A hit in the case: how much logic is there in modern computer cases?

Attention! Under the cut 35 photos.

It is human nature to follow the path of least resistance. Is that logical? Yes. Not really. Extensive development must keep up with the intensive, otherwise the uniform circus begins. In the IT industry, this circus is observed with enviable regularity. It is worth some manufacturer to find a successful marketing and technological move, as they pounce on this hole with the whole ball and start pumping out of it so that they suck each other into the pumps. A clinical example is the notorious "X" on CD-ROMs: manufacturers have played out to the point that users had to write slow-down programs for their 52-x louder-brakes. And only Plextor thought of taking a chance and releasing a scribbler that used the spare area of ​​the disk and managed to burn 1 GB per standard disc.



For modern examples, too, you don’t have to go far: “For an average current gaming configuration, a power supply with a power of at least 650 W is recommended” ... Che? Yes, you at least 500 watts properly load! Oh yes! The market is full of 300-watt crafts from Uncle Liao with a proud 500W, and out of harm's way it is better to make a 50-100 percent supply. Well, so we are happy to try - here you are, the user, 670 watts, and there are not far up to 750.
The eight-phase power supply of the processor, the 12-phase ... But what really is there? You are immediately on the 24-phase! I wonder why the EVGA Classified X58, which popped up like a hell out of a snuffbox, thanks to a bunch of world performance records, has only a 10-phase (but digital;)) power circuit? In general, where is this world heading for if the great and terrible ASUS, in fact, is tying at EVGA the visual design of the top motherboards (or did this seem to me to be awake)?
But this is all right, for the so-called “simple user” - these are all too complicated matters, but people still manage to fool around in seemingly completely unbelievable areas. Here I am, with increasing surprise, watching the market for computer cases. Something there is generally some kind of complete Satanism going on ...

Children of the dungeon ... Chinese

I mentally wander off in 1994 ... No, stop! Then there was only one type of case - standard AT :). Better a little later - the end of the 90s. The cases on the Mitinsky radio market were selected exclusively in the face (then they were already with the door, and I had it with the curtain, oh, and I got tired of it!) And the power supply rating (divided in two, because it is clear that terry China). Still it was possible for the seller to ask a naive question, they say, it will burn, it will not burn? There were still high-towers, like, for servers, but this is already exotic.
In the early 2000s (something like this in the years 2001-2003), the world became the way we see it now: iron workers pump igrodelov, igrodely - iron ore. Vidyushki began to come out one another more, and a successful gamer had to do an upgrade at least once a year. Comp became a luxury item, and the case confidently popped up on the position of a status sign. Korpusnyak had to be put more, but more brutal, always on the floor.
A very large role in turning the corps into a sort of fetish was played by modders (especially in the West). In general, for the corps, the collective mind has done an invaluable job. Rebases and LCD-panels were invented by modders, windows and a fan on the side - they came up with modders, put a power supply on the floor - they came up with modders, put a dust filter on the fan and then came up with modders! Marketers gave birth only to some kind of sucks in the form of screwless mounting. Phew!
The trend did reach production, and somewhere in 2004, pipipkomer cases began to enter the market - from aluminum, with windows, with handles, wheels, with locks on the sides and doors, mounting boards and drives on poison-lemon slides and latches or orange, with additional indicators and functions, etc. And it will be a mistake to say that here all this is out of place. You gave it five times more than for the “ordinary” case, so you should feel in every little thing how they licked you for this money. Actually, you pay for this feeling. Here, the addition of 3 grams of meteorite metal for the unique strength of the hull structure will not be superfluous.
Naturally, opinion leaders were obliged to purchase an expensive case and demonstrate to the whole Internet how cool new-fashioned pieces look in it. And hooray! In the mass consciousness, a powerful computer was associated with a case-for-three-hundred-bucksoff (minimum!).
In the meantime, quietly slipping into the industry, the problems crept skipping energy consumption and heat generation, and therefore, the howling of fans, the monstrous weight of coolers, overgrown wires to the ears, etc. etc., and the industry had to change standards, albeit not radically, as Intel's comrades suggested with their BTX, but a serious revision of the old ATX was required. These changes affected all price segments, and the corps-for-40-dollars-with-BP went to Styx without gurgling. The low-end moved to the middle price segment, and, horrified, due to the intensified competition, piper-sized receivers began to seep into the mainstream. And now it’s all mixed up in a wild dance, so you won’t find any ends. Well, let's try to figure it out and separate the grain from the chaff.



