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Hardware

New Generation of Cases? 412

Posted by CmdrTaco from the not-gonna-happen dept.
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.
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New Generation of Cases? More

New Generation of Cases?

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  • An old lesson from Apple (Score:4, Insightful)

    by browser_war_pow ( 100778 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:25PM (#5068068) Homepage
    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
    • Agreed....not only does the current generation of PowerMac have handles on the exterior, but also utilizes "hubbable" interfaces such as USB and Firewire to at least move the cable clutter. They also allow easy motherboard access via the "drop-down" case design.
      • not only does the current generation of PowerMac have handles on the exterior, but also utilizes "hubbable" interfaces such as USB and Firewire to at least move the cable clutter.

        PCs have had USB and Firewire for over 5 years now. What on earth are you talking about? Macs are cool and all, but USB is obviously not unique to them. Hell, my brand new iBook I bought in October doesn't even support USB 2.0 yet!

        • Re:An old lesson from Apple (Score:4, Offtopic)

          by dissy ( 172727 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @08:43PM (#5069333)
          Even not looking at the speed of things, firewire is a much better protocol than USB.

          Firewire is pretty close to SCSI when it comes to its protocols, where as USB is best compared to RS-422.

          With USB there is a host (computer) and devices (everything else)

          With firewire, everything is a device, and they can all talk to eachother.

          If USB HD 1 wants to send data to USB HD 2, the host computer must read one drive and write to the other. There is no other way.

          With firewire, *A* computer (Yes there can be more than one on the bus) can instruct HD 1 to send data to HD 2 in large chunks, so there is very little overhead going through the computer.

          Two firewire drives will be able to have the full 400mbit between them, where as two USB2 drives will only beable to send at a theoretical speed of 240mbit/sec because half of its 480mbit bandwidth is from one drive to the PC, then the other half is from the pc to the other drive.

          Also having say 5 PCs and a number of firewire devices (generally not harddrives as they are a special case) each PC will see the same hardware and they can all use it in a shared fasion.
          The PCs also can run IP over firewire and use it for networking as well.
          harddrives will be seen by all the machines as well, its just typical computers assume a disk will be seen by itself only, so do not plan ahead for what to do when that data is changed unexpectantly.

          None of that is possible with USB, and without special hardware you cant attach two or more PCs with USB (no a hub is not special) as each computer needs an adaptor to make it a 'device' instead of a 'host', and then the device computers cant see the rest of the USB chain.

          USB was designed and made to replace serial.
          Firewire was designed and made to be generic and have anything/everything run over it, including IP, video signal, serial, disk protocols, etc.

          If you only need basic serial operation and very little over head, yes USB may be concidered better. But thats the only case it would be true.

    • Re:An old lesson from Apple (Score:4, Funny)

      by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:33PM (#5068128)
      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

      If you can afford both a Mac and PC, surely you can afford a butler to do all that lifting and carrying for you?
      • Might I suggest an aluminum case? And perhaps a flat panel display? After all, a CRT monitor is the heaviest part of the average PC, and those steel cases are a bit on the heavy side too, not to mention less able to radiate excess heat.

        • Re:An old lesson from Apple (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Rolo Tomasi ( 538414 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @05:50PM (#5068553) Homepage Journal
          [...] those steel cases are [...] less able to radiate excess heat.

          A commonly held misconception. The truth is, however, that unless the hot components are in direct contact with the aluminum, the air will act as a thermal insulator, and given the fact that air is one of the best thermal insulators out there, the cooling advantage over a steel case is somewhere between jack and shit.

    • What?!? I can't hear you..... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Let me shut off my wind tunnel [g4noise.com] so that I can hear you.
    • True that. but if you have a mac, can't ya just have your boyfriend carry it around for you.

    • Re:An old lesson from Apple (Score:5, Funny)

      by shepd ( 155729 ) <slashdot.org@gmai l . c om> on Sunday January 12, 2003 @05:11PM (#5068343) Homepage Journal
      >PC makers still have a lot to learn from Apple IMO

      You mean Apple learned from PC makers [oldcomputers.net], right? Apples loves to bring back really OLD ideas and pretend they're new and cool...
      • Hahaha [oldcomputers.net] that's awesome. It looks like they're on a turbolift or something. "Hey baby, want to touch my mobile blazing 1 million Hz minicomputer?" ... "Uh, no, I get off here."
        • Are you stoned or something?

