KVR Audio

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:09 pm

I'm toying with the idea of building a 13th Gen Core i9 13900K water cooled Windows 11 PC tower rather than buying a new M2 Ultra Mac Studio. The PC would go on the floor under my music desk. So it would be out of sight for the most part.

However, I just can't seem to get past how hideously ugly most PC cases are. Almost all of them have a clear or frosted glass side. Why would anyone want to look inside their PC? So they can show off their cable management? It's beyond stupid. Actually, what's beyond stupid are cases that include interior RGB lighting

The "be quiet! Silent Base 802" case is a bit boring looking. But at least it's not horribly ugly and doesn't feature a glass side.

https://tinyurl.com/2nmggy4w

Fractal Design make a version of their Meshify 2 case with a solid metal side (rather than glass). But then they had to go and ruin it with that ugly front panel.

https://tinyurl.com/2hxha7p6

I used to own two Lian Li cases that were designed after the Apple G5 computer case (the one with all the small holes in the front and on the top of the case). The Lian Li cases were made out of solid aluminum and even included small aluminum wheels to make it easier to move the PCs around. The cases were also toolless which made it a breeze to pull off the side panels and to add new drives. Speaking of which, the interiors of the cases could hold five 3.5" drives and six 2.5" SSDs. The thermals were awesome.

I can't believe I gave those computers away. I should have stripped out all the parts and at least kept the cases which cost over $300 a piece. But who knew that PC cases were destined to become so horrible looking?

Here's an old AnandTech page which shows the Lian Li PC-V1000 case design. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

https://www.anandtech.com/show/1310/2

If anyone has any suggestions for better looking PC cases, please let me know. Thanks!

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:27 pm

I'd buy this for a home theater computer:

https://www.fractal-design.com/products ... alk-white/

D

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:30 am

Ex Machina wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:09 pmFractal Design make a version of their Meshify 2 case with a solid metal side (rather than glass). But then they had to go and ruin it with that ugly front panel.

I think that case looks absolutely f**king awesome! It woud lbe a shame to hide something of such artistic beauty under a desk.

But if you want something plain, how about this Asus one, it come sin black or white -

Personally, I'd go for this one -

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:59 am

I kind of like the look of the "Terra" small form factor PC case from Fractal Design. It reminds me a bit of a white Access Virus TI module but with the stylish wood end cheeks of the TI keyboard. However, I don't think a small form factor PC would be suitable for an i9 13900K processor. That CPU runs so hot that I don't think there would be enough air flow in a case this size. And I doubt there is a way to mount a radiator / water cooler.

jdnz · Post by **jdnz** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:06 am

just go for the define xl r2 - sure it's boring black, but heaps of drive bays and still room for water cooling (top mount) plus it's big enough to take server grade boards

https://www.fractal-design.com/products ... ack-pearl/

jdnz · Post by **jdnz** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:08 am

or if you've got the cash to spend go for a ready-built supermicro tr-pro system - we've got a couple of these at work

https://www.supermicro.com/en/aplus/sys ... 14a-tt.cfm

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:26 am

This:

Versus this:

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:41 am

jdnz wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 1:06 am just go for the define xl r2 - sure it's boring black, but heaps of drive bays and still room for water cooling (top mount) plus it's big enough to take server grade boards

https://www.fractal-design.com/products ... ack-pearl/

Thanks for the suggestion. The Fractal Define XL R2 is more my speed. It's like the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey coming down to meet the hominoids.

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:00 am

If this 12th Gen i9 12900K water cooled Dell XPS tower only had Thunderbolt 3 or 4 ports to connect to my MOTU audio interface, I would buy it and be done with it. Incidentally, Dell also sells 13th Gen i9 13900K XPS desktops. But they are wicked expensive with the nVidia GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs.

The Dell XPS 12th Gen i9 12900K with a GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, 64GB of RAM, and a 2TB NVMe SSD costs $3,200. The new M2 Ultra Mac Studio with 24 CPU cores, 60 GPU cores, 64GB of RAM and a 2TB NVMe drive is $4,400 plus tax. But I would also need to spend an additional $250 on an OWC 4-slot NVMe Thunderbolt 4 drive enclosure that runs much slower than an internal NVMe drive on a PC motherboard.

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:11 am

I'm leaning more and more to this Fractal Design "North" case. The white color and wood front panel make it look more like a high-end appliance than a computer.

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:26 am

Some nice wooden cases available on Etsy. I would probably make my own if I were going to make another pc any time soon. I do like that fractal North case as well.

This guy for example. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Cubeor

revvy · Post by **revvy** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:32 am

BONES wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:30 am
Personally, I'd go for this one -

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 3:54 am

Came across this one the other day (for a mini-pc);

woodpc.jpg

Top of it is wood.

Ex Machina · Post by **Ex Machina** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 5:02 am

pekbro wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:26 am Some nice wooden cases available on Etsy. I would probably make my own if I were going to make another pc any time soon. I do like that fractal North case as well.

This guy for example. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Cubeor

Those wooden cases on Etsy are awesome. I like the light wood color the best. However, I don't see anywhere on the back of the case where the motherboard ports (or graphics card connectors) would go.

Shabdahbriah · Post by **Shabdahbriah** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 5:09 am

BONES wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:30 am
Ex Machina wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:09 pmFractal Design make a version of their Meshify 2 case with a solid metal side (rather than glass). But then they had to go and ruin it with that ugly front panel.
I think that case looks absolutely f**king awesome! It woud lbe a shame to hide something of such artistic beauty under a desk.

Couldn't agree more. I've built one-off/ground-up custom computers/workstations for over two decades, and chose the Meshify C model a couple of years ago for a new build for my son, and it is without doubt one of the best built (quality abounds), most accessible cases I've ever used. He has since turned three of his online gamer friends on to it for their builds, and they all love it.

I use two Fractal Design R5's as my main workstations, and again, the quality/workmanship and ease of access/flexibility is astounding. I can not recommend them enough.

Why are PC cases so ugly?