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Technology

How to Build a Clear Computer Case 134

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-can-see-right-through-you dept.
Mikey LeBeau writes "Geeknews has a story right now on how to build a clear computer case, and just looking at the pictures, I'm quite impressed. Anyone up for mass-marketing these suckers? "
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How to Build a Clear Computer Case More

How to Build a Clear Computer Case

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  • That yeong-yang case wholesales for $230, retail is closer to $300. When i asked them how it's worth even half that, they stopped talking.

    - Eric
  • switch off your speakers. FCC will take care of it if he built it himself and didnt get approval...its not dangerous for your PC IMHO.
  • That all depends on what kind of a radio it is and what kind of licenses he does or doesn't have.



    If he's using a stock CB radio - that is, 4 watts deadkey / 7 watts peak, the police can call it a domestic disturbance and tell him to knock it off.
  • It sounds cool. Itd look cool if the server werent down :-). Slashdot affect?

  • RFI shielding (Score:3)

    by jetson123 ( 13128 ) on Sunday August 15, 1999 @09:49AM (#1745691)
    Whatever cases you make, please just make sure you shield them correctly. Unshielded computers are a major headache to your fellow geeks who operate radio and wireless equipment.

    I believe there are conductive transparent plastics or films that may work for shielding transparent cases, so please do some research.

  • As if it wasn't obvious this was going to happen...Geeknews is down now...more than likely because of the infamous "slashdot effect". Not that this is entirely a bad thing...but as long as myour on the matter of cases, why not mirror the other case article they had up there?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • (I hit a wrong key or something, this submitted once already before i was finished)

    That all depends on what kind of a radio it is and what kind of licenses he does or doesn't have.

    He is being pretty rude, and ought to buy a low-pass filter. Maybe you should buy one for him?

    If he's using a stock CB radio - that is, 4 watts deadkey / 7 watts peak, the police can call it a domestic disturbance and tell him to knock it off. But they can't take away his radio.

    If he is using an outlawed CB or 10 meter ham equipment mofidied to use the 11 meter range (the CB range), he is breaking the law. Unfortunately, the FCC is brutally underfunded, and in 1997 couldn't even get funding to write letters to manufacturers expressing concern over the illegal uses of things like 10 meter linear amplifiers that work just as well on 11 meter. Again, the police can treat this as a domestic disturbance. Unfortunately, only a federal marshall can legally take away his radio. (Tho the cops may do it anyway)

    If he is a licensed ham using ham radio equipment that is broadcasting on bands his license doesn't allow, or is transmitting with greater power than his license allows, the FCC won't be happy about it. Your local FCC rep might come out and order him to turn over or destroy his transmitter.

    If he is a licensed ham using ham radio equipment that is within the allowable ranges of his license, the police can treat it as a domestic disturbance, but other than annoying you he is breaking no laws.

    Most people don't take the time to read the definition of a class B device. A "Class B" electronic device is required to accept any interference caused by other devices. To put that another way, if your neighbor is using legally licensed amateur bands and your TV is picking up his signal, it's *your* fault. He's being a bad neighbor, but it's your fault that your tv is picking up his perfectly legal transmission.

    So, you've got a few options.

    (1) Offer to buy him a "low pass filter" - anyone who works at a radio equipment store will know exactly what you mean if you ask them for one. it may cost as much as $20, more if he's running a heck of a lot of power out the back of his radio. he puts this in-line on his coax before it reaches the antenna. I would not recommend going to RadioShack for this. Try looking through the yellow pages for a business that sells or leases business radio or ham equipment. A low-pass filter tries to clean out the ranges of transmission that will interfere with A/V equipment. It shouldn't interfere with his fun.

    (2) Call the police and have them treat it as a domestic disturbance. They'll come over and give him a talking to, maybe scare him a little. If he's got illegal radio equipment, the most they can legally do is tell the FCC. Some cops will take it away anyway on the chance that the person in question knows it's illegal and won't complain to the feds.

    (3) Buy some high-pass filters to put on your tv and stereo to filter out his transmissions. This might not work, if, like you say, anything with a speaker repeats his voice.

    (4) Stick a pin through his coax. This will make his radio's finals explode the next time he tries to transmit. This is, of course, destruction of personal property, 100% illegal, and I don't condone it. But some people can be real pricks, and the other three might not work.