LCD panels NZXT LEXA and NZXT GUARDIAN 921 - to maintain an acceptable price you will have to save on something else.

Fuck goat lumin?

Let's start, of course, with the material, and ... Now, tell me, why do you need this aluminum ?! Well yes, it was fashionable, it was pretty. Someone suggested cooling the kit with the ribbed walls of the case (an interesting picture, it must be the case standing in the middle of the room and waving a newspaper with a newspaper), someone convinced us that the volume of the case objectively increased (the components became larger and hotter), and it was easier to carry ... No, I believe, I somehow dragged the hefty "Chief" to the railway station - damned everything, but tell me honestly, do you often carry corps? Instead of charging?
So, regarding the fact that the metal on the chassis should go thicker, and the sharp edges of the stamping should be rolled, it is difficult to disagree. For example, Chinese 5-year-old bodies begin to shake and rattle under the onslaught of modern revving and bass hard drives. I put a blue WD in my old “Invinchik” 500 GB, and the front panel began to rattle right away. I had to poke several times folded pieces of paper under the bottom of the case - great fun!
Since we are talking about the front panel, it seems to me personally that plastic allows the manufacturer to make much more attractive and varied options than metal, but the body muzzle is the only thing that sticks out from under the table and what one encounters with a look every day. Gloss, doors, sexy curves or German austerity, a hairnet or a goat face (there was such a Diabolic Minotaur ...) is a matter of personal preference. There are no problems here, because the choice is great. In modern trends, I like the fact that the front panel has become not just removable, but designed for multiple convenient removal and installation (by the way, its weight and the tendency to loosen and loosen are very important). This happened due to the installation of dust filters on the front fan (s), working (s) for blowing, and the need to replace them from time to time, an abundance of wires from all kinds of external ports and LCD panels, mounting external (read - sticking out) drives or there HDD boxes on a slide, etc. In modern cases, the front panel rests on petal fasteners made of soft plastic, so that it sits quite firmly and does not buzz (like in my workplace ... the tremor of the panel is frankly sickened - I will swear with the IT department so that I can buy a normal case ...). Most likely, the idea of ​​interchangeable panels (if not already happening) will soon be introduced in the field of luxury buildings: a good, strong chassis and the ability to turn over the old less functional panel and change it to a more functional, design stray (I would generally make fan panels using games and movies: Batman got sick of it - changed it to Lara Croft, for open offices - generally a great feature).
Again, it is not even discussed that at least a pair of USB, eSATA and FireWire should be taken out in front, but progress does not stand still, and USB 3.0 has already appeared. SATA 3.0, so it would be even better to be able to replace the front panel with a more current one. From left to right: NZXT LEXA, TEMPEST, Zero 2. The front panel made of perforated metal may look rustic against the background of plastic ones, but this is offset by excellent cooling efficiency and beautiful side panels. From left to right: NZXT LEXA, TEMPEST, GUARDIAN 921. Front doors with a door hide drives that are not always suitable in appearance and give more freedom to the designer’s imagination.








From left to right: NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, Zero 2. But sometimes manufacturers get carried away and put an expensive metal front panel on a very simple design, like on the HU001, and the price jumps sharply. From left to right: NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2. If you are unlikely to put the case, you can evaluate how the front panel changes depending on the positioning of the model. From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2, LEXA, TEMPEST. Unfortunately, airflow efficiency often suffers due to design, and vice versa. From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2, LEXA, HU001. Different bells and whistles may also be hidden behind the door, but it’s not a fact that, for example, finger recesses are really needed (unless to give weight to the appearance), but again the positioning of the model is felt.












From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, LEXA, Zero 2, TEMPEST. Behind the front panels you can also see the class of the case: whether it is replaceable dust filters or just a foam stick is glued, how the wires go and how many fans are included. From left to right: NZXT HU001, Beta Evo, LEXA. Still, full painting gives its effect - even without a panel, the Beta Evo looks neat.





There is one more question - to paint or not to paint? In my opinion, to paint! Now it’s fashionable to make completely black cases (both outside and inside, from below, behind and in the shower), and there is a sense in this: firstly, the case looks an order of magnitude neater richer (this is especially important if the case has a window that it looks very ridiculous if you can see the tin floor and hanging wires inside), and secondly, and this is even more important - electrified dust sticks to bare metal like shit, and it is very difficult to remove even with a wet rag (stains remain anyway) - this does not happen with a painted surface.

