Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

I know, I know - but I have a generic i5 PC running around the clock so my wife and I can VNC in to our scheduling software, which is Windows only. It has a boring black mid-tower case, and I'm thinking about replacing it with something that looks and is designed a bit better.

Since us SGI nerds appreciate good hardware design, I figure some of you might have some case recommendations. I know I'm never going make my lame Intel setup imitate an O2 or Octane, but is there something out there that not only looks nice, but also seems to have some thought put into the design? The cost doesn't matter if the quality justifies it.

Any ideas? The cases I see at Fry's seem to cater to gamers, or be built cheaply. And online it's hard to get a sense of the build quality. Reviews help, but it'd be nice to get a couple of recommendations from people that *know* what kind of quality I'm looking for.

bigD wrote: The cost doesn't matter if the quality justifies it.

Lian-Li then.

Damn - those look good to me! Thanks for the tip.

You could always buy a shell of an HP/Dell/Lenovo workstation and use that. The PSU may not be up to the task, IIRC my old HP's had north of 600 watts but it was spread among many different 'rails' that can be difficult to use (i.e. cpuA, cpuB, HDD, graphics board, aux, etc)

The branded chassis always seem to be built way better than the selection of 3 empty tin boxes at best buy. I would recommend apple but the mac pro's logic board isn't a standard form factor.

Very pleased with Fractal Design's Define R4 , which I bought from NewEgg. It's not at all flashy, but it's very well thought-out and with attention to the cooling and SSD, mine's virtually silent. Exception would be if I fire up something that makes heavy use of OpenGL - then you can hear the old nVidia 550 Ti spin up it's turbine...

But the R4 compares well to the Mac Pro (2008) next to it. The Dell PWS 690 sounds like a turboprop by comparison.

The R4 is on sale today (Oct for $70

Lian Li, Antec, Fractal Design, SGI Indy

Tom's Hardware have recently run a 3 part series called "Who makes the most elite PC case" - Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 .

There's a few interesting (and expensive) cases in there, so it's worth a look through for a nice looking and quality chassis.

Some years ago, I've bought a Cooler Master CM 690 II case. I'm still very happy with it.

Here is what I prefer:

• Good ventilation, i.e. perforated front plate, equipped with foam filters to avoid too much dust inside

• Left side is also perforated. A duct can be placed around the CPU fan to bring cold air from outside the case directly to the CPU.

• Extra large fans --> very quiet

• Very convenient sliding trays for 5"1/4 and 3"1/2 devices, with tool-free fixation

• Power supply on the bottom

I'm not sure you'll still find some on sale, but there is a new version: http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower-cm690-series/cm693/

I built a system for a friend in a Cooler Master Elite 335 and the power button ended up fouling up like an Octane. Other designs might not have that problem, or maybe this one had a bad combination of tolerances. I picked up a Cooler Master Elite 130 mini-itx for myself and it has a wrap around cover which is hard to fasten because I think it's ever so slightly out of square and the screw holes were poorly tapped.

I like the Cooler Master cases, but I've been happier with Antec (but not PSUs) and Lian Li.

jan-jaap wrote:

bigD wrote: The cost doesn't matter if the quality justifies it.

Lian-Li then.

They are nice, but be prepared to be extremely careful with them - they are easily scratched. And the interior design isn't very thoughtful. They are always a step or two behind others when it comes to functionality and if they get creative, it usually doesn't end up very well (poor air circulation). I have a PC-A71F and it looks cool and there's plenty of space inside.

I'll toss in another vote for Fractal Design, I got an Arc Midi R2 last time I upgraded and it was quite lovely to build in.

I don't know what they used, but I had a BOXX system at one point that had a nicely designed case. It even had a foam filter on the front air intakes to cut down on dust deposition. Unfortunately I don't know what the case maker was (1st or 2nd gen Opteron), and it's not here right now.

Some HP cases are good, some are kind of cheesy. I've had an Antec that's not bad.

Depending on the motherboard's size you can use a retro case....like a PS/1 case, or some other landmark model (Commodore 16, etc..).

