Slimming down to 2U! SFF Rackmount Gaming PC

[@izzieb]

I have nothing clever to say, so I'm just going to send a comment 2U wishing you a good day.

[@JoGe49]

I love you for that haha

[@myghi63]

that was a nice one haha

[@megan_alnico]

I2C what you've done there.

[@yourmom336]

@@megan_alnico I SPI with my little eye

[@AlfOfAllTrades]

Nothing compares. 2U!

[@fierce134]

Setting yourself up for a self-burn from the Microcenter guy? Jeff, you truly have unlimited self-confidence

[@FindLiberty]

Jeff who?

[@MonroeKA]

Oh red shirt .....

[@Arct0dus]

@@FindLiberty xD

[@jtmusson]

For a video Microcenter sponsored too 🤣

[@fahmitaib]

The employee looked like he was being held at gunpoint😂 Glad you're doing well Jeff!

[@kenzieduckmoo]

yeah, theyre probably newer, i dont remember seeing them the last few times i was in there

[@JeffGeerling]

Heh, maybe Red Shirt Jeff was in the store somewhere...

[@cv990a4]

@@JeffGeerling I was getting Mr Roger's Neighborhood vibes from Jeff during the build, and then, at the end, he switches up on us and becomes all Tim "Tool Time" Taylor with his "More Power" 4090 coming attraction.

[@Allexz]

@@kenzieduckmoo They who? i only saw Jeff and that other guy.

[@nathanbanks2354]

Cameras are scary. Some people don't want to be shot.

[@OrangeSheep14]

That keystone Jack concept is really cool imo. I wish more computer cases, even non rack mount cases had that

[@GameCyborgCh]

that would be a very easy way of getting modular front I/O

[@jm036]

@@GameCyborgCh 3.5" and 5.25" bays should've stuck around just for this.

[@ativerc]

Time stamp?

[@sdbegotist]

10:38

[@OrangeSheep14]

@@jm036 true, but I can't really think of anything that could be mounted like that and actually useful. Maybe a card reader? But that's it. Everything else could just be mounted inside (extra dad's, etc). There's no media other than dvds that are that big. However, when USB version 69 comes out in 2069 you could mount the new connector really simply into an old computer by swapping a keystone

[@NG6E]

That sticker you removed from the NVMe is made of not-so-thin metal foil. In addition to being a branding and model information sticker it also acts as a heat spreader. It's not a heat sink but at least keeps the controller temperature under control by providing some thermal relief.

[@mlindholm]

That, and it'll be harder to get warranty coverage if that's needed. Unlikely to need it, but still a point to consider.

[@JeffGeerling]

In this case, the motherboard had its own thick thermal pad that conducts the heat off to a large NVMe heatsink, so it won't be an issue. But you have a good point-especially if you're just using the thing without any heatsink up top!

[@yodal_]

The heat spreader doesn't only keep the controller cool, but it also keeps the flash warm which causes it to run faster. Unless your drive is pumping out tons of heat, it is better not to heatsink it so the flash stays nice and warm and fast.

[@eformance]

@@yodal_ *Please* cite your sources on this claim, electrical resistance increases with temperature, that's why sub-zero cooling allows people to overclock so greatly.

[@dumle29]

@@yodal_ The flash doesn't go faster, but it does prefer to operate around 40C iirc

[@im.thatoneguy]

I LOVE that it has a keystone on the front. That's so brilliant! Every other rack case take note!

[@JeffGeerling]

And like 6 on the back! It's handy to have.

[@Kitteh.B]

What part of the video was that mentioned/shown? I missed it since I was only listening while driving.

[@DoctorWhom]

@@Kitteh.B The section around 13:51 where no case is perfect covers the keystone

[@Fattal2005]

Great to see you doing so well after all your medical stuff. Keep up the great work!

[@jamieknight326]

Feeling sorry for the employee. He didn’t look very comfortable at all but he clearly knew his stuff. Glad to see to you well. If it wasn’t for the cost I’d be inspired to do much the same :)

[@92gunnerjoe]

It would be nice if they designed it so you could lay a thicker short GPU (ex. EVGA RTX 3060) sideways in the area designed for the 5 SSDs, using a PCI-e riser cable.