Black funkal cash

Since we are talking about the insides, let's talk about the functionality of modern bodies.
The first thing manufacturers hang on their shields is the so-called “screwless design”. Its principle is simple: a minimum of cogs - a maximum of plastic (latches, latches, skids). Meaning? So that you can assemble and disassemble everything without a screwdriver, even in a clean field ... Well, what's the point? And, here, I also find it difficult to say why to climb into the case without a screwdriver (preferably with a magnetic sting). All this plastic riffraff crawled along the hull products from pipyskomerkoy luxury buildings. I personally, from this all I see a spark of reason only in the screws with massive heads securing the side walls, and in the slide for one, well, a maximum of two hards. Why fasten video cards and DVD drives (some kind of hyper-active user, should be, if the DVD’s sticks all the time), it's hard to come up with. Isn’t it easier to fix everything on screws and rubber anti-vibration pads once and forget about it for many years? Especially when you consider that with the lower quality inherent in the mainstream, all these latches and latches turn out to be skewed and chewed, but they are - you can hang the corresponding feature on board. To my great joy, it is already clear that manufacturers and buyers have almost played enough with this, and in the buildings they are really starting to make a couple of places on the rails, and the rest on the screws (they save, and thank God!).
Another fashionable feature is removable screw baskets. Most users still do not need it, but the option is certainly useful for carrying RAID arrays. True, it is not always easy to remove these baskets without almost completely disassembling the system. Affects the quality of "economical" in-line production.
But turning the basket 90 degrees around the vertical axis is, indeed, necessary in modern conditions, especially when you consider the size of modern video cards, often in SLI or CrossFire, and the fragility of SATA connectors. True, here users managed to break them with a side wall, so now manufacturers are making a SATA cable outlet at an angle of 90 degrees to the wire.
Also, from the latest innovations, a removable plate and a window for removing the cooler in it are called to facilitate the life of the user. As for the removable plate, it only makes sense in large cases. Yes, it’s convenient to mount the motherboard on it outside the body (the screw does not roll, I'm sorry, into the sexual gap), but then insert it together with the mother in tight slots and even get into the rear panel with the ports and do not pick anything up - it's not easy.
As for the slot for removing the cooler backplate (reinforcing plate on the back of the motherboard) without unscrewing the motherboard, it makes sense even for “ordinary” users, because it is recommended that the system be serviced at least once every six months. Another question is that everyone does not care about it, and somehow everything works ...



From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, LEXA, Zero 2, TEMPEST. In cases more expensive HDD baskets are deployed 90 degrees. The flagship of the line - in general, two removable baskets. Deployed and removable baskets greatly simplify the installation and removal of hard drives. Removable baskets are more needed for carrying RAID arrays, so this option is clearly not for everyone. From left to right: NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, LEXA. Proper organization of the internal space makes the cheapest case more valuable than the more expensive case with a sophisticated front panel. For whom 7 slots for 3.5 '' devices are made in such a cramped case - it's a mystery to me.

The fight for cleanliness

That's where, where, and in the field of increasing the efficiency of air flows inside the housing, any new technological solution will not be redundant. Heat dissipation is growing exponentially, vidyuhi and hardy are stuffed into slots, like sprats in a jar, the whole body is overgrown with bundles of thick wires.
The victim of the struggle for efficient airflow is often the front panel falling. No, it cannot be said that the perforated mesh for the whole face is not aesthetically pleasing, but, nevertheless, for my taste, it looks rustic. With this approach, the case is a continuous sieve: both the panel and the plugs of the slots are all made of perforated metal, and behind the panel there are (or provided for places) for two 120mm fans. In a good case, dust-stopping foam should be glued on the plugs, and replaceable dust filters should be installed on the fans. In buildings with a "designer" front panel, air intake was made somewhere near the floor, and one fan pumps it (less than 120 mm - not serious!). The truth, as always, is in the middle - in my opinion, it is better for the face to be expressive, but the air should also be taken through the ventilation slots,
Probably, I consider the transfer of the power supply to the floor to be one of the most robust technical solutions in recent years (what’s called, finally got it!) (The first, by the way, enthusiastic users themselves began to transfer the first). From this, firstly, the system unit becomes more stable, and secondly, we must take into account the gravity of the earth - the wires do not hang up! When assembling a config in the back with a power supply on the floor, you immediately feel the difference - the entire cable bundle settles to the bottom, and air passes quietly through the video cards and the processor cooler. Previously, when the power supply fan was the second and only one working to extract air, the position from above was justified, but now it makes no sense to save on additional fans. Here you can even come to terms with the need to slightly raise the PSU above the floor on the brackets, because the fan is on the bottom,
The second ingenious solution is cable management, or cable management, which, however, was born out of a sense of beauty, and not by virtue of a rational approach (the modders were the first to fight for the aesthetics of the internal space, and then, the trend migrated to the "meat" luxury buildings where you don’t have to complain about the amount of internal space). These are grooves or even extruded gutters designed to run wires from the drives, PSU (if it is on top) and the front panel strictly along the wall or even behind the mounting plate to the point of connection to the motherboard. Not only is it very convenient, in tight cases it is an urgent need, so saving on this chip is not worth it. Also, gutters are made along the port side and plastic ties are placed to secure the wires there. It’s not very convenient - in which case, will have to cut it. In expensive cases along with all possible routes of cables and loops, plastic reusable clip-on clips can still be made.


