Acylic Case

[Lipid Sama]

I was looking around, And i found this, are there any good reviews on this? or is it just a nice looking, but piece of crap case?

:usflag:

[Geeky1]

Don't know, but I don't like a number of things about it:
1. The fan grills suck
2. The cooling sucks
3. I'm not a big fan of Acrylic cases in general; Acrylic is very brittle and scratch-prone. If you're not careful, it'll get cracked, chipped, warped, clouded, and scratched.

[keto]

Fan grills look removeable, could possibly be taken out and cut. I built a system in an acrylic case for a friend, it looked SPECTACULAR when done. It was coated with a thin layer of peel-off plastic that was left on until he received it at home, so there were no issues with scratching it while building the system. The only issue encountered on that particular case (which is NOT the model in question above) was that the I/O plate hole and PCI card holes were not quite cut 'square', we did a bit of sanding/light dremelling to fix it up.

The acrylic IS prone to the issues of cracking chipping etc as G1 mentioned. When constructing, only tighten down screws maybe 1/2 turn beyond finger tight to avoid cracking - this will mean more frequent maintenance as they work themselves loose over time, inevitable due to vibration of a running rig. Other than that it's just a matter of careful handling. Not for use as a LANning rig, for sure. But I re-emphasize, the few I have seen in person have all looked GREAT, providing a reasonable job of stealthing/wire management has been done - if not, they look a wreck.

[polarys425]

one word...... EMI

[Sputnik]

one big problem, fingerprints suck. they are very very ugly when you get them on there.

i haven't had any experence with acrylic, but i know with lexan is very very tappable. get some good machine screws (they'll cost you about a $1/piece) if someone can verify if acrylic is tappable and they will look wonderful and you'll have less risk


// EDIT

emi, not a big deal to be honest with you, unless you have a power transformer right next to your computer putting out massing amounts of electric feilds, you're fine. speakers aret too much of a problem eighter, they tend to be sheilded if they're descent speakers

[Lipid Sama]

shakking, i dont know what u have running in ur *rig* but if its shakking i dont think thats a good sign ;)..or maybe it is =]..hmmm i also have a friend who has one, he used rubbed washers on the screws he made them himself and they have never loosen'd, but i agree with u guys i can see how it would crack and stuff. I dont know what case do u guys recemmend when i make my 64bit comp

[Madball]

I built myself an acrylic case from scratch. For my first attempt it wasn't too bad. Acrylic does attract more dust than a metal case, and shows it more. Case stays nice and cool though.

[Madball]

my case, wiring is a bit messy

[polarys425]

emi, not a big deal to be honest with you, unless you have a power transformer right next to your computer putting out massing amounts of electric feilds, you're fine. speakers aret too much of a problem eighter, they tend to be sheilded if they're descent speakers


tell that to your nextdoor neighbor when his garage door opener starts going whacko. it also messes up FM radio reception if the radio is too close to it.

its not so much what effects the computer, its what the computer effects.

each persons experience will vary however.

[MediaMan]

Reviewage on the main page for an acrylic case. Check the PC CASES section.

[Lipid Sama]

Hmmm I guess I will stay traditional and go with a metal case. and sujjestions on a good metal case?

[Geeky1]

Depends on what you want with regard to size, weight, drive capacity, noise, color & style, etc., as well as whether you'd be willing to mod it or not, and whether or not you'd need a PS.

[gcstader]

Here's a few pics of my acrylic case if anyone wants to see:

www4.ncsu.edu/~gcstader/

Go to the photos section

-GregPics (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~gcstader/photos.html)

[Lipid Sama]

Im not sure geeky, what would you buy if you where gonna be making a new computer? i have no prefrence really? i like productive easy designs tho. I sleep in a room with 3 compuers going and a fish tank so I can sleep thru anything.

Im thinking of doing a waster-cool'd 64bit in april or May, if i get this raise. o well any tips or info would be appreciated.

[Straight_Man]

Cyber guys has one design in a few colors also. One thing, the reason that it is good to have a clear case with lots of fans, is that plastic does NOT conduct heat well. With a clear case, I WOULD run a top blowhole.

John.

[Geeky1]

I'll look and see what I can find. MY preference is for MASSIVE cases, as they're easier to work on and cool than smaller cases are.

[Madball]

Cyber guys has one design in a few colors also. One thing, the reason that it is good to have a clear case with lots of fans, is that plastic does NOT conduct heat well. With a clear case, I WOULD run a top blowhole.

John.

A blowhole isn't completely necessary if you have a dual fan PSU. Just have good circulation. My case temps are always around 22-24C with no blowhole or rear fan. PSU sucks the warm rising air out of the case.

[Geeky1]

The necessity of blowholes depends on a number of things:
1- The size of the case
2- The size & location of intake & exhaust fans
3- The airflow of said fans
3- The size, location, and airflow of the PSU fan(s)
4- The size, location, & amount of suction present @ any PSU vents
5- The system in the case

My Antec SLK-3700AMB mid-tower has a dual-fan PSU, a 120mm exhaust fan, and a 120mm intake fan. It still needed the two 80mm blowholes I added. Why? Because the bottom fan on the PS pulls air in from the motherboard area; it doesn't do anything for the air trapped between the front of the PS and the back of the optical drive(s) in the case. So, a large pocket of hot air forms up there, and the only way to eliminate it is to add a blowhole to the top of the case.

If the PS had a large front vent, and no bottom fan like say, a 300w Enermax, or a front fan, as well as a rear fan, like some PSes do, the case wouldn't have needed a blowhole. The CPU cooling would have been the same as it is now, because the 120mm rear fan is big enough to pull all the hot air away from the area right around the CPU.

[Straight_Man]

Correct about the PSU. My PSU has a push fan in front, not bottom, and a pull in back (exhausts out back, pushes air into PSU from front). Pull gets the HD cooler, as the HD is in a carrier (bay+tray UDMA cold-swap combo set) in top 5-1\4 bay of an Antec Soho case.

But, cases are luke warm to medium warm on every metal part, they are radiating heat also, through metal sides. One is an AMG Antec, other a beige Antec. That was point I was trying to illustrate, Acrylic is a radiant heat barrier, so one has to compensate for heat traps.

John.

[Geeky1]

True; but imo, if you case is noticably warmer than ambient, your cooling sucks. That's just my opinion though.

[Straight_Man]

Not hugely, but ambient here during day is 24-28 C (right now ambient on TOP of case by a digital thermometer is about 24 C)depending on season-- this is cooler season here, temps reflect that. Case insides average about 6-7 C over room ambient, CPU average of 15 C over that at 100 percent load run 24/7 almost (occasional reboot after altering things some(like editting MSN Messenger 6.1 out of registry by hand, that kind of thing, like to play)). Boxes run stable that way.

John-- on the Barton box, XP, Opera 7.23, current case is 30 C, CPU 46 C, per MBM 5 OSD.