In search of new big tower

[Hebekleberg]

So my friend recently gave me his old gpu, 7970, which is the same one I have.  I attempted to xfire the cards, but I ran into a bit of an issue.  The current case that I have, the NZXT Phantom, the mobo, Asus Sabertooth x58, and power supply are too crowded for the 2nd card to fit properly.  I tried for hours to see if it would fit, but ultimately the power supply made the gpu unable to fit.

 

I started looking at cases that were big, had good cable management, dust filters, and have the possibility of water cooling down the road.  I'm a fan of corsair so I stumbled upon the 900D.  The case look nice and has just about everything I was looking for.  After seeing Linus' review I was just about sold, but after watching HardwareCanucks I am worried about the "design integrity" of the case.

 

What other case options are good for me?

 

I have never been on the forums here before, but I have heard good things about here so hopefully people can help me.  Thanks

[ttam]

The phantom has more than enough room for 2 cards. The 900d is big enough to fit your case inside of it. Just pick up pretty much any full size ATX case.

[Dresta]

3 minutes ago, ttam said:

The phantom has more than enough room for 2 cards. The 900d is big enough to fit your case inside of it. Just pick up pretty much any full size ATX case.

The 900D is fucking huge,it can probably fit a store inside it for selling

[Hebekleberg]

The case is big enough for 2 cards I thought, but the slot for the 2nd card is too close the power supply so the card cant fit.  I even tried swapping the cards around and it wont sit straight in, so it wont power on.  Thanks for the input so fast btw, I appreciate it.

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

6 minutes ago, Hebekleberg said:

The case is big enough for 2 cards I thought, but the slot for the 2nd card is too close the power supply so the card cant fit.  I even tried swapping the cards around and it wont sit straight in, so it wont power on.  Thanks for the input so fast btw, I appreciate it.

So it is due to the placement of the PCI slots? 

[Hebekleberg]

Yea I believe so, the only slot on the mobo that can possibly fit the 2nd card is the bottom one, and that is too close to psu.

[Juicebox124]

If your looking for a big case with great and easy cable managment have a look at the Corsair Carbide Air 540. https://www.pccasegear.com/products/23956/corsair-carbide-air-540-high-airflow-atx-cube-case.

It has 2 compartments one if for the motherboared and the other for PSU, SSD. Only thing is the fans are a bit average but apart from that its done me well.

[MVPernula]

Just now, Hebekleberg said:

Yea I believe so, the only slot on the mobo that can possibly fit the 2nd card is the bottom one, and that is too close to psu.

Welcome to the forum! If you want people to see what you answer- kindly make use of quoting. You do that by pressing the arrow under the comment you wish to reply to, that way we get a notification every time you answer!

 

About your topic.. I think your case SHOULD fit it just fine, but if you really want a new case I can recommend Corsair Graphite 730t/760T. I ran SLI in the 730T, very roomy and about half the price of the 900D.

[Hebekleberg]

7 minutes ago, MVPernula said:

Welcome to the forum! If you want people to see what you answer- kindly make use of quoting. You do that by pressing the arrow under the comment you wish to reply to, that way we get a notification every time you answer!

 

About your topic.. I think your case SHOULD fit it just fine, but if you really want a new case I can recommend Corsair Graphite 730t/760T. I ran SLI in the 730T, very roomy and about half the price of the 900D.

This is what I'm working with inside the case.  Please ignore the lack of cable management, when it was build 4 years ago, I didn't know much. And thank you for the info about quoting

[MVPernula]

1 minute ago, Hebekleberg said:

This is what I'm working with inside the case.  Please ignore the lack of cable management, when it was build 4 years ago, I didn't know much. And thank you for the info about quoting

 

Ah that heatsink is blocking the top slot.. I'm thinking that if you could possibly flip it 90° it would give you better airflow and free the upper PCI-e slot. Becuase right now it's sucking in the hot air from the back of the GPU.

 

If flipping your heatsink works you wont have to worry about getting a new case! You'll be able to put your GPU on the first and second PCI-e slot instead of the 2nd and 3rd.

[Hebekleberg]

On 7/28/2016 at 3:06 AM, MVPernula said:

Ah that heatsink is blocking the top slot.. I'm thinking that if you could possibly flip it 90° it would give you better airflow and free the upper PCI-e slot. Becuase right now it's sucking in the hot air from the back of the GPU.