    Overall, don't assume that he's doing it maliciously. He might not know that he's causing you a problem. He may have some high-pass filters for you to install on your TV and stereo. Maybe he has a low-pass filter that's simply stopped working and he doesn't realize it.

    Ham's are generally gregarious people who like to share their hobby with anyone who's interested, much like any other class of geek.
  • we need better cases :)
  • Funky. We've come a long way, I guess.. I remember being in awe when I saw my first non-beige machine back in '88 or so..I'm really surprised nobody has gotten into the market for selling customized parts for cases. I think my box would look excellent with 15 coats of cherry red paint and some chrome on the front. :)
    Bowie J. Poag
  • It looks neat, but isn't one of the points of metal cases to block radio interference? It strikes me that plexiglass (or is it transparent aluminum?) cases would not work properly.

    IANAP, though, so I could be way off.

    The other problem is that everyone would see how messy the inside of my case is. It get embarrassed when I have to go into it when people are around.

    -awc
  • I have been working on a clear case design based on the
    In-Win [in-win.com] A500. Plexie(sp) glass and I will use the chassis
    from the A500. No neon lights (what is that about anyway?),
    and all of the awesome benefits of the A500. These cases
    rule! Everyone should have an A500.
  • We need better cases, and this one is attractive, but i would like some new functionality also. Perhaps producing a lot of these would be worthwhile if someone would design them to have some nice usability features, such as how the new apple g3 cases open without removing any screws.
    As far as I can tell, case design for most computers hasn't changed since my TI 8086 in 1984. Some easy to use clasps on the side would be nice!

    I like the idea of it glowing, also.
  • like this a week after you buy a new (insert eq here)?

    =p
  • er, i had an A500, but i dont think its the kind you meant...
  • This is nothing really new..just new to the mass public I guess.

    My old drummer in my band made me a pleiglass computer case years ago.

    Just to give you a time frame on this, it ran Slackware 2.0 on my kicking 386dx40 :) Unfortunately the machine was stolen a few years back.
  • this will be cool when i get to fill one with an overclocked quad athlon and then submerge the fscker in mineral oil. Especially with the glowing case, now if i could only find something cool looking that has the same density as mineral oil, to give the cool effect of "orbit" drinks. Now that would kick some G3 ass!!!
  • That's entirely true, but if someone in your neighborhood is doing something to antagonize you, that's a domestic disturbance. So, like i said, the police can come over and say "Knock it off" -- same as if you let your dog out at night to bark at the sky. But they can't do anything about the radio itself.

    Of course, you would have to show that you'd exausted your other options and that the person in question didn't care that he was causing you problems.
  • We tried chickenwire inside plexiglas, but it looked like crap and didn't work too well. (I could still pick my IDE bus up on FM radio 10 feet away). That was years ago tho. I did manage to replace the cover on my 10 meg drive with a clear one tho, and that was very cool.

    Since then, I've seen "clear" calculators and other things that lead me to believe that clear substances can be made fairly conductive.

    Combine that with a network of ultrathin copper wires embedded in the plastic to "drain" anything caught by the clear coating, and we might have a winner. Come to think of it, the wire could be inlaid in patterns and used decoratively?

    Let's not stop there! Forget the ceramic cases on chips, make them out of glass. And embed LEDs into the chip at interesting points. Hey where do I go to patent this?
  • Bigger is better, especially when it comes to heat.
    A larger case will always be cooler than a smaller one, equally equipped
    oh, and people, remember to have some fans REMOVING air. When air is compressed it heats up

  • Re:RF Interference? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    These clear plastic cases must be treated with a clear conductive coating. There is a company out on the web called LessEMF that sells clear conductive coated glass panels and plastic sheeting. I tested the plastic sheeting with an ohm meter and it had less than 50 ohms of resistance while still appearing crystal clear. I bet you could make a neat enclosure yourself from the plexiglass panels. The prices were a little steep, but most of there competition required a large minimum order.
  • LOL! Does that mean we can't use the clear cases until they invent a transparent RF shield? ...
  • hey buddy, you should change your sig so that it is attributed to Ghandi. The question was asked by a reporter, Ghandi asnwered.