[@JeffGeerling]

Their original case layout actually used a riser and had 2U horizontal space... though it was a similar depth. You could fit in a slightly larger graphics card though. It might be nice if they had swappable options on the back so you could mount either way.

[@JimmytheCow2000]

CONGRATS on micro center sponsor! Thats a great build from a great company! Thank you #MicroCenter

[@TechnoTim]

Awesome, this is my next move for my workstation! Already did it to an old PC in my server rack!

[@traustitj]

That store clerk is extremely qualified. He is very good

[@dave_s_vids]

Why hello, Jon B :D

[@shawnbergin8479]

Very honest information, Thank you Jeff from the ITX builders in the USA.

[@davidwplummer953]

I can't believe that guy at the counter didn't say Dave's Garage :-)

[@JeffGeerling]

Ha!

[@esra_erimez]

I see what you did there

[@flippantb]

Nice SFF build! Nothing compares.

[@FuzzyElf]

"Have you heard of Jeff Geerling?" "I've heard he is good-looking and super smart, yes."

[@jameswarnock5655]

Every time you talk about Micro Center, I wish I had one near me. It seems like a store I would go to just to walk around and see what they have.

[@JeffGeerling]

I feel like you are talking about me when you say "I go there and just walk around to see what they have" :D

[@pk_ripper]

Same. Wallet would take a hit for sure :D

[@AerinRavage]

I drove 2 hours while already on vacation just to go to a Microcenter. It's really great, walking around and playing what-if with PC, 3D printing, and maker electronics!

[@KameraShy]

I live TOO close to Micro Center. Was there just yesterday. Spend myself into into the poor house.

[@3v068]

Its frustrating having the nearest micro center being several hours away from me. There needs to be more TBH, I'm tired of ordering stuff and having to wait for it to show up in the mail.

[@musclebulls6998]

You are so goofy asking this man if he has seen you on youtube, i love the confidence. Love watching you build!

[@captgrant]

Thanks Jeff for yet another informative video. The ultimate system would use the exact resources you can tolerate as well as integrate with your environment un-noticed by the ignorant, but admired by your peers.

[@UnderEu]

“Sacrifices must be made in the name of size” Geerling, Jeff - 2023

[@bill_and_amanda]

The 13600k seems to be the sweet spot when it comes to price and performance on 13th gen

[@BeeWhere]

The thing I love about pc building is that everyone can build a pc to meet their needs. I'm not really into small form factor but seeing your joy building is awesome. Congratulations

[@joebaker7368]

As a Small Form Factor enthusiast I like that you dipped your toes in the water. It’s an expensive way to go for the smallest size machines. I would of went with a regular slim case and placed it on a “cookie sheet”. If you would like to go down the rabbit hole more look into the skyreach 4 mini from NFC. You will not be disappointed! Glad your up and about!

[@JeffGeerling]

Heh, thanks!

[@rfitzgerald2004]

When the guy didn't know who you were I was surprised, then I just noticed your sub count, you deserve so much higher with the content you put out!

[@jamesfearing9459]

Nice video. It’s fascinating to see builds that push efficiency over just massive dollars and kilowatts.

[@JeffGeerling]

I wonder if that could be a fun competition, to see who can get the best performance per watt, achieving at least X amount of scores, while still using modern hardware.

[@jamesfearing9459]

@@JeffGeerling your build got everything in but there seemed to be a lot of space left over that wasn’t usable. That big card sort of cut the space in half. Great build though, and quiet I bet.

[@paulbeers4105]

I just racked my personal rig as well! Granted, I had room for 4U and thus my 3080 resides nicely in the case as well as a full ATX board. Very cool.

[@milescarter7803]

Parallel IO has caught my eye. It is a setup where the graphics card slot comes out the top side of the motherboard parallel (think SegaCD addon). In a box like this you could easily find a card like an ITX or 2 fans card that would really perform and save a lot doing so. You would need a full Height horizontal bracket where that power supply is now, but you can move the power supply over to the other side. Then the CPU and GPU fans would be facing the same way. I like the look of that case for a desktop case with a front end that matches the side profile. Looks like it would be trivial to swap sides on the PSU and use PIO (its a standard more popular in Asia, I even have a Gigabyte one.). Alternatively you can get a riser that goes under the motherboard and puts the GPU over where the PSU is. We have been using this form factor for almost 30 years, and its sad even with all these custom cases and everything we can't move ahead with some imaginative solutions.

