Designing Bitcoin Case from the Ground Up

[Kyle Bball Boy]

I posted this in the newbie section since I wasn't able to post here, but it got instantly buried. Now I've got access to the important areas so now I would like to talk to you all about an idea that I plan on fabricating. I am planning on building a custom case designed for housing multiple video cards while providing enough space in between intake fans so they are not blocked. I've got access to a lot of cool and expensive equipment for constructing this case. I can design something in a CAD program and then get it cut out for me and piece it together.  I’d like to get as many suggestions and ideas from the community as possible while in the planning stages. I hope to complete a prototype of this case within four weeks or less. If everything works out, I’d like to begin selling these cases as well at reasonable prices.

Here’s a list of some of the equipment I have available:

 
Epilog Legend 36EXT Laser System - 36" x 24 – Used for etching or cutting certain materials like acrylic

Epilog Helix 24 Laser System – 24” x 18” – Same thing just smaller

Shopbot CNC Router – 4’ x 8’ Can be used for cutting metal (This is what I’ll mainly be using for cutting stainless steel, aluminum, etc.)

Dimension 1200es Series 3D Printer – Prints ABS plastic with dissolvable supports for parts with overhangs (Might be useful)

There is also some other equipment too such a cornstarch 3d printer and some smaller tabletop CNC mills, lathes, etc.

Right now I'm designing it in AutoCAD. I'm thinking about making it a rack style case that's open to allow easy access to adding cards. I might have removable panels along the sides and top too so it can be closed if desired.

So, please offer any insight or ideas you might have. If you have any questions, I’ll try my best to answer them. If you guys have any other design ideas that you think would be cool for bitcoin mining feel free to tell me about them.

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[SlipperySlope]

I think that you can design two styles of cases ...

1. Gamer cases may not have sufficient airflow directed over three or four closely spaced GPUs mounted directly on the motherboard.  More airflow means lower temperatures and thus more overclocking headroom.  Your first design could have a high-volume fan with possibly a duct right over the row of GPU cards.

2. Many miners are forced to go case-less when dealing with multiple GPU cards per motherboard using PCIe ribbon cable extenders.
Look at the photos of case-less rigs on the mining rig photos thread here: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7216.0 to see what I mean.  Your second design could have a bar to which the front of the GPU cards are mounted with screws and a second bar to support the rear of the cards.  Because most high performing mining GPUs are double-wide, they are simply too close together on a motherboard allowing more than two double-wide PCIe GPUs.  This particular design allows spacing out the GPUs, provided that they are connected to the motherboard with PCIe ribbon cable extenders.

Good luck.

[IlbiStarz]

Look at Cablesaurus' mining rig for reference.

[CubedRoot]

Alot of folks are running cases like these:   
http://amzn.to/mzWGQR
They can be picked up for about $35 and are perfect for open air mining.  It will be hard to beat that price point.

That same company offers a stackable open air case that I absolutely love. It runs about $50 bucks and I can stack as many rigs as I need on top of each other.  Check it out here:
http://amzn.to/jPdb7e

[airdata]

That same company offers a stackable open air case that I absolutely love. It runs about $50 bucks and I can stack as many rigs as I need on top of each other.  Check it out here:
http://amzn.to/jPdb7e

This one is unavailable.  I wanted it since you can secure the cards to it.  I sent them a message asking about it and here is their response.

DOMA Pro PCI which has PCI guide is currently back-ordered.

However, due to high demand in Japan market the shipping is delayed by the
end of July. It will be restocked in August.

[xane]

I think a lot of people assume no/open cases are going to be the coolest option. In reality, a properly designed case can actually be MORE effective. My GPU temps actually increase 5c if I remove the side panels on my case. A case creates a controlled environment that lets you better manipulate air flow, air pressure, and mitigate other heat contributors such as dust buildup over time. Certainly shouldn't be ruled out. 

[jonnynogood]

i just built this case for mine.

built from square aluminum tubing, angle aluminum and plexi, hot glue and rivets

http://c0848462.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/2022104675c74d4f47a458478efde1f87413b98e0b.png

i put plexi on the sides and have a house fan on the front blowing through the case and out a window.  adding the plexi sides cut the noise by 70% and i get no hot air in my apartment.

I am going to print some end caps for the top out of ABS and then hot glue some plexi to them for the top.

