One Chassis, Two PCs: Phanteks Releases Enthoo Mini XL With Dual System

[heirdeux]

Phanteks released a variant of its Mini XL case which includes room for two systems powered by a single PSU.

One Chassis, Two PCs: Phanteks Releases Enthoo Mini XL With Dual System : Read more

 

[cdabc123]

why in any case would it be useful to have two small motherboards in a case? Any operation that's using the motherboards independently would be better accomplished by a single more powerful computer running a hyper-visor, or having 2 separate computers. If anyone out their can think of any reasonable use for this please inform me because im shocked a company would take the time to do this that may appeal to such a tiny group.

 

[Gam3r01]

why in any case would it be useful to have two small motherboards in a case? Any operation that's using the motherboards independently would be better accomplished by a single more powerful computer running a hyper-visor, or having 2 separate computers. If anyone out their can think of any reasonable use for this please inform me because im shocked a company would take the time to do this that may appeal to such a tiny group.

The only use I can think of (and it is listed on their website as well) would be a streaming system.
One system (the main board) runs the better hardware and provides the best gameplay possible, then the load of recording is handed off to the weaker system. This way you have a zero impact recording and streaming system.

 

[hammereditor]

The only useful purpose for this is if you are severely CPU-limited. Two quad-core Core i5's are much cheaper than one octa-core Haswell-E or Xeon E5.

 

[dstarr3]

why in any case would it be useful to have two small motherboards in a case? Any operation that's using the motherboards independently would be better accomplished by a single more powerful computer running a hyper-visor, or having 2 separate computers. If anyone out their can think of any reasonable use for this please inform me because im shocked a company would take the time to do this that may appeal to such a tiny group.

It'd be handy if you want to game with someone next to you and two PCs is the only way the game allows. Or if you are in content creation and need a rendering rig, but while you're rendering something, still need a general purpose computer to do other work.

It's definitely niche, but I can think of a good few uses for such a thing.

 

[humorific]

Excess needs no excuse...

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Since it correctly states that this is an updated version, some info on how it differs from the one released over 18 months ago would have been beneficial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1nPVLuWFNo

 

[drtweak]

IF it was able to fit a full ATX board I might be into it. Why? My Media server is a Mini-ITX board. Embeded dual core celeron and 4 hard drives + SSD. Only uses 60 watts and is on 24/7 and a case for that takes up space. My main PC is a 8 Core AMD, GTX 480 and 1 SSD. That is it so someone like me might want to but that and save space.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

It is ideal for situation where you want to combine server and workstation / gaming box usage. Server could be:

Network file server on office or SOHO environment
Media Server
Game Server

 

[firefoxx04]

Why would anyone need more ram?

Why would anyone need more than 2 cores? (when I was first getting into computers at age 14 thats all I read when i was considering the core 2 quad)

Why would anyone need that much wattage?

Why would anyone need more than a 240mm radiator?

Why would anyone overclock for such small gains?

Why would anyone need a case that big?

Whats the point of more resolution?

Why would anyone want more than one system in a case. I dont know, who cares. Sounds cool to me.

 

[alidan]

why in any case would it be useful to have two small motherboards in a case? Any operation that's using the motherboards independently would be better accomplished by a single more powerful computer running a hyper-visor, or having 2 separate computers. If anyone out their can think of any reasonable use for this please inform me because im shocked a company would take the time to do this that may appeal to such a tiny group.

The only use I can think of (and it is listed on their website as well) would be a streaming system.
One system (the main board) runs the better hardware and provides the best gameplay possible, then the load of recording is handed off to the weaker system. This way you have a zero impact recording and streaming system.

i can also see it being useful for 2 powerful computers, 1 powerful one you are using to do work, and a second one that you offload renders to, so your main computer has little to no impact and you can continue working.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

[quotemsg=17057800,0,211300]Why would anyone need more ram?

Why would anyone need more than 2 cores? (when I was first getting into computers at age 14 thats all I read when i was considering the core 2 quad)

Why would anyone need that much wattage?

Why would anyone need more than a 240mm radiator?

Why would anyone overclock for such small gains?

Why would anyone need a case that big?

Whats the point of more resolution?

Why would anyone want more than one system in a case. I dont know, who cares. Sounds cool to me. [/quotemsg]

Might as well ask ....

Why would anyone want more money ?

Why would anyone want a bigger boat ?

Why would anyone want a faster car ?

Why would anyone want bigger boobs ?

Why would anyone want cosmetic surgery ?