NZXT Beta Evo and HU001. In a cramped housing, cable management tools are of utmost importance. But even in large cases, grooves for laying wires will not be superfluous. NZXT HU001 - wires from a powerful power supply block all the space for air flow, and long video cards abut hard drives. NZXT HU001 - installing a second video card into the array will be problematic. NZXT TEMPEST - all wires “fell” into the space between the power supply and the HDD cage. NZXT TEMPEST - Installing hard drives even with this orientation basket does not interfere. NZXT TEMPEST - nothing prevents the air flow through the processor cooler, which means that it will work much quieter.



















An additional outboard air intake is taken from the port side :). For the first time, something like this appeared during the hellishly hot Prescott and Pentium D - in the left wall of the cases they began to make a ventilation hole and a plastic folding-folding creepy looking duct directed towards the processor cooler (the second elbow of this duct all the time fell off). In my opinion, there was no sense in it (it only interfered with the air flow), so this miracle of Chinese engineering disappeared as quickly and suddenly as it appeared. The most correct solution is to install additional airflow on video cards, the turbines of which need to be given an additional influx of fresh air and thus reduce the heating of the air flow passing through the processor cooler. This was once noticed by overclocking enthusiasts, and modders picked up the idea, because the light cooler perfectly animated an empty window cut out in the left panel. So this idea migrated to industrial production.
Now an interesting phenomenon is happening - the needs of enthusiasts have gone in different ways. If the case is taken under the top-end heavy-duty gaming system with an array of two dual-chip video cards (or 3-4 single-chip in the sprat mode in the bank), then one cooler on the window is most likely not enough (especially in summer) and you need a “chandelier” from 2-4 120-140mm gates (it’s still fashionable to set one quieter 240mm). That is, you have to sacrifice a window, or, at most, admire a piece of the insides through transparent fans with backlight. If the case is taken for aesthetics or for water cooling, then the fan on the window already completely performs a decorative function - however, you also have to pay for aesthetics.


NZXT Beta Evo made two places for 120mm fans at the graphics card level, LEXA is equipped with one fan over PCI-E slots, and GUARDIAN 921 has a cooler in the center, which is more effective, but less efficient. NZXT HU001 with its deaf is clearly not intended for a powerful gaming configuration. NZXT Zero 2 clearly demonstrates its priorities - a “chandelier” as many as four fans, aimed at the area of ​​the video card array. NZXT TEMPEST is also focused on powerful systems: a 120mm fan blows precisely on video cards. Side panels together - for comparison.













Well, we got to the back. It, again, should be as transparent as possible for the air flow, and here a competent manufacturer will not skimp on additional seats for 120mm (and better - 140mm) fans, additional ventilation grilles on any empty dream and plugs for expansion slots are all from the same perforated metal. And these lotions can no longer be called redundant, although they cost extra money.
Finally, the last sluggish flow that manufacturers offer us to organize is the natural movement of hot air from the bottom up. To do this, a ventilation hole with a dust filter is often provided in the case floor, and seats for two 120 mm coolers are made in the upper case cover. Thus, an inexperienced user with playful handles gets excessive freedom for a hectic activity, as a result of which he can instruct fans in all slots in general and only worsen the cooling efficiency, but the meaning of a leaky roof is not that ... Right to left:



NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2. Again, it is very clearly visible for whom each case is intended. In the small Beta Evo - there is only one place for a fan, but the rest of the rear panel has almost no blind spots. From right to left: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2, LEXA, TEMPEST - in large cases, they care less about the rear panel. From right to left: NZXT Beta Evo, LEXA, Zero 2, TEMPEST - the cheapest case in the line has no less effective cooling from the top than the most expensive (except that the latter already comes with fans). NZXT Beta Evo and HU001: ventilation for the power supply - in the first and noise insulation - in the second. Make a mistake with the choice :)












NZXT LEXA also has a floor vent for another airflow.