  • Re:RF Interference? (Score:3)

    by Macdude ( 23507 ) on Sunday August 15, 1999 @10:43AM (#1745719)
    Plastic may be an "excellent" insulator but to shield RF you need a good conductor, and plactic is a lousy conductor. All plastic cases have some form of conductive coating on their inner surfaces, or an internal metal cage.

    Re: holes in your case;

    Radio waves have a physical size, if the hole is too small the wave can't get through (see: mesh satellite dish). A good case has a metal shield over any unused drive slot.

  • Why make your computer look like an Imac? Personally I'd rather funkify my computer case with paint, glue-on circuit boards, tubing, or whatever other cyberpunkish paraphenalia I can find.

    TheGeek
    http://www.geekrights.org [geekrights.org]

  • oh, and people, remember to have some fans REMOVING air. When air is compressed it heats up

    Just don't over do it. Remember that convection cooling comes from air-FLOW -- think "wind chill factor". Creating a vacuum in your case reduces the amount of air available to transfer the excess heat to.

    Just moving the air around inside your case doesn't do any good, you have to move air _through_ your case.

  • Seems to me it would be a lot cooler to get tubing, paint, circuit boards, whatever and make your computer into a cyberpunkish funkified monstrosity. At least if you have some artistic style.

    TheGeek
    http://www.geekrights.org [geekrights.org]

  • here's somethin kinda the same i build a long time ago

    www.napnet.com/iLinux

  • If he's actually transmitting enough power to cause you to hear it with the amp turned off, he's most likely operating outside of FCC rules. Talk to your neighbor first, he may not realize it's happening.

  • Apple (successfully) cheated in this regard. On their blue and white G3 minitowers, the CD/DVD drives are generic beige, but behind a blue trapdoor.

  • My neighbor's cb does the same to my speakers.. I found a fix though.. I just take my unused case cover for my computer and sit it over my sub, which contains the amp, on the floor and it actually works very good, no more interference :)

  • I really hate it when people brag of having X many coats of (laquer no less!) paint on their custom car, so don't start on computers!

    Wanting to have that many coats of paint on anything is asking to have it crack on you. Never mind that Laquer is a crappy paint, most likely to oxidize, crack, and is a huge enviromental hazard in application.

  • (1) Offer to buy him a "low pass filter" - anyone who works at a radio equipment store will know exactly what you mean if you ask them for one. it may cost as much as $20, more if he's running a heck of a lot of power out the back of his radio. he puts this in-line on his coax before it reaches the antenna. I would not recommend going to RadioShack for this. Try looking through the yellow pages for a business that sells or leases business radio or ham equipment. A low-pass filter tries to clean out the ranges of transmission that will interfere with A/V equipment. It shouldn't interfere with his fun.

    (3) Buy some high-pass filters to put on your tv and stereo to filter out his transmissions. This might not work, if, like you say, anything with a speaker repeats his voice.

    Here are a few other ideas:

    * Buy a package, or two, of 0.01 uF bypass capactors, and connect them across the speaker treminals. The bypass capactors act as a short circuit to RF, but won't do anything to power and audio.

    * Try putting an AC line filter between the device being affected, and the AC line. It is possabile that the interferance could be comming in through the AC wiring.

    * Switch to shielded cable, if you have that option(some manufactures mold the cable pernamently to thier speakers). This will make a big differance(it will cut down on alot of crosstalk, and other interferance), and you really should use shielded cable on your audio/vidio, speaker, data, and antenana(RF) conections anyways.

    BTW, one inportaint FYI: ham radio operators can legealy operate radio equment that they've built or modified without having that equiptment type-accepted, as long as it's for personal use. For expample, If a ham builds his own radio, or modifies his radio, and he's useing it for his own use, his doesn't have to get it type-accepted. If he's building or modifing radio equiptment comericially, however, he still needs to get that equiptment type-accepted for it to be legal.
  • I like my case; it's heavy, big, and beige.. who has ideas on what I can do to make it cool? I could, paint it, ... what else?
  • I always seem to bust the pile-up with <100w so I never bothered to acquire a linear. Better still, wait until the rare DX calls me and begs for my QSL info...

    Also, I don't dim my own lights and crash my server.