          4.77, not 1. And it predates all laptops and the Imac by far. I have worked on one of these beasts once upon a time. It was a bit heavy to move arond but it was definitely the first ever portable PC. Long before Zenith did the first laptop.

          Also, the thing here is the design idea, not the Mhz. Assuming the author of the original post referred to the Imac, this monster has seen the market after Mac classic so I guess Apple still holds the seniority here. And the Imac is nothing but Mac classic redux. Taking the idea that shot Apple into orbit and giving it another roll... And trying to make us all think that it is original. And different... B.Sh...

  • Sliding it? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by brodin ( 200847 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:26PM (#5068074)
    Seriously though, although it looks interesting it might prove difficult to slide in and out of an enclosure like a "computer" desk.

    BTW, Let the Mr. T jokes commence.
  • What about the short length of IDE cables, CD-ROM audio and others. I don't think this case properly addresses those issues.
    • It comes with it's own cables, so I presume they are long enough.

    • Re:Something this case fails to consider (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mbourgon ( 186257 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:39PM (#5068171) Homepage
      Actually, it shouldn't be an issue. It looks like the distance would be about the same, but the orientation of the board would be perpendicular to the drives instead of parallel. Remember, the thing is only about 1.5 feet long by 1.5 feet wide. Only issue I could see is when you're pulling the whole thing open, and like the other poster said, it comes with its own cables.
      • Yeah, the flash video shows a layout of cables that ship with the case. The big problem I have with length of cables is that I have to wind them around different components and then try to get them to reach from my motherboard, all the way up the shaft to the various components. Not only are they arranged conveniently, like you said, but you can tie the cables to the side of the case so they won't snag on anything, especially when you open the case. There's also a little cable that only allows the case to open 4-5 inches at first, then you have to unhook it to open it the rest of the way. Kind of like the extra snag on the hood of your car to keep the hood from flying up while you're driving if the main latch gets stuck open.
  • My first impression after seeing that thing was that it looked like an old fashioned hair dryer ;-).

    But anyways, it looks fairly useful. I'm not sure how you would carry it around to move it, though. It needs a handle (i don't see one in the specs?).

    --gal [slashdot.org]

  • The case kind of reminds me of my G4 Tower. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BoomerSooner ( 308737 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:27PM (#5068083) Homepage Journal
    At least the way it opens/closes.

    I'd like to see one up close. If it's under $80 and has at least a 340Watt power supply I'd buy one.

  • I like it (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SirTwitchALot ( 576315 )
    It looks very accessable and functional. It's even nice aesthetically. I only wonder if it's tied up in patents. I'm of the opinion that this design won't catch on if it's manufactured solely by one company. I could really see myself purchasing one of these cases if they become widely available.
  • Looks really cool, but could anyone find a price or a place to order on the website?

  • noise (Score:4, Insightful)

    by smokin_juan ( 469699 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:28PM (#5068094) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:noise (Score:2, Interesting)

      by archen ( 447353 )
      I keep thinking that more and more. I finally got to the point where I had to add another fan to keep the hard drives cool and thought to myself "yay, another fan". PC's are starting to get rediculas with the ammount of heat and noise they make.

      If I were going to make a case I'd do it like something like these guys [frozencase.com]. Only I would have no little fans (except maybe on the processor), just one large 15 inch fan mounted on the top of a cube blowing in at a low RPM. I'm so tired of the noise from my PC right now, that my next (and only) case mod might be doing something similar by mounting a fan on the side of my case.

    • Re:noise (Score:4, Informative)

      by jcoy42 ( 412359 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @05:12PM (#5068350) Homepage Journal
      Go do your research. There is quite a bit of information on quieting your PC out there, and quite a bit of specialized hardware out there to do this.

      Go to google and search for "quiet PC" or click here [google.com].

      There are plenty of cases/fans/and everything else out there to silence a PC. You just have to look.

