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Cool Computer Cases Continue 173

Posted by CmdrTaco from the quest-never-ends dept.
philby sent us a link to another site offering some pretty crazy case designs. The end of beige is almost in site. Several of these are quite cool, although the strangest one is call The Penguin. You gotta see that one.
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Cool Computer Cases Continue More

Cool Computer Cases Continue

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  • ...and it's a purple box 'stead of a beige one. Though I might be getting a nice blue one too with a 200 MHz IP22 in it. (It went off lease at work. SGI forgot to come get it. Oops!)

    I still think nothing can touch an IPX-type Sparc case in terms of simplicity and looks though.

    - A.P.
    --


    "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad

  • ...as long as they look cool, right?

    Bah!

    ...j
  • All of those cases looked pretty darned beige to me. Some of them were beige with little colored bits on them, but hell, the IBM PC 300GL I've got sitting in front of me has little colored bits on it, too (blue, of course).

    The real problem with modern cases isn't the color, anyway. You don't like the color? Paint it. The problem with modern cases is that they're too damn small. Give me one of those huge old AT boxes any day...
  • Hey, I just had a spiff idea... how about coating a case with that temperature-sensitive color-change stuff? I'd like having a machine that started out flat black, then shifted through blue to red in patterns as it warmed up...
  • I'm always disappointed when I follow these links for wizzy cases, except for the unbelievable carved wood ones (_those_ were mindblowing. Maple keyboards?)
    I liked the Shuttle ones simply because they look like scanners and not like PCs on crack ;) hey, anything truly different in a feature on different cases is interesting. Time for somebody to make a totally round case, or even spherical. Roll it from place to place to transport! ;) (I like the metal-framework PCs too, but all too often they are _shaped_ exactly the same as PCs. Come on guys, point the drives off in all directions, make it sculptural. I might have to make an art project out of my dualboot powermac to illustrate what I have in mind :) )
  • Clown ;P
    Whereupon, of course, it fails to do anything as the error message means 'failed to find startup disk'. One wonders how Doggin' ever manages to cope with a linux box, with such exultant cluelessness and refusal to think... feh.
    Pardon me: normally I put up with stupid people, but he doubleposted as well, and for some reason that pushed me into a chainsaw wielding frenzy: however, as I haven't got a chainsaw, I had to just make snippy posts to slashdot ;)
    The really fun one is certain performas which are assembled in such a way that the CD-Rom can come forward and cause intermittent SCSI connections. The end result is that CD read speed becomes very slow and choppy. Cure: for maximum style points, place fingers along top edge of computer, intoning 'in the name of Jobs, HEAL!' while surreptitiously pressing CD-Rom inward with thumbs, seating the connector properly. Then say 'It should be all right now!' (...and it WAS...) ;)
  • As I understand it, it is important to have a case to block the EMF from the system (please correct me if I'm wrong). What is the shielding capability of wood? Would it have to be lined with some sort of metal, as most plastic cases I've seen are? I think a nicely finished wood case would be awesome.

    Thanks!

    Cheakamus
  • What I really want is:
    Multiple LEDs for Multiple HardDrives/Systems.
    Power LED, Temp, Fan Status, Processor Speed via BIOS, CPU/s load meters. (LCD's could be substituted for LED's)
    Minimum of 3 5.25" and 2 3.5" bays.
    300W+ Power Supply.
    Removable motherboard mounting frame.
    Multiprocessor friendly layout.
    Intrusion Detection System.
    Advanced Cooling System ie: Heatsink external to case with thermostatically controlled cooling.
    Choice of colors: Black, Tan, Ivory, Purple, Brushed Aluminum etc...

    All for under $200USD. :|
  • What about:
    Brushed aluminum - not too expensive but very light and good looking. Impermeable.

    Copper or alloy - very good looking if heavier than aluminum and more expensive. Excellent heat dissipation. Tarnishes to perfection. Impermeable.

    Gold and silver inlay - expensive, lacks strength, heavy. Conducts electricity and heat well. Would look awesome. Impermeable.

