Small rack mount cases for full sized GPUs?

[Guest]

I'm looking for some rack-mountable cases to fit in a little cupboard out of the way. I need to fit 4 of them into this space with a door ~47cm wide and ~56cm tall, but is a good 75cm deep. These cases would need to accommodate ATX motherboards and appropriate PSUs, along with full sized GPUs, one of them being a GTX 1080, and PCIe SSDs.

 

Some digging around online only brings up server cases, and all the ones I could find are so flat, I doubt I'd fit a CPU cooler in there.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations that might be of use?

 

Thanks for any help.

[MorganO]

10 minutes ago, OTheB said:

I'm looking for some rack-mountable cases to fit in a little cupboard out of the way. I need to fit 4 of them into this space with a door ~47cm wide and ~56cm tall, but is a good 75cm deep. These cases would need to accommodate ATX motherboards and appropriate PSUs, along with full sized GPUs, one of them being a GTX 1080, and PCIe SSDs.

 

Some digging around online only brings up server cases, and all the ones I could find are so flat, I doubt I'd fit a CPU cooler in there.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations that might be of use?

 

Thanks for any help.

get one but dont put the top on it?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, KOMTechAndGaming said:

get one but dont put the top on it?

Well it might keep the dust off the interior walls of the cupboard...

[ARikozuM]

You can get good, low-profile CPU coolers for use with any 2U or 4U chassis.

[JonU]

3 hours ago, OTheB said:

I'm looking for some rack-mountable cases to fit in a little cupboard out of the way. I need to fit 4 of them into this space with a door ~47cm wide and ~56cm tall, but is a good 75cm deep. These cases would need to accommodate ATX motherboards and appropriate PSUs, along with full sized GPUs, one of them being a GTX 1080, and PCIe SSDs.

 

Some digging around online only brings up server cases, and all the ones I could find are so flat, I doubt I'd fit a CPU cooler in there.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations that might be of use?

 

Thanks for any help.

There is one major problem I see right away and that is with the width. Server cases are designed to mount to a server rack with the width between the rails being 19 inches on center. 47cm is ~18.5 inches. Unless there is more space behind the cupboard face (which means removing the front of the cabinet), you would have to use custom cases. Also if you plan on having the graphics card installed vertically in the PCI slot like normal, it is generally recommended to use a 4u case so that you can use larger case fans. Technically, you could fit them into a 3u case, but it might limit you some on what cards can be used as well as the size of the fans. For reference 1u is 1.75 inches. A 4u case will be 7 inches (17.78cm) in height which with 4 cases would need a total of 28 inches (71.12 cm) at minimum. A 3u (5.25in or 13.335cm) case would bring the height requirement for four cases down to 53.34 cm. I think your best option would be to get some small HTPC style cases that sit horizontally and stack them. Even then you still may run into height limitations.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, JonU said:

There is one major problem I see right away and that is with the width. Server cases are designed to mount to a server rack with the width between the rails being 19 inches on center. 47cm is ~18.5 inches. Unless there is more space behind the cupboard face (which means removing the front of the cabinet), you would have to use custom cases. Also if you plan on having the graphics card installed vertically in the PCI slot like normal, it is generally recommended to use a 4u case so that you can use larger case fans. Technically, you could fit them into a 3u case, but it might limit you some on what cards can be used as well as the size of the fans. For reference 1u is 1.75 inches. A 4u case will be 7 inches (17.78cm) in height which with 4 cases would need a total of 28 inches (71.12 cm) at minimum. A 3u (5.25in or 13.335cm) case would bring the height requirement for four cases down to 53.34 cm. I think your best option would be to get some small HTPC style cases that sit horizontally and stack them. Even then you still may run into height limitations.

This is helpful. The front of the cupboard isn't feasibly removable without knocking down a rather important wall, so that's not an option, but there is much more space inside, so I guess if I get rails that the case sits on then I can put them in at an angle and then rest them on the rails, but the rack-mountable-ness was originally just to make it easier to store them in a neat stack. One idea I did have was cube cases. If I can get one that's about half of each dimension and can still fit in all the components, then I could put them in a 2x2 configuration.

 

I've taken some more measurements, and I reckon if I use somewhat tall cases that are 4u wide like a mid-tower, then I could slide one in and move it to the side, then repeat to fit 4 in next to each other with ample room. The only concern is cooling, where all the fans would need to be front, top, and back. We're planning on adding some proper ventilation to aid with cooling when the door is closed, and I'd expect the best option to be positive pressure with say 2 intake on the top, 2 exhaust on the back, and an extra smaller intake on the front to get air in from one vent high up the wall, and out of one that would be neatly behind the exhaust fans.

 

So I guess new quest: mid-tower cases with no side fans or tempered glass, but maybe small wheels? Just something very simple like the Corsair Carbide 400C but without the window.

 

Regardless, those dimensions are really helpful for future reference.