Any ideas/suggestions to stack multiple motherboards to setup a small render farm with 5-10 Ryzen CPUs

muthu3dtech

Member
Recruit
As the title says, any open type chassis/cabinet or DIY cabinet ideas so that I can stack 5 MB/Processor/CPU Cooler/PSU on top of each other? I would like to have a open type chassis, so that I can reduce the accumulation of heat inside a traditional closed cabinet. Something like a mining setup, but no GPU here, CPU is the key.
 

kvn95ss

Member
Disciple
What are the motherboard sizes? Aren't server racks meant specifically for this purpose?
 

muthu3dtech

Member
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I just want any normal workstation lets say Ryzen CPU with X570 ATX motherboard, getting all its components ripped from the cabinet and placed in a open rack.
 

rsaeon

Active Member
Patron
I've previously used exam pads with their clips removed. I mounted the motherboards with M3 spacers that had screws on both sides, and used M8 threaded rods to space out the exam pads.

 

muthu3dtech

Member
Recruit
rsaeon said:
I've previously used exam pads with their clips removed. I mounted the motherboards with M3 spacers that had screws on both sides, and used M8 threaded rods to space out the exam pads.

View attachment 106357
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Yes exactly something like this. But in a more organized and professional way, so that there is pakka airflow between the boards. Also I m thinking of stacking the boards horizontally instead of vertically. as the CPU coolers I m gonna use are Noctua D15 pretty large.

But your setup is good. I can take some ideas from you like the rods and spacers. Do you have any closeup photos ? near the spacers?
 

rsaeon

Active Member
Patron
The spacing I had allowed for 120mm fans in between the motherboards. But I no longer have that setup, there was a few flaws with it. Maintenance was difficult, I had to take the entire thing apart just to troubleshoot a single system. And the family did not approve of such an exposed setup, especially with the cats we have. In the end, I invested in the cheapest decent quality case with a mesh front (Antec NX130) and gave each system it's own cabinet. It meant about 4.5k extra per system (with fans) but it looks way more cooler haha.
 

Ramadhir Singh

Wasseypur
Adept
@rsaeon , off-topic but can i ask which spike/extension chord you were using in that picture.. looks like ample space between the sockets which allowing to use all of them with decent sized plugs, also seems it can handle 6 simultaneous 10A connection.
 

ashish

Well-Known Member
Disciple
@rsaeon What do you use it for? What all is hosted on it and are all motherboards or systems combined as a single rig?
 

rsaeon

Active Member
Patron
It was/is a proxmox cluster running low spec Windows 10 VM's (single core with 1GB ram) with passive income data sharing apps like Packetstream, IPRoyal and Honeygain.
 

CyberGhost

Well-Known Member
Disciple
nRiTeCh said:
@CyberGhost might have some suggestions..
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For DIY solution sheet aluminium panels for actual mobo bed, which then stacked with the help of m8 threaded rods with a thick and sturdy wooden base made of ply or board, then would have drilled mobo spacers/standoffs according to appropriate ATX standard or in case you want less space and using micro atx / mini itx boards then holes according to those

assuming you might not be putting in the same room where you work or something like that, i would use a big heavy duty table fan rather then many smaller pc case fans or like something that if the room being used doesn't have AC, rest setting and linking then up is on one's own requirements and ease of use

i can make some rough designs and walk you through them further personally
 

muthu3dtech

Member
Recruit
CyberGhost said:
For DIY solution sheet aluminium panels for actual mobo bed, which then stacked with the help of m8 threaded rods with a thick and sturdy wooden base made of ply or board, then would have drilled mobo spacers/standoffs according to appropriate ATX standard or in case you want less space and using micro atx / mini itx boards then holes according to those

assuming you might not be putting in the same room where you work or something like that, i would use a big heavy duty table fan rather then many smaller pc case fans or like something that if the room being used doesn't have AC, rest setting and linking then up is on one's own requirements and ease of use

i can make some rough designs and walk you through them further personally
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Thanks for your suggestions. I will first have some more Ryzen CPUs, then try this.