[OggerMC]

I think a lot of people assume no/open cases are going to be the coolest option. In reality, a properly designed case can actually be MORE effective. My GPU temps actually increase 5c if I remove the side panels on my case. A case creates a controlled environment that lets you better manipulate air flow, air pressure, and mitigate other heat contributors such as dust buildup over time. Certainly shouldn't be ruled out. 

which case are you using? I plan to build a few mining rigs with 3 dual slot cards inside, but cant decide on a case yet, for me its the hardest part to choose, since there a like million cases out there and to be sure to choose the right one i would actoualy need to see it if it has all i want it to have.

I want there to be a premade place for ssd's, be able to demount the 3.5 hdd drive bay's for better airflow, enough fans on the side on top of the gpu's and such...

[stapler117]

A friend of a friend of mine can bend sheet metal so my mining friend and I came up with a design. The case would be a standard sized 19" 4U rackmount case. It could fit 4 high ends cards comfortably or 6 cheaper, lower powered ones. The cards would be situated above the motherboard at a height just above the stock sempron heatsink. For cooling, the back should be able to fit 3 120mm fans with the power supply oriented vertically or 6-7 80mm fans depending on the PSU. of course, this fan takes care of all your problems: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835706015

We never ended up making it since the availability of good cheap cards ran out *cough5830cough*

[Kyle Bball Boy]

Alot of folks are running cases like these:   
http://amzn.to/mzWGQR
They can be picked up for about $35 and are perfect for open air mining.  It will be hard to beat that price point.

That same company offers a stackable open air case that I absolutely love. It runs about $50 bucks and I can stack as many rigs as I need on top of each other.  Check it out here:
http://amzn.to/jPdb7e

Yeah that looks really simplistic. I could take that design and cut it out on sheets of acrylic no problem. Heck, I could do that sell them for a similar price, but I don't think it'd be worth doing because the profit margins just wouldn't be there. I don' t want to start out with an open case design though, I'd rather do closed.

Look at Cablesaurus' mining rig for reference.

Yeah a friend had linked that to me. I had the plan for doing something like that for a couple months, but looks like he beat me to it. For such a basic stacking case design, he's really asking for a lot of money. $245? Are you kidding me? I'll be able to get the prototype of my case done really cheaply and when I'm ready to sell I can definitely beat that price.

A friend of a friend of mine can bend sheet metal so my mining friend and I came up with a design. The case would be a standard sized 19" 4U rackmount case. It could fit 4 high ends cards comfortably or 6 cheaper, lower powered ones. The cards would be situated above the motherboard at a height just above the stock sempron heatsink. For cooling, the back should be able to fit 3 120mm fans with the power supply oriented vertically or 6-7 80mm fans depending on the PSU. of course, this fan takes care of all your problems: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835706015

We never ended up making it since the availability of good cheap cards ran out *cough5830cough*

Interesting you said that. I was actually planning on doing a 19" 5U rackcase. I was thinking about 4U, but I wanted to make sure it was tall enough to fit 2 PSU's and some of the taller cards. Do you have any design tips on doing a rack case?

[stapler117]

We did a few rough sketches about a month back (If I had my scale I could have done much better). I'll see if I can get them from him and double check the measurements, but I'm pretty sure It will fit in a 4U. The main thing in the way is the heatsink for the cpu. We didn't have a sempron since we used two motherboards we already had, but we estimated with another stock heatsink and it fit. If this is a problem, you can find a cheap low-profile sink on newegg. Other than that, the cards only need to be just taller than the peripheral outputs on the back of the motherboard.

For two power supplies, just put one on the left and one on the right in the back of the case. We didn't really look into dual power supplies because the card we use (can afford) was the 5830 and each one uses about 200W each (OC'd) so we would buy a 1000W PSU for 4 of these or a ~1500W for 6. We looked into a motherboard that could support 6 cards, but this was a substantial price jump, $170 vs $80. so we just panned on doing 4 cards in a case. Gives them plenty of room to breathe anyway. If you were to use more than 3 dual gpu card, 5970 or 6990, then you would be forced to use two PSU's. At that point you would need a separate breaker for each 1500W PSU!

I'll have more details when I get the old plans. PM me if you want to talk more/let me help/have me consult. I'd love to since we never got to build it ourselves

[ovoskeuiks]

http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-budget-how-to-build-cheap-cloud-storage/

Worth a look for rack case design, it's all in solidworks but I'm sure you could import it

[Kyle Bball Boy]

We did a few rough sketches about a month back (If I had my scale I could have done much better). I'll see if I can get them from him and double check the measurements, but I'm pretty sure It will fit in a 4U. The main thing in the way is the heatsink for the cpu. We didn't have a sempron since we used two motherboards we already had, but we estimated with another stock heatsink and it fit. If this is a problem, you can find a cheap low-profile sink on newegg. Other than that, the cards only need to be just taller than the peripheral outputs on the back of the motherboard.