Water-water

For several years now, a mournful song has been going on: “Does the user need a water cushion?”. As a person who had the opportunity to observe the demand for water cooling systems and components for them, I can say with confidence: “Needed!”. Clients come with enviable regularity with the following diagnoses:
1) I bought an OC-editing video card (with lifted cores on the core) or "silent" with a passive (or simply unsuccessful non-reference) cooling system, and it overheats and artifacts.
2) I live with my wife in odnushka, and I can’t play normally, because she sleeps sensitively (or a small child sleeps), and the video card constantly roars with its frantic cooler.
In general, the need overcomes the fear of Babayka in the closet in the face of a terrible and terrible leak, which will shorten the entire system with one drop and erase all the porn from the hard drives (they would have seen naturally wet motherboards, memory and video cards after the next nitrogen bench session, their probably Candratius would have hugged :)), and the client goes for CBO. Well, those who “want freebies on the after party”, to say the least, overclocking the processor to 4+ GHz 24/7, also come.
So, the holes in the ceiling are, in fact, in order to install a two-section CBO radiator with blowing over them. In addition to them, there are round openings for hoses on the rear panel: in larger cases there are more, with rubber petals to protect against damage (although one has to manage this), in small ones - under thin hoses, but this should be enough to solve the two problems described above .
Well, I agree that 90% of the NWO users and all the stray ones will not be useful for them, at least in the next couple of years, but, nevertheless, in which case I would not want to drill improvised ventilation holes in the roof of the case and slots for hoses in the rear panel.

What is the price?

Theory is, of course, good, but what can one get for sane money in practice. By the nature of the IT-jour’s activity, I have to deal with different types of press releases as well as in practice, and I had an idea to track how the price grows depending on the bells and whistles, or, conversely, what you can get for such some money. I was given the opportunity to disassemble the line of NZXT cases, which interested me in their pricing policy, they say, we give what the gamer dreams of at a reasonable price. Below I made a small visual plate:

Specifications:

Parameter	NZXT Beta Evo	NZXT HU001	NZXT Zero 2	NZXT GUARDIAN 921	NZXT LEXA Blackline	NZXT TEMPEST
1. Price, $	65	98	107	115	120	126
2. Dimensions / volume (l.)	43.1	41.6	60.0	49.4	65.3	62.0
2.1. Width	200	193.4	210.5	206	220	211.5
2.2. Height	430	418.5	532	459	522	521.5
2.3. Depth	501	513.4	536	522	569	562
3. Cooling
3.1. Front (pieces, mm)	1x120	1x120	1x120	1x120	1x120	2x120
backlight	blue	blue	blue	blue	not	blue
included	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	not	Yes
3.2. Back (pieces, mm)	1x120	1x120	2x120	1x120	1x120	2x120
backlight	not	not	not	not	red	not
included	not	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
3.3. Side (pieces, mm)	2x120	-	4x120	1x120	1x120	1x120
backlight	not	-	not	blue	red	blue
included	not	-	not	Yes	Yes	Yes
3.4. Top (pieces, mm)	2x120 (140)	-	1x80	-	1x80	2x140
backlight	-	-	-	-	not	not
included	not	-	not	-	Yes	Yes
3.5. Bottom (pieces, mm)	1x120	-	1x80	-	1x80	-
backlight	-	-	-	-	-	-
included	not	-	not	-	not	-
4. HDD / drive slots	9	eleven	thirteen	9	eleven	12
4.1. 5.25 external	4	4	5	3	4	3 (6)
4.2. 3.5 external	0	2	2	2	2	1
4.3. 3.5 internal	5	5	6	4	5	6 (3)
4.4. Mounting	slide	latches	slide	slide	slide	slide
4.5. HDD basket	deployed	standard	deployed	deployed	deployed	removable
5. Painting inside	Yes	not	not	not	not	not
6. Side window	not	not	not	Yes	Yes	Yes
7. The door	not	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	not
8. Power supply	from below	from above	from above	from above	from above	from below
9. Slots for wires	Yes	not	not	not	not	Yes
10. Display and sensors	not	not	not	Yes	Yes	not
11. Readiness for ITS	Yes	not	not	Yes	Yes	Yes
12. Weight	7.28	6.00	10,20	8.20	11.50	11.20
13. Features	Perforated Metal Expansion Slots	Soundproofing