cases for remote mount video (w/pcie extender cables/riser cards)

[hifidelitygamin]

Having seen things like this http://cablesaurus.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=12 as well as the riser cards (which are typically used to put an x16 low profile card, into an x1/x4 slot since many x1 video cards are overpriced) but not seeing any cases seemingly designed for this (either for where to put the other end of the card-on-cable, or if say I used a full height video card on the x1/x4 riser, not necessarily high performance or anything just because I have it around to say put graphics onto a mobo i'm using as a server, because i want the x16 slot/s for hard drive RAID cards and it lacks on board graphics) i'm curious how do people mount them?

Or if people have any clever ideas for inexpensive (functional more than cool) casemod stuff to merge two cases together so that the video card can be securely mounted, obviously away from the board since the cables allow up to 19cm.

I mean off the top of my head I was considering getting two cheap ATX cases and just making them permanently side by side, welded or bolted together or something. Both to get the 2nd row of hard drive mounting options, and to use the 2nd case's slot backplane to screw a couple cards used in the new higher 2nd position. Though that doesn't stabilize the bottom of the card which is normally put into the mobo, and since most cases are darn near 19cm wide it might be just barely too high stock as it is and such.

(for the record if it matters one reason for needing the extra video cards was a lower budget videowall/lots of monitors without the expense of what a normal 4-6 monitor driving card costs... an always on PC for stock trading which is also the media server hence wanting the extra hard drive bays for future expansion... ie why have two computers always on/do it both with one.)

I was trying to search the bitcoin boards for suggestions on physical cases (since that's where I found out about the card extenders, dont' have an account there so cant ask there tho) but didn't find anything useful, thought someone here might have an idea..

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Most of the things I've seen done with extenders and riser cards have been for mining rigs - people mining bitcoins or litecoins, where they want to pack in as many GPUs for processing power as possible, but they need extra space so the cards can breath as they are constantly heavily loaded... In the setup I remember most distinctly, I think it was a custom wood rack, with two levels. The motherboard sat flat on the bottom rack, and the top rack had slits to pass the extension cable through, then mounted the riser cards up there.

Now that doesn't really apply if you have a case thats a tower, or if you are worried about aesthetics... But its one thing I've seen done.

Navig has also done some case mods, including inexpensive wood benching stations. In those, he's made some mounting brackets to support PCIe cards, and those could be mirrored to help secure the riser cards if you wanted to go the function over form route. If you are handy, you can follow his models or plans... Or if you can buy one for a fairly reasonable price in light of his workmanship.

 

[hifidelitygamin]

Mostly i'm seeking something that is physically solid, so that if I pick up and move the rig in the trunk, I dont have components flopping mindlessly around knocking capacitors loose and such...

I'd also do aesthetics.. eventually.. but first would just want function. It's not hard to make some nice outer shell to improve form afterwards once you find something that works physically. I guess i'm mostly curious what makes a nice stable bracket to mount the cards top AND bottom if possible, other than my idea of using a 2nd case (which is just a maybe). The top screws in and I can probably just drill and tap holes in a piece of metal but the bottom just... hangs there... using those cables, that's what I dont like. Maybe i'm having a derpy moment not coming up with an idea but i'm curious whether there's some nice clever firm mounting strategy that everyone uses for such a situation.

What I mean is I suppose my instinct says just cut some slots in the edge of a piece of wood side by side, but since I wouldn't want to modify the case later (say once painted and such) i'm not sure whether cards normally have components down in the corners that would be in the way of such a strategy. It's clear it's meant to be held in place by the card connection to the mobo itself and something I wouldn't have to change in design every time I swapped a card for something else would be ideal.

 

[trekky]

lol that was probly my wooden case
but that's way over price for a cable you an get them for $5 on ebay (but wait for 3 weeks to get) $10 from USA shippers

but for normal tower computer this would be a nightmare to mount
it would be better to get a better 1 care then 3 weak cards
a titan can handle everything
or water cool so you don't have to worry about heat

 

[hifidelitygamin]

Do the ebay cables have a molex? Is it some chinese made crap where like other cables i've gotten from china, the quality control is so bad that the connector just SLIDES OFF so that clearly nobody even tried a tug-test with even 4 ounces of force, but just threw it in a bag to sell?

The titan is fine if the goal was gaming - this was about cheaper multimonitors on a budget for a video wall. A titan wont drive 12 monitors. : P

 

[awktane]

I don't mean to take over the thread but I'm curious...

I've been very curious about the extenders for a while and was going to experiment with them in my next build. I was contemplating trying to see how many graphics cards I could get functioning on one motherboard using something like the asrock x79 extreme11 and filling every usable slot with titans or 780s. I of course understand that only 4 cards are usable in sli but I think it would be fun to see what's possible when budget is not an issue.

I have heard that I should be getting the extenders with additional power to supplement the pcie power and well more than one power supply will be needed. Anything else I should know about the extenders?