    QRO: Last resort of the LID! ;-)

    73, de Gus, Eight Papa Six Sly Mongoose
  • >>* Buy a package, or two, of 0.01 uF bypass capactors, and connect them across the speaker treminals. The bypass capactors act as a short circuit to RF, but won't do anything to power and audio.

    That might not be a good idea:

    In the ARRL Handbook (for the Radio Amateur) 1999, page 28.12, it says:

    "Warning: Bypassing Speaking Leads:

    Older amateur literature might tell you to put a 0.01-uF capacitor across the speaker terminals to cure speaker-lead interference. *Don't do this!* {emphasis in book} Some modern solid-state amplifiers can break into a destructive, full-power, sometimes ultrasonic oscillation if they are connected to a highly capacitive load. If you do this to your neighbor's amplifier you will have a whole new kind of personal diplomacy problem! -- Ed Hare, KA1CV, ARRL Laboratory Supervisor"
  • note how you abbreviated my entire respose. The LOOK of it would kick G3 ass. Of coarse the processors would, maybe you should READ comments before you post.
  • Not quite. Ghandi did say something like that, but it was about 'civilisation in England' IIRC, asked by Winston Churchill.

    Sorry to be a pedant, feel free to moderate this down!

    Greg
  • http://www.clearcases.com/

    Check this site out for a really nice clear colored case!! And there only $80.00
  • I have one, it sucks if you have 3 7200 RPM hard drives. There is no way at all to cool anything in the 3.5 inch bays, they have a thick piece of solid metal blocking them. Bad, bad design.

    I can't remember which vendor it was that I want a case from... Had a 4-digit part number, thou... Something like 6890 or something. (It wasn't PC Power and Cooling - great cases but WAY too expensive!)
  • My neighbor has one of those radios, Im not sure what its called, but a 2 way radio.. anyway, whenever he talks, i can hear him very loud out of my surround sound system speakers, my headphones, and any other speaker, I was just wondering if this could be dangerous for my PC.... if so, who do I tell? the FCC? its annoying to wake up in the middle of the night cause of his blasting voice over all my speakers! heh

    Here's an idea...

    Why not box up your POS stereo equipment and ship it back to the manufacturer with a demand that they fix it so that it isn't susceptible to RF interference. It isn't your fault, but most consumer electronics equipment is designed by penny pinching morons who would rather save a dollar or two by not adequately shielding and filtering their products.

    Those of us who legally operate radio transmitters get blamed for the design faults of the crap they sell to consumers. Even when our transmitters are in perfect condition. I have been blamed by neighbors for all sorts of problems, even when I haven't transmitted a signal for weeks. Any glitch in their TV or stereo gets blamed on the nearest CB or amateur radio operator. It's easier than thinking.

    If you are experiencing interference in audio equipment, it is caused by poor shielding and filtering in your equipment.

    If you are experiencing interference with TV or radio equipment, it is probably due to design defects in the front end (RF input) or shielding of your TV or radio.

    Interference problems that are caused by transmitter defects are relatively rare. The vast majority can be traced back to design shortcuts in the equipment experiencing interference.

    Congress and the FCC have been too chicken (read as coopted by the consumer electronics industry) to issue standards for interference susceptability in consumer electronics equipment.

  • Wow, a use for those old 286 boards I keep *just in case I need a certain part*.

    How about:
    - Use an old VCR case.
    - Inside an old monitor/tv. Stick some plexiglass where the CRT used to be.
    - A desk drawer. I know a guy who did this for a voicemail server. He'd pull the drawer out to service it.
    - Three words: wall mounted motherboard.
    - An old microwave. Use the op interface for server functions ("clear" will properly reboot, the number keys will set a runlevel. Fun!)
    - Bend up the sheet metal from an old microwave, etc to make your own funky case.
    - Flying V case
    - Modify an old Compaq suitcase computer. I had discussions about this with a boss who was a cad guy, hated tiny notebooks, and had a couple that were wasting away in the storage room near my office.
    - Merge the motherboard with your monitor, Mac style... orrrr merge with you keyboard.
    - For those concerned about heat: stick it in your vacuum. Actually that's a very bad idea, RF-wise.
    - The knapsack PC! Everybody wears one and simply connects to the nearest monitor.
    - Surgically implant behind your breastplate. Even better, use nanotech to *build* it behind your breastplate.

