Looking for a cheap dual system case - which one should I get?

[NunoLava1998]

I was thinking about building a new PC, but I don't want to buy a whole other case and power supply (to conserve space, but also because it should consume pretty little electricity). I've looked into mini cases, but getting the SFX power supplies for those are usually pretty expensive, and they still occupy some space, so I've been looking into dual system cases - that way, I'd have one case with both of my systems.

 

I can't really find that many cheap dual-system cases though; the only decent one I've found is the MagniumGear NEO Qube 2, but that's 179€ on Amazon - I'd really like to get that down if possible, given that it's nearly the price of my entire new build. Does anybody know of any decent cheaper dual system cases?

[Radium_Angel]

7 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

dual-system cases

Might be the language barrier, but when you say "dual-system" I think either "dual boot" (as in Windows or Linux) or "dual PC" as in two complete systems in one case, which I don't think you mean here...what are you trying to say?

[NunoLava1998]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Might be the language barrier, but when you say "dual-system" I think either "dual boot" (as in Windows or Linux) or "dual PC" as in two complete systems in one case, which I don't think you mean here...what are you trying to say?

Dual-PC, as in, two motherboards - sorry if I didn't make that clear

[Radium_Angel]

6 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

Dual-PC, as in, two motherboards - sorry if I didn't make that clear

No worries, dual-motherboard PC cases are rare..and as such, will probably be on the expensive side.

I am a tad confused tho...this is the link to the case you like:

https://magnium-gear.com/neoqube2.html

But I"m not seeing any way of mounting two mobos, to GPUs, two PSUs etc in that case?

[NunoLava1998]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

No worries, dual-motherboard PC cases are rare..and as such, will probably be on the expensive side.

I am a tad confused tho...this is the link to the case you like:

https://magnium-gear.com/neoqube2.html

But I"m not seeing any way of mounting two mobos, to GPUs, two PSUs etc in that case?

From what I understand, it's on the back; the front isn't anything really special. Not sure about two PSUs, but I plan on powering both with my main PSU if that's possible

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, NunoLava1998 said:

but I plan on powering both with my main PSU if that's possible

I'm not certain that is...you'd need two 24 pin connectors at a minimum....I've not seen any PSUs that offer that.

I mean you can split one into two like this

https://www.amazon.com/dual-psu-adapter/s?k=dual+psu+adapter

but I'd be rather concerned about the power delivery and stability of that

[IkeaGnome]

4 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

But I"m not seeing any way of mounting two mobos, to GPUs, two PSUs etc in that case?

It's in the back and uses the Phanteks PSU designed for dual systems.

https://phanteks.com/Revolt-X.html

3 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

I plan on powering both with my main PSU if that's possible

Not really. Having 2 motherboards on 1 24 pin, if it's possible would be annoying. First thing I see is when you power one system on, it'll power the other system on as well. 

[Radium_Angel]

2 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

It's in the back and uses the Phanteks PSU designed for dual systems.

https://phanteks.com/Revolt-X.html

That's pretty crazy in a neat "who needs this?" kind of way.

[IkeaGnome]

13 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I'm not certain that is...you'd need two 24 pin connectors at a minimum....I've not seen any PSUs that offer that.

I mean you can split one into two like this

https://www.amazon.com/dual-psu-adapter/s?k=dual+psu+adapter

but I'd be rather concerned about the power delivery and stability of that

The problem is that those adapters are for two power supplies for one system. I used one of them in my folding rig until I got a motherboard that supports dual power supplies.

Spoiler

The connector with 2 wires is just there to tell the second power supply to turn on when you push the power button for the motherboard. Otherwise you do the pin jumping and start both power supplies at the same time thing. 

 

10 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

That's pretty crazy in a neat "who needs this?" kind of way.

OP does. I wouldn't run two systems off one power supply unless it has 2 separate 24 pin connectors. 

 

17 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

From what I understand, it's on the back; the front isn't anything really special. Not sure about two PSUs, but I plan on powering both with my main PSU if that's possible

I'm not sure if the Phanteks Evolv X has come down in price, or what it's price is there, but I had one stuffed for a while and it did well. It's also dual system. 

Phanteks actually has a few cases IIRC that are set up for dual system. Enthoo Mini XL(?) name is something like that I think.

Enthoo Pro 2 does too and used to be cheaper than a lot of the other Phanteks cases.

 

Edit: Dug far enough through my attachments to find my old Evolv X.

Spoiler

 

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

OP does

Poor choice of words on my part, what I meant to say was "what kind of market is there for this?" but I guess the mining folk were the intended market.

[IkeaGnome]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Poor choice of words on my part, what I meant to say was "what kind of market is there for this?" but I guess the mining folk were the intended market.

Nah, mining fold want more power supplies than motherboards. The adapter you linked above is for them, or those of us with too many graphics cards for one power supply. 

The market is getting smaller and smaller, but there was a big market for dual system cases when video editing and streaming was still "relatively" very taxing for hardware. Want to stream and play games at the same time with no performance loss? 2 computer set up. Don't have space for 2 towers? Go dual system. 

41 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

a whole other case and power supply

I think either way you skin this, you're looking at a different case and another power supply or one that will work for dual systems. What components would you put in the second system? If it's not stuff that's really hot, there are ITX cases that will support an ATX power supply. 