I appreciate all the responses guys - thanks for the help!

hec Compucases are well-built, solid PC cases. Not meant to be lookers, but if you just need a solidly-built case, poke around their offerings some:
http://hecgroupusa.com

I wish the 6AR6BB2F was still available so I could buy another one or two more. That's what both my desktop and Linux machine are built with. It's an extra-wide case so there's more room for managing cables and such. Here's the old listing on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811121066

Get yourself a decent hardware SATA RAID controller (not that onboard crap) and drop one of these into two of the 5.25" slots:
http://www.startech.com/HDD/Mobile-Rack ... TSASBAY3BK

Then add three single-platter spinning HDDs, And you'll have a pretty sturdy system.

smj wrote: Very pleased with Fractal Design's Define R4

i use the R4 as well for my new box. some observations: pretty sturdy build, quite large (wider than normal pc cases and deeper) and heavy. plastic front panel comes off a little too readily for my taste. the front microphone jack is recessed, causes problems with my headphone plug (shure in-ear's). quite annoying that one.
the power LED is super bright and not diffused. that thing illuminates the whole room. i put some black tape over it where i could but it probably needs sanding on all the transparent plastic around the power button.
it's all black on black inside. even in daylight i have to bring out a flashlight to see what i'm doing when going through the innards. ok, maybe buying a black motherboard didn't exactly improve things in this regard...

GIJoe wrote: it's all black on black inside. even in daylight i have to bring out a flashlight to see what i'm doing when going through the innards.

I think they used some white bits in mine, like the slot covers and drive mounts, just to blind people when they're working inside the case and turn their head quickly.

Also, there's a "Blackout" version as opposed to the "Black pearl" version that I got. However the latter is still, yes, plenty dark inside - I think the "Blackout" edition omits the contrasting white internal bits I got...

As to the wideness, I suppose so - but that's probably because it's built to use large (2 x 140mm included) fans and up to a 240mm water-cooling radiator, all part of what keeps things so quiet... I just used a Cooler Master Hyper (Evo?) 212 heat-pipe for the CPU, and the included fans, and that's been plenty for an old quad core Phenom II with no appreciable noise even when the Mac Pro and Dell are both asleep.

Lian Li or Abee ( http://abee.co.jp/Store/CASE.html ).

I just picked up an Abee AS Enclosure X3 for my most recent PC build. It wasn't cheap at all (cost me close to $600 to get one up here in Canada), but damn was it worth it. I've never seen such a nice case in all my life- the build quality is absolutely incredible, and blows anything Lian Li has ever made out of the water.

IMHO; Lian Li is still great as long as you stay away from their silly cases with the cutouts for water cooling and what not on the back. For whatever reason, I've always found the construction of those cases to be pretty flimsy. Their newer units without all that fluff are pretty solid though.

-DN

Dennis Nedry wrote: Lian Li or Abee ( http://abee.co.jp/Store/CASE.html ).

Wow, never heard of them, but their cases look awesome. Unfortunately no one is selling them in Poland.

I've only dealt with 2 desktop computers in my life (always used work computers so never cared). The first was given to me and was a mid-sized tower and it was boring and not worth mentioning. But when I decided to finally pony up the money for my own computer and buy all the parts, one case stood out for me, the Thermaltake Level 10 -

http://thermaltakeusa.com/store/Product ... 17&ID=1513

I got the basic black one but now there are other colors. It's a full-size tower which is fine because my computer is in a room, not a compact car or a refrigerator box. I love the styling but, more importantly, the internal design is very well-thought out. It has room to hide the cabling behind/underneath the motherboard, there's lots of room to get at the disk drive bays and power supply, it has a very modular design. And not stupid expensive, either (slightly over $200), it was comparable to other similar-sized cases at your typical Fry's or Best Buy. The stock fans are quiet and once this current motherboard/CPU/Nvidia card combo pisses me off enough I'll just replace them and keep the case because it looks like a condo complex, not a black box.