[@3Leon5]

OMG, I've been looking for a case like this for 4 month ! Thank you for this video !

[@Saand1338]

That 12GB VRAM card looks like a beauty for unusual workloads. I came up against a task last week that my 8GB 3070 did not have enough VRAM for, and that was using OpenAI's large Whisper model to transcribe audio. The medium model ran just fine on my card and absolutely tore through the project, but the large model in the end was more precise but suffered from having to be run on CPU.

[@RobinHilton22367]

Seems like it just needs to be 5cm deeper and have cable tie down mounts in that extra space to make routing power easier and keeping it out of the way.

[@JeffGeerling]

I've asked MyElectronics about that-they said they aren't planning on making it deeper *for now*... but if enough people ask, maybe they will!

[@majsvaffla]

It would be really interesting to see the complete gaming setup with this rack mounted case. How do you connect the monitor, audio, keyboard and mouse? Sorry if it’s already been covered in the comments or another video. Love your videos by the way!

[@johnsonlam]

Glad to see you recovered! Thanks for your video. When the first ITX come out, as I remember still using VIA C3 CPU (board made by VIA), it fail after few weeks, after repair still have problems occasionally. And I stay away from that until now!

[@seethruhead7119]

I think you could design a 2u case. with a sliger console style lay down gpu. A little extra depth for a lay down 360 radiator. And if you use waterblocks, flip the gpu so it's stack on top of the motherboard, even fit another radiator in the case. I want something like that. 2u, dual rad via custom loop.

[@JeffGeerling]

The main thing would be using some sort of squirrel-cage fans or ducts to get the airflow you need.

[@Toliman.]

@@JeffGeerling Cooling a rack ... You just have different problems to a modified vertical SFF design. I'd avoid PCIe Risers, as they are notoriously unreliable, especially long runs and x16 risers. There's reliable riser designs, but they often switch to x1 or x2 or crash/BSOD if there's a lot of interference/noise. Short length risers or a riser daughterboard are usually more reliable. Water is fine, but you also have to deal with the case being a heat source, and ambient temps above 60'f to 90'f not being able to soak/exchange heat properly. In a cage/rack mount, you also have ambient air being well above 60'f/25'c or comfortable temperatures. This can defeat most WC loops, since they rely on a 20 degree or more Ambient/Water Delta, so 90'f Heat, 50'f ambient, 60'f water, there's a different set of problems with cooling and airflow, etc.. Since the water temp is usually 10-15 degrees above ambient, it can be common to have water temps above 80'f when the radiator is just moving hot air across hot metal fins, etc. . In a hot cabinet or garage/cupboard, the ventilation is usually limited, and the water temps will be higher than typical Desktop PC use. The size of a 12v, horizontally mounted blower, can help with radiative cooling, i.e. PSU's and frame/case heat, especially if placed to cool a 1U panel or module i.e. Power cable / network cable distribution panels which accumulate heat inside the gap between 1U/2U modules, often also double-up as a fan bay or access bay for cables and USB devices, which can also act as a heat-sink between high power consuming racks. YMMV, it depends on how you ventilate your rack, and where the airflow comes from. Especially if you have HVAC or other heating/cooling in the same area. blowers can also sit above and below, facing in different directions to inhale 'fresh' air and distribute the air across the rack itself, sic. The main ambition and purpose with WC, is to quietly transfer heat, not necessarily to cool things down. In a 'shallow case' like the 2U, a water distribution plate or manifold is a good idea, along with a series of 'thin' radiators and low flow/high static pressure fans to actively push air from inside, to outside. Especially cooling 200w to 300w GPUs, 100w CPU and the 30w to 600w heat from the rack + case itself. The goal isn't to move heat quickly, but to have a wide surface area to absorb heat, then expel it via airflow. Bigger radiators like 140mm x4 or 120mm x5 units, or the ridiculous 3x3 and 4x4 square radiators are not as useful as having two or more radiators of moderate size. Planning may be necessary, especially if your heat load is ~800w peak, i.e. RTX 4090s and a modern 5Ghz+ 16+ core CPU. You don't get static pressure (efficient and quiet at low speed) from blower/turbine and scroll / vertical fans, but you do get volume, both audible squeal and airflow. They look great and perform well, but ... blowers, and turbine scroll fans are noisy, there's reasons why they're unpopular. If you add these into a 2U, you have to also consider flow restrictions like vents, grills, lots of passive fins to pass through. And, you also have to consider cooling the case itself, if the rack itself has a moderate ventilation design, i.e. all radiative heat building from the base to the top. It's not a bad idea, but if you've never bought turbine/blower fans, make sure you have a way to slow them down or create a flow path for the air, because they tend to grind/squeal at different RPM.

