AZZA Introduces CAST Mid-Tower ATX PC Case with Removable Outer Shell and Independent Frame

[btarunr]

AZZA, a leading brand of computer cases and accessories, introduces the CAST ATX PC case that re-imagines the design of a traditional mid-tower. The CAST has a removable outer shell that gives full access to the interior for effortless installation. When fully built, the unique wing design can be completely extended, requiring zero tools to access the interior, or flexed for better airflow. The CAST can even be flipped to a 90-degree orientation.

The CAST design consists of an independent frame and an outer shell with two hinged panels that provides full access to the hardware for maintenance and cleaning, and an easy to latch on/off front panel. When building the system, the entire shell can be easily removed to prevent accidental damages. This also means the shell can be worked on independently for customization purposes.



Unique Wing Design for Easy Access
The unique shell features hinged top and bottom panels, creating wings that wrap around the frame to form the left side panel. In a closed position, the CAST offers a minimalistic look with a cutout window emphasizing the graphics card. When open, it provides access to the inside and also gives an open-air option for improved internal airflow, which can be further enhanced with an included AZZA Hurricane III 120 mm ARGB fan at the back, and optional cooling for 2x 240/ 3x 120 mm fans or up to a 280/360 radiator at the front.

90-Degree Orientation
Another advantage to the hinged panel is for the case to be turned 90 degrees, standing with the rear panel facing down, giving the CAST an entirely new look to display the hardware installed inside. With enough room at the rear panel and an opening on the right-side panel to run the cables, it is easy to achieve a clean setup while breaking the traditional tower position.



The MSRP of the CAST black or white is US $209.99. For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[phanbuey]

i love it.

 

[EatingDirt]

i love it.

... and I hate it.

I legitimately hate open designs, or designs with absolutely no filters(fine mesh is... iffy). In my opinion filters are worth the cost of a few degrees for the convenience of not having to clean the entire PC out every few months.

 

[phanbuey]

... and I hate it.

I legitimately hate open designs, or designs with absolutely no filters(fine mesh is... iffy). In my opinion filters are worth the cost of a few degrees for the convenience of not having to clean the entire PC out every few months.

'A few degrees' on a stock system maybe. If you're deploying a bunch of floor-sitting dells in a dusty office space, ok, fine - but they will still get caked. With a heavy OC and or watercooling, if you want a quiet system then you will lose 15C at load easily, not to mention as you say the fine mesh filters aren't worth much, they'll stop some cat / dog hair but the majority of the dust will float right through. And most of the other cases have them behind plastic pop clips behind the front panel, which eventually break off.

Most of the high end rigs don't use dust filters, (Apple mac pro doesn't either). For a high end build they don't do anything special. There's only a few true cases that do really well with dust, like the MM01, but the rest are meh.

 

[Berfs1]

... and I hate it.

I legitimately hate open designs, or designs with absolutely no filters(fine mesh is... iffy). In my opinion filters are worth the cost of a few degrees for the convenience of not having to clean the entire PC out every few months.

If you don't care about maintaining your PC every now and then, don't build one. It's like deciding you want to build your own car but you don't want to maintain it... like you could just get a car from the dealership. Likewise, if you don't want to care about maintaining your computer, just get a prebuilt.

 

[Chrispy_]

That's an excellent design. I would rather see bigger gaps around the front panel so that the three intake fans aren't largely wasted, but the primary goal of intake fans is to feed fresh air at the GPU, something that is no longer necessary with this design, as it's an exposed GPU.

Sure, it'll need more dust-cleaning than a closed box with filters, but at the same time, that cleaning is much easier to do.

... and I hate it.

I legitimately hate open designs, or designs with absolutely no filters(fine mesh is... iffy). In my opinion filters are worth the cost of a few degrees for the convenience of not having to clean the entire PC out every few months.

That's fair enough, but I think filtered designs are overrated. My last two cases have been filtered and whilst it's easy to slide out the filter(s) and wipe off the dust quickly, it's hardly a chore to squirt a few quick blasts from a compressed air can at an open design. It's something to do every few months whilst your PC is doing a poorly-timed automatic update restart or something. Time spent cleaning your PC is still going to be in the "less than 10-minutes a year" range, give or take.

