Looking for simple case which will fit two long GPUs

[doveman]

I'm looking for a case under £50 that must:

a) accommodate at least 159mm tall CPU HSF (the Evo 212 but space for bigger options would be good) and have good clearance between it and the top of the case when fitted on an Asus Z97-A / i5 4670k

b) have plenty of space for two long (305-317mm) GPUs

c) have a nice open front to allow for good airflow but also have removable, or at least easily cleanable, dust filtering

d) have dust filtering on the bottom PSU intake

e) have two 5.25" drive bays, so that there's one for DVD drive and a spare for other stuff (which can always be used as a 3.5" bay with an adapter)

f) have USB/audio ports at the top, with at least one USB3 port

I guess I could compromise on e) as if I was desperate, I could use a USB DVD drive thus freeing up the single 5.25" bay and on f) as I could run a USB3 cable from the back onto the desk and likewise with the audio ports. I guess I could compromise on having dust filtering on the front, although it would mean having to open up the case to clean it more often but dust filtering on the PSU intake is essential, as I can't remove the PSU and open it up when it gets full of dust!

So far, the only case I've seen that doesn't have the drive cage blocking any of the PCI slots is the Cooler Master N200 http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mini-tower/n200/ but then I realised it's only mATX and I need ATX. I would have thought that most people building a powerful PC with dual GPUs would be using ATX boards but I haven't found a single case that would accomodate this, as GPU1 would go in slots 2 & 3 (slot 1 is PCI-E x1 on most boards, certainly on my Asus Z97-A) with slot 4 left empty for airflow (depending on the cooler, GPU1 might overhang it a bit anyway), and GPU2 in slots 5 & 6 (possibly overhanging 7). At best, the cases I've looked at might leave slot 5 clear to the front of the case but all have the drive cage blocking slots 6 and 7.

Looking at the Bitfenix Neos, if they just reduced the HDD cage to two slots and then put the SSD cage between that and the PSU (or anywhere else that didn't block the GPU slots), I'd be sorted: http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/neos#gallery

So has anyone found anything like what I'm looking for and if not, what do people using Crossfired/SLI'd long GPUs do?

 

[rennyf77]

we buy bigger cases. i'm assuming your going to spend better than 600 quid for two video cards, but then only spend a max of 50 quid on a case? how do you intend to keep the gpu frequencies from throttling down when they produce more heat than your cheap case can exhaust?

 

[Quartz-1]

You should look at the Aerocool cases, both ATX and mATX, though they're around £70. And you can easily fit two GPUs on many mATX boards: it's typical to have slots 1 and 3 as the x16 slots. I took this Z97 board at random. Put it in an Aerocool DS and you'll be set.

I do recommend the external optical drive. I hardly ever use mine and a permanently fitted one would just be a dust trap.

 

[rennyf77]

how do you suppose he will be able to adequately cool two dual slot cards in a case that has only 4 expansion slots. there won't be any space between the cards. the board you picked requires a 5 slot case to utilize the bottom pci-e slot for two dual slot cards. on top of that, the board only provides crossfire in a 16/4 array.

 

[Quartz-1]

how do you suppose he will be able to adequately cool two dual slot cards in a case that has only 4 expansion slots. there won't be any space between the cards. the board you picked requires a 5 slot case to utilize the bottom pci-e slot for two dual slot cards. on top of that, the board only provides crossfire in a 16/4 array.

You use cards with blower fans. As for the board itself, you're right. I didn't look closely enough. However, only a few further along on the very same page is this one which does have x16 slots in the 1 and 3 positions. And there are plenty more.

 

[rennyf77]

who in their right mind would sandwich two r9 290 cards right one on top of the other? with the current gforce drivers, the gtx 780 tis will boost to 1050mhz if they're running cool enough. they certainly won't be doing that in your suggested arrangement. reference lengths for r9 290s and gtx 780s are about 275mm. the op specified cards 305-317mm in length, suggesting that the intended units will utilize custom cooling. again, a huge no-no for zero slot space between gpus. then there's the standard atx requirement over m-atx. i'm wondering, do you want the op to have the best multi gpu experience possible, or for the user to just throw some shit together to say that they tried it?

long story short op, please don't skimp on the chassis if you're really intending on building a high end multi gpu system. you can make some concessions on size if you factor in gpu custom water cooling, but small foot print and water cooling capable tend not to be cheap options. if you buy a cheap part, expect to have to pay for its deficiencies elsewhere in your build.