    Wooden exterior panels with metal shielding/grounding inside - good looking, light, relatively inexpensive. Flamable, poor heat dissipation, permeable (EMF radiant), surface not as durable as metal.

    Moulded pyrex or plexiglas in assorted colors? See through and high tech looking. Fairly heavy, subject to fracture, heat dissipation substandard, can be expensive, permeable (EMF radiant).

    Titanium - industrial strength look and well nigh indestructible. Fairly heavy, dissipates heat well, impermeable?

    Carbon Fiber - cool look, light, extremely strong. Conducts electricity, permeable, heat dissipation dependant upon construction techniques.

    I think a Carbon Fiber outer casing with sprayed EMF shielding, titanium frame, and copper heat dissipation system would be nearly ideal.

    The Ideal Case
  • Posted by Anjiro Khan the Second:

    The review was at http://www.planethardware.com a few weeks ago; they're cool looking, but apparently pretty crappy. I'm hoping for a review of these new ones. Or maybe I'll just build one out of wood. =)
  • Posted by Tsuki Teiou:

    GET ME A JOB THERE! PLEASE! I DON"T EVEN CARE WHAT YOU DO! Those SGI cases kick ass though, the O2 looks really cool close up in real life.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I can't help wondering if the Penguin boxes are yet another lame attempt to cash in on the explosion of Linux-lovers, or if they're intended to be "cute" boxes for geeks to buy their kids or girlfriends who've been whining for iMacs.
  • Some of the cases aren't that bad - a black Pointnet 8008 or the Penguin would be okay, but I find most case design uninspiring/uninsipired. I still like the old Sun pizza boxes, myself.
  • But here are some pics [black-cube.net] of older Sun and SGI boxen. Some are pretty cool. Hey, maybe I can use that extra ss5 case for my homebuilt? Think the boss'd miss it?
  • They ALL have cool cases - standard. :)
  • Put the big stuff in a plain 'ol ugly POS you hide in the closet. Keep all the workstations in small, almost NC-like cases. You'll like it much better, trust me. Run CAT5 cable! :)
  • Same old shit, different shape. Ugh.

  • The Duo (Score:1)

    by tak* ( 1121 )
    The coolest case I saw there was the Duo case. It would be cool if there was an option for black with the purple. The real question is, how do they open up? Like a standard ATX case? If so, big deal. Wheres the innovation there?
    It's far easier to forgive your enemy after you get even with him.
  • I had to read that one twice before I understood what our beloved Rob was saying... :)

    j.

  • Ugh! (Score:1)

    by tjones ( 1282 )
    When are we going to see brushed aluminum finish with fake chrome on the plastic parts? :)

    These boxes just look like beige+ to me.

  • I agree, but we have gone one further and hidden all the PC's. We have two of us in a smallish room with 5 pc's. These are boxed in with sound proofing on some Ikea shelving.

    The only problem is getting keyboard, mouse and monitor cables long enough. We have 7 meters so far and it is not quite enough.

    The cat 5 solutions are very expensive. Maybe USB will help later?

    Dave
  • I'd rather have a relatively cheap rackmount case, anyone know where to get those?
  • I have a case that is 4 inches thick and a space that is 3 inches wide. The power supply will fit in...are there any problems with just screwing the motherboard to a piece of wood and secure it in there? Cut out the whole case alltogether.

    And wow, the cases in this article are so ugly
  • I decided to mount the mobo (486/66) to plexiglass using the little riser screws. It is thinner, looks cooler, and doesn't give splinters.

    Thanks for all the advice.
  • All you need do is remove all the external plastic and paint them...piece of cake. I painted my whole case black, took the faceplate and drawcover off the cd drive, painted the plate black and drawcover silver...looked cool.

    Then I upgraded the CD drive, and was too lazy to paint them as well.
  • I would love the penguin case... especialy as my linux box at work is already called penguinbox

    I think it's awesome, and the chicks would dig it... er... yeah...
  • Rob, most of these cases are beige.

    --

  • Yep, that's the one I'll go for when it's time to gut my Compaq POS...