    Oh the possibilities are endless.
  • Whats the use of a clear case if you don't have a
    clear harddrive. That would look sweet.

  • It comes in 2 or 3 really nice HUGE black cubes.

    So what if it takes 3 lines of 220V 3 phase power; you can stuff 32GB of RAM into it and it can go up to 114 PCI slots. Not to mention the 12 processors. Too bad it doesn't run Linux yet...

    =-]
  • 4) Stick a pin through his coax. This will make his radio's finals explode the next time he tries to transmit. This is, of course, destruction of personal property, 100% illegal, and I don't condone it. But some people can be real pricks, and the other three might not work.

    Bad idea. In some parts of the USA that might result in getting shot as a prowler/trespasser.

  • I must say, I'm much happier with my previously ivory linux server being black and red, my beige G3 now black and silver. The only downside other than uniqueness is that black paint tends to show dust a lot sooner than beige.
    --
  • Actually I was wrong and so were you greg. as the original poster above said in an email to me, it was "What do you think of Western civilization? I think it would be a good idea." My apologiesfor misreading.

  • Hmm... fill your clear case with an inert solution, and put some of those sony robotic goldfish in there...

    now THERE'S geek factor!!!
  • Have you been into a Tiny computers showroom recently? You'll find that they have a selection of cutaway/clear caseswhich they use to demonstrate the technology inside their machines to customers - maybe people should ask them about it.
  • slashdot effect.

  • I think what you're discribing is an AC line filter. If that's the case, you have to be the one to use it, since it's your equiptment that's being interfered with.

    It looks like the interferance is comming in through the AC line, although I'm not ruleing out poor or badly shielded A/V, speaker, and antenna conections, or a bad ground somewhere in your house wiring.

    Does the FCC notice on your electronics look like this: This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject tw the fowwing two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interferance, and (2) this device must accept any interferance recieved, including interferance that may cause undesired operation?

    That lable's on every electronic device, form your stereo, to your computer. What it basicly says is if your device starts putting out interferance, and the interferance proves harmful, you are leagelly obligated to stop using it until you get it fixed. But, if something is interfering with your device, even if it is causing problems with that device, you have no leagel protection from the interferance, you're on your own.
  • Anyone Know if it would be possible to use hardware fabric to shield a translucent case like this, it would cut down on the visibility but it might look kinda neto with lights inside shining through. BTW don't those neon lights put off alot of heat, anyone remember those glowing nightlights that only consume like 2watts of power, green cool glowing case. yah.
  • Allmost all modern cases are screwless now, arn't they? All of mine certainly are.
  • Was it an Addtronics? They make excellent cases as well. They're too expensive for me, but they're really nice
  • It is connected via a UUNET link.
  • ah yes the infamous slashdot effect.. its malda's plan to rid the internet of small news sites who might steal his glory some day :). just curious.. what kind of server is /. running on?
  • Further to the comments on RF interference. Don't all the
    components in a machine connect themselves to common
    ground via the metal case? I'm sure that major problems
    would occur if differing charges were allowed to build up on
    components. I can almost see the hard disc arcing across the
    motherboard... Maybe some investigation into
    grounding would be useful too...
  • Anything with a clear case can be successfully marketed to the prison industry - they already have such cases for TVs! And don't forget education - just ask the kids at Jonesboro High, where backpacks are only allowed if they're see-thru! Nation of jailers, nation of jailers!
  • /. had some pics of a miniaturized linux pc here [mag2.com] and here [mag2.com]. These IMO look much better and are easier to make (no corners to align etc...).

    plus just get yourself some allen bolts, drill through the panels at various places, and you've got yourself the mounts for the internals. break out the dremel, and round the edges (or a bandsaw if you have one), and dip it in a chemical like acetone to give it a frosted look. instead of static flourescent lights, hook 'em up to the hard drive, or scsi bus, so they blink on and off. you'll win the most-annoying prize for sure.

    hrm...I think I have my next case.

    -lev

  • ...is a nice, simple, black cube. Not clear. No racing stripes. No holes and crap drilled through the front. Drives hidden behind a panel somewhere, and maybe a tasteful bank of LEDs or an LCD panel on the front. Simple.

