Airflow optimised chassis recommendations for top 420 AIO & vertical GPU mount point

[JaredT]

Hi all, I'm current speccing out a new workstation and seek recommendations for an ATX chassis that has the following features:

• 420mm top mount radiator support
• Vertical GPU mount
• No taller than 543mm
• No wider than 300mm

While airflow optimised and vertical GPU mount sounds stupid together in a sentence, the vertical mount points are meant for a Mellanox network card and a Broadcom SAS card. Vertically mounting them with risers would open up the airflow for the RTX 4090, without having to resort to excessively expensive workstation or server platforms for their taller boards (they also generally provide less single threaded performance). I also don't really want to wait for consumer Zen 4 Threadripper.

 

The 420mm radiator at the top instead of front aims to lower the intake temps for the GPU. A 420mm is also picked to lower total system noise for any given performance target with 3 x 140mm instead of 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm fans.

 

I also have a lot of audio equipment, and am using a sit-stand desk, so using an underdesk PC mount would be ideal over placing the PC on the desk. This limits my case width and height.

I currently have three candidates, all of which are compromises:

• Corsair 5000D Airflow (280 & 360mm radiators only)
• Corsair 7000D Airflow (At 600mm tall, it would have to sit on the desk)
• Phanteks Eclipse G500A/P500A (420mm front, 360mm top)

 

The Lian Li Lancool III's compatible vertical GPU mounting kit (o11de-1) replaces the stock PCIe slot position, so it is not applicable.

 

I'm currently leaning towards the Phanteks with a Liquid Freezer II 360 instead of 420. Any further insights that would fit all my requirements would be much appreciated!

[filpo]

2 hours ago, JaredT said:

Hi all, I'm current speccing out a new workstation and seek recommendations for an ATX chassis that has the following features:

• 420mm top mount radiator support
• Vertical GPU mount
• No taller than 543mm
• No wider than 300mm

While airflow optimised and vertical GPU mount sounds stupid together in a sentence, the vertical mount points are meant for a Mellanox network card and a Broadcom SAS card. Vertically mounting them with risers would open up the airflow for the RTX 4090, without having to resort to excessively expensive workstation or server platforms for their taller boards (they also generally provide less single threaded performance). I also don't really want to wait for consumer Zen 4 Threadripper.

 

The 420mm radiator at the top instead of front aims to lower the intake temps for the GPU. A 420mm is also picked to lower total system noise for any given performance target with 3 x 140mm instead of 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm fans.

 

I also have a lot of audio equipment, and am using a sit-stand desk, so using an underdesk PC mount would be ideal over placing the PC on the desk. This limits my case width and height.

I currently have three candidates, all of which are compromises:

• Corsair 5000D Airflow (280 & 360mm radiators only)
• Corsair 7000D Airflow (At 600mm tall, it would have to sit on the desk)
• Phanteks Eclipse G500A/P500A (420mm front, 360mm top)

 

The Lian Li Lancool III's compatible vertical GPU mounting kit (o11de-1) replaces the stock PCIe slot position, so it is not applicable.

 

I'm currently leaning towards the Phanteks with a Liquid Freezer II 360 instead of 420. Any further insights that would fit all my requirements would be much appreciated!

The O11 D Evo XL is nearly perfect but it's a bit wide at 304mm, it's only 532mm high tho and can fit a 420mm aio up top Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO XL ATX Full Tower Case (O11DEXL-X) - PCPartPicker

[JaredT]

4 hours ago, filpo said:

The O11 D Evo XL is nearly perfect but it's a bit wide at 304mm, it's only 532mm high tho and can fit a 420mm aio up top Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO XL ATX Full Tower Case (O11DEXL-X) - PCPartPicker

I'll head to the desk showroom and measure if it'll fit. It's unlikely but worth the trip since it would fit all of my requirements by moving the GPU instead of the other two add-on cards.

[JaredT]

I checked physically at the showroom. The extension arm for the underdesk mount locks rigidly at around 300mm with less than 4mm variance from the two units on display, so unfortunately the O11D EVO XL isn't an option for me. I may probably go for a 360mm length radiator, or a front mounted 420mm.

[thrasher_565]

Fractal Design Meshify 2

i dont thing a vertical gpu will work even if the case had 3 slots. the 4090 are REALLY thick... and it put the fan way too close to the side... and even keeping it with in the 300mm.

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by thrasher_565

[JaredT]

5 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

...i dont thing a vertical gpu will work...

Hi thrasher_565, as mentioned in my post, the vertical PCIe mount points are not intended for the GPU, but two half-height HBA & Network cards.

 

Fractal does claim that the Meshify 2 supports a 420mm top radiator. I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

Edit: A quick search tells me that it'll be a tight fit and may even require some case or motherboard heatsink modification. The Meshify 2 XL was really close but it's a touch too tall even with its feet removed.

 

I have decided to go with a 360mm radiator. Thank you everyone!

[thrasher_565]

6 minutes ago, JaredT said:

Hi thrasher_565, as mentioned in my post, the vertical PCIe mount points are not intended for the GPU, but two half-height HBA & Network cards.

 

Fractal does claim that the Meshify 2 supports a 420mm top radiator. I'll check it out. Thanks!

oh i must have missed the part about the cards...

ya its a good case. i have not had any Fractal Design case but all the people that have em love em.

a case with a little more bottom fans would be ideal but what can you do. this case dose have one or 2 bottom mount fans atleast.

[RevGAM]

Yeah, FD cases seem to be very popular.