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Comment by hedora | Hacker News Reader

The PC ecosystem shipped something similar years ago (with different aesthetic choices). Combine a silverstone ft03 with a noctua d14 dual tower cooler, and you get a similar convection cooling design.

Pics:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-review...

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1190-page4.html

The main problem is that tool-less cases were in style back then. If you pick it up in the obvious way, you'll end up with two side panels in your hands and a broken heap of computer on the ground. Other than that, it is a totally solid and very quiet case for high tdp systems.

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Actually, the main problem is that you can't put 2x full length video cards in it.

Cooling a mini-itx board with a 14mm processor with <90W TDP is not a unsolved problem. But the standard ATX motherboard layout assumes most of the head will be generated by the processor, and that's simply not true today. A dual GPU setup for gaming or ML might generate 5 to 10 times the heat generated by the processor, and there's literally a couple centimeters for airflow between the two cards.

When I see an innovative design that maximizes airflow across the GPU(s), preferably one that involves removing the stock "windtunnel" cooler and replacing it with massive "tower" passive radiators and 3x 120mm temperature controlled case fans blowing cool air across them, then I'll be impressed. (note that this would require either a new motherboard design or using pci ribbon extenders)

Actually, that case fits two full length cards, or at least full-length the year it was built. The power supply is on the bottom, on the "CPU side" of the motherboard (the motherboard ports stick out the top), so you get the full motherboard length, plus the power supply height, plus a bit extra. It leads to a pretty dense, but well laid out install. There is a diagonally mounted 120mm fan that does nothing and has to be removed, if I remember right.

Crucially, convection (with help from fans) means the cards are pulling cooler air than in normal cases (at least in theory -- in practice, it is very quiet with one GPU).

I can't recommend it due to the lack of screws / latches on the side panels, but the general layout and airflow is great, and could easily be adapted for a different model with support for longer cards or even three way GPUs.

Current generation AMD cards have stock water coolers that are similar to what you asked for, but apparently third party air coolers are cooler/quieter. (I don't remember if the case I linked has water cooler mounts. I doubt it.)

> Actually, that case fits two full length cards

Eyeballing that case, it looks like it might have the length to accommodate a modern GPU, but it doesn't have the width for a double-slot GPU, much less any room for airflow across it.

> the general layout and airflow is great, and could easily be adapted for a different model with support for longer cards or even three way GPUs.

My problem with current ATX/ITX is that it was designed before PCI cards consumed more power and generated more heat than the CPU. An ideal solution would allow a 160+mm clearance on the obverse side of the GPU card (allowing the "wind tunnel" cooling system to be replaced with a tower cooler with 120mm fans, and a dedicated exhaust out the back of the case for each GPU.

It would require a redesign of motherboards, cases, and GPU cards, so I'm not holding my breath. I think it's more likely that at some point we'll see cases with integrated watercooling loops, and the user would simply plug in the CPU and GPU blocks.

Yeah, I was thinking PCI-E extenders or daughter boards too. You could also use MXMs, possibly doing 4-way SLI or something crazy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_PCI_Express_Module

But then you're back to the same problem of needing custom coolers which work with the modules AND the case, where we've seen Apple never release an upgrade part since launch.

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