    I'd even use a Rock City case, after I paint over all the funky squiggles over the front. Too bad you can't buy those seperately.

    Is it possible to mod a Next cube to take PC internals?

    --John Riney
    jwriney@awod.com
  • Yeah, I use one of these -- I especially like being able to slide the motherboard and cards out on one tray, and pull the hard drives out as a single unit.

    w/r/t some previous comment about screws -- we don't need no stinking screws!

  • Okay.

  • A lot of computer cases are made of plastic these days.... look at your average Packard Bell. No comment on the quality, though.

    Steve

  • As an historical note, there was a
    clear-cased demo model of the original
    Compaq luggable gracing the cover of
    one of the PC magazines circa '84.
    It attracted a lot of interest, which
    merely prompted Compaq to announce it
    was a one-off and that it had no plans
    to put clear cases into production. Kind
    of funny since Apple is always claiming the
    PC world is ripping it off....
  • IBM had a cool idea for the Aptivas a while ago, though I don't know if it ever hit production. It was a two box design -- one laptop sized chunk that sat under the monitor and held the floppy /cdrom / lights / power button. A second minitower case held the mobo / ram / hard drives /expansion cards / power supply, which you could shove behind the desk and forget about.

    Of course ideally it would be built into the desk...

  • Looks like a ProLiant 3000 with the plastic crap pulled off, spray-painted black.
  • Where did you get that price from? Yeong Yang quoted me quite a high price, but reffered me to a dealer as they don't sell direct.

    But the dealer sold it to me for much less: £130.
    (1£= approx 1.5$). Which is a good price considering the size of the case.

    Probably the prices you're getting from YY are way higher than actual retail prices.


  • If one wants to pay a lot of money for a black system, they can always call IBM.
    --
  • Maybe it was Gandhi that said somtehing like that, but Ghandi didn't. ;)

  • As a historical note, there were demo clear case Apple ][s and Macintoshes, and if you really look, there were probably 'clear case' IBM mainframes, washing machines, and automobiles going way back. Don't believe the hype.
    --
  • There is a good reason why computer cases are made of metal, RF sheilding. While mother boards are getting better in being self-sheilding, the case is still part of the equation. Bet a computer built in a plexiglas case won't meet clase B fcc regs, let alone class A! You CAN make a case out of plastic, but usually must spray the inside with graphite or other rf conducting material. (Open up a Mac and see what I mean). If there is such a material that is also trasparent (I don't think so!) then this might work. Why should you care about rf sheilding? Wait till your roomate tries to listen to his radio or TV. Or the CB'er next door keys up and reboots your computer!
  • This was the first time I've ever been there. I went and looked around and read all the articles. They didn't seem very geeky nor was there anything I feel was newsworthy. Just when I thought Slashdot was going downhill, places like this come along and make me remember how great it really is.
  • Well, I have 3 200+ mhz computers all lined up in my basement, and not one of em has the case on it.....Maybe now ill get un-lazy and put them on. Who knows, maybe next week I will take them all out of the same power strip and maybe get a UPS.
  • Funky. We've come a long way, I guess.. I remember being in awe when I saw my first non-beige machine back in '88 or so..I'm really surprised nobody has gotten into the market for selling customized parts for cases. I think my box would look excellent with 15 coats of cherry red paint and some chrome on the front. :)

    My uncle managed a company in the late 70's/early 80's that painted phones for AT&T. He tried to talk the owners of the company into approaching IBM about painting their new (at the time) XT desktop machines. No matter how bad he tried to talk them into it, they kept saying that it was a bad idea, and that no one would ever want a computer in any other color. If he had pressed harder, maybe we wouldn't be in this blah beige world.

    I don't really want any funky designs, anyway. I just want a seven foot high rack case filled to the brim with quad Xeon III's and a couple hundred gigs of storage!

  • You have to feel sorry for someone who steals a 386

  • Back in the '70s most 35mm cameras came in a brushed silver finish, perhaps with a little faux leather (i.e. textured plastic) to provide a little grip. The ``Professional'' black finish always cost more.

    On computer cases, I think that most of the places I've visited lately on the Web offer at least some of their cases in black.

  • After having worked on computer systems for too long, all I can say about anyone wanting a clear computer case is:

    ``Are you nuts?''

