big brother to the 540?

What do you all think is the current "Big Brother" to the 540?

 

I have 4 GPU's in my 540 today, all air cooled (1080Ti's with blowers). It does ok. But I am upgrading to 4 2080Ti's, and although companies like Bizon and Lambda labs build 4 GPU servers around the 540, I just feel its time to move to water cooled system.

 

The 540 is too small to accomodate 4 GPU water cooling.

The 740 is too small as well (it's only marginally bigger than a 540).

The 680X is too small, it is also just marginally bigger than a 540.

 

I REALLY like the "dual chamber" type cases. I am currently looking at:

 

Thermaltake Level 20 HT

Thermaltake View 51

Thermaltake View 71

Fractal Define XL

 

However as cool as those kits are, I will probably just end up with a Cooler Master Cosmos 700p (C700P). Because it can totally get it all done, even though its not dual chamber, its huge and there would be no problem putting the cooling system in.

 

I just wish there was something similar to a 540 but much larger, like a length/depth of around 23 or more inches and a height of around 22 or more inches.

 

The 540 can handle the 4 GPU's, but the thing is, when they get hot they just throttle to bring the temps down, so basically you give up 10-15% performance. I don't want that, I want my GPU's to give maximum performance, so its probably going to be a $1500 custom loop.

O11D XL would be the case of choice for me - especially if you want to watercool because of it's abundance of radiator space.

O11XL too.. but..

Even with 3x 360 radiators, i would still invest in high static pressure fans to make it work more comfortably.

At this stage, it's not fitting the GPUs that would be the issue but if you can fit enough radiators to cool them properly.

at roughly 250W a pop not overclocked, you're looking at a kilowatt of heat already not counting the CPU. That would be about the maximum an O11XL could do if we account for 400W per 360mm radiator. That's why i would suggest high pressure fans like EK Vardar Evo or Furious Vardar.

 

Now if you plan on overclocking the GPUs, i guess it would be a job for an Obsidian 1000 and fill up that front tray with rads :p You're looking at an extreme setup in terms of cooling so that may require an extreme case too.

Edited July 15, 2020 by LeDoyen

with the O11DXL you could probably fit at least 2, if not 3 360x45mm rads - if you want to be on the safe side put Noctua NF-F12 industrial IPPC fans on them. that would be more than enough cooling capacity for 4 GPUs and CPU even when OC'd imho.

 

A different approach would be the 900D.

https://www.corsair.com/de/de/Kategorien/Produkte/Geh%C3%A4use/Obsidian-Series%E2%84%A2-900D-Super-Tower-Geh%C3%A4use/p/CC-9011022-WW

In my experience, the Noctuas are very noisy in front of radiators.. seems they were mostly designed for case / filter use.. Still, would work fine.

 

With thicker rads, the issue may be the fittings.. it would require a bit of research. I only use 30mm radiators and the side rad almost conflicts with the top one, granted it's a crossflow..

What do you all think is the current "Big Brother" to the 540?

 

The 540 is too small to accomodate 4 GPU water cooling.

The 740 is too small as well (it's only marginally bigger than a 540).

The 680X is too small, it is also just marginally bigger than a 540.

 

I REALLY like the "dual chamber" type cases.

 

 

 

I'm with you on this. I have been wanting/desiring/needling for a "940 Air" or whatever for some time. I have two 540s and 740. I love them, but I ran out of room and took each as far as they could go. I would love to see larger version that can do a 360mm radiator minimum on three sides. The 1000D is quite nice and is so big it is effectively dual chambered, but perhaps something less like a baby grand piano.

 

That is not likely to land in our laps tomorrow and I couldn't wait any longer and replaced my 740 with a O11 XL this year. It's a very good case and great for most people. I am not sure you are most people with 4 GPUs. I fuss with it and interior temperatures with a single 2080 Ti. I am having a hard time recommending it for 4. Glass is not breathable. A triple radiator set-up in the XL will force you into bottom/side intake 360s, with top 360 + 120 rear exhaust. That top radiator is going to be a passenger and I can see multiple situations where the coolant will heat up pass through rather than cooling down. What I would really like to steer you toward is a Case Labs model for this, but sadly that is no longer an option. It's hard to do currently, but if you have a way to see any of those TT cases before hand, I would recommend you do. Those are ones that looked one way on the promo page, but in hand was something different. If you are looking a Cosmos, I would at least take a glance at the 1000D for comparison. It's going to offer you more width and more importantly, more radiator placement in more advantageous positions.

Edited July 15, 2020 by c-attack