    I like black better than beige, but I would really wish for something *really* out there. I guess I'm spoilt by too many years of SGIs...
  • 'xactly.

    I bought a really old Indy, supercheap, and it's still the best computer purchase I've made in my life. The one computer you can sit down in front of and *work*.

  • Is this the best the PC designers can do? I think so. Typical PC users (and companies who cater to them) have no sense of style, and this is just more proof. I should know, because I use a PC most of the time (the Mac belongs to my wife) and if I had to design a case, mine would look just as lame. You want to know why? It's because I have no formal training and no talent, just like the people who designed these and every other PC case I've seen. The Penguin one is really bad. It's almost as bad as those lame Kipling "Hacker" backpacks. It's just a pathetic attempt to appeal to a clique.

    --
    Timur Tabi
    Remove "nospam_" from email address
  • AC,

    I'm trying to piece together a home audio MP3 player myself, and I have found a case that is very close to standard dimensions. I haven't purchased it yet so I can't say for sure that it will work, but you can see it for yourself at Karrie Group's website, http://www.karrie.com.hk/ [karrie.com.hk] It's the KCS-211 Super-Slim Desktop case. It measures 16 x 15.2 x 3.3in, so it's slightly wider and deeper but is shorter. It's actually the smallest case that I've been able to find that fits an AT-style mainboard. It has three bays: 1 external 5.25, 1 external 3.5, and 1 internal 3.5. It has space for 2 PCI cards horizontally mounted via the included riser card. The U.S. distributor tells me that they will sell it to me for $54, which I thought sounded pretty good.

    About the manufacturer, I remember reading somewhere that Karrie was a well-known brand and that they do design for some big name OEMs like IBM and Acer. I don't know how true this is, and I can't remember where I read that. DejaNews shows that not too many people are talking about Karrie (relative to Enlight, In-Win, SuperMicro, etc.).

  • Oh my god.. if im gonna pay for a designer case.. it has to at least be cuter than an imac

  • I have "checked out" the last couple of editions of these links to cool-looking cases.
    I am finding one universal theme here:
    Really crappy, cheaply made, Korean manufactured cases with "spacy" front bezels.
    But that is ALL they have going for them

    As cases, put simply, THEY SUCK!

  • Why do all of these "cool" cases only come in mid-tower arrangements? Some of us need more than 5-6 drive bays, and prefer the room in a full tower. I guess I'll just have to design my own.
  • Couple of the cases remind me of the old lunchbox cases from Sun. I wouldn't mind a couple of those to fill with some older 486 MB/CPU's I have hanging on the wall, would save some space on my shelf. Otherwise I don't think the others are real practical, nor are they innovative just different.

  • Is that a real "Stargate" on the front of the Duo?
    Now_that_would be cool! A Trans-Galactic Network Interface Device!

  • What's the target market for the two Shuttle designs? Do they even have expansion slots? What motherboards can they use? I'm a bit unimpressed by the info available on the site....

    Jordan

  • Yawn... (Score:1)

    by Optic ( 6803 )
    These are just typical cases with a fancy new front bezel. whoop. Moulded plastic. Plus, at least from my perspective, they're ugly.

    I am a fan of big, heavy, ugly cases that protect your equipment, offer easy access to the bits you need access to, provide reasonble security against accidents (guards on switches and buttons), provide proper status monitoring (alarms, lots of LED's) and can easily be hidden away.

    Silent computing is what I like. NC's are the future. :)
  • How many Mac freaks do you know who have ever fixed that damn "?" in a box during startup? They allways call an IBM freak over to rip open the case and jiggle a few cables and respond triumphantly, "Flakey Hardware."

    -Avetque Vale!
  • How many Mac freaks do you know who have ever fixed that damn "?" in a box during startup? They allways call an IBM freak over to rip open the case and jiggle a few cables and respond triumphantly, "Flakey Hardware."