    • Re:noise (Score:4, Interesting)

      by arivanov ( 12034 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @06:38PM (#5068783) Homepage
      This one will be quieter then the usual. Smaller and less powerful fans becayue there is less cable clutter and less resistance to air. At the end it will depend what fans it uses but it has a better chance to be quiet then a normal spagetty case,
  • Ok, it looks like two G4 towers that ran into each other at high speeds. Without handles. So what's the point? Yay, it has a folding down chasis design, but how the hell are you going to find the room in the back of the computer to do this? The reason why the Apple towers were so great, is they folded outward, not backward.

    It seems to me to be another "We're trying to clone Apple and not get sued by mimicing their design so we're just making it stupid" case.
  • a good case is:
    - rock-solid
    - transportable
    - space-saving
    - cheap
    - attractive

    it's time to wipe the slate clean on case design. go back to the basics. back in time. to an era where puup and piles of puup were the pinnacles of architecture.

    you can start here: http://www.g-news.ch/articles/nhp200nc/

    • I want 11 5.25" bays and 3 3.5" bays.

      If you are counting, that's enough for 7 SCSI drives, 3 IDE + 1 IDE hd, and 1 bay for a floppy tape drive.

      I'm nearly to the breaking point with my damn mid-tower. Maybe I could mod a VAX server case if my local college will make a donation.

  • Wow, no pictures. (Score:5, Informative)

    by foolip ( 588195 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:32PM (#5068121) Homepage
    For those of you who don't much like macromedia stuff, you can see small pictures of these things on another page [lope.com.tw] on the same site.

  • Nice idea, but... (Score:4, Informative)

    by loply ( 571615 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:32PM (#5068123) Homepage
    For reference, you can buy the cases from Ebuyer.co.uk for £80, and they are both deeper and wider than most ATX cases (thus, less space efficient).

    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.

    • Good idea, but Im pretty sure theyre a passing fad since the dimensions are so inefficient.
      Just like space inefficient desktop systems died after the advent of the notebook.

  • Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Idarubicin ( 579475 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:35PM (#5068141) Journal
    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.

    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.

    • 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

      Yeah, this is what would cause me the most problems. Since the cabling essentially comes out one side and the airflow comes in/out the other, you can't really put anything next to it. My setup consists of five tower cases next to one another, so this case wouldnt cut it. It's a great idea, by only works if you don't have any other comp[uters near it.

  • Its just a motherboard on it side with a couple of nicely placed fans..

    Still have the same cable issues, only now they are visable from your seat, and not 'hidden' behind the machine..

    Quick install of drives is nice, but other then that.. who cares?

  • not new: Apple, Compaq, IBM (Score:4, Informative)

    by axxackall ( 579006 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:36PM (#5068150) Homepage Journal
    The way to open/close the case is like G3/4 Towers do.

    Some similar ideas I remember from my experience also with Compaq and IBM.

  • It's another slashvertisement!

  • About time (Score:5, Funny)

    by TerryAtWork ( 598364 ) <research@aceretail.com> on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:37PM (#5068163)
    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.

    • Good One! I sliced the bejesus out of my thumb this afternoon while removing the motherboard from an old case. I'm starting to wonder why PCs require blood sacrifices as part of their maintenance cycle.

      • Re:About time (Score:3, Funny)

        by Reziac ( 43301 )
        I once bought an otherwise-nice AT midtower that had apparently been designed by the high priest of some ancient god of war. Despite otherwise-excellent design, there is no edge inside that isn't both razor-sharp and angled so as to best rend passing flesh.

        I covered every interior edge in that case with duct tape. Then sold it to a cheapskate client when he upgraded from a 386 to a 486. Figured that'd be the last I'd see of it. *BEEP*!!

        Anyone care to guess how many times I've had my hands inside that deadly case since then??
        Lessee... upgraded motherboard (2x), HD, modem; removed sound card; replaced fans (3x) ... that's 8 trips to the dungeon in all. And when I next upgrade that client's system, it'll be to a new ATX system... so the bloodthirsty case will, alas, follow me home, in the usual manner of used components.

        The moral is, if a computer or any part thereof requires a blood sacrifice, there is no getting rid of the curse. It WILL come back to haunt you.