I built "Project Hot Box" in one of these cases. 

https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/RVZ03/

Was way too small and didn't have the airflow for a 5800x and a 6800xt, but not too long ago I set it up with a full size gt 1030 and 9100f for my mom as a work from home just needs to get by computer. It can fit an ATX power supply, but go with a full modular one for sure. Cables get hard to tuck. There's quite a few other cases like that too.

[PDifolco]

48 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

I was thinking about building a new PC, but I don't want to buy a whole other case and power supply (to conserve space, but also because it should consume pretty little electricity). I've looked into mini cases, but getting the SFX power supplies for those are usually pretty expensive, and they still occupy some space, so I've been looking into dual system cases - that way, I'd have one case with both of my systems.

 

I can't really find that many cheap dual-system cases though; the only decent one I've found is the MagniumGear NEO Qube 2, but that's 179€ on Amazon - I'd really like to get that down if possible, given that it's nearly the price of my entire new build. Does anybody know of any decent cheaper dual system cases?

Again, the Phanteks P600S, greatest case of all  ,  has that too ! (I don't use that feature tho)

It's around $200, same price range 

[TVwazhere]

1 hour ago, NunoLava1998 said:

179€ on Amazon - I'd really like to get that down if possible

I can tell you right now dual system cases do not exist for under that price point, unless there's a sale on a P600S / P500A or something. On top of that, there's very little selection for them because they are such a niche product. Lastly, you will still likely need to buy an additional PSU anyways, either a standalone unit, or a higher wattage unit to power two systems with some form of complicated power diverter unit (Phanteks used to make one I think...)

[thrasher_565]

dont. im building 2 pcs in one case but i also love cases... so its better off just having 2 imo... you can even stack em if need be.

[NunoLava1998]

18 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

I can tell you right now dual system cases do not exist for under that price point, unless there's a sale on a P600S / P500A or something. On top of that, there's very little selection for them because they are such a niche product. Lastly, you will still likely need to buy an additional PSU anyways, either a standalone unit, or a higher wattage unit to power two systems with some form of complicated power diverter unit (Phanteks used to make one I think...)

I'll probably go for a separate case then. A bit of a shame, but at least it's a lot cheaper.

(As for the PSU - the second system I want to build is a retro build with an iGPU, so it consumes almost no power - from what I'm reading, it shouldn't be any more than about 50W, so it wouldn't be a huge issue to use one PSU to power both as long as you have the right adapters)

[thrasher_565]

20 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

I can tell you right now dual system cases do not exist for under that price point, unless there's a sale on a P600S / P500A or something. On top of that, there's very little selection for them because they are such a niche product. Lastly, you will still likely need to buy an additional PSU anyways, either a standalone unit, or a higher wattage unit to power two systems with some form of complicated power diverter unit (Phanteks used to make one I think...)

ya phantec was in to the dule system thing. had an adapter to make 2 psus run one system or 1 psu to run 2 systems. the also sold a duel system psu 1500w i think but its costly.

 

there are cheap 24pin adapters but then you also need the cpu power i guess from sata or mole x

 

most of the case had 1 atx and 1 itx ones that can do 2 atx cost way more.

Edited January 14, 2023 by thrasher_565

[andrewmp6]

What will both systems be used for ?

[NunoLava1998]

19 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

ya phantec was in to the dule system thing. had an adapter to make 2 psus run one system or 1 psu to run 2 systems. the also sold a duel system psu 1500w i think but its costly.

 

there are cheap 24pin adapters but then you also need the cpu power i guess from sata or mole x

 

most of the case had 1 atx and 1 itx ones that can do 2 atx cost way more.

I'm trying to build a retro system, and the motherboards from that era don't even have a CPU power connector lol - just a 20-pin. The motherboard manual says that it shouldn't consume any more than 50-200W, so it shouldn't be a huge deal.

Spoiler

12 hours ago, andrewmp6 said:

What will both systems be used for ?

One will just be my main system, and the other will just be a retro system I'll use for testing out older software - I want to emulate the conditions of a real system from those times, so I'd rather not use a virtual machine.

The reason why I'd want it in a dual system case is because it wouldn't look as cluttered on my desk, but it does seem pretty expensive, so I'm not sure whether it would be a good idea.

[thrasher_565]

4 hours ago, NunoLava1998 said:

I'm trying to build a retro system, and the motherboards from that era don't even have a CPU power connector lol - just a 20-pin. The motherboard manual says that it shouldn't consume any more than 50-200W, so it shouldn't be a huge deal.

  Reveal hidden contents

One will just be my main system, and the other will just be a retro system I'll use for testing out older software - I want to emulate the conditions of a real system from those times, so I'd rather not use a virtual machine.

The reason why I'd want it in a dual system case is because it wouldn't look as cluttered on my desk, but it does seem pretty expensive, so I'm not sure whether it would be a good idea.

its probly not atx then so it be a diy mount anyway

[andrewmp6]

11 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

its probly not atx then so it be a diy mount anyway

if hes lucky its micro atx if not its a old odd standard not used anymore.

[thrasher_565]

12 hours ago, andrewmp6 said:

if hes lucky its micro atx if not its a old odd standard not used anymore.

what was the old mb mount called before atx? and they used the old 2 plug wight psu connectors...

[andrewmp6]

5 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

what was the old mb mount called before atx? and they used the old 2 plug wight psu connectors...

AT and LPX was the before standards 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX#Main_changes_from_AT_and_LPX_designs