same time without overheating, so I will take one of the four cards and use an extender card to fix it at a different spot inside the case where it can catch a nice cool breeze

I could use some advise on the location for that 4th card too. I was thinking in a empty HD spot for example.

[Dargo]

I would start with just 3x 7950, and see if you can keep it cool that way first. Then consider adding a fourth. Cooling 4x GPUs in a closed case is *really* difficult, unless you go with water cooling. Get a mobo with 6 full pcie slots so you can have space between each of the three cards. To have a space between each, you will need a case with at least 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 8 expansion slots, plus at least two more in case the mobo doesn't line up right to use all available slots. You can build an open air rig for much cheaper to mine at home where you can easily restart if the rig stops mining, so consider that against the advantage of free electric.

[ryantc]

it's hard, so I let it run naked
unless you consider water cool your cards.

[BBQKorv]

Expensive high-end watercooling or run it open with any cheap big fan from the closest market. You don't gain any extra value from having a case and special cooling for that.

[Joerii]

...You don't gain any extra value from having a case and special cooling for that.

What do you mean ?

[Joerii]

So let me get this straight... it's impossible to have a closed case with 4 gpu's without watercooling ?
Nobody has been able to do this even with those fancy cases ?

EDIT : like this one : HAF 932 Advanced http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3037

[DrG]

So let me get this straight... it's impossible to have a closed case with 4 gpu's without watercooling ?
Nobody has been able to do this even with those fancy cases ?

Hmmm. Since an open, noisy case is simply not an option for me ( I can't have one at home or at my friends office ... ) I guess I'll have to look into watercooling.

You're going to be pulling about 800 Watts at the wall even with an undervolt.  That's like running an 800W space heater - you think you can run 800W with computer components with just air cooling inside a case?

You need to go watercooling if you want it quiet.

Now if your purpose is to hash and be quiet then a couple of FPGA would to the same work quietly and you don't need to invest in expensive water blocks.

[BBQKorv]

It will be even noisier with a case than as a open air desing.

With quality watercooling and very big radiators you can make it to the tolerable noise levels for keeping it at home the case closed.

[Joerii]

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I've never done this so I don't know what I'm talking about but.... I don't understand why a case makes such a big negative difference for cooling.

If there's multiple fans blowing air in and multiple fans blowing air out, shouldn't there actually be MORE airflow then an open air setup ?