Solution for mounting two triple slot GPUs together

[Iqfish]

Hey guys,

 

I turn to you, because r/pcmr, in its infinite wisdom, told me to just get a bigger case. That wont help though.

 

I'm a 3D artist working from home. My boss already plans getting 2 of the new Nvidia Cards, probably even two 3090s. They are going to be used for GPU rendering.

Problem is, they are pretty much 100% going to be 3-slot cooler designs. And they will have to fit into my machine. The top card will have no breathing room, since there is only a two slot spacing between PCIe-Slots on my Mainboard.

 

Right now I have a 2080 (3-slot) and a 1080 (2-slot) in there, and when I mount the 3-slot above the 2-slot, it absolutely chokes to death while rendering and has to really ramp up fans. I mounted the 2-slot above now, so theres a slot of "breathing room" below both cards, but the new top card will have the same problem but worse, since the 3090s are going to be pretty hot.

Here's a pic of that: 

Spoiler

Any ideas? I could probably hack a printed ABS mount together and use the free space in the front of my case together with a riser cable, but that would screw the airflow up.

 

[AndreiArgeanu]

Just grab a PCIE riser and mount the 2nd GPU anywhere you want, though as you can see there is a space in the front of the case where you can place the card and it will look a bit like this.

[nick name]

One in the board and another on a riser.  

[Iqfish]

@AndreiArgeanu @nick name

 

Thanks guys, that was my first impulse as well.

 

However with my case, the Meshify C, the vertical mount is too close to the mainboard. It is blocked by the horizontally installed cards. Also, it will probably be way too close to the side panel?

 

[Moonzy]

while vertical mounting it is an option, the card will choke from the side panel being so close anyways

and the 3090 is rumored not only to be 3 slot, but also wide, so it'll probably block off the vertical slot (which is only 2 slot btw)

 

that said, a riser can still be a solution, but it wont be pretty, because there's no where to mount the GPU, so you have to get creative with it

 

I am thinking changing a motherboard, or look into watercooling those cards, or at least the top one

[Iqfish]

2 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

while vertical mounting it is an option, the card will choke from the side panel being so close anyways

and the 3090 is rumored not only to be 3 slot, but also wide, so it'll probably block off the vertical slot (which is only 2 slot btw)

 

that said, a riser can still be a solution, but it wont be pretty, because there's no where to mount the GPU, so you have to get creative with it

 

I am thinking changing a motherboard, or look into watercooling those cards, or at least the top one

 

Thanks, which motherboard would you recommend? Th Socket 1151s I can find are all with only 2 PCI-Slots spacing between PCIe x16-Slots

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Iqfish said:

Thanks, which motherboard would you recommend? Th Socket 1151s I can find are all with only 2 PCI-Slots spacing between PCIe x16-Slots

which cpu specifically? too many generations using 1151

 

most mainstream board i know have 3 slot spacing (basically just enough to fit the 3-slot gpu with no space to breathe)

4 slot spacing on mainstream board is very rare, if not non-existent, since only recently have GPU started using 2.5 and 3 slots

 

i recommend waiting for launch, see if there are alternative 3090 coolers from third party vendors that are 2 or 2.5 slots.

 

or look into watercooling them

[Iqfish]

13 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

which cpu specifically? too many generations using 1151

 

most mainstream board i know have 3 slot spacing (basically just enough to fit the 3-slot gpu with no space to breathe)

4 slot spacing on mainstream board is very rare, if not non-existent, since only recently have GPU started using 2.5 and 3 slots

 

i recommend waiting for launch, see if there are alternative 3090 coolers from third party vendors that are 2 or 2.5 slots.

 

or look into watercooling them

 

i9 9900K.

 

Yea, the breathing space is the problem. The 2080 super already reached 80°C due to choking on the hot backplate of the 1080 below. Cannot imagine how that will be with two 3090s. 

 

I hope there will be 2-2.5 slot 3090s, but I doubt it...

[nick name]

Another possible option is to slap an AIO on the card you mount vertically or in a lower PCIe slot using something like the NZXT Kraken G12?  

[Iqfish]

2 minutes ago, nick name said:

Another possible option is to slap an AIO on the card you mount vertically using something like the NZXT Kraken G12?  

I could just do that for both. I have space for a triple rad in the front, so why not use the back fan port and one of the three in the front...

 

Will the G12 fit for the 3000 series though?

[Moonzy]

6 minutes ago, Iqfish said:

i9 9900K.

from a quick google search, this seems like a good candidate, 4 slot spacing

but the bottom card would be near the PSU shroud, so it's another concern

 

oh btw i forgot the 3090 is using an interesting cooler

the air flows across the card, so stacking them might not be too bad? wait for reviews

[Iqfish]

2 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

from a quick google search, this seems like a good candidate, 4 slot spacing

but the bottom card would be near the PSU shroud, so it's another concern

 

oh btw i forgot the 3090 is using an interesting cooler

the air flows across the card, so stacking them might not be too bad? wait for reviews

Thank you! Thats a big help. I will write that down.

 

Yea yea, I know, I should just wait. But it's so exciting! Probably the most exciting GPU launch ever for me.

[nick name]

23 minutes ago, Iqfish said:

I could just do that for both. I have space for a triple rad in the front, so why not use the back fan port and one of the three in the front...

 

Will the G12 fit for the 3000 series though?

I'm sure some will try it so I'd give it a little time.  Or perhaps NZXT will come out with a new version.  

 

Side note:

I went and looked at the leaks of the Gainward and Zotac cards and all of those appear to be 2 slot cards.  Only the Founders appears to be three slot.  So maybe you'll have some that you can make work.    

[Iqfish]

3 minutes ago, nick name said:

I'm sure some will try it so I'd give it a little time.  Or perhaps NZXT will come out with a new version.  

 

Side note:

I went and looked at the leaks of the Gainward and Zotac cards and all of those appear to be 2 slot cards.  Only the Founders appears to be three slot.  So maybe you'll have some that you can make work.    

Nice, thank you. As long as it's 2.5 slots or less, it could be ok. Everything about that will cause suffocation problems.

[nick name]

Oof.  I just read that ASUS has some 2.9 slot cards.