Fancy cases, yes or no?

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0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
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All of those extra fans you added? You didn't balance input and output, so not only are you burning even more electricity(and creating heat because of it), you're also creating turbulence inside your case that makes it take even longer to vent hot air. Noise=innefficiency :).

thats not true, many mod cases balance input and output. its pretty well known fans suck at fighting backpressure u know:p not to mention, i doubt the thermal difference between a window and metal case side make much of any real world difference.
 

SpideyCU

Golden Member
Nov 17, 2000
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Originally posted by: eastvillager
Those lights in your case? They're using electricity, so you're generating even more heat in your case.

That plexiglass/lexan window? It's thermal properties *suck* compared to the metal you cut out.
You really think a few LEDs add that much heat? A cold cathode, maybe a bit, but it's negligible compared to what the CPU HSF is introducing.

Acrylic windows and such are nice because they still have good insulating properties - I'm more concerned about the UPS next to my system introducing some unnecessary EMI than how warm the case panels are. Thermal properties for the case itself aren't such a big consideration, come on now. When you touch your case, is it hot?

Stop sounding like such a grouchy old man. ;) While technically everything you said is true, it's to such a small degree that it doesn't matter and certainly doesn't affect system performance adversely.
 

EeyoreX

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2002
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I used to be a "Give me a PC case shaped like a box. No round edges, no bubbly front panels. I want a case with straight edges that has enough bays for my drives. And I want it in black" Of course, at that time, beige was the dominant color and IBM was about the only PC making using back... I still want a square case, but in building my two most recent computers, I admit to some light "fancy-fying" of my case. Both have windows, the Lian-Li has a laser cut BioHazard symbol the SuperFlower has a square window. I got the LianLi window panel on the cheap, and I planned on getting a black PCB motherboard in my black SF case and thought a window would show it off nicely. I have since gone to red PCB motherboard and vid card, since the black sucked. I also have a couple red LED fans with a nice black radioactive symbol fan grill. These fans are off (rheobus) unless I am putting my system under load or want to show off the case, the components and the wiring. As is the CCFL inside. I am not excessive in my mods, but thought if I spend all this money and time I may as well have a case that looks nice. Mine does IMHO. And none of the mods affected performance, nor are my fans loud. I tend to think doing the lighting on cars is for benefit of "looking cool" in other people's eyes. I think I made my PC look cool in my own eyes. I don't LAN party, nor do I really entertain so much and when I do it's not like I say "Come look at my PC!!" It does what I want, and so what if it looks a little different.

I draw the line on rounded case edges and "bubbly" bezels though... ;)

\Dan
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
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No, I don't mod my case. It doesn't need to be modded.

The only one I'd consider is the ant farm mod.