Blow into the body: how much logic 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. Yes, not really. Extensive development must keep pace with the intensive, otherwise the formed circus begins. In the IT industry, this circus is observed with enviable regularity. It is necessary for 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's” on CD-ROMs: manufacturers have played up to the point that users had to write slow-down programs for their 52-bit noise makers. And only Plextor made up their mind to take a chance and release the writing that used the backup disk area and managed to burn 1 GB to a standard disc.
')


For modern examples, too, it is not necessary to go far: “For an average current gaming configuration, a power supply unit with a capacity of at least 650 W is recommended” ... Che? Yes, at least you 500 watts how to load! Oh, yes! The market is full of 300-watt handicrafts from Uncle Liao with a proud number of 500W, and it’s better to make a 50-100% margin out of harm's way. Well, we are glad to try - here you, user, 670 W, and there and up to 750 not far.
Eight-phase processor power, 12-phase ... But what is there? You immediately 24-phase! I wonder why those who jumped out like a yo-yo from a snuffbox, thanks to a bunch of world performance records, EVGA Classified X58 only have a 10-phase (but digital;)) power circuit? In general, where is this world going, if the great and terrible ASUS, in fact, evrigs the visual design of top motherboards from EVGA (or did it seem to me to wake up)?
But all this is fine, for the so-called “simple user” - these are all too complicated matters, but people manage to fool and in seemingly quite incredible areas. I, behold, I am watching the market of computer cases with growing surprise. Something out there is some kind of complete Satanism going on ...

Dungeon children ... Chinese

I will mentally go away in 1994 ... No, stop! Then there was only one type of case - standard AT :). Better a little later - the end of the 90s. Shells on the Mitinsky radio market were chosen exclusively in the face (they were already with a door, and I had a curtain, oh, and I suffered with it!) And the power unit rating (divided in two, for it is clear that China is a terry). Still it was possible for the seller to ask a naive question, they say, will burn, not burn? There were also high-towers, like, for servers, but this is already from the category of exotics.
In the early 2000s (somewhere in the years 2001-2003), the world became what we see it now: the iron workers pump up igrodels, the igrodels - ironworks. Vidyushki began to leave one another more, and a successful gamer was obliged to make an upgrade at least once a year. The computer became a luxury item, and the body confidently floated to the position of a sign of status. Korpusnyak had to put more, but more stubborn, 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, collective corps has done an invaluable work for corps. Reobasa and LCD panels came up with modders, windows and a fan on the side - they came up with modders, shoved a power supply unit 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 sediment in the form of screwless mounting. Phew
The trend has reached production, and somewhere by 2004, pipiskomery cases began to enter the market - made of aluminum, with windows, with handles, castors, with latches on the sides and doors, mounting boards and drives on a sled and latch of poisonous-lemon or orange, with additional indicators and features, etc. And it would be wrong to say that all this is out of place here. You gave five times more than for the "regular" case, so you should feel in every little detail how you were licked for this money. Actually, you pay for this feeling. Here and the addition of 3 grams of meteoric metal for the unique strength of the hull's structure will not be superfluous.
Naturally, public opinion leaders had to buy an expensive case for themselves and show the whole Internet how cool the newfangled pieces of iron look in it. And, hooray! In the mass consciousness, a powerful comp associated with case-for-three hundred baxoff (minimum!).
Meanwhile, on the sly, the industry has sneaked on the problems of growing skipping energy consumption and heat generation, and therefore, howling fans, the monstrous weight of coolers, overgrowth of wires to the ears, etc. etc., and the industry had to change the standards, though not radically, as suggested by the comrades from Intel with their BTX, but a serious revision of the old ATX was required. These changes affected all price segments, and the case-for-$ 40-c-BP went to Styx without gurgling. The low-end moved to the average price segment, and, oh, the horror, due to the heightened competition, the metering tricks began to leak into the mainstream. And now it's all mixed up in a wild dance, so you will not find the ends. Well, let's try to sort out and separate the wheat from the chaff.



