Stackable uATX with 240/280 radiator support?

[rootwyrm]

I'd describe myself as very hip to the market in general (I'm an SI, have been for decades,) but this particular need is eluding me.

Don't say Silverstone Grandia (GD family.) The Grandia can't install a 240 unless the DIMM sockets are on the east edge and fairly low. Forget the Arctic Freezer II. Also don't say LiLi V351's. Yes, they will fit 240's, but they are most definitely not stackable. I sent one to scrap proving that, sadly. (Really damn great chassis.) And obviously, rackmount is right out because the 240/280 radiator is an absolute requirement.
The other key requirement is being actually uATX sized unless it's like a GD10B (but even then I'd prefer not. And no, the GD10B can't mount 240's.) Meaning: small. Fractal's Define Mini C is toward the upper bound of small. The Tt Core V21 is DEFINITELY not small.

Past those two requirements though? Truly don't care about the rest. Having some 2.5" and 3.5" would be nice, but don't need anything fancy. Surely there's got to be something out there that ticks those two boxes?

 

[Tom5051]

With some basic tools, any case can be made to suit your purpose son.

 

[ReturnedSword]

What CPU will you be using that necessitates water cooling?

The only case that probably can be used for this is the Sliger Cerberus. It’s a mini tower but you can probably put feet on the non ventilated side panel to turn it into a desktop style case, then stack it. It’s not cheap though.

 

[rootwyrm]

What CPU will you be using that necessitates water cooling?

The only case that probably can be used for this is the Sliger Cerberus. It’s a mini tower but you can probably put feet on the non ventilated side panel to turn it into a desktop style case, then stack it. It’s not cheap though.

Motherboard is modified ROMED8U-2T.

I find it hard to believe that it's the sole option given what's out there in Mini-ITX. But Cerberus can't work without getting into major customization, because the only way it can fit physically is with the radiator in the front. Bottom mount would interfere with all the bottom edge connectors once you go past a 30mm thick radiator. Plus Sliger themselves told me they weren't certain, since I'm looking at stacking 3-4 high.

 

[ReturnedSword]

Motherboard is modified ROMED8U-2T.

I find it hard to believe that it's the sole option given what's out there in Mini-ITX. But Cerberus can't work without getting into major customization, because the only way it can fit physically is with the radiator in the front. Bottom mount would interfere with all the bottom edge connectors once you go past a 30mm thick radiator. Plus Sliger themselves told me they weren't certain, since I'm looking at stacking 3-4 high.

Ah so you’ve reached out to Sliger already. They would be the most authoritative source on their cases.

I actually fully agree with you that there are tons of mini-ITX solutions, even custom ones. I’m thankful for that since ITX is one of my hobbies. One reason perhaps why there’s a dearth of decent mATX cases is that it’s been a dying form factor for a number of years now outside of server/workstation boards such as the ROMED8U-2T you have. The only suitable mATX mini tower cases are either ancient, or too big, or try to be a jack of all trades and thus crappy. I’d love for there to be more modern mATX cases, but sadly haven’t seen more than a handful in recent years. None have been that great.

Sliger Cerberus is the only case I know of that’s similar to your requirements (and I follow cases pretty closely). Sucks that it won’t be suitable for you.

What are you planning to use this stacker setup for?

 

[rootwyrm]

That's the problem though - there's plenty of genuinely good uATX towers. Plenty of good options if you only need a single full height card and/or don't mind obnoxious levels of noise. Literally dozens of options. But as soon as you say "this is less than 6 feet from my head, it can't be 50dBA"? It's like turning off a light switch. And the problem with towers in this case is: they take up orders of magnitude more room.

I could certainly switch to ROMED8-2T's, which really would be no big deal. But that doesn't improve the situation at all, because there's also no ATX HTPC chassis without the same problem. (The GD07 as an example is about 2.5 towers of width.) The whole point of this is having the new VMware cluster in a more compact form, so it can be properly expanded, since this installation is not going rack because it's less than five feet from my desk.

 

[Spotswood]

How about a custom solution? PM me.

-Rich