Case idea's. M-ITX/M-ATX SLI.

[Kiwiandapple]

Hi, 

 

So I have this idea to build my own case and made a rough SketchUp of 2 off my idea's. 

The idea is to make it as compact as possible. I can give more pictures if you want to see it from a different angle. 

 

Please note that both designs are pre pre pre alpha. I did spend some time on it, but I am still learning this program. 

As well I downloaded some pre-made models by other people. These are just placeholders and not all the correct sizes. 

 

 

So my idea with my first sketch is a fun one, I found this lovely piece of awesomeness and it made me go "oeeeee!" 

This is an PCI-E x16 splitter. It splits up to 2 times PCI-E x8. I am not sure if I could SLI/CF with this. I emailed SuperMicro to get my dreams crushed. 
But have to wait for this. The only "sigh" part about this splitter is that the lanes are going out towards the CPU. So the riser cables have to wrap around it to get to the GPU's and I hope I can find long enough ones. (Or I could perhaps mount the motherboard up side down..?!)

This forces me to go liquid cooling and to find a motherboard where the CPU socket is far enough away from the PCI-E lane. I likely have to make the case a little bit bigger. 

Yes I know, why? Just because! 

If anyone knows that this does not work, then please tell me and I can go forget about this and work on the M-ATX build. 

 

 

 

Now for my M-ATX build things aren't that complicated and I can do this with just 2 simple risers. I do want to go 2011. Maybe by the time I plan to build this, they made an M-ATX X99 that I can buy. 
I am a little bit in.. derp mode here with the fan config. The current config as I have it now is:

• 360radiator - all exhaust
• 240radiator - both intake
• GPU - both intake
• PSU - exhaust.

Not sure if this is the best solution. The idea for the 240rad is to push the air somewhat into the PSU that will exhaust it out the back off the case. It's only weird because the other 2 next to it are intakes.
Maybe better to swap the 360RAD as intakes and the 2 GPU fans as exhaust?  

 

The wall where the SSD is laying against is lowered pure so you can see what my idea is. I will make this a full wall if this design stays like it is. 

 

Let me know what you think and if I could use a different layout, please share your idea's! Of course the top panel will have a window you can look inside. Much like the 250D style. 

This build will be started by the end of this year or start of next year. If all the starts line up. Money, time, tools, motivation. 

 

 

[DoubleY]

According to the renders, your PSU cable might get in the way of the 360mm radiator. 

 

Also, what fans are those? 

[SAV1OUR]

it wont work because your motherboards not made for sli you would likely have to mod the bios

[dragosudeki]

How would that work though? I understand that it is a splitter, but would the voltage going through the slot be reliable and how would the CPU use both GPUs under one slot?

EDIT:

 

it wont work because your motherboards not made for sli you would likely have to mod the bios

 

Your also right about that. It would have to be CF. My questions above still remain.

[Osmium]

How would that work though? I understand that it is a splitter, but would the voltage going through the slot be reliable and how would the CPU use both GPUs under one slot?

EDIT:

 

 

Your also right about that. It would have to be CF. My questions above still remain.

 

Well boards have to be CF certified as well. The difference is almost everyone is Xfire certified however nobody would bother getting a cert on a board with only one slot.

[dragosudeki]

Well boards have to be CF certified as well. The difference is almost everyone is Xfire certified however nobody would bother getting a cert on a board with only one slot.

Thats true. Probably because the splitters won't work anyways. Aren't all boards technically CF certified, since its free to do that or something? Whereas, SLI certified requires the manufacturer to pay Nvidia to enable it or something like that?

[Osmium]

Thats true. Probably because the splitters won't work anyways. Aren't all boards technically CF certified, since its free to do that or something? Whereas, SLI certified requires the manufacturer to pay Nvidia to enable it or something like that?

Well I was under the impression they have to go get their board certified but it was free(or really cheap). But who would bother to do that with only one slot though?