[@RaidOwl]

"Have you ever heard of Jeff Geerling?" "I have not..." *cries on the inside*

[@JeffGeerling]

How much would you have laughed if he was like "oh I love this guy Raid Owl, he does great homelab content!" :D

[@RaidOwl]

@@JeffGeerling I would have been convinced it was 100% scripted and I was being trolled

[@ValTek_Armory]

I'm looking at building a small windows studio pc to run my DAW and other music software as a stopgap until I can get a new macbook to replace my 2012 model. This is perfect!

[@GigaGrim]

Bringing back fever dreams from my time at MicroCenter.....

[@thestreamreader]

The Thermalright contact frame is great option to also help with cooing the CPU when limited on what cpu cooler you can use.

[@chrisrolves]

Had no idea you were from St. Louis, thought this Microcenter looked familiar, so I had to look up where you are from.

[@selfhosted]

Good stuff Jeff! I almost felt like I was watching an episode of New Yankee Workshop haha! I miss those days.

[@JeffGeerling]

Aww I miss that show too!

[@thenextension9160]

This was fun to watch, very chill

[@whitepawrolls]

I had also been thinking of downsizing my case to 2u and I found a great one that can hold my current matx board, Radeon 6750, and an atx power supply. My issue is how to cool the 105w Ryzen 9 5900X. I had been looking at water cooling, and found a triple 80mm radiator that will fit in it. Issue I'm having is trying to research a pump/res combo that can be mounted horizontally, and still work. The case I'm looking at is listed below. Let me know what you think :) I tried to post a link from Amazon, but even replacing the . with (dot) didn't let it pass. I also tried to just post a searchable description, and it blocked that too.

[@flammablewater1755]

Micro Centre Reasonable Tech Sidegrade!

[@sandyjonesmusic]

Saw these on their website, great to see one 'in the flesh', thanks Jeff.

[@Yuriel1981]

Always love seeing our Microcenter in your Vids Jeff! I am currently looking at a 3u case and rack for my small home lab. I have some plans that the ol' PC case just ain't gonna cut it for. Home network upgrade and starting a home rack. Exciting times, exciting times. Now just waiting for the 4090 vid! Lol

[@dannyvfilms]

The only reason I tend towards 4U over 3U is most graphics cards are just a bit taller than than the the full height bracket (which is 3U).

[@Yuriel1981]

@@dannyvfilms as this is a NAS, running Truenas scale, if I decide to include a gpu it will be for encoding. So a even a half height card would be fine. Still have a full case for my main rig.

[@chevy13guy]

Wish i didnt have an 8 hour round trip to micro center, i would love that place

[@leomonk974]

I use Quadro’s all the time for PC build for doctors to view 3-D images, we’ve tested gaming on them and they’re pretty bang for your buck but don’t expect 4K gaming off of it

[@davidcampos8795]

Jeff, thanks so much for making videos. Hope you're feeling well post surgery

[@JoeSpeed]

We should build it with one of those crazy 128 core Ampere arm CPUs

[@JeffGeerling]

Heh, I should hope to do it someday!

[@donflynn9030]

Just a few seconds into this and there was already a missed joke about your UPS screaming 'bloody murder' rather than 'P00'! :P

[@JeffGeerling]

"Oh POO!"

[@lentztu]

I wish we had a Microcenter in San Antonio. I miss it so much.

[@rico831]

As a UK resident I’ve never seen such a cool store like micro center - we have nothing as cool as that here! Maplin was probably the closest which went bust

[@shephusted2714]

glad to see red shirt jeff convinced you to get the 4090 - as far as noise issues go just get some long cords and put it into another room and get a wifi on/off switch like raidowl

[@ryutenchi]

Bless Jon B. for being such a good sport!

