I need the collective knowledge of forumites: Has anyone AIR COOLED quad SLI/CFX and if so, which case did you use? I'm interested to know as there doesn't seem that many out there with sufficient cooling and size. Thanks!
I think the main cases that would cope potentially are quite expensive or FUGLY. Personally I would use either the Silverstone TJ11, Corsair Obsidian 900D when released and the Antec 1200. Not sure of any others really, but I don't think many people would run 4 cards on air and instead would watercool them.
I forgot about that case. The Cosmos II would be good as well because of the fact you can add 2 fans to the side panel to aid in cooling the cards.
The problem with the TJ07 is the lack of good aircooling. That case is much better suited for watercooling! Though it is the prettiest of the bunch.
By putting one of these in the front, like me, your directing airflow straight at the cards. Finally, by adding a fan or two, to the bottom, you can direct air flow up to the cards. Now to be honest, if this person can afford to have four cards, then watercooling shouldn't be a problem with funds. Any setup that requires graphic cards to be buck tight together, should be thinking of watercooling, as in a Tri SLI/CFX setup, the middle card becomes cooked.
TJ11 - Great pick but SO expensive TJ07 - Do people still buy these? 900D - From its design it looks very much watercooling orientated? 800D was never great at GPU cooling. P80N - Unless they've changed the design since the early special editions, it's a terrible case unfortunately CaseLabs and 8000D - Huge, lovely, huge! Cosmos II - Didn't know you could add two to the side pane!
Yeah the TJ11 is expensive but a nice case though and the Air Penetrator fans will help quite allot with the graphics cards. The TJ07 is still bought but not as much as before since other cases have come along that offer more support for around the same money. The 900D has apparently been designed for both air and water cooling since, Corsair had complaints made to them regarding the air cooling performance of the 800D. Caselabs etc are really good cases but cost a fortune to get in to the UK. Cosmos II has space on the side panel for 2x 120mm fans, at the sort of 3/4 mark down the side panel to aid the air cooling on the graphics cards. Just a word of warning though I noticed in mine that the South Bridge and VRM's etc got quite warm as the only intakes on the case are, the 2 on the side panel, a large 180mm (?) on the front in front of the hard drive cage, and thats it. The case is also split in to 2 sections like the TJ07 and TJ11, and there are 2 intake fans there as well for cooling the hard drives that you may place down there.
Just had to comment here. If people are looking for a case for quad crossfire/sli then I don't think budget is the biggest issue
How about the Silverstone Raven RV03? I know the design isn't to everyone's taste but in terms of performance it is a great air-cooled case. I've previously put an air-cooled Tri-fire system inside one and it ran nicely, adding a 4th card should run just as well. The rotated layout putting the back of the cards at the top instead really helps in my opinion when you have multiple cards, it's really helped greatly by the two 180mm fans at the bottom of the case pushing heaps of air up through the cards. The two fans could also be swapped for 3x 120mm which might make a triple GT fan option a possible idea for lots of air being pushed up from the bottom. The only major downsides I had with the case were the cable management was a pain with lots of components inside (doable, but a pain) and the noise levels with the stock fans on full speed is somewhat irritating.