[Kiwiandapple]

According to the renders, your PSU cable might get in the way of the 360mm radiator. 

 

Also, what fans are those? 

 

I can move the PSU a little more back. I have space enough here. Got 65mm here now. If it really is to tight I can just buy a fan grill :]

It's just that I need to have a little bit of space for a resevoir + pump combo on the other side there. Did not look to much yet into this. 

Those are some Noctua's NF-P12 if i'm not mistaken, but not really to detailed. I just grabbed whatever fan for now - when i'm done planning it out, I will have a closer look at wich parts I will get (this will be partly done when planning it out as well). 

 

 

it wont work because your motherboards not made for sli you would likely have to mod the bios

 

Yes, I have no idea here, I just saw this thing and was like.. This could be amazing! 

But my honest idea that I could get this to work is like 0,01%. Will just wait for 

 

How would that work though? I understand that it is a splitter, but would the voltage going through the slot be reliable and how would the CPU use both GPUs under one slot?

EDIT:

Your also right about that. It would have to be CF. My questions above still remain.

 

Just found this... 

http://www.supermicro.nl/manuals/brochure/x9_risercards_socketr.pdf  

The splitter is on the bottom right. No GPU support!

 

I don't think they have any PCI-E x16 connecter that splits up to 2 PCI-E slots that support GPU's!

Basterds! ^^ 

 

So there goes my dreams! 

 

Well boards have to be CF certified as well. The difference is almost everyone is Xfire certified however nobody would bother getting a cert on a board with only one slot.

 

Well, I just found the answer I think. 

So time for me to focus on the M-ATX build instead. 

I still hope to get an email back with some posetive news? I am not giving up just yet! 

[DoubleY]

I can move the PSU a little more back. I have space enough here. Got 65mm here now. If it really is to tight I can just buy a fan grill :]

It's just that I need to have a little bit of space for a resevoir + pump combo on the other side there. Did not look to much yet into this. 

Ahh alright

If I may, I would suggest getting Scythe GT's. They tend to be much better for the same price. However, they're only in the US so you'd have to pay for shipping

 

If you don't wanna do that, you can keep the Noctuas 

[Kiwiandapple]

Ahh alright

If I may, I would suggest getting Scythe GT's. They tend to be much better for the same price. However, they're only in the US so you'd have to pay for shipping

 

If you don't wanna do that, you can keep the Noctuas 

 

I will have a look at the fans by that time when I go shopping, it's the least to care about for now.

They will make new fans this year and probably better stuff. I as well allready have a good amount of Noctua's in my current rig, so I will probably re-use some here. If the fans are not visable it's fine for me to use them. 

But I do know that there are "better" fans for the price, yes. Noctua's are expensive as f*ck. I as well have not set a theme yet, just brainstorming about the idea and layout.

If I get to it, i'll likely go with a color that is not used much :]

[CJPowell27]

If you do the first one I will love you forever

Also, Banana?

[simson0606]

love the banana for scale

[Kiwiandapple]

If you do the first one I will love you forever

Also, Banana?

 

I sadly found out that that splitter won't work, so idea 1 will not work.

But I might still go with the first build and just use 1 card and not SLI. This will be the cheapest version. I somewhat have 5 options. 

• M-ITX Single card on air.
• M-ATX 1150 SLI on air.
• M-ATX 1150 SLI on water.
• M-ATX 2011 SLI on air.
• M-ATX 2011 SLI on water.

It kinda depends on how well my 780 can handle star citizen on 1440p and how much money I can spend  

Wich I kinda expect to not be good enough, so my aim is to go at least for 2011 SLI on air. 

 

As well below is where the banana is for, ..little joke! 

 

love the banana for scale

[KieranBrown]

All boards with 2 physical X16 slots will run crossfire, regardless of if one is X4 speeds. Sli requires both slots to run at at least X8 for speed, so both cards get adequate data