Antec Releases "Skeleton" PC Case

ThinSkin writes "It is appropriate to say that Antec was 'thinking outside the box' when the idea of the 'Skeleton' PC Case sprung to mind. The Antec Skeleton is an open-air PC case with a pair of shelves for the motherboard and other components — held up by arching arms. There are no side panels. This is ideal for the computer user who is constantly fidgeting with his PC parts, or someone who wants to show off his fancy components. Just have a compressed air can nearby. There is also a slideshow of Antec Skeleton images available."

Comments

Good for a lab.

[LWATCDR]

But man i would fear every open can of soda, and heaven forbid you have kids or pets.

Re:Good for a lab.

[internerdj]

What do you mean? My 11 month old would love it.

Re:Good for a lab.

[aliquis]

Sooner or later you'll notice that your FSB has had an upgrade.

After that you'll just have to find a female connector if you got the male one, or a male one if you got the female one, and the rest is basic IO.

There seem to be some sort of protocol using a closed handshaking routine to initiate the data transfer though and I haven't got that one figured out. There have been quite a few attempts to reverse engineer and document the procedure for the whole handshaking process, part of the progress can be found in TFM by Neil Strauss, but there are no complete documentation yet.

Common practise for finalising the handshake routine includes brute-forcing. But that method requires a wide array of targets since the target host most often will notice the probe and close all ports well before the initializing handshake routine and following data transfer is over. Alternative practise includes paying for a one-time key usable against a single target. This method got its flaws though since the target are usually well protected against intruding code which won't execute whereby not finalizing the final stages of the procedure. You will still get all the benefits of making the connection and following thru the whole data transfer process, but the application will never fork into a new process.

But believe it or not, some people even see benefits of the lack of a child process. For instance you don't have to fight over resources, share memory or try to fight for priority.

Re:Good for a lab.

[retchdog]

Thanks for pointing that out. If he kept on contracting himself, he'd form a singularity.

But...

[clang_jangle]

What about shielding, dust, noise, safety from beverages, pets, flying insects? I predict the aesthetic charm will wear thin quickly for those who purchase this -- if anyone does.

Re:But...

[Nightspirit]

Like the article says, this is for people who probably already have their case open anyways.

Re:But...

[ducomputergeek]

Already ordered one for our development lap where we're testing under lots of hardware configurations. We've been using old PC server towers, the kind that stand like 4ft tall, so we can easily access all the components when we need to swap out this or that. But they do take up quite bit of space. As the article said, it's a niche product. So i guess next week we'll see.

Re:But...

[plover]

I already have dust buildup in my closed case. It has an acrylic side panel, so it does not offer RF shielding. It has a top fan, so it doesn't offer much safety from a beverage set carelessly on top. As a matter of fact, no matter how much I wanted to I couldn't set a beverage on top of this Skeleton, so I would set it elsewhere -- this case is possibly safer as a result.

Perhaps closed cases are overrated in terms of the amount of "actual" protection they provide.

Re:But...

[Ostracus]

"Already ordered one for our development lap where we're testing under lots of hardware configurations."

And don't think your lap wouldn't appreciate the weight reduction. :)

Re:But...

[Ironsides]

Here's a question for you. Do you even need to use a case to test the various configurations? Couldn't you just leave the motherboard on the desk with the cards sitting in it and everything laying out?

Re:But...

[Wilden2003]

I'd never put one in my house, though. One of the cats would probably pee on it.

Only the one time. And if they did survive, you could be sure they would learn the lesson.

Had a Irish Setter once. And an electric fence. He wizzed; I winced. But I must say, I never saw him repeat the experience.

Re:But...

[aliquis]

But! Even my mom wants this case!

Though my friends tell me how her case is always open.

How appropriate

[Hatta]

Halloween is just around the corner!

Seriously though, Antec makes some amazing cases. Thing is, it's so easy to get into my P180B, I don't think this skeleton case is going to be any better.

Noise Level?

[Khan]

My only concern would be the noise level from all of the components. I suppose it wouldn't matter if I had "quiet" devices. Overall pretty cool looking case.

Re:Noise Level?

[Yvan256]

And if the computer is running Windows Vista, the whining from the user itself.

What TFA fails to report is...

[Verdatum]

Does the case come with a big scary sign that says, "DO NOT TOUCH!", or do I have to fashion my own?

Re:What TFA fails to report is...

[TeknoHog]

ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!

Das computermachine ist nicht fuer
gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist
easy schnappen der springenwerk,
blowenfusen und poppencorken mit
spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken
bei das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken
sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen
hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und
watchen das blinkenlichten.

Unpractical, really

[Enleth]

Even if we assume that there are no problems with air circulation and proper cooling (it's Antec, after all), this things takes up much more desk space than a normal tower case, cannot be used like a destop type case (however awkward they are) because of its shape and cannot really be placed under the desk (it negates the whole puprpose of such a design and most computer desks have no place suitable for something like that anyway, except maybe the printer shelf). So it's half a desk for a weird novelty. Not worth the hassle, IMO. Even for someone who likes fiddling with the parts a big tower without the left side panel and placed on the right hand side of the desk would be probably a lot more practical.

EMI

[afidel]

I don't think any component manufacturer certifies their stuff running in free air, I would think you would get a lot of EMI out of a system like this that would interfere with anything around it.

Re:EMI

[Yvan256]

Screw EMI. After all, they're part of the RIAA.

Re:EMI

[IorDMUX]

Given that the divers components *within* the case seem to get along so well with each other (most of the time), and that most of the power consumed is dispersed as heat rather than controlled tones, I wouldn't think that this would be a problem.

My previous computer was mostly plastic (yeah, bad choice... the case broke at a LAN party but I kept using it for 4 more years) with only a plate of steel behind the motherboard. This should *increase* the EMI (read: ground plane) but I certainly never had a problem. A CRT monitor or even your cable box produces far more EMI (and in those cases, more "tonal" EMI) than your computer.

...just checked. The FCC compatibility requirement is basically a "free air" certification.

Tesla Coil!

[corsec67]

Just put a Tesla coil on top.

No, I haven't thought mu cunning plan through.

Nothing new, just slightly prettier

[Kraeloc]

The vaguely-cube-shaped open-air case is in no way a new concept. Just off the top of my head, there's the DangerDen torture rack. Not to mention every 15-year-old hardware enthusiast who can't afford a real case and has to build one out of lego/wood/cardboard/k'nex. What would actually be interesting would be a standard vertical tower case, built without the need or even the capacity for side panels. Just an open-air midtower case that actually looks good. And don't tell me to take off my side panels, because that's not the point here.

Awesome.

[dangitman]

This will go great with my skull-shaped bong.