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Computer Case Fashion School

Started by Blumf, September 20, 2011, 03:24:05 PM

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Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Drat, I could have made some quip about people seduced by cutting edge design or something. Alas it is too late.

Upon further reading it seems that that Lian Li case would actually be spacious enough for my graphics card, leaving me with the question of just how wanky it would be to pay extra for something simply because it looks nice.

New page. Double drat!

Blumf

If it's any help, I've had one of these (old model now) for a fair few years now and it's still looks as sharp as the day I got it. Had several MBs through it, a couple of PSUs and numerous HDs, so the quality's up to it.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Good to know, but in all previous cases (no pun intended[nb]then why didn't I say 'instances' instead?[/nb]) the case has been free with a new computer, so the quality has yet to be an issue for me. There's no good practical reason to replace the case I've already got. However, while I'm rebuilding the rest of the PC into something less half arsed, I thought that I could fork out for a properly snazzy looking case, which is a thought that I would normally feel utter disgust at.

I bamlem Steve Jobs. If he'd not carked it, I wouldn't have read lots of articles about Apple and actually given any thought to aesthetics for once. Also I just got a pay rise, so I'm feeling unusually extravagant.

Shoulders?-Stomach!



That's unbelievably shit. I bet that didn't even look good when you got it out of the box; the one moment everything looks exciting. What a turd that Lord of the realm is.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

This is my slightly too showy computer case:



It just came with it. Honestly.

ThickAndCreamy

My custom PC looks like this;



It's a monstrosity.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Must be some psychological connection with blue lights.

Ooooh blue lights, blue lights means its fast in a cool way not a gay way like pink would be IM A MAN.

Zetetic

#37
It's because since the mid-'90s it's been easy to make very bright blue LEDs, so you get them on bloody every bit of cheap tat even though the novelty has worn off. (It's actually quite hard to make low-intensity blue LEDs apparently.)

Edit: Their apparent brightness might also be to do with rod-sensitivity profiles. That's actually another reason why people should use red LEDs instead! The blue LEDs on the alarm motion detectors in my parents' house are pretty effective at knocking out my night-vision if I'm wandering around in the dark.





Apricot XEN-PC. I don't know why I like it. Possibly because while almost all CD drives are good for scaring cats, the design of the XEN-PC with its extra door (closed, centre) makes it particularly good. I've got a Coolermaster design that was given to me that wasn't bad at that either. I've since moved on to using computers for other things.

Blumf

The Apricot's a good one. I'm not sure but was it the first time a PC maker took looks seriously? Apple had been on it for a while, but normal PCs were always in crappy beige lumps.

There also an interesting question about why desktop cases fell out of favour and everybody gets (mini/midi) tower cases these days. IIRC the change happened in the late 90s, but I was never sure if it was a technical (standardised motherboard design favouring a tower layout) or fashion reason.


Yay, it's a SAM Coupé!



A Speccy done proper.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Blumf on October 12, 2011, 02:29:05 PM
There also an interesting question about why desktop cases fell out of favour and everybody gets (mini/midi) tower cases these days. IIRC the change happened in the late 90s, but I was never sure if it was a technical (standardised motherboard design favouring a tower layout) or fashion reason.

When I first got a PC, I read a book from the library which recommended desktop case over a tower on the basis that it was easier to fiddle around inside a desktop case. It was wrong.

Desktop cases probably fell out of favour because they took up a huge amount of space, which became a problem when people realised you weren't supposed to put monitors on top. Or monitors got bigger and heavier.

greencalx

Ah yes, the Acorn "Rocket Ship" RISC PC. Not particularly aesthetically pleasing in itself, but the only one so far I think to incorporate both a pizza oven and a kitchen sink



More here

Zetetic

Ah, I was about to mention one of those! I have a two-storey affair from my late grandfather.

greencalx

I think it would go rather well with a Space Cadet keyboard


mobias

Quote from: greencalx on October 12, 2011, 09:03:13 PM
I think it would go rather well with a Space Cadet keyboard



That's the only keyboard I've ever seen with roman numerals on it. Seems a bit limited in that department though?

Blumf

Notice they predicted the Web 2.0 social networking stuff with a thumb-up and thumb-down keys. So you can Tweet you every keystroke in real-time.

I actually used the very Symbolics machine that did this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3px06j0tIM

Yeah! early 90s cutting edge CGI.

Interesting computers the Symbolics are, Lisp machines from the ground up.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: MojoJojo on October 12, 2011, 03:22:34 PM
Desktop cases probably fell out of favour because they took up a huge amount of space, which became a problem when people realised you weren't supposed to put monitors on top. Or monitors got bigger and heavier.
Also, what with convection, tower cases are presumably better at cooling, as there's more room for the heat to rise away from the graphics card and whatnot. It would make sense that they became more popular around the time that 3D graphics started more demanding for gaming.

Although my 360 doesn't show any ill effects from lying on its side, so I could be talking complete guff, for all I know.

Horizontal cases seem to be making a comeback for media centre PCs, too.

Zetetic

A desktop design is always going to have be sufficiently shallow for you to be able put something - a bookshelf, a monitor or something on top of it. That in itself will turn to be a pain when you have to actually get the machine for any reason (and, as others have noted, you're going to have make sure that the case can take it, and you probably have to plan ventilation around having the top of it blocked).

Switching to a tower footprint means you can make it roomier in almost every dimension, I think.

SetToStun

Certainly when I started using PCs you could never be sure of the expansion capacity of desktops if they were shop-bought. Dell, for example, had a slim form factor desktop case that looked lovely and appeared to have three expansion slots and a spare drive bay; of the expansion slots two were actually half-height in the case and the "spare" drive bay had no rails and even if you didn't mind that, there was no spare power cable or data cable to fit the bastard. I always used to buy towers as there was room to get your hands in and usually room and infrastructure to expand/upgrade/replace. These days I doubt it's half as important but back in the day it made a lot of sense.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on October 13, 2011, 02:24:03 AM
Also, what with convection, tower cases are presumably better at cooling, as there's more room for the heat to rise away from the graphics card and whatnot. It would make sense that they became more popular around the time that 3D graphics started more demanding for gaming.

Although my 360 doesn't show any ill effects from lying on its side, so I could be talking complete guff, for all I know.

I thought this too, but on talking to some of our hardware guys convection is only of very little benefit when it comes to cooling. Although the stuff they were designing got renamed "Magma" when the actual thermal outputs were worked out, so maybe it's more useful in PC designs. Although lack of vents at the top suggest not.