Topic: [pics inside] custom built 8-card rack - page 2. (Read 11791 times)

Hey catfish, yes I am from Germany But I am everything but an engineer, this was my very first approach to work with metal ever.

I start with the last things you mentioned, the heat:

I plan on putting this outside on my balcony (which is pretty well protected already against the weather and only open to the upper front), with a rain/snow/direct sun proof enclosure that will have enough openings (also protected against weather with these http://www.ventilator-shop.com/zubehor-fur-die-ventilatoren/rohrkrummers/rohrkrummer-90/ and some fine mesh against dust and insects) for enough fans. I will drill as many 108mm holes (with a Starrett holesaw - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Starrett-Sh0414-Speed-Steel-Holesaw/dp/B0002JT6X6/ref=sr_1_2?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1313349705&sr=1-2 into the enclosure as necessary and mount 120mm fans on the inside, in push pull order (from the back and side-bottom it will push air in, on the front and top front where the gpu's blast their hot air I will mount them to pull air out).

Anyway, the amount of GPU's in my rig will be determined by "how the market goes" in the next months

IF the market does what I want it to do, I will put some money into a powerful watercooling system. This is pretty expensive, as the basics cost about 150 Euro in quality parts + 60-100 Euro per GPU.. But it would cool the system and I could even put it back inside without having a terrible noise pollution but an efficient space heater (and in the end it will have wheels, so I can just shut them down, pull the plug, move it somewhere else, plug it back and so on)

Power is not a problem here, I have a 16A (3.6kW) fuse available to nearly 100% just for the rig (for whatever reason the smallest room in my apt. with the least power consumption has it's own fuse, where my living room with all the stuff shares the fuse with the floor where I put the vacuum cleaner in o.O). My building is pretty new and has good cabling, though.

In my frame is some torsion, this is simply because I didn't do exact measurements in the beginning with the first bars I put together - if I would have to build another one, I would know better what to do in which order, and I would take my time to make the edges more smooth. But I just wanted to put this thing together
I would also use a mix of wood (for the outer structure that does not come in contact with any hardware) and metal then, because the wood is easier to work with and the metal would be only used for parts that need to carry the computer stuff.

Pre-drilled lengths of metal would be nice to have, anyway  

But as soon as I get this one http://www.proxxon.com/eng/html/27100.php (for my drill stand) accuracy in drilling the holes will not be a problem anymore  

You should be able to get 3.1kW on one FUSE (in the plug in the UK). In a modern home, the cabling for a double socket will accept up to 26A.

You shouldn't be able to cause damage to wiring in the walls as these will be protected at your fusebox.

Thanks!
I will replace my corsair GS800 and HX850 with two Enermax MaxRevo 1500 PSU's for best efficiency (>90%!). (also I need only 2.4 kW for 12 GPUs, not 3 kW.)

I probably have to reduce the setup to 10-11 cards, as I made the same mistake with the height of the CPU cooler. Also it's low profile, the pci-e riser cable blocks the fan. Maybe I can fix that with some cable binder. If I want to spend that much money, I will solve that problem with a Corsair Hydro Series H70 Water Cooling System.

LOL where do you live?

@haploid23,

I hope you have planned well regarding the electrical supply. Sounds like you may live in an apartment. If so, I'd be concerned about available circuits to support the power draw from a 6xGPU rig. Just saying.

Love watching this, keep the updates coming!

This rig looks amazing.
I'd love to put together something like this but I think I'd get to much grief from the 'woman'
I finally upgrade my machine (3 cards) but guided it as upgrading for my games. I run the thing 24/7, it's loud as hell and literally looks like an old server box ( newegg IWIN gaming tower it's huge).
Maybe I'll try to put something like this together.