[@Lacquerhead-TX]

That'll be just about ideal for my home lab ESXi tech refresh

[@johnbrogan6583]

it would be great if there was a Micro Center here in Jacksonville FL

[@TheRogueBro]

I bet if they added some length to the case you could easily fit some 2u rads and some more fans lol

[@danielhahn55]

Hah, this is cool! I feel reassured that I'm not mad 😁 last year I built the rigs of me and my wife in a 2U form factor, the plan was to insert them into the desk plate from above (hasn't happened yet). however I managed to make my machine incredibly silent with 4x Noctua Redux fixed 1300rpm fans, they're more than enough since it's just a bloody wall of fans blasting through the case, and it's barely audible at all! our machines are not super strong though, we make a point of getting along with a 500W PSU. that gets us RTX3060s, which is perfectly sufficient though!

[@smoloms]

the UPS going "POO" cracked me up so hard

[@DiyintheGhetto]

That rack case looks awesome. I need one. But going to that link and seeing the price of it. Now I can say only in my dreams.

[@jamegumb7298]

Did the same a few months ago. Really wanted 1U, but that would mean either switching to actual server board or very barebones handpicked desktop boaard since most are 1.3U tall. Other best option is 1.5U but very few are not mini-itx and very shallow. 1U _can_ fit a 2 slot gpu (barely) but the cases that can do that are few and far between and getting one via eBay or similar is a hellscape, do not bother. So now I got a Chenbro 19" 2U RM24100-L-U3. Excellent piece of kit, shallowest I could find and still fit a full size gaming pc. Had to replace fan in the back, kinda loud for my taste. Gotta watch the riser though, most are to display gpu in normal cases which means right bend when for mounting in 2U you need left bend, and getting one in pcei 4.0 is quite the challenge, I needed to order abroad via Amazon. Another thing is most ATX PSU will have a 120mm fan. Get either one with 80mm or an SFX model. Measure the SFX cable length or look it up. I needed to overnight extensions and was unhappy. So a thicc RTX3060 can be done in 2U, minor issues expected. I am confident RTX3080 can be done as well, but would feel the best if the card was a blower model. The case could trap more heat than I'd like I think fitting a 3080. Getting this Chenbro or similar to have an entire gaming system in a square might be educational and a challenge, excellent video idea. I am still finetuning my own 1.5U design, I can go smaller than 2U. I checked in the Protocase designer (importing it is a hell unto its own) but the quote they gave, oh my oh my. It would go down (like way down) if I ordered 10 but then I would need to get some kind of groupbuy or something. My idea: Simply put the gpu back left on a riser, 1.5U means some room under it to attract air (and a separation from the rest, fan in the front, have a wind tunnel for it), SFX PSU middle front with intake on the bottom (honeycomb would be best I guess) to minimise needed cable length, and space for 1 hdd in front of the gpu (I switched to a NAS for bulk storage anyway) plus space for a radiator (finnicking with depth for this, really wanted 2×140mm slim design rotated, 2×120mm is more practical and a compromise but 1×80mm+2×80mm would make it the size I want).

[@JeffGeerling]

Heh, yeah once you go down to 1U, things get dicey. I think watercooling with something external would be the easiest way to get there, but again, consumer motherboards are pretty much out at that point.

[@jamegumb7298]

@@JeffGeerling Most, but not all. You need a barebones board, and those are the cheap ones (99/100 lowest end chipset) with lots of compromises (VRM first and foremost), too many usually. Not the preferred option most of the time (although I am a fan of what is not on there cannot break, Spartan style is fine by me, but the lowend chipsets and bad VRM are the big no no).

[@Hobbies4Hire]

Great job on the video Jeff! Thanks for making it.

[@goldenheartOh]

I once bought a used 2u PC that had a GTX 770 4GB gpu in it. It was "vertically" mounted & covered all the PCIe slots. Poor thing was probably starved for air flow as it had barely 1/4" gap between it & the top of the case. I was tempted to drill holes so it could breathe. The 2u case was actually designed for a gpu to be mounted sideways like that. I have no idea how it was intalled since every screw is blocked by some bracket about 3/8" above its head. And the screws for that bracket are also blocket by yet another bracket.

[@DanGeospatial]

Awesome build! Those front panel connectors look really janky not using the audio and usb headers.

[@JeffGeerling]

True-though this case is geared a little more towards server applications, where having keystone jacks is a lot more flexible. It would be neat if they had a little custom front panel IO panel in the middle surrounding the power button.

