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New Generation of Cases?
mikeb55121 writes "In my never ending quest to build a bigger and better computer i have come across this new design of computer case that is prety intresting to me and possibly any one else out there who build their own computers. This case is very unique because it is shaped as a "T" and the manufacture says that it ends cable clutter and has very good airflow." The aesthetics aren't bad, and the concept is solid. It'll be interesting to see if this catches on. I kind of doubt it.
I just had to cart a PC up 3 flights of stairs and down the hall to my dorm room. Moving my PowerMac was a lot easier because of the handles. PC makers still have a lot to learn from Apple IMO
blah. it's all lights and cooling and cable clutter and poppy cock. let me know when they design a QUIET computer case. noise cancelation tech, built in sound dampening materials, baffles on the outside fans... hell i dunno, but my heap is LOUD and i'm doubting that a "T" does much for noise.
For those of you who don't much like macromedia stuff, you can see small pictures of these things on another page on the same site.
They will not fit into the "case" compartment of most PC benches, if thats the kind you have.
Good idea, but Im pretty sure theyre a passing fad since the dimensions are so inefficient.
loply.com
Well, that's pessimistic. "It's good, but nobody will buy it."
If the airflow is as good as they claim, then that's excellent. I've had a number of problems over the years with poor cooling, and I'm certainly not a hardcore gamer or 3D renderer.
Easy access to everything in the case is also a big plus. It just looks so elegant. No more fumbling with lots of little screws and trying to get Tab A into Slot B reassembling my case.
There are a few potential problems: the manufacture of this case will be more costly--it's not just a box. So bargain hunters won't buy it. The shape of the case won't fit into a narrow slot that some desks leave; it wouldn't be a problem at my desk, but I can see trouble in cramped environments. Aesthetically, the shape is novel, but I don't know if it's as attractive as the poster makes out. Finally, are drive cables long enough to reach all the drive bays, or are we limited to technologies that permit longer cable runs (serial ATA, for example)?
My two cents.
~Idarubicin
Some similar ideas I remember from my experience also with Compaq and IBM.
Less is more !
I've opened many a case in my time and I figure some of these case designers missed their calling, which was to design traps that guard Pharaoh's tombs.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Here's a fast mirror incase the website goes down.
Besides, it goes so well with the one perfect shape for furniture.
This case would look at home in any AV setup.
Cooler Master 610-GX1
A bit pricey though
A few more pictures.
I planned on inserting something witty here but never got around to it.
1. The cooling for the drives looks to be less-than-optimal. I tend to run SCSI drives in my systems, and many of them get hot. The intake for the fans would also pull air right off my nice cool 19" monitor, seeing as how my monitor is to the right of the tower.
2. There's a reason cables come out of the *back* of a computer -- you can route them to wherever you want them. Looking at this case, all the cables come out of the left side of the case. Looking at my desk, my tower is on the left side (which is by the wall). So with this, I'd have to route the cables *around* the back of the case....
Ob/.CaseMod: Where would you put the window and the neon lights?
I think the next generation of cases will be those made by companies that try to use as little space as possible, (yes they do need to ensure that there are no heat problems.). I've grown tired of having a tower case that doesn't tuck away under anything, and make so much noise I can hear the fans in the nearby room. My next computer will probably use a shuttle case/motherboard for these exact reasons.
Looks like it costs ~$122USD. At least on the only site that seems to carry it . . .
http://www.home-pc.co.uk/browse.asp?cat=cases
but I want that case!
That thing is beautiful. For some reason it just caught my eye and that was it. If you have more money than sense, I appeal to you: Purchase me this case! I am not strictly opposed to giving sexual favors for it!
HEAR MY PLEA! I WANT THIS CASE!
Thank you
that has the motherboard mounted on a fold down door.
While it looked cool and functional on my mac the PC case sucked because the IDE and floppy cables were too short to reach when the door was all the way open.
So every time I had to open the case i had to disconnect my hard drives and floppy.
Just another instance of the PC makers half-ass following Apple's lead and getting it all wrong.
People are saying that it won't fit in the slots of their desks... I suppose I'm not the typical user - I would never ever ever ever ever ever get a desk that had a slot for me to put my computer in.
:)
It insulates the machine too much and regardless of how hard you work to cool it, you are exacerbating the issue if you have it in a slot in your desk.
That said, I'm not sure the shape is all that great for my uses because I basically only ever really want either a laptop, or a bunch of small and compact machines to cluster. Something that shape on its own and under an open desk is just dandy - but trying to put that in an area with others just like it takes up more space than just the traditional "brick o' computer"
The main things I want from a case are compactness,quietness, and cheapness.
None of those seem to help keep it cool, but when you have multiple white noise sources going, they seem to amplify each other, and it SUCKS on hardwood floors.
I want a case that is quiet and clamshells, but is just a normal shape that is easy to cram a bunch of them in a small place.
basically I want a rackmount, but for way less money
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
The design of the PC system SUCKS from a thermal management standpoint.
Look at the old VME systems (e.g. what is in use at a telephone switching office).
The backplane board is vertically mounted along the back of the enclosure, and the cards are ALSO vertically mounted into the backplane. Any plugs on each card are on the front of the card. One whole section of the bus is reserved for I/O connections, so standard connections are on the backplane.
As a result, natural convection can move air over the system. If you need forced air, you put a fan at the bottom of the system, pressurizing the cabinet - that way you are moving denser, cold air with the fan.
When the S100 systems came out, they almost got this right, but they put the backplane on the bottom, and mounted the cards vertically. As a result, you now have the backplane blocking natural convection. Plus, with the connectors on the BACK of the card, you have yet another impediment to air flow.
When the first PC was designed, they stole the design of the S100 bus systems in that regard.
Now, you have one of two options - the tower approach, with the main board vertical and the cards horizontal - so your GPU cooks in its own heat, and the cards block the natural airflow over the main board, or the desktop approach - where your cards are vertical, but your main board cooks.
All case designs for the PC are work-arounds for this rather BAD design.
And until the PC industry starts making a change, no case tricks will completely ease this.
That said, I must say these things:
1) That was possibly the BEST use of a Flash animation for a site I've seen in a long time. Rather than wasting my time with BS, they show me the case in operation. Bravo to the webmaster!
2) The case actually would solve one problem I have in my setup - with all the cables exiting out the back of the tower case, and the tower being in the bay in my desk, it is a bitch to get to them, and they tend to get nibbled on by the fans I've put at the back of the desk. This case, with the cards exiting from the side would avoid that.
www.eFax.com are spammers