When it's all build you should def update with some specs (watt draw/ total m(g)hash/ heat , yadda yadda) definitely looks like a fun project

the top left corner of the motherboard has an offset mounting hole that is not above the frame, so i was not able to screw in some standoffs for this hole. instead, i just drilled a hole in the frame for a rivet, washer, and small black rubber piece to support the motherboard's top left corner. the motherboard doesn't actually screw down in the area, it just rests on top of this rubber disk


i cut a steel bar and added it to the bottom of the frame to support the front end of the PSU. after all the computer hardware is installed, everything will now be on top of the frame, so i can just lift it all up and move it if i have to. nothing rests on the ground anymore. i also drilled some holes for the two PSUs to screw into the frame


drilled some holes for a 2.5" hard drive


the two PSU's mounted and screwed in


you can see the 2.5" hard drive mounted behind one of the rear "legs". all the ugly blue labeling stickers were taken off at this point


the 2.5" hard drive i used is a 1000rpm WD velociraptor. yeah i know... it's overkill but it was a spare drive i had at the time


PSU, motherboard, and hard drive mounted


a view from the other side





@ stellan0r: i just saw pics of your rack. it's going to look like a beast with 12 cards mounted on top. how many PSU are you going to put on the bottom?

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--7216

finally had time to get some more work done this weekend. i'll post up the pics in a bit

yeah i saw that at my local hardware store too, but i couldn't justify the price for something i won't use much. i bought my dremel on sale for less than that  .


it looks like a really stretched version of mine haha. i had plan everything out first, then drilled all rivet holes before i put anything together, because after the pieces are together, it'll be harder to drill. i can see some of your holes are not perfectly lined up  , i had that problem on a few of my holes as well

thanks! also i had to do some free-hand work, too, but i found a way to handle the drill. the Proxxon has a better build quality than the dremel and is usually used in the industry in germany.
now I know at least that it is best to first drill all holes and then rivet it together, instead of not being able to get into the corner after you nailed them ^^

here are more pics, as you can see it's not all that clean cut and not all angles are 90° - but this is my first piece of metalwork, i think it works out.

to do: drilling the holes for the motherboard-screws, getting a wooden or plexiglass bottom where the psu's can rest on, build a cover of wood or plexiglass with fans to put the whole thing outside on my balcony ^^

hardware is a placeholder

I <3 the interwebs.

http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-220-01-Rotary-Tool-Station/dp/B00068P48O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312923977&sr=8-1

no idea, i'm not a frog expert, and neither are you judging from your way off guess about the frog's origin of location 



you definitely need a frog for this build, a toad wouldn't work, although a crocodile might be ok...



i had a little more time to work on it, almost done. i'll post up update pictures in a bit



looks like very clean cuts and drilled holes! i wish i had that thingy that holds the dremel/proxxon, it would have made drilling the rivet holes and screw threads so much easier. i did it by free-hand with a dremel, which was a pain in the arse. how is a proxxon better than a dremel?

waiting to see how yours turns out as well....

started the work today, this will offer room for 2 mainboards and up to 12 gfx-cards. now I will start to drill the holes for the rivets.

first pictures:


overview to get the idea.
the metal bars are 25x25x1.5mm L bars made of aluminium, each had a lenght of 200cm.
for the Proxxon (http://www.proxxon.com/eng/html/28481.php , http://www.proxxon.com/eng/html/28606.php better than a Dremel)
I do have metal cutting discs, but without a proper working bench it was easier to simply use the strong metal saw.
I use two types of steel rivets for double and triple layer aluminium.



closeup of some tools



closeup of the Proxxon.
I use a 3mm metal drill to drill the holes for the screws like for the gfx-card holder and the mainboard holder, and a 3.1mm drill for the 3mm steel rivets.
5000 rpm.
standard M3 screws (like the one from a regular Computer Case, the ones used to screw the PCI-E cards onto the case) can perfectly cut into the 3mm aluminium holes.



closeup of the Gfx-Card holder. perfect fit!



more to come..

I'm trying to build your rig but I can't find a frog like this.

Where else can I find one? Can I substitute it for a toad?

Awesome setup! Can't wait to see it finished!

LOL, so what kind of frog is it ? 

small request, can you please edit out your post to take out the quotes? quoting all the pictures like this to just reply with a small phrase takes up forum space, especially when i already posted all of that right on top of your post

and to answer your question, it's a rosewill or dynatron 1U low profile cooler, designed for servers. this thing sounds like a jet engine...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200058
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114085




would you mind editing out the pic as well? and actually you're waaay off lol. i'm located in the US, southern california to be exact  

It seems a Bufo viridis, so you would probably live in Europe, most probably North-East Europe 

What cpu cooler is that? Looks sick