[@fcamarota]

the important thing is that it makes you happy Thank Jeff

[@marcianoacuerda]

In the future we’ll be lucky if we can get graphic cards that size. I’m pretty sure the 5090 will be 2U+

[@Demopans5990]

Unless GPU sandwiches comes back and everything is layered

[@JeffGeerling]

lol 5090 will require a pallet for delivery.

[@Bobis32]

seeing jeff mention the Silger Console/conswole brought a smile to my face as its my current tower, also the L9i is a great cooler im using the l9ix25-AM4 in my rig

[@JeffGeerling]

It's a nifty design! Very dense.

[@Premier-Media-Group]

Literally going through this exact scenario...RIGHT..NOW..

[@tigeroats913]

Good to see you Jeff, how are you

[@pberto]

Nice to see you back again to hard work :-) I hope you feel better.

[@bl4947]

Nice to see that you are up and running again!

[@franciscotorres4231]

Jeff, I like you because you don't project, like others, that "Guru superiority". You show yourself humble with your knowledge but you transmit powerful messages and a lot of knowledge. I am going to start my Ansible learning process.Thank you!.

[@JeffGeerling]

Good luck! Always gotta stay humble-that's the best way to learn and constantly improve!

[@imtechfreak1800]

Jeff your voice is perfect to narrate even the effect of carrots in technology ! I would listen to them

[@utp216]

Jeff your channel has come so far. You are an inspiration!

[@dmytrokyrychuk7049]

I built a Proxmox server in the CSV 3U-Mini case last winter. 3U is just enough height for a 120mm fan. The case has all the ports in front, and the back side only had a pair of fans. I removed the fans and with some help from a dremel I was able to mount a 360mm radiator on the back side: the fans are inside the case, the radiator is outside, and the back side of the case is sandwitched between them. The only downside of this configuration is that the fans were not supposed to span the entire width of the case, and now the fans and the water tubes interfere with the HDD mounting place in the case. I do not have any HDDs in that server, so it's fine by me. But it would be so cool if the case was 2cm deeper to acommodate my thicker fans without sacrificing the HDD mounting space.

[@X862go]

shout out to the micro center employee.

[@ryanreich7635]

So how did you get the connection for mouse, keyboard and video to your desk from the rack? I was excited to see a video about this, then an informative part left out. Linus used a fiberoptic Thunderbolt cable and dock to connect this in the video he had a LONG while ago. Havent seen much newer methods than that. But Since I use AMD Thunderbolt really isn't an option.

[@JeffGeerling]

My desk is directly above the little rack, so for the mouse I have a USB extension cable. Everything else is within 6-8' so the cables are long enough.

[@Daphoid]

Fibre Optics is still the way to go for long runs. Newer AMD platforms actually do support Thunderbolt :) - But you can do USB over fibre as well so a USB 3.0 dock may be helpful.

[@ryanreich7635]

@@JeffGeerling OOhhh okay cool. Gotcha :) No worries. Hope you are still recovering well.

[@ryanreich7635]

@@Daphoid Looking back through LTT's videos he is using an iCron USB3-2-1 converter to MM fiber. But its still a bit spendy. I guess dreams cost money lol.

[@NonyaDamnbusiness]

I just wanna say thanks to MicroCenter for sponsoring PiBoy Jeff. He's always doing something intriguingly weird. Whenever I need something PC fast, I hop in the car and hit up the local MicroCenter in Overland Park, KS.

[@ormirian7364]

When it comes to screwdrivers, bike handlebar grips are your friend

[@drphibesrises]

@17:04 Jeff: I'm Jeff Geerling Microcenter Tech: Who? LOL Thanks for sharing.

[@Mulakulu]

You should have asked for powerefficency when asking about what CPU to choose. Intel is only ahead because it pulls waaaayyy more power, and even then, it's only slightly ahead sometimes

[@JeffGeerling]

With 13th gen vs 7000 series, it's a bit more complicated-Intel (I've found, at least) tends to pull less power at idle, even compared to Eco mode on AMD. So it really depends on how much you use the system full bore vs have it running a background task or two. It's harder to encapsulate that in benchmark results, though, so you usually only see efficiency maxed out.