  • Fast Mirror (Score:4, Informative)

    by gulfan ( 524955 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:38PM (#5068168)
    Here's a fast mirror incase the website goes down. [members.shaw.ca]

  • one perfect shape (Score:5, Funny)

    by g4dget ( 579145 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:41PM (#5068183)
    Oh, come on, everybody knows that the one perfect shape for a PC case is this [impress.co.jp].

    Besides, it goes so well with the one perfect shape for furniture [eero-aarnio.com].

    • Re:one perfect shape (Score:2, Insightful)

      by jez_f ( 605776 )
      I think there is a lot of scope for cases to get more interesing. Case modding was never going to get into the mainstream cause it was a little (well a lot) too geekey.
      But with power becoming less relivant for the average user, price and looks are going to start becoming selling points
      I know mac clued up to this ages ago but PC makers arn't there yet.
      Mini ITX has a lot of potential, even if it is a bit under powered at the moment.My fave case for this is the netbox cubit [netbox.co.uk]. It looks very nice but it is a little pricy for my liking.
      There are a few more cases over at mini itx [mini-itx.com]
      I have been carting round my tower for too long so now I want to go to the other extreme.
    • Macworld was in SF this week, so I went there for an hour or so, which was enough :-) There was a surprising amount of furniture. I don't remember the name of it, but somebody had a line of white and chrome stuff that went with the half-sphere iMacs, which provided a bottom half sphere and some bent chrome tubes and a keyboard/mouse holder on another extension arm, kind of like having your desk replaced with a white spider.

  • Here is a mirror... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...in case it gets /.ed. [bldrdoc.gov]
  • It looks interesting enuf, but where do you put the window and the CCFT?!?

  • Two Observations (Score:5, Insightful)

    by idiotnot ( 302133 ) <sean@757.org> on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:45PM (#5068202) Homepage Journal
    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?

  • Next generation of cases (Score:3, Insightful)

    by papasui ( 567265 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:46PM (#5068213) Homepage
    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.
    • I have a little Shuttle SS40G and it came with a good cooling system (nothing even gets very warm) but the FANS ARE LOUD. You do hear them in the next room. A big case doesn't necessarily mean louder fans- in fact you would expect the opposite because now there is more heat in less space.

      Something happened to it the other night, right in the middle of reading Slashdot- the video signal suddenly went away and it doesn't reboot anymore. No BIOS screen, nothing. The only things that work anymore are the NumLock light on the keyboard and the noisy fans. Except for one restart attempt when it worked normally for 30 seconds and died again. :( It's only 4 months old, so I'm waiting for a response from Shuttle.
    • I observe that more and more my friends who
      use computers not for games switch to laptops.

      I guess maybe non-laptop computers will be used
      for servers only in future.

  • All that bandwidth used up by Taiwanese spam, now it's time to hit them back. :) Their servers are still alive, that's pretty cool.

    To be ontopic; the case looks pretty boring, as someone has already said, it is not space-efficient either. The thing is probably designed to stand beside your monitor (on the right side of it) as well, considering everything will plug into its left side.

    A much nicer design would be like a contemporary case, only fatter, so that the motherboard fits on between the 5.25" slots and the right side of the case (seen from the front).. or make the one like that cube thing, with the motherboard on the bottom.. not that that's very space-efficient either. :)

  • I don't normally care about case mods (Score:3, Funny)

    by scumdamn ( 82357 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:52PM (#5068242)
    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
  • For my current machine: I just pop of the side and I have access to everything. And then I don't need to close it to test my machine.

    I guess that is the crux of the problem for this case. To actually get it up and running it must be closed, which means closing it part way, connecting the ribbon cables up, and then snapping it shut (since I doubt you want to run it with the tension of the mainboard + CPU on the IDE cables).

    Now I have to say that it does seem to fix the mobo access issue. But it does this by making the case more of a hassle to get running. And that's too heavy of a black mark to ignore.

  • This reminds me of the crappy CompUSA case.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by SensitiveMale ( 155605 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @04:59PM (#5068292)
    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.