But as to your questions:

1. Cause 4 is better / faster if you do more than game on your PC

2. Cause they have 2 or more high end video cards

3, Cause 240mm won't do much for a CPU Block, 2 GPU blocks, MoBo Block and two 23 watt water pumps

4.a Cause they ain't always small
4.b Cause it's fun

5. See 3.

6. Look at it and compare

And for all of the above .... cause we can !

It's harder now with less disposable income .... once the kids started riding the school bus, the other kids told them they get 3 meals a day at home .... had them convinced that "1 meal a day was fine ... read the label of Scruffy's dog food and see what it says".

 

[Jalapenoman]

If you have a small office this could be useful. It would mean 1 less computer case under the desk. You can also get mini itx boards that support high end processors, so you could have 2 high performance pc's in one case.

 

[cdabc123]

The only useful purpose for this is if you are severely CPU-limited. Two quad-core Core i5's are much cheaper than one octa-core Haswell-E or Xeon E5.

it would be near impossible to try to get the two separate computers to efficiently work together. And you could always run 2 xeons on the same mobo you could get some socket 1366 cpus for about the price of a i5 and get a higher multi-core performance

 

[RedJaron]

I'm not saying this thing doesn't have any use, I just think it's too niche to be profitable. Using it in an office environment to share a chassis and PSU seems about the only way you'd see this in mass use.

 

[Gam3r01]

[quotemsg=17058450,0,570460]I'm not saying this thing doesn't have any use, I just think it's too niche to be profitable. Using it in an office environment to share a chassis and PSU seems about the only way you'd see this in mass use.[/quotemsg]

I would agree. But in that situation it is too large and flashy really. Who needs a windowed case in an office?

 

[Sowel Hung]

Needs more space for another mobo that way you can make a computer sandwhich. With 2 is it more like computer pizza.

 

[Dantemastdie]

That could be usefull and a cheaper solution for an internet cafe shop. With one tower has the power of two pc's so more room and less money. Win-win situation i say!

 

[outlw6669]

Two useful situation I could see are an always on fileserver in the same space as your desktop or a dedicated firewall build housed within easy cable reach of your main system or existing network infrastructure.
You would also probably save some cash upfront, as well as in the long run, by buying a single highly efficient 80+ Platinum/Titanium PSU instead of 2x lower 80+ units.

 

[rwinches]

7 expansion slots 2 for the ITX 5 for the m_ITX.

So the difference from the Enthoo Mini XL is this includes the ITX upgrade option, got it.

 

[eppenrose]

[quotemsg=17056967,0,2005175]why in any case would it be useful to have two small motherboards in a case? Any operation that's using the motherboards independently would be better accomplished by a single more powerful computer running a hyper-visor, or having 2 separate computers. If anyone out their can think of any reasonable use for this please inform me because im shocked a company would take the time to do this that may appeal to such a tiny group.[/quotemsg]

I have looked before for a dual system case to use as a recovery machine. VMware ESXi on one system, Microsoft Hyper-V Server on another. But this is clearly a consumer targeted case.

 

[Tim_22]

You guys are missing the point. My wife and I have 2 separate computers that I have to maintain. I have always wanted to use identical components in one centralized location with one case. We have identical desks right next to each other and having just one case to work around would be awesome. I am going to make a build off of this for the both of us with identical parts and only have to use one power supply that I already have. We both game a lot and use our computers 3-4 hours a day...

 

[James Mason]

[quotemsg=17057574,0,926377]IF it was able to fit a full ATX board I might be into it. Why? My Media server is a Mini-ITX board. Embeded dual core celeron and 4 hard drives + SSD. Only uses 60 watts and is on 24/7 and a case for that takes up space. My main PC is a 8 Core AMD, GTX 480 and 1 SSD. That is it so someone like me might want to but that and save space. [/quotemsg]

You can put the strongest i7s you can buy into ITX boards.

Also there's no reason your main PC "needs" a full ATX board besides AMD FX cpus being power hungry garbage.

 

[James_Almeida]

Why would I need 10, 14 or 20 computers in a single casing?
http://www.supermicro.com/products/SuperBlade/
Computers are more than only gaming at your bedroom.

 

[scolaner]

You guys are missing the point. My wife and I have 2 separate computers that I have to maintain. I have always wanted to use identical components in one centralized location with one case. We have identical desks right next to each other and having just one case to work around would be awesome. I am going to make a build off of this for the both of us with identical parts and only have to use one power supply that I already have. We both game a lot and use our computers 3-4 hours a day...

I'd be interested to hear how this works out for you. I love the idea of it, for just the use case you describe (and others?), but the execution seems like it could be problematic. Be sure to let us all know how it goes! (And feel free to shoot me a PM when you do.)