    -Ave atque Vale!
  • Yay! I can finally get that beigeness out of my head from looking at user's pc's all day long :)
  • I think one of FutureCase's penguin cases would look nice sitting next to my Blue & White G3. I already have a beige PMac running Linuxppc, but I freely admit that an x86 box would be cheaper as a Linux server.
  • I don't know about this site... A large ammount of info about the cases isn't shown (AT/ATX, PRICE, etc), and I can't figure out what all the space on some of the bottom models is used for.... Maybe those folks will read this and address some of those things.

    Also, when is someone going to come up with some really kick-ass rack mountable cases??
  • It reminds me of the old Bloom County where they go to buy a wheelchair - "What's so unique about this one?" "It has purple arm pads!". Aren't there any industrial design geeks out there willing to take this on? The coolest case I've seen so far is one we made for my brother... painted the case matte black, ran wires out and up the side, big black pipe on the top, chrome & latex accents. I'd like to be able to buy something like that. Or a totally round case... why is it so hard to find something like that??

    My .02, anyway.

    Leilah
  • I'd suggest just losing the case - we have a computer at home that just has everything mounted onto a 1x6. It's easier than trying to fit everything into the case, and you get better air circulation too. Make sure you use those little motherboard feet, though - I don't think it'd work as well mounted flat on the board.

    Leilah
  • The computer in Barbarella had this cool wall-o-metal thingys that moved when it talked... I want one that'll do that. I suppose it still wouldn't solve the case problem, but it'd be really cool.

    Leilah
  • I've often thought it's a shame that blinkenlights went out of style.

    It would be cool to have the lights programmable, say, to indicate CPU use and/or web traffic. Seems like this would be pretty easy to do under Linux.

    D
    ----
  • Ok the steel cases were pretty cool, but the other ones come with a 235W power supply?!? what am i supposed to use to run my drives, pedal power?

  • No problems as far as i could see. Just don't tighten the screws too much, don't want to break anything...
  • Yeah, but they're all still beige somewhere's in them. I don't understand why I can't get a box that is completely non-beige. I mean, look at SGI machines. I've always thought they looked great! I dunno, this still baffles me. It's like everyone thinks the imac is so revolutionary, but there's been unix vendors doing color for some time now. I lust for a O2 case...
  • Go with 24k Au, probably with some firmer sheet metal inside to ensure it doesn't squish under the monitor/books/beer bottles/cat.
  • YES!

    These are bad 'wannabe' cases, except for the
    penguin one... I have no idea what that's trying
    to be..
    Confidentially I'm hiding all my cases behind
    some nice hand sanded, veneered, and stained
    finish plywood. Or maybe just spray paint em
    all bright yellow! :)
  • Are you sure? I could be an Anonymous Coward
    with a name.....

  • i already have.

    i have a mahogany box which i made for myself this summer. as soon as i get near a scanner, i'm putting up pics - submitting to slashdot, and bringing down the server. this summer i intend to make another which will be truely magnificent. the current one is just a normal rectangular shape w/ the stripped down gateway metal chassis (which are VERY nice, by the way) in the mahogany box w/ a mahogany and maple face i made for it. this summer - i think i'm upgrading my system. time to be building something sweet. i haven't decided alpha or intel yet - but i'm making a completely custom case. this one i'm going to steal a removable motherboard tray for mounting the mobo on - and shield the thing w/ copper mesh. everything will be grounded to the power supply ground, with wires nicely guided along the walls of the interior. it'll have ducted ventilation and actually be hidden in a piece of furniture. pretty neat, huh? i can't wait 'till the end of the semester. i've got all the drawings/sketches done...

    if anyone's interested in me making one for them - i'll consider doing it for a grand or two. they're good shit, if you know what i mean. drop me an email [mailto], we can chat.

  • I'd love to see one of those, maybe with nice rosewood inlays, like an expensive luxury car.

    Or maybe one that looks as though it were rough-hewn stone, with all sides except one polished to a high luster.

    How about bumper chrome, or pearized laquer, like a '57 Chevy..

    Would be expensive as hell to get started, but a custom case business would clean up, and do wonders for customization freaks.
  • How many Mac freaks do you know that EVER open up their Macs?