 

If flipping your heatsink works you wont have to worry about getting a new case! You'll be able to put your GPU on the first and second PCI-e slot instead of the 2nd and 3rd.

ah okay.  ill try tomorrow after work to see if I can flip it.  You wouldn't know off hand where the screws to remove the heatsink are would you?  Sorry I feel like a novice when it comes to my own rig because I don't want to mess anything up.

 

On 7/28/2016 at 3:17 AM, Hebekleberg said:

ah okay.  ill try tomorrow after work to see if I can flip it.  You wouldn't know off hand where the screws to remove the heatsink are would you?  Sorry I feel like a novice when it comes to my own rig because I don't want to mess anything up.

nevermind, I looked it up and I need to remove the center fan of the heatsink to get to the screws.

[MVPernula]

Just now, Hebekleberg said:

ah okay.  ill try tomorrow after work to see if I can flip it.  You wouldn't know off hand where the screws to remove the heatsink are would you?  Sorry I feel like a novice when it comes to my own rig because I don't want to mess anything up.

That's completely fine!

 

If you remember the name of the heatsink (by the looks of it a Noctua D14s/15s with an extra fan), just search for it and you'll most likely find a manual of some sort.
 

HERE's the manual for the D15S as an example. You will however find all the manuals for their heatsinks on their homepage at www.noctua.at

 

But considering your build is 4 years old it might rather be something closer to the D14. HERE you have the manual for the model I think you have. Remember that you have to clean of the thermal paste when you take the heatsink off, and then reapply new thermal paste when mounting it again. It's way easier than you think, so no worries about breaking things as long as you treat it carefully. I do however recommend that you take out your entire motherboard from the case when you play around with your heatsink, it'll simplify the whole process alot outside the case.

[Hebekleberg]

6 minutes ago, MVPernula said:

That's completely fine!

 

If you remember the name of the heatsink (by the looks of it a Noctua D14s/15s with an extra fan), just search for it and you'll most likely find a manual of some sort.
 

HERE's the manual for the D15S as an example. You will however find all the manuals for their heatsinks on their homepage at www.noctua.at

 

But considering your build is 4 years old it might rather be something closer to the D14. HERE you have the manual for the model I think you have. Remember that you have to clean of the thermal paste when you take the heatsink off, and then reapply new thermal paste when mounting it again. It's way easier than you think, so no worries about breaking things as long as you treat it carefully. I do however recommend that you take out your entire motherboard from the case when you play around with your heatsink, it'll simplify the whole process alot outside the case.

Thanks! Very helpful.  What would happen if I didn't apply new thermal paste, don't think I have any atm?

[MVPernula]

2 minutes ago, Hebekleberg said:

Thanks! Very helpful.  What would happen if I didn't apply new thermal paste, don't think I have any atm?

No thermal paste means crazy high temps. If you can't reapply more after you move it you should ABSOLUTELY wait.

 

If you have a local computer store nearby you can buy some from there, it's not very expensive and you can usually use a tube multiple times. Not possible? Then maybe.. JUST MAYBE you could squeeze in the extra GPU in exchange of slighly hotter CPU temps.

[Hebekleberg]

Just now, MVPernula said:

No thermal paste means crazy high temps. If you can't reapply more after you move it you should ABSOLUTELY wait.

 

If you have a local computer store nearby you can buy some from there, it's not very expensive and you can usually use a tube multiple times. Not possible? Then maybe.. JUST MAYBE you could squeeze in the extra GPU in exchange of slighly hotter CPU temps.

I can wait a little bit to grab the paste.  I don't NEED the extra card this very second, dark souls 3 runs at 60 on low-med So it can do for now.  I wasn't even expecting to have a second card, my boss bought a 1080 and had no use for his 7970 so he just gave it to me (still in shock).  I was planning on doing a whole new build with 1080 and 144hz monitor and the works, but I think I can squeeze an extra year or two with this extra card, wait for hbm2 or something better than 1080. 

 

[MVPernula]

8 minutes ago, Hebekleberg said:

I can wait a little bit to grab the paste.  I don't NEED the extra card this very second, dark souls 3 runs at 60 on low-med So it can do for now.  I wasn't even expecting to have a second card, my boss bought a 1080 and had no use for his 7970 so he just gave it to me (still in shock).  I was planning on doing a whole new build with 1080 and 144hz monitor and the works, but I think I can squeeze an extra year or two with this extra card, wait for hbm2 or something better than 1080. 

 

Damn that's nice of your boss though!

 

But yes, then just have a wait and go for it when you have everything you need. If you need further help later on, feel free to text my profile here on the forums. Or just start a new topic for other ideas from the rest of this helpful community.