    Any computer equipment after it's been running for a month or so is going to be filled with a fine dust that's going to make your clear case look absolutely disgusting. Electronic equipment has a tendancy to attract superfine dust that's nearly impossible to clean off unless you want to completely disassemble the entire thing and dip the case in some industrial cleaner.

    Unless you have a clean-room environment to place one of these systems, do yourself a favor and avoid these cases.

  • Digital used to show off their new disk drives at the trade shows using versions that had clear cases (at least the tops were clear). They'd have them running off some system that sat there and accessed them randomly so you could see the heads seek. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a working drive connected to an old VAX and moving mail back and forth between Maynard and the folks at the trade show. Anyway, it was pretty cool at the time.

  • Back in the Mac 512 and Mac Plus days there were several companies that would redo Mac cases.

    They were really expensive ($300 or more) but looked really cool.

    I remember seeing several woodgrain patterns and a 'black granite' option.

    I don't know if a business like this would work now-a-days.

    It's one thing contemplating a $300 custom case finish on a $4000 computer than a $200 case job on a $800 computer.

    Ah well, at least it's one less thing for me to squander money on.
  • Well, yes, I had noticed that and was certainly being a little unclear, sure. Nonetheless, Gandhi did say something along that lines, as someone had suggested, and I'm pretty sure that it was what i gave.

    Everyone clear now?

    Greg
  • Isn't there some kind of RF problem going to be
    created with just a clear case? I have heard
    of people coating plexi with wire mesh, but damned if I know if that would solve the problem.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Those plastic PB cases have a very thin metal lining to cut down on RF.

    Cobratek
  • Yep, they were the Aptiva Sxx models. A little slower than an adverage computer of the same speed but it worked...
  • How many /. readers actually have cases on their PCs? Mine only gets put on when I have to transport the box around. (I dont want anything to fall out I guess)
  • I tend to leave all my cases on nowdays. I didn't when I was running DOS/Windows though for some reason. Ever since I switched to GNU/Linux, I just stick the computer somewhere out of sight and forget about it.
  • Plastic is an excellent insulator which is why they use it on wires and other such stuff. I don't think using plastic could cause you any harm anyways, like a thread a long time ago about plastic cases, your case is certainly not RF proofed. There are holes all over cases, the plastic drive slot holders, and other such things. A plastic case will not have problems with rf anymore than a metal case would. The only possible thing i could think of that could be a problem is the heat buildup since plastic is a good insulator. But this guy seems to be alright with the fans he has. I've actually thought of doing something similar. But I never got around to it. That and i don't have the moey. But for those of you that are interested, i thought of annodizing my case, here's a page that tells you how to annodize at home: http://www.warpig .com/paintball/technical/paintguns/anodize.shtml [warpig.com]
  • HAHAHAHAHA. I almost fell outta my chair when I read this... I'm glad I'm not the only one. I almost never have a case on a PC unless it's being moved. NEway, I just thought I'd throw my 2 in.
  • if only! consider yourself fortunate- and what is a modern case, anyway?.
  • Modern Plastic cases all still have to be coated on the inside with some form of metallic shielding. Which it's fairly certain will end up being rather opaque.

    A clear computer case would have to be certified as meeting at a minimum Class A and probably Class B requirements for interference (Class B is more restrictive, for places where your neighbor is likely to want to listen to the radio, watch TV, etc.).

    Individual computer enthusiasts can run their hardware unshielded and get away with it, because it most often probably isn't bothering anybody (or at least it isn't bothering anybody who has the means to figure out who the jerk with the unshielded PC is...) When it becomes a matter of mass marketing such things, the FCC will step in and you'll be dumping a lot of plastic in a landfill somewhere if you didn't plan your design properly.
  • Yes, In-Win are presently the best cases I have been able to find. I have three of them now. The ATX models are sooo thick.

    I typically will spend almost any extra amount needed to get the best case for a system. Since my cases traditionally get used for four or five generations of motherboards, it just makes sense.
  • Looks like somebody didn't pay attention in Physics class...

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  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • i was reading this article, and decided to search through the slashdot archives, because it reminded me a lot of an article i had seen before.

    i came across an january article that had a link to Colorcase.com [colorcase.com] which sells colored translucent case, as well as a number of other realy cool looking cases.. no neon lights though.

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