LCD panels NZXT LEXA and NZXT GUARDIAN 921 - to save a reasonable price will have to save on something else.

Why the hell goat lumin?

We begin, 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 ribbed walls of the case (an interesting picture, it must be - the case standing in the middle of the room and the host waving a newspaper at it), someone convinces us that the hull volumes objectively grew (the components became larger and hotter), and it was easier to drag him ... No, I believe, he somehow dragged a hefty Chif to the railway station - he cursed 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 punching should be rolled, it is difficult to disagree. For example, the Chinese bodies of 5 years old begin to walk with shaking and rattle under the onslaught of modern resourceful and bass hard drives. I put 500 GB WD in my old “Invinchik” here, and my front panel started to rattle right away. I had to tuck under the bottom of the body several times folded pieces of paper - great fun!
If we are talking about the front panel, then personally it seems to me that plastic allows the manufacturer to make much nicer and more varied options than metal, and the body muzzle is the only thing that sticks out from under the table and what you look at every day. Gloss, doors, sexual curves or German rigor, a hair net or a goat muzzle (there was such a Diabolic Minotaur ...) is a matter of personal preference. There are no problems here, for 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-installation (by the way, its weight and craving for loosening and loosening are very important). This happened due to the installation of dust filters on the front fan (s), working (s) to blow, and the need to replace them from time to time, the abundance of wires from all kinds of external ports and LCD panels, mounting external (read - sticking out) drives or is there HDD boxes on skids, etc. Modern housings have a front panel on petal fasteners made of soft plastic, so it sits quite firmly and doesn’t buzz (as I have in the workplace ... the panel tremor is obviously dumb - I’ll swear at the IT department to buy a normal case ...). Most likely, the idea of ​​interchangeable panels will soon be introduced in the field of luxury cases (if it does not already occur): a good, strong chassis and the opportunity to turn in an older, less functional panel and change it to a more functional, designer pribluda (I would do fan panels by games and movies: zadolbal Batman - changed it to Lara Croft, for open offices - generally a great chip).
Again, it’s not even discussed that at least a pair of USB, eSATA and FireWire should be brought up in front, but progress is not in place, and USB 3.0 has already appeared. SATA 3.0, so it would be 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 of perforated metal can look plain on the background of plastic, 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 do not always hide the appearance of the drive and give more imagination of the designer.


From left to right: NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, Zero 2. But sometimes manufacturers are addicted and put an expensive metal front panel on a very simple case, like on HU001, and the price jumps sharply.


From left to right: NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2. If you put the case is unlikely, then you can estimate how the front panel changes depending on the positioning of the model.


From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2, LEXA, TEMPEST. Unfortunately, due to the design, the efficiency of air flow often suffers, and vice versa.


From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2, LEXA, HU001. Behind the door, too, various bells and whistles may be hiding, but not the fact that, for example, finger grooves are so necessary (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 foam rubber, 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 the Beta Evo panel, it looks neat.

There is one more question - to paint or not to paint? In my opinion, to paint! Now the fashion has gone to make completely black cases (both outside and inside, below, behind and in the shower), and there is a sense in this: first, the case looks much tidier richer (this is especially important if the case with a window that It looks very ridiculous if tin floor and hanging wires look inside), and secondly, and this is even more important - electrified dust sticks to bare tin, like shit, and it is very difficult to remove even with a wet cloth (still stains remain) - with a painted surface this does not happen.

