Low Profile Case?

[Foreverjake]

Hello,

 

I'm looking to build a new PC, which I'm prepared to go as high as 5k USD to fund, but I need it to fit on a shelf with only 10 inches of vertical space. Depth and width are relativity unconstrained with at least 24 inches available in each direction. I know there are cases out there to fit these measurements, but they don't seem to support the higher end build/upgrade features I want it to support: Silent (as much as possible), AMD Ryzen 9 3750x, 2 x 2080 TI, 2 x empty PCI slots, 128GB RAM and at least 2 x 3.5" hard drive bays. I think this configuration limits me to full ATX MB's and I'm not opposed to water cooling. I was looking at 4U server cases, but their cooling options are not geared towards the acoustic profile I'm seeking. Does anyone here have a suggestion?

 

Thanks

Jake

[jaslion]

12 minutes ago, Foreverjake said:

Hello,

 

I'm looking to build a new PC, which I'm prepared to go as high as 5k USD to fund, but I need it to fit on a shelf with only 10 inches of vertical space. Depth and width are relativity unconstrained with at least 24 inches available in each direction. I know there are cases out there to fit these measurements, but they don't seem to support the higher end build/upgrade features I want it to support: Silent (as much as possible), AMD Ryzen 9 3750x, 2 x 2080 TI, 2 x empty PCI slots, 128GB RAM and at least 2 x 3.5" hard drive bays. I think this configuration limits me to full ATX MB's and I'm not opposed to water cooling. I was looking at 4U server cases, but their cooling options are not geared towards the acoustic profile I'm seeking. Does anyone here have a suggestion?

 

Thanks

Jake

4u cases can be perfectly silent if you use the right fans. Put some arctic f12's in there if you don't want to spend too much on em and it will be whisper quiet.

Also what does this system have to do? 5k is a lot but can be easily wasted.

If this is a pure gaming system then well you are wasting money on parts that will add nothing and might even detract from the experience. But first I need to know the usecase to help you further.

[Hilltrot]

While  Silverstone does have some ATX HTPC cases, I would more likely chose a Mid-tower case with both large sides having no air flow.  Something as regular as the NZXT 710 can be laid down on its side.

 

But to be honest, with a $5000 budget you can actually have your case custom-made.

 

https://www.protocase.com

[Foreverjake]

I'm not really a gamer. A little Minecraft and Starcraft to pass the time. What I'm really looking to do is large MPLS network models, think GNS3 with 50 routers, and blue-ray ripping with video encoding. Both of these functions should have all the cores pegged for hours at a time. This thing is going to sit on a shelf above my desk, so I don't want it competing with my music or movies.

[jaslion]

5 minutes ago, Foreverjake said:

I'm not really a gamer. A little Minecraft and Starcraft to pass the time. What I'm really looking to do is large MPLS network models, think GNS3 with 50 routers, and blue-ray ripping with video encoding. Both of these functions should have all the cores pegged for hours at a time. This thing is going to sit on a shelf above my desk, so I don't want it competing with my music or movies.

Alrighty. However dual gpu's still doesn't make much sense for that. Even a 2080 doesn't make much sense for that as those are all cpu tasks. That and sli is basically dead.

For just minecraft and starcraft a rx5700 will be plenty and will also be kinda overkill.

Same with ram really. I don't know what software you use but I use cisco's stuff to build my network topologies and that rarely ever uses more than 8 or 9gb.

If this is just spending to spend it I would not really do that as you can use it for something else or just save it or whatever. Adding in more later is easy.

 

Of course unless I'm totally wrong and then I'll make a build as asked.

[Foreverjake]

That protocase site looks pretty cool. I'll play with their design software and get a quote. Thanks.

[Foreverjake]

@jaslion Simple modeling with GNS3 using C7600 images is pegging my i7 quad-core/32GB RAM. So much so it can't keep up with the OSPF HELLO packets and therefore dropping the the whole MPLS model. I assume Cisco CML with even a low number of CSR 1000v would be much worst with each needing 2-4 cores and 2.5GB RAM.

 

As for the video cards I was thinking that I would get better encoding times using the GPU's. Plus, can't I assign cards to VM's with a pass through function? Wouldn't this allow a 6-8 core VM to perform as well as a standalone system?

 

Any advice is welcome, if you think I'm going down the wrong path...   

[jaslion]

38 minutes ago, Foreverjake said:

@jaslion Simple modeling with GNS3 using C7600 images is pegging my i7 quad-core/32GB RAM. So much so it can't keep up with the OSPF HELLO packets and therefore dropping the the whole MPLS model. I assume Cisco CML with even a low number of CSR 1000v would be much worst with each needing 2-4 cores and 2.5GB RAM.

 

As for the video cards I was thinking that I would get better encoding times using the GPU's. Plus, can't I assign cards to VM's with a pass through function? Wouldn't this allow a 6-8 core VM to perform as well as a standalone system?

 

Any advice is welcome, if you think I'm going down the wrong path...   

1. Alrighty I'll take that into consideration to up the ram

2. Yes and no. Windows as a hypervisor is pretty cruddy so you'd want something like vmware esxi, unraid or just a random low resource linux os and do it that way. Totally depends on how you want to do it. The cheapest way is use linux but the easiest is probably unraid but linux really isn't that hard as there is a lot of community support for it. You will lose at least 1 core no matter what way you do it tho. Encoding will be sped up but it entirely depends on the codec and well a lot of the times your card will not see 100% useage anyways.

 

Edit: if cores is what you need you may even want to look at threadripper.

[Foreverjake]

@jaslion I have considered the Threadripper but the increases in motherboard and CPU price will blow the budget. Also, I'm not committed to the 2 GPU's for the initial build. I just want the space, power and cooling capacity to add the second if I want it later. I was considering the the Fragbox from Falcon NW, but their case will not allow for future upgrades and I'm not impressed with their RAM and storage prices.

 

Here is what I know I have to have upfront:

AMD Ryzen 9 3950x

64 to 128GB RAM

Must be quiet

1 x 2080TI with space for a second.

1Gb/s NIC, would like a remote management port if the MB supports it.

Must fit on a shelf with 9.85 inches of height clearance

Space for 2 x M.2

Space for 2 x 3.5" hard drives

Space for WiFi card if not included on the MB

Space for 10Gb/s NIC if not on MB 

 

Here is what I was considering, but I'm not sure about the cooling:

 

[jaslion]

13 hours ago, Foreverjake said:

@jaslion I have considered the Threadripper but the increases in motherboard and CPU price will blow the budget. Also, I'm not committed to the 2 GPU's for the initial build. I just want the space, power and cooling capacity to add the second if I want it later. I was considering the the Fragbox from Falcon NW, but their case will not allow for future upgrades and I'm not impressed with their RAM and storage prices.

 

Here is what I know I have to have upfront:

AMD Ryzen 9 3950x

64 to 128GB RAM

Must be quiet

1 x 2080TI with space for a second.

1Gb/s NIC, would like a remote management port if the MB supports it.

Must fit on a shelf with 9.85 inches of height clearance

Space for 2 x M.2

Space for 2 x 3.5" hard drives

Space for WiFi card if not included on the MB

Space for 10Gb/s NIC if not on MB 

 

Here is what I was considering, but I'm not sure about the cooling:

 

Alright I'll look for some cases and give you some options then according to what case you choose I can alter the parts to accommodate for it