For two power supplies, just put one on the left and one on the right in the back of the case. We didn't really look into dual power supplies because the card we use (can afford) was the 5830 and each one uses about 200W each (OC'd) so we would buy a 1000W PSU for 4 of these or a ~1500W for 6. We looked into a motherboard that could support 6 cards, but this was a substantial price jump, $170 vs $80. so we just panned on doing 4 cards in a case. Gives them plenty of room to breathe anyway. If you were to use more than 3 dual gpu card, 5970 or 6990, then you would be forced to use two PSU's. At that point you would need a separate breaker for each 1500W PSU!

I'll have more details when I get the old plans. PM me if you want to talk more/let me help/have me consult. I'd love to since we never got to build it ourselves

This is why I was thinking of doing a 5U case. That will allow me to raise the cards a bit off from the mobo and space them apart so intake fans don't get blocked. Then all the cards can just be hooked up with ribbon risers.

Anyway, looking at all these other designs has given me a lot of ideas to test out and luckily I've got a lot of time this weekend to get some more work done on designing.

[stapler117]

The space above the motherboard isn't too important; it's just how vertically compact you want to be. In a 42U rack, you can fit 10, 4U ones or 8, 5U ones. You may as well start prototype #1 with a 5U design, then tweak it from there. Even with 6 cards, there is more spacing than what people have when they sick 3 directly in a motherboard. 4 gives you a generous amount of space. You could compromise and meet it in the middle with 5 GPUs. This type of case though, will force a massive amount of air over the cards.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find the original sketches. I'll draw a few things out tomorrow. I don't have a scanner handy at this moment, but my phone does a good job. It's the summer and I'm unemployed. I've got plenty of time.

http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-budget-how-to-build-cheap-cloud-storage/

Worth a look for rack case design, it's all in solidworks but I'm sure you could import it

I'm going to build that case and store the internet when I get some money 

[m0w3r]

Alot of folks are running cases like these:   
http://amzn.to/mzWGQR
They can be picked up for about $35 and are perfect for open air mining.  It will be hard to beat that price point.

That same company offers a stackable open air case that I absolutely love. It runs about $50 bucks and I can stack as many rigs as I need on top of each other.  Check it out here:
http://amzn.to/jPdb7e

Darn, I bought it from them (myopenpc) off ebay instead of amazon, and payed $43.

[Spotswood]

Any update/progress on this?

[Zoomer]

I was just thinking that an upright mounted configuration might be more efficient in terms of space and cooling. Multiples can also be added very close to each other.

Rough idea: http://zoomer.imgur.com/upright_case

Comments?

[NetTecture]

I was just thinking that an upright mounted configuration might be more efficient in terms of space and cooling. Multiples can also be added very close to each other.

Rough idea: http://zoomer.imgur.com/upright_case

Comments?

Only for single setups.

You generally want a hot / cold isle concept where the air is moving from a cold side to a hot side (where it is then sucked out of the room). Vertical installation gives you an airflow in the case that is 90% turned and thus inefficient.

[Tim the Magician]

I was just thinking that an upright mounted configuration might be more efficient in terms of space and cooling. Multiples can also be added very close to each other.

Rough idea: http://zoomer.imgur.com/upright_case

Comments?

I'm running 3 mining rigs in Silverstone Raven RV03 cases.  They have a vertical orientation and slots for 3x 2 slot cards with empty spaces between..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163180

[Tim the Magician]

I was just thinking that an upright mounted configuration might be more efficient in terms of space and cooling. Multiples can also be added very close to each other.

Rough idea: http://zoomer.imgur.com/upright_case

Comments?

Only for single setups.

You generally want a hot / cold isle concept where the air is moving from a cold side to a hot side (where it is then sucked out of the room). Vertical installation gives you an airflow in the case that is 90% turned and thus inefficient.

I disagree.  The hot and cold isle configuration works well in a data center where the entire room is engineered around the concept..  But even with the cases blowing front to back they still channel the cold air from the bottom and the hot air out the top and back into the air handlers.

With vertical aligned cases you have the hot air going where it wants to go.. up!

Looking at other people’s setups on the mining rigs thread it seems many people inadvertently end up with cards exhausting into the intakes for other cards and external fans pointed every which way.  If the cards were all vertically aligned the airflow design would be greatly simplified.