Black funkitso cash

If we are talking about viscera, let's talk about the functionality of modern bodies.
The first thing manufacturers post on their boards is the so-called “screwless design”. Its principle is simple: a minimum of screws - maximum plastic (valves, latches, slide). Meaning? So that you can assemble and disassemble everything without a screwdriver, even in an open field ... So, 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 tip). All this plastic rag-tag has spread out on corpus products from pin-shaped luxury cases. I personally, from all this I see a spark of reason only in screws with massive heads, fixing side walls, and in a sled for one, well, maximum two hard drives. Why should video cards and DVD drives be latched (some kind of hyper-active user, it should be if the DVD’s is resting on it all the time) is hard to come up with. Isn't it easier once to fix everything on screws and anti-vibration rubber gaskets and forget about it for many years? Especially if you take into account that with lower quality inherent in the mainstream, all these valves and latches turn out to be skewed and chewed, but they are there - you can hang the corresponding feature on board. To my great joy, it is already clear that manufacturers and buyers have almost played enough of this, and in the buildings they are really starting to make a couple of places on the sled, and the rest - on screws (save, and thank God!).
Another fashionable thing is removable baskets for screws. Most users do not need it, but the option is certainly useful for carrying RAIDs. However, it is not always easy to remove these baskets without almost dismantling the system. It affects the quality of "economical" in-line production.
But reversing the basket 90 degrees around the vertical axis is really necessary in modern conditions, especially considering the size of modern video cards that often stand in SLI or CrossFire, and the fragility of SATA connectors. True, even here users managed to break them with a side wall, so now manufacturers make a socket on the SATA cable at an angle of 90 degrees to the wire.
Also of the latest innovations to facilitate the life of the user called a removable plate and a window for removing the cooler in it. As for the removable plate, it makes sense only in large cases. Yes, it is convenient to mount the motherboard outside the body (the screw will not roll, forgive, in the sex gap), but then insert it together with the mother into tight slots and even get into the back panel with ports and do not overshoot anything - it is not easy.
As for the slot for removing the cooler backplate (reinforcement plate on the back side of the motherboard) without unscrewing the motherboard, it makes sense even for “ordinary” users, because it is recommended to maintain the system at least once every six months. Another question is that everyone does not care for it, and somehow everything works ...



From left to right: NZXT GUARDIAN 921, LEXA, Zero 2, TEMPEST. In cases more expensive HDD baskets are rotated 90 degrees. In the flagship of the line - generally two removable baskets.



Expanded and removable baskets greatly simplify the installation and disassembly of hard drives.


Removable baskets are more needed for carrying RAIDs, 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 a more expensive case with a heaped front panel.


For whom in such a close case 7 slots for 3.5 "devices were made - a mystery to me.

Fight for purity of flow

This is where, where, and in the area of ​​increasing the efficiency of airflow inside the case, any new technological solution will not be superfluous. Heat dissipation grows exponentially, vidyuhi and hard stuffed into slots, like sprats in a jar, the whole building is overgrown with bunches of thick wires.
The victim of the fight for effective air flow often falls front panel. No, one cannot say that the perforated mesh for the whole face is not aesthetically pleasing, but, nevertheless, for my taste, it looks rustic. With this approach, the body is a solid sieve: both the panel and the slots plugs are all made of perforated metal, and behind the panel there are (or places) for two 120mm fans. In a good case, dust-proofing foam should be stuck on the plugs, and replaceable dust filters installed on the fans. In cases with a “designer” front panel, the air intake is made somewhere near the floor, and one fan pumps it (less than 120 mm is not serious!). The truth, as always, is in the middle - in my opinion, it is better that the face is expressive, but the air is drawn through the ventilation slots made at least half the height of the body, because here, as in sex, the main thing is to blow well, sparse the atmosphere in the body of a sensible person does not smile.
Probably one of the most robust technical solutions in recent years (as they say, it finally reached!) I consider the transfer of the power supply unit to the floor (the first, by the way, again, the enthusiastic users themselves began to transfer). From this, firstly, the sistemnik becomes more stable, and secondly, it is necessary to take into account gravity - the wires do not hang up! When assembling a config in the back with a power supply unit on the floor, the difference is immediately felt - the entire cable quiver settles to the bottom, and the air quietly passes through the video card and the processor cooler. Earlier, when the power supply fan was the second and only one that worked on the air exhaust, the position from above was justified, but now there is no sense in saving additional fans. Here you can even put up with the need to slightly raise the power supply above the floor on the brackets, because he has a fan from below, and he also needs an air flow.
The second ingenious solution is cable management, or cable laying tools, which, however, was born out of a sense of beauty, and not because of a rational approach (the modders were the first to fight for the aesthetics of the internal space, and then the trend migrated to cases where the volume of the internal space does not have to complain). These are grooves or even extruded gutters intended to run the wires from the drives, the power supply unit (if it is on top) and the front panel strictly along the wall or generally behind the mounting plate to the place of connection to the motherboard. Not only is it very convenient, in cramped cases - this is a dire need, so you should not save on this chip. Also do the gutters along the left side and put plastic ties to secure the wires there. This is not very convenient - in which case, you will have to cut it. In expensive cases along all possible routes of cables and loops, reusable plastic clamps-latches can still be made.