[@StarFox1988]

I've got the RTX A2000 in a SFF HP that I was tinkering with and for the price I paid, its a stout GPU that doesn't need extra power. and, while its not designed for gaming, its on par with NVidia's RTX 3050. Just be mindful that the blower fan can be a little loud when its under heavy use.

[@JeffGeerling]

It's actually quieter than I expected! The Noctua cooler on the CPU tends to be slightly louder than the fan in the card on this build.

[@DamjanDimitrioski]

I love boring boxes, they are good for the environment :).

[@denvera1g1]

Ok, this chassis would be amazing for a home firewall, get that little M.2 gigabit LAN card, run that to the front keystone, and get a short patch cable to run it to your switch instead of snaking it around back and taking up a PCIe slot.

[@JeffGeerling]

Definitely! That was the other idea I had for this (making it into a pfSense or opnSense router), but I am planning on doing that later this year with a different build. Hopefully.

[@dragonrider6875]

Hey, Jeff love the new pc. I try not to miss a video. I am a supporter for the pi blade. I am getting the developer version. I do plan to get 3 more. Planning on putting them a Apple case I have along with a 8 port poe unifi switch. I am hooked on the blade and can't wait to get one up and running. I am glad to seeing you getting better. Keep up the awesome work.

[@Jimmy.Miller]

Where is the build for that rack mount NAS? All I can find is the build with the raspberry-pi board. Is that it?

[@chickenpasta7359]

If I didn't need multiple PCIe Cards I'd love a slim workstation like this. But at the same time the Lian Li O11 Mini Air looks so elegant on my desk. Almost a piece of modern furniture

[@pealock]

I’d be curious to see an update to this with the RTX4060 from Gigabyte. Dual slot, half height low profile. I think it sells for around 300-350 new! PCI bus powered and everything.

[@JeffGeerling]

I've been considering the upgrade!

[@LighthalzenRO]

There are things called PCI-E x16 Riser cables that will give you tons of flexibility in doing a custom mounting

[@vng]

They could have designed the case with the power supply, the PCIe slots (horizontal via a riser or extension cable; this also allows you to use full height cards) with a few holes to mount drives below any PCIe cards, then the motherboard. In this current form, you can just buy a workstation PC like the HP Z240 SFF and place it horizontally.

[@niklasxl]

i was looking at you holding the gpu box and thinking that looks way to light only to realize how small the gpu was once you took it out :D guess we are getting to used to 2 (+) slot gpus. How have the drivers been for the quadro on Linux? same as geforce?

[@JeffGeerling]

Yeah, they worked just fine-better and more stable than a few years ago!

[@NDM800]

It’s a 92mm fan! I love my NH L9

[@JeffGeerling]

Heh that's why I couldn't decide on 80 or 100... it was right in between!

[@Bob_Smith19]

I feel your pain w/ power usage. Upgraded from a 1660 to a 3070. Sure, playing AAA games at 4K 60 is nice. But I mostly play Minecraft and AFK now costs a good bit of money.

[@ursusaureus]

I'd kill for a Microcenter near me....

[@AdaptiveSystems]

turn that random back fan off for the moment, and put a baffle so the air has to go theough the gpu - this can be some foam that you got in the box on one of your deliveries. also also swap out that cpu fan for sometihng bigger. bigger fans = quieter for the same a mount of air pushed. that way it shouldnt ramp up enough to make it loud, even during load.

[@NateWheeler1]

Microcenter is awesome!!

[@hrenes]

Could you unmount the front panel and sandwich the fans in between the front panel and the case? You would gain space in the case and airflow would be better. You could even mount the exhaust fan outside the box. In a rack you would have enough space on your 2HU for that longer case.

[@christopher7313]

sorry if this has been mentioned before, there are already too many comments to read through. in minute 8:03 it looks like the protective film for the ssd thermal pad hasn't been removed.

[@JeffGeerling]

I did remove it, but didn't include that footage. But definitely something to not forget! (unless you like melted plastic on your SSD lol)

[@madtc74]

I saw the microcenter dude working at microcenter yesterday. I almost asked if he heard of you now lol.

[@telepresencebot2]

fyi, I've been running a ryzen 5950x in an NFC S4M (4 liter sff case) with a noctua l9-a cooler just fine for over a year now. All I had to do was undervolt the fabric a bit and temps have been just fine