Obviously if your house is filthy and dusty the obvious solution is to just get a robot cleaner for daily vacuuming; that massively cuts down on the amount of dust that will ever end up in your PC in the first place.

 

[xorbe]

The perfect case for seeing that you still haven't found a gpu yet.

 

[Dicfylac]

There is a pre production model modded here in case mod gallery section,
https://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/4778/carbon-ek-x-edition

 

[bonehead123]

I like the overall design aesthetic, but not a fan of dust bunnies, or anything that allows them to creep into my rigs, so I would have to think a while on this one

AND.... it appears to have a USB-C port on the front panel, so there's that, hehehehe

 

[lluvia]

The perfect case for seeing that you still haven't found a gpu yet.

Yes, I dub it the: "This is Where I'd Put My GPU... IF I HAD ONE!!!" case.

 

[pcminirace]

They no longer know what to invent to differentiate themselves from the rest.

 

[LabRat 891]

Now this is a 2020s trend(setter) I can get behind. I don't even see any integrated RGB. Perfect! Edit: 1x 12cm ARGB fan that's easily replaced doesn't count.

 

[Vayra86]

'A few degrees' on a stock system maybe. If you're deploying a bunch of floor-sitting dells in a dusty office space, ok, fine - but they will still get caked. With a heavy OC and or watercooling, if you want a quiet system then you will lose 15C at load easily, not to mention as you say the fine mesh filters aren't worth much, they'll stop some cat / dog hair but the majority of the dust will float right through. And most of the other cases have them behind plastic pop clips behind the front panel, which eventually break off.

Most of the high end rigs don't use dust filters, (Apple mac pro doesn't either). For a high end build they don't do anything special. There's only a few true cases that do really well with dust, like the MM01, but the rest are meh.

Well... be that as it may... with sufficient one-way airflow and an effective filter on the intake you can fix 99% of the dust problems then and there. I'm literally looking at a system that hasn't seen compressed air or anything like it since jan 2019, and all it has is a super fine layer of dust, there are no big offenderrs in any place in the system even under heatsinks. Similar experiences with past systems - unfiltered is just a guarantee you can clean it out every other month or it hits performance/temps already.

But... system is also not placed on the floor and I haven't smoked in the room since that time either. But its still generally a rather dusty room, being an attic with the washing/dryer combo next door, which is a massive dust source. Do agree, mesh is useless, you need a decent fine filter, like Fractal Design uses.

 

[aktpu]

Hardware Canucks weren't fans of this case and I can see why

 

[destruya]

Great, now make one that'll hold an E-ATX board, and fix that closed off front by bringing back the original concept's front.

Why won't Lian Li make a 90-degree oriented version of the O11 XL?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Its just short of good looking, cringe-worthy even.

 

[sepheronx]

Why can't they make cases similar to let's say the ThinkStation P500? I love that case design and wish there were case manufacturers who would look into such a design.

Either way, at least this is more unique.

 

[EatingDirt]

If you don't care about maintaining your PC every now and then, don't build one. It's like deciding you want to build your own car but you don't want to maintain it... like you could just get a car from the dealership. Likewise, if you don't want to care about maintaining your computer, just get a prebuilt.

Uh, what? With a dust filter, the maintenance on a PC consists of
1. Remove Dust filter.
2. Clean off Dust filter.
3. Put back in.

A PC isn't mechanical(except the fans), there's no oil to change or need to lubricate gears, so your car example isn't relevant. The extent of maintenance with a case with a filter consists of cleaning the filter and/or replacing fans that may fail. I've been using the same case for the past 4 years. I remove the filter & clean the filter a few times a year. That has been the extent of my 'maintenance', and it's more than sufficient. The advantage being no bugs, no animal hairs or thick layers of dust forming inside the case.

The single advantage is a few degrees lower CPU/GPU temps. That single advantage doesn't last long unless you consistently clean off your fans & heatsink in a filterless/open case.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I legitimately hate open designs, or designs with absolutely no filters(fine mesh is... iffy). In my opinion filters are worth the cost of a few degrees for the convenience of not having to clean the entire PC out every few months.

Yes! Yes! 1,000 times yes!