    People use Macs not because they're too stupid to understand how they work, but because they're too smart to care.
  • Hey! Where did you see the review?
    I have emailed them, I have called them twice. Last week the phone just rang, this week it forwards to voicemail that states "please enter in the box number". !

    @#$$@#! I wanted to get the Phoenix Gold, but oh well!!


  • I've been contemplating setting up a PC as a DVD Player/Games machine by getting a slimline case and hooking it up to my home theater rig. That way, I could network it up to a Linux box for storage, and just run *duck* Win98 on it to play NHL 99 and Half-Life and so my wife could surf the net and use Office. Unfortunately, while getting a nice LPX case in the States is easy, LPX mobos don't have much of a market. NLX cases are a bit big, although getting them isn't difficult.


    Ken
  • well, it worked for the apple I.
  • I was thinking the exact same thing.
    geez. My only fear is the heat generated by
    the processor. Could there be a fire hazard
    of an all wood case? (I'm sure there would
    be a intel PII or overclocked Celesux, but Im
    more interested in using it with an AMD K6-2).

    Also, what about using plexy? make a clear
    plastic case?

    Anyone have any URLs for how-tos and specs on
    making an ATX hard wood or other material case?

    if not, ill just do it myself. like i almost
    have a life anywho. not.

    -Z
  • Personally, I like the idea make a computer case out of Legos. If you need more drive bays, just rebuild the case...

    Tired of a tower, need desktop case - rebuild it...
  • There might be a grounding problem. Most motherboards depend on good case mounting for some sort of grounding.
  • I've been looking at some of the "cool" cases that have been touted recently, and never found anything that was more than the old beige box with some colour and plastic mouding added. These guys finally did something creative that doesn't require a whole new motherboard design to implement (like intel's prototypes)

    While I would probably never use it myself, I had to smile when I saw the penguin case.. Wouldn't that be cool for linux servers in an office.. that's one way to promote Linux, and to make the linux servers easily visually distinguishable from the NT boxes.
  • Oh, maybe the FCC. Don't sell one of those.
  • All of those cases are, for the most part, rectangular boxes with a nifty molded face plate. Sure, they may look a little better than the standard but come on, they don't break any ground as far as industrial design. When are we going to see some real innovation?
  • Actually, I really liked the design for the 20th Anniversary Mac.
    A computer that serves as a piece of furniture or a work of art is very sexy indeed.
    Gimmie some rounded corners!
  • I open mine up quite often.
    Although its never because anything goes wrong.
    Sometimes I just like to look. Sometimes I just like to tweak.
  • These still don't look as nifty as the ones from Colorcase( www.colorcase.com [colorcase.com]), especially the Phoenix Gold and Phoenix Blue. Unfortunately, the Colorcase models are a bit pricy and have gotten some pretty bad reviews(complaining about poor construction, etc). Oh well.

    --jwriney
    John Riney
    jwriney@awod.com
  • Eh, a cheap case is no fun to work on. When I was a hardware techie guy at my university, I used to hate working on those lame 20 buck cases all our PCs had. Sharp metal edges, cheap plastic siding, bizzaro mounting mechanisms that break too easy - bah.

    The case I use in my home box, OTOH, cost me 99 bucks with PS, but it's a dream to play around in- 3 5" bays, 3 3" bays, either 2 or 3 internal 3" bays, big, heavy, lots of metal, solid as a brick wall. The sliding moboard tray is nice too. A-Pro ATX-196PX, btw. It's not beige, either.

    --jwriney
    John Riney
    jwriney@awod.com
  • Man but a case redesign should go with a PC redesign as well. PC99, with no EISA, no parallel or serial escept for Firewire and USB.

    6 ports on the back:
    USBx2
    Firewirex2
    Ethernet
    Monitor

    Am I missing anything important?
    Of course this sucks for legacy devices; you'd need USB mice, keyboards, and removeable media, maybe Firewire high speed scanners, video, etc. Oh yeah! Ethernet!

    AS
  • The IBM Aptiva series had some nice design:
    Specifically the model that had the pop-up floppy/CD drive that rested on the desk while the tower went on the floor.
    Now that's good ID.

