Advice on case for new mining rig

[Mortimer452]

OK, so I'm finally building a mining rig.  Hopefully the first of many.  I have 4x Radeon 7950's on order and should be here any day.

I'd like to get the cards installed in a normal server/mid-tower chassis but having a hard time figuring out which case/chassis I need that will fit four cards in it.  I want my rig(s) mounted in a standard 19-inch rack, hopefully 4U or at most 5U for each 4-5 GPU rig.

Yes, I know, open-air PVC pipe rigs are what everyone's building.  I don't want that.  I am confident the cards will stay plenty cool with the proper air flow.  These are going into a colocation facility where the ambient air is kept at 17-18*C, raised subfloor with AC vents blowing into the cabinets.

Anyone with experience in a good chassis/case to use here?

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[mikeybit]

http://www.cubix.com/gpu-xpander-rackmount

These go for about $8k last I heard.

[Mortimer452]

uhm, gee thanks, but that's sorta out of my price range

[mikeybit]

Your options for 4U cases that fit > 2 GPU's is very limited.  I would build stackable open rigs to be efficient on space and disperse heat.

[Mortimer452]

I'm open to a mid-tower chassis as well, they are typically 19" tall and fit quite nicely in a standard 19" cabinet laid sideways.  Surely there is a mid-tower chassis I can fit 4 GPU's into?  If I need to hack up the innards a little bit I'm OK with that.

[jdndndndx]

If you don't mind me asking, what are the full specs on the rig you are building and what do you plan to mine?

[Mortimer452]

If you don't mind me asking, what are the full specs on the rig you are building and what do you plan to mine?

I haven't decided entirely on the mobo yet, but will be something with 4-5 PCIe slots, probably Gigabyte AMD FM2

1200W Cooler Master Silent Pro PSU

Probably 8GB Ram, whatever CPU I can get a decent price on, and I'll use a 250GB 7200rpm HDD I have sitting here in my office.  It will run Win7 x64

It will be used pretty much exclusively for altcoin mining.  Will probably spend most of its time on Middlecoin.com when I'm not "speculative mining" on some newly released coin that looks promising.

[jdndndndx]

How many khash/s do you expect do you expect to get out of this rig? What is your budget?

[Mortimer452]

How many khash/s do you expect do you expect to get out of this rig? What is your budget?

Budget is roughly $2,000 - hopefully a little less.  Cards are already bought and cost ~$1,300, I figure I can put together the rest for well under $700.

I expect the 4x 7950's should run about 2.1-2.4Mhash

[Mortimer452]

*bump*

[kalus]

i've only found full towers with the necessary 8 rear exp. slots for 4 cards.  A mid tower can't fix an E-ATX board, so unless you're using a PCI-e backplane like those cubix deals, you're kind of stuck with a full tower.

you have a serious issue with airflow and 4 cards, but colocation means nobody gets to hear your fans!


btw those cubix cases look sweet! 

[Mortimer452]

Found one (two sortof):

RoseWill BlackHawk ATX mid tower, 8 expansion slots, includes 5 fans which is kinda nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107

CoolerMaster HAF 912 mid-tower:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

The CoolerMaster has only 7 expansion slots but there *is* enough clearance between the bottom slot and PSU to fit a two-slot card (may require some work with the dremel, though)

Found the Rosewill Blackhawk on clearance (refurb) for $45 incl. shipping, have everything installed except GPU's which should be here tomorrow (4x 7950's).  I'll keep this thread posted on how it goes, feeling pretty confident this case will work well.

[limbaugh]

Don't waste money on a case, you will be operating on a low profit margin. Get a piece of wood and a cupboard rack to mount your cards.

[BitCoinPokerBro]

OK, so I'm finally building a mining rig.  Hopefully the first of many.  I have 4x Radeon 7950's on order and should be here any day.

I'd like to get the cards installed in a normal server/mid-tower chassis but having a hard time figuring out which case/chassis I need that will fit four cards in it.  I want my rig(s) mounted in a standard 19-inch rack, hopefully 4U or at most 5U for each 4-5 GPU rig.

Yes, I know, open-air PVC pipe rigs are what everyone's building.  I don't want that.  I am confident the cards will stay plenty cool with the proper air flow.  These are going into a colocation facility where the ambient air is kept at 17-18*C, raised subfloor with AC vents blowing into the cabinets.

Anyone with experience in a good chassis/case to use here?

Rosewill Thor or any of rosewill's full size cases should fit 4 cards. I'll snap some pics for ya

Sorry for the crap quality








4 intake/exhaust fans (venting in all directions even up threw the top) inside the case plus 1 huge fan on the door.

Can't wait to add 2 more gpu's 

[kalus]

Found one (two sortof):

RoseWill BlackHawk ATX mid tower, 8 expansion slots, includes 5 fans which is kinda nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107

Found the Rosewill Blackhawk on clearance (refurb) for $45 incl. shipping, have everything installed except GPU's which should be here tomorrow (4x 7950's).  I'll keep this thread posted on how it goes, feeling pretty confident this case will work well.

good find!  let us know if you get enough ventilation with 5 fans in that tower!

[Suikoden]

You can't go wrong with a milk crate and some riser cables. It might look ghetto, but it gets the job done, and very cheaply as well, while ensuring everything stays cool.

The stuff that you see on places like OpenRigs.com look amazing, but unfortunately even if you buy parts and build it yourself, it's still more expensive than a milk crate. Not sure how much it would cost to do the same with wood.