NZXT Beta Evo and HU001. In close enclosures, cable management tools become imperative.


But in large cases, the grooves for laying wires will not be superfluous.


NZXT HU001 - wires from a powerful power supply unit cover all the space for air flow, and long video cards run into hard drives.


NZXT HU001 - installing a second video card in an array will be problematic.


NZXT TEMPEST - all wires “fell” into the space between the power supply and HDD cage.


NZXT TEMPEST - nothing hinders installation of hard drives even with this orientation of the basket.


NZXT TEMPEST - nothing interferes with the flow of air through the CPU cooler, which means it will work much quieter.

Additional intake air is taken from the left side :). Something similar appeared for the first time in the times of hellishly hot Prescotts and Pentium Ds - a vent hole and a plastic folding-folding creepy-looking air duct directed at the processor cooler began to make in the left wall of the cases (the second elbow of this duct fell off all the time). In my opinion, there was no meaning in him (he only interfered with the air flow), so this miracle of Chinese engineering thought 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 inflow of fresh air and thus reduce the heating of the air flow passing through the processor cooler. This was noticed by enthusiasts who were busy with overclocking, and the modders picked up the idea, because the light cooler enlivened the empty window cut in the left panel perfectly. So this idea and migrated into industrial production.
Now an interesting phenomenon is happening - the needs of enthusiasts went in different ways. If the case is taken under the top-end super-powered gaming system with an array of two dual-chip video cards (or 3-4 single-chip video cards 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 valves (it is still fashionable to install one more quiet 240mm). That is, you have to sacrifice a window, well, or, at most, to admire a piece of viscera through transparent fans with a backlight. If the case is taken for aesthetics or under water cooling, then the fan on the window completely fulfills a decorative function - however, you also have to pay for aesthetics.


NZXT Beta Evo made two places for 120mm fans at the level of video cards, LEXA is equipped with one fan over PCI-E slots, and for GUARDIAN 921 - a cooler in the center, which is more effective, but less effective.


NZXT HU001 with its deaf is clearly not intended for a powerful gaming configuration.


NZXT Zero 2 clearly demonstrates its priorities - a “chandelier” of as many as four fans, directed to the area of ​​an array of video cards.


NZXT TEMPEST is also focused on powerful systems: a 120mm fan blows exactly on a video card.


Side panels together - for comparison.

Well, we got to the back. Again, it should be as transparent as possible for the air flow, and then a competent manufacturer will not skimp on additional seating for 120mm (or better than 140mm) fans, additional ventilation grilles on any empty dream and expansion slots, all of which are perforated metal. And these gadgets can no longer be called redundant, although they cost extra money.
Finally, the last sluggish stream, which manufacturers offer us and this natural movement of hot air from bottom to top. To do this, a ventilation hole with a dust filter is often provided in the floor of the case, and seats for two 120mm coolers are made in the upper case cover. Thus, an inexperienced user with playful hands gets too much freedom for hectic activity, as a result of which he can instruct fans in all slots and only worsen the cooling efficiency, but the sense of a leaky roof is not really that ...


