h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm spending a few pennies on a "proper" aluminium PC case. Is there any difference affected by having a window or not?

Have you got a particular case that combines looks and function in a wonderous harmony?

Any opinions appreciated.

(Currently looking at the Coolermaster Mystique 631 or the Thermalrock RH-M040.)

(By a few pennies I mean I'm looking in the up to £70 price range.)

(If money and time wasn't an object I'd wait for the Thermaltake Soprano DX.)

Hi Queeglesproggit - long time no speak!

Windowed cases are there so you can stick pretty lights inside your case to make it look all neon-y and futuristic. They have no pratical purpose. I take it you've checked all your internals will fit!

The coolermaster you mention gets good reviews (if ocuk like it it must be reasonably good!) although I quite like the Akasa Mirage 62. The Antec boxes are pretty good too - ArsTechnica's system guide uses them for their midrange.

>They have no pratical purpose<

Actually, case viewports allow one to easily check the operation of various cooling fans.

I have 9 cooling fans..

I just wanted a black case for my last custom build, and was a bit taken aback when this led and window-equipped enclosure arrived. The leds are a bit silly, but the plexi side allows me to view the fans, and keep the dust-s under control

Would be a good place to have a small fishtank fitted as well.

The swish PC case in the front room, all nice brushed alaminium with a kinda door on the front that you open to access all the optical drives and stuff, had the very useful feature of a slide out kinda bit inside it, to which the motherboard was attached, which makes it easier when we replace/upgrade componants and need to get in to access connections and stuff and it matches teh hi fi which is brushed alaminium... actually so is the toaster now... must get a new kettle to match the PC

>Would be a good place to have a small fishtank fitted as well<


http://www.extremetech.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=1005&a=130781&po=21,00.asp

Or a ham(p)ster cage....

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1634735,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Wooow!! They've given me some ideas! I want a PC inside a shelf!
http://www.extremetech.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=1005&a=130781&po=34,00.asp

Thanks for your ideas. I found out the Coolermaster case had USB slots etc. on the top... ideal placement for dust and any other falling muck, so have ordered the Thermalrock RH-M040-2AW.

Now however I shall get the other half to start thinking about putting a PC inside a shelf. Cooool.

"Actually, case viewports allow one to easily check the operation of various cooling fans."

Excuse whilst I very dubious noises about this 'reasoning'!

Traveller in Time not promoting windows in computer case
"Actually, case viewports allow one to easily check the operation of the processor on any radio or television set nearby.

A practiced ear may recognise passwords in the whistles and humms added as noise to the broadcasted radio signals. "

Queegle: the computer inside a teddy bear was so much cooler.

What you should really do is make things steampunk style, like this guy:

http://www.datamancer.net/projects/optitran/optitran.htm

Okay so it is a scanner, but perhaps it could be done with a laptop as well.

Forgot to mention I generally abhor computers with windows, as I use Dbian GNU/Linux

As for 'reasoning':

The case was ordered sight unseen -- "I'd like a black case, please, Anthony".

So, although it was not quite what I expected, there was no compelling 'reason' to return it.

Some time later, I added another hard drive, and during the process managed to partially dislodge one of the chassis fan connctors. When the machine powered up, I immediately noticed the non-spinning fan through the plexi view port.

Doubtless I would have noticed in due course of monthly dust removal, and since there is a superflousity of fans in the machine a single non-fanning one is not critical.
Still, I think it was handy being able to immediately view the thing..

Traveller in Time lynx -ing through the threads (no windows, just consoles)
"Good you have spotted it in time, not rotating but powered fans have the tendency to overheat and perhaps even start fire.

Do you have a hardware monitor function on the motherboard ? There are routines to read the fan speed, voltages and temperatures after booting. (Just checked, this system is up for 42 days Linux systems do not need a reboot unless hardware changes take place.) "

The fan wasn't powered, so no overheating danger

Two of the chassis fans, the cpu fan and the power supply fan are monitored via the hardware, and I can use gkrellm or something to display some stuff, such as cpu temperature. The mobo has built-in functions and alarms, so I don't normally bother running a monitor app

What are the routines of which you speak?

Traveller in Time still not found any name
"Assume this gkrellm is a set of library functions . . . ever used such routines on an automate under DOS .

Back to the case of holes in the case. I would recommend _not_ to buy such cases as like I said before the metal of the case shields the radation. This goes two ways, a cellular next to the hole will disrupt the information flows inside as well as other devices will pick up more from the computer emissions.

Back in the old days I could really recognise what the computer was doing while listening to the radio (reading from disk or calculating, even system idle was recognisable). "

To the point of the idea that the clear bits on a case can allow you to see what fans are doing etc... On the case we have theres a little screen bit on it, which is like a digital display thinggy, which shows the temperature of the processors etc What I'd relaly like in a case is a rack mountable one so it'd fit in the studeo a bit more seemlessly and I could ahve it mounted on the wall although my most recent idea I took a fancy to was a bit more industrial building type affair, involving knocking a hole in this wall from the studeo into the 'loft space', and having the PC set in the wall, but that'd necessitate some clever messing about with connections to give a front panel of some description wher e the audio could run in and out of and for keyboards cables aand such like... and then I could ahve some drastic fan action at the 'rear' of the PC 'case', which would be insie the loft and so not near the studeo room itself

A lot of rf 'noise' comes from the wires, monitor, and wireless periphreals, too.

That's why I wear my tinfoil beanie!

Xan, I ended up stuck at the PC for hours looking at the lot and making ideas! The Teddy PC was very cool, I was also impressed by the acrylic one harbouring a PC on one side, Mac on the other and 8 hard drives down the middle!

Our next home project will be building a computer desk with the PC built in

See that is one I would like to do, made out of a fine old oak desk. And then with a flatscreen that pops up.

That would be very cool! I was thinking of one built into a shelf, with a flatscreen that swings down.


The case should be arriving today ... but it's not here yet!