    Besides, all the components of computers are boxy, what else is the case going to be?
    A Box is the most space-efficent way of putting those components together.
    Those Intel Pyramids might suit you, but they better have a BIG fan in the top :)
    Go PPC!
  • The coolest case wouldnt have all the sheet metal edges that carve your hands up every time you try to expand your system. Most of the Really creative cases ive seen have been home made/improved. A good one was painted flat black, and had pink, green and blue paint splattered on it. we need a 'By Geeks, For Geeks' hardware storage section in slashdot (with pics, tuts, etc) on how to get/make cool computer containers. a cheap way to get a rack mounted case would be TRES cool. I guess thats it for me today...


  • I'm waiting for the sleak, black, futuristic look of the new VT340! Yippie!
    -davek
  • futuristic huh? dump the floppy. seriously, does anyone use them for anything but installs anymore?

    If they're going for radical designs, how about a clear plastic case    ...

    gosh, why don't they just sell the iMac case? I think it's pretty nifty, it even has a handle built into the top! ooo or that new G3 case, that one is soooo cool.
  • /. effect is in full effect... keeps giving me a connection refused error.

    Oh well, from reading the comments so far, they don't sound all that great. Think I'll stick with my unmarked (UN Helicopter style) black case.

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  • How many Mac freaks do you know that EVER open up their Macs?

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  • Some things to do to decorate your case...

    Get some spaceship models. Use parts from models and glue all over your case (greebles or nernies). Paint Black. Will look like the outside of a spaceship or some kind of freaky Borg thing.

    Buy a disco ball. Use little plastic mirror stickers all over the outside of your case (inside too if you want)

    Collect all those AOL and MSN CDs. Break into pieces. Glue shiny side out to case. Also works nicely with bad CDR copies.

    Plexiglass and screws and a drill - Instant see through case. What are you looking at tho? Can't see the data moving...

    Get foam rubber mix. Mix up. Apply to case. Airbrush or spraypaint.

    Buy tiny beads at a craft store. Spray adhesive to outside of case. Roll in beads.

    Get pictures (porn) from magazines or motherboard and peripheral manuals. Glue to outside of case. Spray lacquer on to protect.

    Get several cheap cases. Do all of the above to many case covers. Build one or two machines. Swap out when you get bored.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  • Yup. That's why linux is always gonna have ugly, inelegant desktops. :)

    I would agree that typical PC users have no sense of style, but then again, the typical PERSON has no sense of style. They just blindly follow along with what everyone else is doing, what's in fashion, etc. If people had any sense of style, then Stick Moss wouldn't be a supermodel, House of Style wouldn't be an eMpTyV show, and ties would never be worn in the workplace.

    Oh well, guess I'll just get back to my Graphic Designer job where we work on PC's...

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  • CPU load meters...hrm. You run BeOS? There is a do it yourself thing on how to build a CPU load meter with leds that interfaces with your computer and works with BeOS. I don't know where the link went... I'm sure I had it here somewhere. I think it's on the BeOS webring.

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  • For a real retro look, how about an old PDP-11/34 case, or an IMSI or Altair case if you could find one.

    I dunno what you'd do with all those front panel switches, though, and you'd have to disguise the CD drive.

    Too bad I scrapped the old VT-52 I had, would have been cool to replace the guts with an SVGA monitor or something. Hmm, I wonder if an ATX or baby-AT mobo would fit in the old Franklin Apple-II clone that's out in the garage...

  • Yeah, how about custom cases designed to coordinate with your desktop theme-of-the-day.

    (Now, if I could only get the resize button in the corner of my monitor housing to work...)
  • I've been thinking of doing this, too.
    Imagine using the external peripheral cases (the ones that looked like another PC, but with no floppy drive bays) to hold a bunch of SCSI disks, or maybe a couple of extra PC cases for stuff like CDROMs... maybe a bus-extension kit that could make use of extra slots in outboard cases... hmm... fun.

