Alumin*i*um cases... All about heat?

[Magicthyse]

I was taking another look at the Suntek Vision cases prior to ordering them - but then the Suntek Grace hit my eye, closely followed by Cooler Master's alu offerings.

I'm wondering what these aluminium cases are about - I can imagine that there are legions of CNC machines lying idle in Taiwan with engineers saying 'what else can we machine and sell for an inflated price?' but what's the real advantage to them, apart from the obvious one that it's possible to machine them precisely so they act like a giant heatsink?

On the downside, I would imagine that if you did really try to improve the heat dissipation from an alu case it would end up looking like a porcupine - so by inference the Suntek and Cooler Master cases can't dissipate heat that much faster than a painted steel case...? And surely a clear anodized bare alu case would respond to handling much worse than a painted steel case?

Looks? Weight? Your opinions please.

 

[GiZzO]

Its more looks and wieght and bragging rights more then anything, air passes through a case so fast it doesn't make much of a difference. If money was no object to me, id still pick up a steel case cause there more sturdy and you just got more of a selection.

Like my friend jsut recently bought an CoolerMaster 201, he was really excited about it at first, but now regreats it cause he paid too much for a case and could have been just fine with a nice Antec or something with better stock cooling and cost him 6th less (300 vs 50) and bought a better video card instead or such. I used to want an alluminum case way back when too but when ya think about it, cases being aluminum is all hype in lowering your temps.

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