Two pc's in one

[Gmoney]

i want to run two completely independant pcs but in the same tower case, is this possible?

[Rankenphile]

well, technically, I know it is possible. You can get a switch that allows you to run both computers from a single mouse and keyboard, as well. You may end up having to create a divider down the center, to act as an electromagnetic shield and prevent heat buildup. Do you want them face-to-face, or one above the other? Drive management will be another huge issue.

These are just the first things that spring to mind. I'm hardly an expert on this issue, so I'm going to step back and let some others with more experience and knowledge take over on this.

[onelegout]

just out of interest, why do you?

[Zeus]

for the same reason everyone else mods. just because
lol

[Xato]

The best reason i can see this being done is to have two usable workstations from one tower.

It really does depend on how its done... the main constraints on having 2 PC's in the one case, are space (you can get around this fair easily and with some clever planning) and heat.
The reason heat will be a problem, is that the less space you want to have 2 PC's in, the faster they will heat up the air around them, so you'll need some good airflow within the case.

I've got a picture in my mind about how you could go about it, and the main items to cause problems with space, are the CPU HSF(heatsink and fan), PSU, and Graphics card.
-The graphics card problem could be fixed by using one an AGP (or PCIe) Adapter to sit the card parallel to the motherboard.

Im not to sure about this, but with some of the new PSU's on the market, you could probably even have the 2 PC's running off the one PSU. (the new SLI units come to mind.) Which would fix most of the space problem.

With that said, you could have the motherboards facing eachother, with one rotated to be upside down (so all the ports still come out the same ends) This would allow the two CPU's to be offset from eachother, and enough space for all the drives at the front of the case.
You would still ofcourse need a fairly decent sized case.



I told you i had a picture in my mind of how it could be done =P


Edit: Oh and about the heating problems, good airflow would be NEEDED between the two boards and over the cpu, ducting might even be neccesary for the CPU's. But that could all be bashed out later. It would be cool to see this mod done, now that i think about it.

[Ozzhedian]

Check Mashie's Tranquility mod if you want to see how to mack lots of pc's in a relatively small space. There's a great worklog for the project too.
My advice would be to get 2 regular (cheap) mid towers. Put 1 on top of the other desktop style. Canabalise the HDD and CD Rom mounts and place them in front of the PSU (formally the top of the cases). Reclad the whole thing with a material and design of your choice. A pair of VFD displays for each for hardware vitals, and bob's your uncle.
Cheers
Oz

BTW. this method sucks balls if your desk is too small to house a desktop style case.