    --C
  • I don't even see what's new about them? Apple and SGI still make the best cases by far.
  • Perhaps by sight they're ugly, but the actual design of the case kicks some major ass. Just find a way to make it more secure, and it'd be a cool case.
  • Ever seen what happens when you leave you case off and watch tv?
  • If you don't like ivory, I see that BRONZE is available. Truly a plethora o' colors.

    I think I can hear Steve Jobs laughing.

    --
  • Can anyone say that they'd really want that stupid pengiun box? If I had that box, I'd have to reach over and smack it every once in a while...

    ...well, that might actually be kinda fun...

    ...hmm.

    --
  • Most companies that are touting a "way cool design" are just accenting beige with another color. Big deal! What if I don't want any beige on my machine!

    Even if you don't like the design, you have to give credit to companies like Apple, Sony, and Acer (just a few off the top of my head) for trying something new.

    --
  • those boxes are crap if you people would look at them and read the specs they only have 3 1/2 floppy drives
  • We have some plexiglass cases set up. Fun to watch all the blinking SCSI lights.

    Just make sure you have enough air circulation. PII's and Cyrix MIIs put out a LOT of heat and will often cook themselves if the airflow is not to their liking. This means put lots of vents and fans in the plexiglass, or mount a GOOD (i.e. not the cheapest one you can find) cooling fan on the CPU itself.

    Wes
  • With a half-size mobo and laptop HD, rip out the innards of your vintage computer and hook it up to the keyboard. I'd buy that.

    Wes
  • I dunno about the funky case design and colors, but Apple has the right idea behind their Power Mac G3 [apple.com]. The fold-down enclosure is something the PC world should have had a long time ago. Everything you need access to, right there in front of you on the door. Brilliant. So far (with very few exceptions, which are usually homebuilt), all I've seen in the PC world is beige cases with little bits of colored plastic. Yawn.
  • Because PC vendors have traditionally cut costs everywhere they can. Your average PC buyer factors price heavily (sometimes too heavily) into the buying decision. Whereas Apple markets to...well, Apple users, who tend to be a bit more discerning. Heck, PC vendors would use fibre board for cases if they could get away with it.

    No flames please, I'm a Sparc man myself. :-)

  • $30 (Score:1)

    by kmj9907 ( 20499 )
    Tell me where you can get a decently made ATX, fully functional, no-frills, etc. case for $30, please. I would love to know. I saw some $30 cases the other day, but they all seemed to be low-end, low-watt, and of unknown/questionable brand. I would like a case that doesn't require you to be double jointed and have a 5 yr old's hands to insert and remove drives. Thanx

    kmj

  • $60 is the area I've seen. I saw a good 235W for $50. Haven't checked pricewatch or others. Point is: I'm a stingy bastard, and 60 is 2x30. :)

    kmj

  • >>Personally, I like the idea make a computer case out of Legos

    While it is very cool, you wouldn't believe how many Lego's it takes to build a case, not to meantion how long it takes to put one together, especially if you're going for something cool.

    However, once you finish it, it is VERY sweet indeed.
  • Well, they're not heinous. But personally, I prefer AJP's take on kicking the iMac's multicolored ass. Can you say post-laptop [ajp.co.uk]? GhettoSurfer? Beachtop? Shame they've stuck a computer inside it. Almost worth buying just to gut it and whack in a thermonuclear Celery.

    P.S. It's beige, but, hey, that's what paint's for.

  • Enough of this garbage. The cases you want are either the PC Power and Cooling Supplies Deluxe Chrome Tower (http://www.pcpowercooling.com/chrome.html) yes, it comes in chrome and it is made of solid steal. Or the SuperMicro SC801-a (http://www.supermicro.com/PRODUCT/Chassis/chassis .htm) It's a dualy, 2 300W power supplies...

    If you get the supermicro, you also need to invest several dollars in a can of either black or chrome spray paint to properly color the mighty beast.

    No penguins, no pretty colors, these are industrial grade machines!

  • That's just the enclosure, you have to pick out the power supply you want and I'd assume most of us would put a 300 or 400watter in that case.

    There is a link at the bottom of that page which lists the power supply options. I don't think you can fit the 600watt bad boy in to that case but you can put a 400 in it.

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