If you don't care about maintaining your PC every now and then, don't build one. It's like deciding you want to build your own car but you don't want to maintain it... like you could just get a car from the dealership. Likewise, if you don't want to care about maintaining your computer, just get a prebuilt.

These are both completely stupid notions, flat out. Just because somebody doesn't want to be cleaning their case every week -- or more, depending on location, pets, etc. -- doesn't mean they're "lazy" and should just buy a prebuilt. And your car argument is irrelevant as well - a PC doesn't have fluids that need to be monitored and/or changed every X amount of miles, has no complex moving parts (motor, transmission, etc.) and chances are if somebody is wanting to build a car, they're a car enthusiast who knows what goes into building and maintaining a vehicle. Same for PC enthusiasts.

 

[Caring1]

Last Azza case I bought was very flimsy and not the best to work in.
I vowed never to buy one again unless they upgrade the materials used.

 

[Valantar]

That's fair enough, but I think filtered designs are overrated. My last two cases have been filtered and whilst it's easy to slide out the filter(s) and wipe off the dust quickly, it's hardly a chore to squirt a few quick blasts from a compressed air can at an open design. It's something to do every few months whilst your PC is doing a poorly-timed automatic update restart or something. Time spent cleaning your PC is still going to be in the "less than 10-minutes a year" range, give or take.

I don't know what kind of components you use or what type of compressed air you've got access to, but that statement makes very little sense. Cleaning a filter is easy. Remove, vacuum or rinse, replace, done. Cleaning the components inside of the case requires opening the case and thoroughly going over every surface inside of the case, especially those covered in small components as dust easily lodges in between those. And unless you live in an extremely dry climate, dust will also stick to surfaces, in which case compressed air isn't really enough, requiring an anti-static brush or similar. I definitely know which of these two processes I prefer to go through every few months.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

If you don't care about maintaining your PC every now and then, don't build one. It's like deciding you want to build your own car but you don't want to maintain it... like you could just get a car from the dealership. Likewise, if you don't want to care about maintaining your computer, just get a prebuilt.

TIL that prebuilts are impervious to dust

 

[Vayra86]

If you don't care about maintaining your PC every now and then, don't build one. It's like deciding you want to build your own car but you don't want to maintain it... like you could just get a car from the dealership. Likewise, if you don't want to care about maintaining your computer, just get a prebuilt.

Maintaining a car can be done in several ways...

The true fans end up opening the bonnet every weekend to get their hands dirty. They also end up spending and breaking more on their car than anyone else following a normal service pattern as recommended by the manufacturer. I compare this with the guys who flash their GPUs every few months to have it turn into a brick somewhere along the way and coming on here for a fix. Or those who tweak their Windows install in such ways that they have no end of issues. Or the silly ones who think its helpful to reseat coolers every half year 'because the paste might dry up'.

News flash: PCs barely need physical maintenance if they're built right. They also don't need software maintenance if you manage them right. Its the beauty of PCs, you can make them work perfectly if you know what you're doing.

 

[PLAfiller]

Hardware Canucks weren't fans of this case and I can see why

My first thought. I somewhat remember watching a video for an NZXT similar case and Dimitry pretty much destroyed it for everyday use

 

[Chrispy_]

I don't know what kind of components you use or what type of compressed air you've got access to, but that statement makes very little sense. Cleaning a filter is easy. Remove, vacuum or rinse, replace, done. Cleaning the components inside of the case requires opening the case and thoroughly going over every surface inside of the case, especially those covered in small components as dust easily lodges in between those. And unless you live in an extremely dry climate, dust will also stick to surfaces, in which case compressed air isn't really enough, requiring an anti-static brush or similar. I definitely know which of these two processes I prefer to go through every few months.

Components in system specs under my avatar, but this post is about an open case where the only two components that really need cleaning (CPU heatsink, GPU heatsink) are exposed to the outside.

A €3 "can of wind" as we call them at work. Good for rapid dust removal from CPU and GPU heatsinks.

My thinking is that once a quarter, you just grab a can of wind and blast out any dust on the heatsinks - total time taken, including fetching and returning the can of wind to the storage cupboard is measurable in seconds. Sure, the dust lands on the floor near the case, but that's going to get picked up by your regular vacuuming, right?