    • apples first attempt at it screwed up too

      on the beige G3 towers the IDE cables weren't long enough to get to the lower bays, and running/replacing IDE cables was a complete bitch and a half - and this case didn't have the motherboard on a door, just the door and power supply easily folded out. the second major problem w/ the case was that you had to unplug stuff to open it. So youd pop in that new component, test it, and then have to shut down so you could unplug the power again and close the case back up
  • Wouldn't fit in my current desk; this thing is 15" wide, and the computer shelf under my desk is only 10". But, my current case is taller and longer than this guy.

    The "easy access" isn't quite so easy, though, when you realize you'll have to pull the computer all the way out from the wall every time you want to open it. Or you could just turn it, but that requires more maneuvering room.

    I like the idea of the cables plugging into the side, though. I can't count the number of times I have wished I had one of those dentist mirror-thingies when figuring out which plug goes in which jack. It won't reduce cable clutter in the slightest, but it will make them more accessible. (The only real way to reduce cable clutter, I've decided, is the liberal application of zip ties.)
  • Forgive my bluntness, but I find it quite ugly. Also, I don't find a compelling reason to open up my case every day, nor even once a week.

    And I'll repeat my complaint: while there are a couple of alterations or perhaps innovations to this case, really it is just more of the same. Do I have something better? Maybe, but I'm still testing it.

    Computer geek peddles bootleg porn from city hall [xnewswire.com]

  • After googling for a bit, I can only find UK retailers. Does anyone know of a place to purchase one of these in the US?
  • Thats the first thing I thought when I saw it.
  • Where can one get one's hands on G3 or G4 cases (with handles, bondi blue or platinum or whatever color, there's a market) for less than a hundred bucks? They don't have to have a power supply, and we already know they're not ATX but one can hack that easily enough.
  • Ugly. Yuck. 'Nuff said.

    Stupidly wide. I have 3 towers side by side under my table right now. Side warts kills that. Side cables kill it worse.

    Noise?? I didn't see where they mentioned fan noise. The next time I buy a case, it will be the most quiet one I can find.

    Bzzzt! Thank you for playing.

  • Looks like it's easy to get to everything.

    It reminds me of the Harkonen ships in the 1984 Dune.

    "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
    The thoughts acquire speed.
    The lips acquire stain.
    The stain becomes a warning.
    It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."

  • This case is TOO big! What self respecting geek only has one computer and soon as you do space becomes an issue. The Shuttle with their SFF are the direction I like to see. I just wish they would make a server model Shuttle. Don't need the multimedeia stuff, need dual NICs, room for two hard drives, no floppy, thin CD-ROM. two PCI slots no floppy, serial ports front and back RJ45 serial would be fine, BIO option to redirect video to serial is no keyboard attached.

    That's what I'd like to see.
  • I think the biggest problem with cases is the fact that everything you want to attach to the system spouts from connections on the mainboard. These cables (IDE, power, fan, etc.) are always either too short, too long or otherwise impossible to wrap around the other components in the system without slicing, dicing, twisting, bending and otherwise really mungling the cables.

    There have been a few incentives I've seen to remedy this like taking the ribbon cables and turning them into wrapped cables so they don't take up as much space, however that still really doesn't fix the inherent problem. Connectivity from mainboard to peripheral.

    What I would like to see is a case where the mainboard connections plug into a central unit (perhaps behind the mainboard itself) and each add-on (hard drive, CD-ROM, floppy, fan, etc.) would plug into their own connectors. If a case designer really wants to make something inventive, they would make an IDE plugin built into the case. Snap in the hard drive and poof. Its connected. Snap in the CD-ROM. Poof. Connected. No more wires and cables. Now THAT would be innovative!

  • I'm cluster biased (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AssFace ( 118098 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `77znets'> on Sunday January 12, 2003 @06:20PM (#5068686) Homepage Journal
    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 :)
  • First time I opened a dell amazed me.
    1)Take out the power cord
    2)Pull a tab
    3)Everything falls apart in a nice neat pile.
  • The I-Tee is alright.. But I still prefer this one...

    The Awesome 1337 Lego LAN Case! [one.net]

    All I need now is some lego :-)

  • Christ, that's ugly.

  • OT: Thermal management: PC design sucks... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @07:20PM (#5068959) Homepage Journal
    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.
  • Put all the connections on the front. Make the whole case smaller. Make the whole chassis a heat sink and build a fan into the MoBo.

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