 

[Quartz-1]

who in their right mind would sandwich two r9 290 cards right one on top of the other

In the Aerocool Dead Silence mATX case, the motherboard lies flat, so the cards are side by side, not one above the other.

 

[rennyf77]

what? just because a mobo tray is oriented left-right rather than top-down, it doesn't change the fact that one card is drawing in heat directly from the pcb of the other card to cool itself. how do you not get that? have you ever used a multi card system before?

op i may have found a case to satisfy your needs. the zalman z5 supports video card lengths up to 330mm. there is enough space between the 5.25 cage and the hard drive cage to provide you with one to two spaces between pci-e 16 slots depending on the location of the first pci-e 16 slot on the mobo. my alternative suggestion is to go with the 80 quid corsair vengeance case that allows you to take out both hard drive cages so you can space your cards out however far you like.

 

[doveman]

Thanks rennyf77. It looks like the Zalman Z5 has the same problem as all the other cases I've looked at though, namely that the HDD cage is too high and thus would restrict the length available for slots 6 and 7. As the first GPU will take slots 2 and 3 (and possibly overhang 4, certainly my Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme on my current card does), the second GPU has to go in slots 5 and 6 (and possibly overhang 7), so there needs to be the space clear in front of all the slots. There's a good picture of the Z5 internals here, which shows that the drive cage is in line with slots 6 and 7 http://www.quietpc.com/z5-cases

As with the other cases, if they reduced the HDD cage to two drives, then it would sit below the motherboard and not be an issue.

If there's nothing suitable for £50, I'll have to look at spending a bit more. Whilst I could use the Corsair Vengeance C70 with the HDD cages removed, that's not really going to work as I need somewhere to secure two 3.5" HDDs and at least one 2.5" SSD. However, the case is 501mm deep, so the 320mm GPU space it refers to might be with the cages in place. I find Corsair's website pretty rubbish to be honest, as it doesn't give decent information on the cases or even enough pictures and what they do have aren't zoomable, so I have to go looking for another site to find out the details of their cases.

Anyway, I don't mind whether the case has a windowed panel or not but I don't want any fan mounts on it, as I always block those off to improve the front to back air-flow, which works best in my experience (and makes it easier to filter). If the panel isn't windowed, I can easily tape some black card on the inside of the panel to block the holes but if it's windowed I can't easily do that without it looking a mess, so I guess my preference would be Windowed without holes, then non-Windowed without holes, then non-Windowed with holes but I'll take any of those if necessary.

This is probably my perfect case for myself and is very much like what I was planning to build before I found someone had already built my dream case for me http://www.coolermaster.com/case/lan-box-haf-series/haf-xb-evo/

Unfortunately, this build is for my Dad and he needs a standard tower case.

 

[rennyf77]

that's quite a predicament you have there op. lets see if i can assuage some of your concerns regarding the c70 vengeance. full disclosure. i am quite fond of that particular corsair case. i recommend it often to users i build for, and the white unit i have as the enclosure of my sli test machine. i can confirm that the 320mm gpu clearance is with the hard drive cages intact. some of the other zalman cases on overclockersuk seem to satisfy your price and side panel requirements but unfortunately limit you to a maximum gpu length of 300mm.

edit:

take a look at this nzxt case. the modular nature of the hard drive cages allow you to reduce your space usage to only the smallest 2-drive cage, while freeing up the bulk of the chassis volume for a gpu array. there is also a single ssd mount behind the mobo tray. again full disclosure, i own one of these, too.

 

[doveman]

You da man I think the NZXT Source 530 is the only choice really. It actually has 310mm clearance even with the cages, so I might not need to remove them but it's nice to have the option if bigger cards come along and still have the two drive cage below the motherboard, plus the SSD mount behind the tray. Front and PSU dust filters, mesh front, side window with no fan holes I'd need to block. I can get it for £65 as well, so it's not that much over my original target of £50.

Thanks for your help. That's one less thing to do