From right to left:
NZXT Beta Evo, HU001, GUARDIAN 921, Zero 2. Again, you can see very well for whom each case is intended. In the small Beta Evo, there is only one place for the 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 back panel.


From right to left: NZXT Beta Evo, LEXA, Zero 2, TEMPEST - the cheapest case in the line has at least effective cooling from above than the most expensive one (except for the fact that the latter already has fans included).


NZXT Beta Evo and HU001: ventilation for the power supply - at the first and noise insulation - at the second. It’s not a mistake to make a choice :)


NZXT LEXA also has a ventilation hole in the floor for organizing another airflow.

Water-water

For several years now, a sad song has been dragged out, “Does the user need a water drink?”. As a person who had the opportunity to observe the demand for water cooling systems and components for them, I can say with confidence: “Need it!”. Clients with the following diagnoses come with enviable regularity:
1) I bought an OT-edishn video card (with a bullet on the core) or a “silent” with a passive (or just unsuccessful non-reference) cooling system, and it overheats and artifacts.
2) I live with my wife in odnushku, and I can not normally play, because she sleeps lightly (or a small child sleeps), and the video card constantly roars with its mad cooler.
In general, the need overcomes the fear of Babayka in the closet in the face of a terrible and terrible leakage, which in one drop will short out the entire system and erase all porn from the hard drives (they would see naturally wet motherboards, memory and video cards after another nitrogen benchmark session, , probably, Candrati would have embraced :)), and the client goes for SVO. Well, those who “want after-party freebies,” that is, overclocking the processor to 4+ GHz 24/7, also come.
So, the holes in the ceiling - this is, in fact, in order to install over them a two-piece CBO radiator with blowing. In addition to them, there are round holes for the hoses on the rear panel: larger in larger cases, rubber petals to protect against damage (although this should be managed), in small cases there are thin hoses, but to solve the two problems described above, this should be enough .
Well, I agree that 90% of users of SVO and all the pribludy under them will not be useful, at least in the next couple of years, but, nevertheless, in which case I would not like to drill the improvised ventilation holes in the roof of the case and hoses for the rear panel.

How much?

The theory is, of course, good, but what can be obtained for sane money in practice. By the nature of the IT-zhura activity, I have to deal with different cases both in the form of press releases and in practice, and I had an idea to follow how the price rises depending on the bells and whistles, or, on the contrary, which can be obtained for such something money. I was given a chance to crush the line of NZXT cases that interested me with their price policy, they say, we give what the gamer dreams of, at a reasonable price. Below I have compiled a small visual tablet:

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. Sizes / 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
in set	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	not	Yes
3.2. Behind (pieces, mm)	1x120	1x120	2x120	1x120	1x120	2x120
backlight	not	not	not	not	red	not
in set	not	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
3.3. Sideways (pieces, mm)	2x120	-	4x120	1x120	1x120	1x120
backlight	not	-	not	blue	red	blue
in set	not	-	not	Yes	Yes	Yes
3.4. (, )	2120(140)	-	180	-	180	2140
	-	-	-	-	not	not
in set	not	-	not	-	Yes	Yes
3.5. (, )	1120	-	180	-	180	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-
in set	not	-	not	-	not	-
4. HDD/	9	eleven	13	9	eleven	12
4.1. 5.25	four	four	five	3	four	3(6)
4.2. 3.5	0	2	2	2	2	one
4.3. 3.5	five	five	6	four	five	6(3)
4.4. Installation
4.5. HDD
5.	Yes	not	not	not	not	not
6.	not	not	not	Yes	Yes	Yes
7.	not	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	not
8.
9.	Yes	not	not	not	not	Yes
10.	not	not	not	Yes	Yes	not
11.	Yes	not	not	Yes	Yes	Yes
12.	7,28	6,00	10,20	8,20	11,50	11,20
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