Hey all, just had a strange experience with a couple of cases I thought I'd let people know about. I'm on the folding@home team for spcr, so I have a couple of packed systems. Originally, I had a gtx 295 and a gtx 275 with a core quad in a coolermaster Cosmos S, and dual gtx 260s with a core quad in a fortress ft02. Both systems run Ubuntu linux and fold 24/7, so they're constantly crunching numbers and usually about as hot as possible, but both systems have been pretty stable since they were built. I've been meaning to try using one as a linux htpc, and I recently replaced a couple tv tuners in my windows htpc, so I decided to see if I could put them in the Cosmos case and move it to my bedroom tv. (The Cosmos case fits the decor in there a little better.) Unfortunately, the motherboard in the Cosmos didn't have 2 free pci slots, but the mobo in the Fortress did, so I shut down both systems over the weekend and did a motherboard swap. I swapped the video cards and hard drives too, so basically it was just a case swap. Both cases are pretty quiet, the Cosmos maybe has a little advantage because both cases are under a desk, so the fan noise in the cosmos seems to mostly be audible near the back, whereas the Fortress fan noise is louder near the top, closer to me, but both are certainly quiet enough. (Neither is what you would consider silent.)
But after I put the gtx 295 and the gtx 275 into the fortress, the gtx 295 started spontaneously downclocking itself after running for a few hours. I checked the temps, in the Cosmos the 295 stayed in the low 80s, but in the Fortress it was getting into the high 80s and low 90s! Last night I swapped the video cards in the systems, so now the 295 is back in the Cosmos case, and it's stable again, back in the low 80s. So it seems like in this ad hoc test, the Cosmos S cools video cards better than the Fortress FT02.
That kind of shocks me. When I first moved the 275 and 295 into the Fortress case, I assumed that the vertical airflow would be more than capable of cooling the cards. I had the 180mm fans all cranked up to high, and I took off the top cable guard cover thing to help the airflow, but the 295 temps stayed stubbornly high. Now obviously this is a somewhat special case, I am a crazy person, and most people don't have systems running at full speed with crazy video cards all the time, but I thought I'd pass along the experience. The Fortress FT02 is certainly a great case, and for any reasonable system I'm sure it would be perfectly fine. Hell, it's working great for me with dual gtx 260s in it, obviously it can handle high heat loads. But for very high performance applications, it may not quite be the best you can get. YMMV, of course, but the Cosmos S is really a pretty good case, I get more impressed with it as time goes on.
Cosmos S vs. Fortress FT02: unintended torture test
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
yeah
Yeah, I don't get it either. It might be that since I have both the cases under the desk, that might be harder on the Fortress with the exhaust on top, the heat may have a harder time moving off. I'd rather keep it under the desk, so maybe I'll just have to live with dual 260s in it. It's not really so bad, just thought I'd mention it, it really took me by surprise.
it's quiet
It's pretty quiet, I haven't picked up any vibrations, if I put my head down near it I can hear the gpu fans a little bit, but no vibrations. The case is pretty solid, I haven't found anything rattling around in it. It's a really very quiet case, I just wouldn't try putting quad gtx 295s in it.
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judge56988
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What component(s) is causing the vibration? - have you suspended the hard drives and soft mounted the fans and psu? I doubt that the included rubber washers for mounting the hard drive caddy will do a lot.Compddd wrote:Since you own a FT02, can you tell me what the vibration of the case is like? I have a LianLi PC-X500 and its aluminum as well and vibrates violently, I hate it. So I'm looking into the FT02
If the case is on a hard floor or desk, soft Acoustifeet (or pieces of expanded polystyrene) can eliminate resonance.
That Lian Li is an expensive case - seems a shame to replace it if you can deal with the vibration in some way. I've been able to eliminate all vibration from my Lian Li PC-7 Plus and Humax pvr (that was dreadful!) using these methods.
I agree, the X500 is a damn good case and I would trade my both cases for it. There i always the option of adding mass to the case, Bitumen it great for this purpos. I've used it to dampen the ventilation holes on my Chieftec case and this thing is so heavy that it almost cases the floor to crack, really resistant to vibrations though despite the fact that I do have a hard mounted a fan.judge56988 wrote:What component(s) is causing the vibration? - have you suspended the hard drives and soft mounted the fans and psu? I doubt that the included rubber washers for mounting the hard drive caddy will do a lot.Compddd wrote:Since you own a FT02, can you tell me what the vibration of the case is like? I have a LianLi PC-X500 and its aluminum as well and vibrates violently, I hate it. So I'm looking into the FT02
If the case is on a hard floor or desk, soft Acoustifeet (or pieces of expanded polystyrene) can eliminate resonance.
That Lian Li is an expensive case - seems a shame to replace it if you can deal with the vibration in some way. I've been able to eliminate all vibration from my Lian Li PC-7 Plus and Humax pvr (that was dreadful!) using these methods.
no
No, I didn't swap the power supplies. In the Cosmos, I have a Corsair tx 750 (I think) and in the Fortress I have an Antec Signature 850. The full system load of the 295/275 measured from the wall is about 470W, so it should be well under the load of both supplies. In the Fortress, the psu outlet is also at the top, so I suppose excessive heat generation from that wouldn't help, but it's on the other side of the cpu from the gpus, so it shouldn't have that much to do with it. Definitely something to think about, though.....