Case for air-cooling 2x6990, 24x7@100%

[Keylimesoda]

Building a bitcoin mining rig using two Radeon 6990 cards and a low-power athlon.

The rig will be running the 6990s at 100% load, 24x7. Reliability is the #1 concern.

What's the best case (rackmount or tower) for building a machine like this? Is it realistic to expect to build a reliable system like this using only air-cooling? Is water cooling reliable enough to be used on a high-load "set it and forget it" server like this?

 

[Petey!]

FT02 will be your best bet as far as air cooling goes. Watercooling will need maintenance, but will ultimately cool much better

 

[heymrdj]

More important than the case will be your mainboard. You'll probably want to target triple slot cards with large fans so that they can run cooler under the heat soak that comes with 24/7 100%. With you wanting at least space for the fans to have room to suck, this means you'll want at least 4 spaces allotted per graphics card. This also means your mainboard will most likely need to be SSI CEB, or even E-ATX (or if you want multiple procs and even more graphics card power fit in a WTX board). This means at minimum you'll need a ATX-XL chassis. If you really want to to high end crunching right though, go buy a barebones number crunching server such as those offered by Supermicro. They have the high performance cooling and spacing, and PSU's to handle high end GPU crunching.

EDIT: Provantage has the Supermicro super server at a great price. Note that this is no processors, ram, hd's, or gfx cards. Just mainboard, dual 1,400W PSU's, chassis, and its fans. http://www.provantage.com/supermicro-sys-7046gt-trf~4SUP91F7.htm It will hold any dual slot GPU's, with space built in between to help cool them. 4 6990's will run in there without issue. It'll also handle dual Nahalem-EPs.

 

[Keylimesoda]

Wow, that Supermicro looks like a beast! If I was building a commercial setup, that would be my weapon of choice.

I do like the idea of a server-style case. I suspect I could get a really effective 4U case cheaper than an enthusiast tower case? I couldn't care less about how it looks... Any thoughts? How does a cheap 4U case compare with say a Coolermaster HAF X?

As is, I'm a hobbyist, with a limited budget. Does the FT02 do a good job with 6990 cards? I looked at a RV02 the other day at Frys, and it looked like it might be a tight fit for the 6990 (especially 2 of them) and the airflow may not be configured correctly?

For motherboard, I'd been looking at the MSI 890FXA-GD70. That seems like a good board for 2 or 3 6990s. Are there any real durability differences between an MSI commercial board and a supermicro server board?

Also, what is a good target temp for the 6990s over the long haul. Would they be okay at anything <90C, or is even that too high?

 

[rangda]

FT02 will be your best bet as far as air cooling goes. Watercooling will need maintenance, but will ultimately cool much better

I have an FT02 and I can tell you from experience that it's an awful case for non-blower style cards, literally a 25c difference in crossfire when I tried it (6950 twin frozr vs reference). The 6990 pushes air out both sides of the card, this will fight with the FT02's intake fans and destroy case cooling.

I'm not sure what you'd use to air cool 2 6990's; that a ton of hot air being dumped into the case. I think I'd want something with intakes on the bottom/sides/top, exhaust by the CPU and where the hard drive bays would normally be (to get rid of the hot air being pushed out the inside edge of the 6990's). Could maybe mod a HAF X to do that (dunno about the air intake on the bottom part).

 

[Keylimesoda]

Good to know about the FT02. I was looking at a Raven 02, but it sound like that may nit be the right choice.

Does the 6990 blow out both ends?

 

[skipsneeky2]

Avoid the antec 900 for the 6990.

I had to remove the internal fan and case for it then push the second compartment out about a inch just to make the card fit.

Did'nt look all that pleasing,but the card with the fan on full speed and the overall case fans on high did keep the card very cool but it was loud.


Perhaps the antec 1200 is a different story.

 

[Keylimesoda]

What a funny thread. One recommendation of a +$1,000 barebones server+case, and then a bunch of "don't use <x>".

 

[dawp]

are there any size restrictions where you're going place this? full towers would probably be best. or maybe one of the cooler master HAF cases.

since your going AMD with this build, maybe a HAF 932 AMD edition. there is a regular 932 if don't want this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119212

I don't like the board orientation of the raven 02. I think the cables coming out of the top with the cover can be an issue. especially if you have any usb devices you need access on a regular basis.

 

[Keylimesoda]

No space restrictions. I've got a whole room to use if I wanted it.

I looked at the HAF X--does it work with the 6990's unique cooling characteristics, or would it take some modding?

 

[dawp]

I don't know since I don't own one but it should work being a hi air flow case. I'm kind of partial to Lian Li cases, Ive been using them for almost 10 years now. current one I have now is a rocketfish full tower that was made by Lian Li for Best Buy and I have plenty of room for my hd4870x2.this is the one most similar to mine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112244

I don't think that would have any issues with the 6990s

those hd6990 are long cards aren't they. that would be my main worry about any case. I think any case with a lot of air moving in it should work.

 

[skipsneeky2]

What a funny thread. One recommendation of a +$1,000 barebones server+case, and then a bunch of "don't use <x>".

While funny,the 6990 as far as i know is the longest video card to date.

My gtx580 fits in the 900 like it was made for this case , 6990 needed mods.

6990 is huge you need a monster of a case but which is the better question.

Maybe ati will bring out a second version thats shorter, but i doubt it.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

While funny,the 6990 as far as i know is the longest video card to date.

My gtx580 fits in the 900 like it was made for this case , 6990 needed mods.

6990 is huge you need a monster of a case but which is the better question.

Maybe ati will bring out a second version thats shorter, but i doubt it.

If I'm not mistaken 5970 is the longest card to date and that barely fits into an FT-02.

The FT-02/RV-02 are the best cases as far as air cooling goes. I saw a nice drop in temps when moving from an Antec 1200 to an FT-02.

 

[heymrdj]

There are some server cases that can be heavy breathers.

Want cheap and effective? Run this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...0Server%20Case

Change out the front and back fans for high rpm and high flow if you want to really cool them hard. You can run dual 6990 triple slots in it, or 3 dual slots plus a single slot card. It will also hold the biggest of PSU's.

 

[Keylimesoda]

I think we may have a winner.