While it is much easier to express the concept in voice...and even easier with pictures...I'm going to attempt it in text for the benefit of those that may not have attended our Skype meetings or cannot today:
Our talks have been focused on producing a mod that not only stands out in a crowd, but retains the functionality needed for GK to make use of it. One concept dreamed up by Grumblestiltskin mentioned earlier in this thread (no doubt born of his rackmount lust) is to cram two complete systems into this case. After discussing a few options (some having been done already and thrown out for that reason and other practical considerations), the most viable seems to be partitioning the case in half with an aluminum or acrylic wall. This approach would normally not leave enough room for the height of standard video cards in this standard-width case. Thanks to server class hardware, riser cards are now available in PCI-E X16 formats in differing heights that may just let us squeak even a full SLI rig into each side. The center divider is preferred as it allows access to each system by removing the side panels, respectively, just as a conventional case, and the only serious fabrication will be a custom dual I/O backpanel with vertical slots for the GPUs, and the center divider. It also frees the case side panels from having wires and hoses attached, as in some other dual systems seen around the net.
Once we decide to go with this plan or not, further plans for the watercooling system(s) can be hammered out. With the room in this case, Anti-M has deemed it feasible to have two completely independent H2O systems rocking the same house.
The team is researching the possibility of building in a KVM switch that would allow one system to run two monitors, a switch to the other system also running duals, or one system on each monitor. This gives a tremendous amount of latitude and utility for the user...and we just plain think it'd be cool. Any leads to hardware that would allow this type of function are highly welcomed. |