Four 10-Slot Cases For Four-Way SLI, Tested And Reviewed
Table of contents
- 1. Which Is The Best Case For An XL-ATX Motherboard?
- 2. Building With The Azza Fusion 4000
- 3. Building With The Enermax Fulmo GT
- 4. Building With The Rosewill Thor V2
Extra space for cooling, controllers, and add-in cards makes XL-ATX the preferred solution for extreme system builders. Today, we follow up our picture story by testing four 10-slot cases that support XL-ATX and four-way SLI (with room to spare).
When it comes to systems with four dual-slot graphics cards, XL-ATX and ATX motherboards typically wind up with the same issue: due to the thickness of graphics coolers, they both require one more slot at the bottom. Further complicating matters is the fact that XL-ATX isn’t actually a standard form factor.
A motherboard form factor is a fixed set of dimensional values that define its size and standoff locations. No single manufacturer has yet been able to do that with XL-ATX. The problem is that competing vendors specify their own versions of XL-ATX at eight or nine slot spaces in length, various widths, and differing amounts of overhang past the standoffs. With no official template from which to operate, we’re fortunate to find that Evga, Gigabyte, and MSI at least use the same mounting points for the added (fourth) row of standoffs near the bottom edge of these oversized motherboards.
Ultra ATX, on the other hand, is a standard. It was defined by one company on a single product that never actually went into production. Companies began making cases for this motherboard before discovering that it wouldn’t be produced, and those cases are either still being offered today or were replaced by similar models built to support the same standard. The great feature of Ultra ATX is that it supports a double-slot graphics cards mounted in an XL-ATX motherboard’s bottom slot.
This means that, regardless of which XL-ATX motherboard you buy, an Ultra ATX-based case is almost certainly the ideal chassis in which to put it. Even extra-long HPTX cases are designed with the extra slot specified by Ultra ATX.
| Ten-Slot Case Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azza Fusion 4000 | Enermax Fulmo GT | Rosewill Thor V2 White | Thermaltake VH6000BWS | |
| Dimensions | ||||
| Height | 31" | 25.2" | 23.5" | 23.8" |
| Width | 10.1" | 9.5" | 9.7" | 9.6" |
| Depth | 24.8" | 26.0" | 22.4" | 25.0" |
| Space Above Motherboard | 2.0" | 3.0" | 0.7" | 0.5" |
| Card Length | 14.5" | 16.8" | 13.1" | 14.1" |
| Weight | 42.3 pounds | 23.4 pounds | 30.9 pounds | 36.9 pounds |
| Cooling | ||||
| Front Fans (alternatives) | 2 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 180 mm (2 x 140/120 mm) | 1 x 230 mm (1 x 140/120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) |
| Rear Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 140 mm (None) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (None) |
| Top Fans (alternatives) | None (4 x 120 mm) | 1 x 230 mm (2 x 230 mm, 3 x 140/120 mm) | 1 x 230 mm (2 x 140/120 mm) | None (1 x 140/120 mm) |
| Side Fans (alternatives) | None (1 x 180 mm, 2 x 140/120 mm) | 2 x 180 mm (4 x 180 mm) | 1 x 230 mm (4 x 120 mm) | 1 x 230 mm (None) |
| Drive Bays | ||||
| 5.25" External | Six | Four | Six | Seven |
| 3.5" External | None | None | 1 x Adapter | 1 x Adapter |
| 3.5" Internal | 8 x Backplane 2 x Cage | Ten | Six | Five +Two** |
| 2.5" Internal | 4 x Backplane 8 x Shared* | Ten | Six* | None |
| Card Slots | Ten | Ten | Ten | Ten |
| Price | $230 | $230 | $170 | $180 |
| *shared on 3.5" tray, **XL-ATX motherboard requires removal of two 3.5" drive cages | ||||
We’ve already gone into quite a bit of depth on the added features, so today we finally get to see how well each case fits and functions with our quad-card SLI configuration on an XL-ATX-based board.
4 way sli is too damn excessive! but anyway nice builds
The enermax looks like a carbon copy of the CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced
damn those cases look huge, in a good way.
i am pretty sure i could live in the top apartment compartment of the azza case. it has in built cooling, water supply if one is using water cooling, a bottom grill window and so on. ;D
I just wish I could find the Azza Fusion 4000. >:\
I could really take advantage of the dual mobo feature.
Just stick a i5-i7 Mini-ITX system in the top for thin clients, servers for gaming at lans etc..
Then use the more powerful bottom system with a KVM switch and use whichever you want for whatever task you intend to perform.
That's what I would do anyway.. I might get thumbed down but that's my use.
wow!!! azza 4000 is best solution for four way sli/cfx
I know it's not a cpu/graphic card review, but come on ... 980X & 4 580s beg for performance numbers
I would also love to see some benchmarks for those four 580s.
Does anyone actually know a place in the US you can get the Azza? I can't seem to find one.
I think the Enermax case is really sharp. The Thor isn't bad looking but the Armor is god awful. I don't like the aesthetics of the Azza case, but I bet the top portion could be put to use as a housing for a pretty wicked water cooling setup! That's what I'd do anyway.
The toms guys are without ideas. Why not make a competition looking for de pc cheapest-fastest?
Spaniard
I think the Enermax case is really sharp. The Thor isn't bad looking but the Armor is god awful. I don't like the aesthetics of the Azza case, but I bet the top portion could be put to use as a housing for a pretty wicked water cooling setup! That's what I'd do anyway.
carbon copy of the CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.ph [...] s_id=18722
The enermax looks like a carbon copy of the CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced
Only the looks
carbon copy of the CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced http://www.pccasegear.com/index.ph [...] s_id=18722
Great, I'd love to see you put two power supplies and a 9-10 slot configuration in the 8-slot single PSU case!
The toms guys are without ideas. Why not make a competition looking for de pc cheapest-fastest?Spaniard
If you'd actually READ any of the previous Tom's Hardware case roundups, you'd know that your suggestion is a rather old idea.
Just a question, can the antec 1200w PSU handle all four GTX 580 at full load?
Just a question, can the antec 1200w PSU handle all four GTX 580 at full load?
I'm pretty sure it would.
They would draw maybe 200-250W each?
Can we get some full load temps on the quad SLI?
Just a question, can the antec 1200w PSU handle all four GTX 580 at full load?
200W for CPU, mobo, ram, HDD and fans, which should be enough for a good build, but not enough for a large RAID array or anything
Rally Toms? No performance charts for Quad SLI? And what about running Quad SLI on a new SB-E with all of those beautiful PCIe Lanes to spare! Nothing would make my day quite like seeing how sadly my single 570 stacks up to 4X580 lol.
Also, as I said in the initial case review; those are all beautiful cases except for the Thermaltake... just what where they thinking?
LOL, I guess I should not have used the less than and more than signs in my post above! I meant to say that the 580's take a little less than 250W, meaning you have roughly 1000W for graphics, leaving 200W for the rest of the system
carbon copy of the CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced http://www.pccasegear.com/index.ph [...] s_id=18722
I was going to say the same thing.
Why would I spend $1000 for an old processor?
How about seeing the Sandy Bridge-E setup? That would seem more appropriate for a modern quad sli set up.