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

[Arc1t3ct]

It's one of those designs that look great in 3D renders but not so much in real life.

 

[Valantar]

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.
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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?

The problem is that a) those don't actually remove all of the dust, as I pointed out above, and b) it's still much more of a hassle than cleaning out a filter. Also, those are not the only components exposed to dust - the entire pc is, given any sort of airflow. If your only concern is maintaining performance, then sure, that's not that much of a hassle (still more than cleaning a filter, but not terrible), but I want my PC to stay more or less clean, not just clean enough to not overheat.

 

[Berfs1]

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.

I probably got my idea across the wrong way, sorry. I meant to reply sooner, I just got caught up with other things. The point I was trying to make is (and I should have worded it better), you have loads of other case designs. If you don't like the potential negatives of a case, you don't have to buy it. There are (literally) thousands of other cases. But I feel like this case is intended for enthusiasts who want the absolute maximum performance; not everyone wants an open air case for their computer.

 

[Vayra86]

I probably got my idea across the wrong way, sorry. I meant to reply sooner, I just got caught up with other things. The point I was trying to make is (and I should have worded it better), you have loads of other case designs. If you don't like the potential negatives of a case, you don't have to buy it. There are (literally) thousands of other cases. But I feel like this case is intended for enthusiasts who want the absolute maximum performance; not everyone wants an open air case for their computer.

I disagree. You don't buy this for maximum performance at all, its bought for the looks, as are 99% of most other recent cases. There is absolutely nothing in this case geared to performance.

Its an ALU box with a hole in it. Let's just be honest here - it won't help airflow thus kills efficiency of fans doing work = not optimal. Server racks are optimal. And certainly, I won't buy it - but I can still laugh at the utterly ridiculous things marketing figures out when they get these designs in front of them... and the absolutely silly defenses that get propped up to somehow make it sound true.

'Enthusiasts' are mostly hobbyists pissing away money. They're not smarter than the average guy spending 50 on a normal case that performs just as fine. They pay premium because they want to, not because its somehow sensible. Of course you can find arguments to get whatever product, but do you need to? If you love it, by all means, why would it have to provide optimal performance, and why would we delude ourselves into thinking it does? To tell others you made sense? That's literally copying the marketing oneliners and passing them off as truths - people buying and telling stories, nothing else.

 

[Valantar]

I disagree. You don't buy this for maximum performance at all, its bought for the looks, as are 99% of most other recent cases. There is absolutely nothing in this case geared to performance.

Its an ALU box with a hole in it. Let's just be honest here - it won't help airflow thus kills efficiency of fans doing work = not optimal. Server racks are optimal. And certainly, I won't buy it - but I can still laugh at the utterly ridiculous things marketing figures out when they get these designs in front of them... and the absolutely silly defenses that get propped up to somehow make it sound true.

'Enthusiasts' are mostly hobbyists pissing away money. They're not smarter than the average guy spending 50 on a normal case that performs just as fine. They pay premium because they want to, not because its somehow sensible. Of course you can find arguments to get whatever product, but do you need to? If you love it, by all means, why would it have to provide optimal performance, and why would we delude ourselves into thinking it does? To tell others you made sense? That's literally copying the marketing oneliners and passing them off as truths - people buying and telling stories, nothing else.

So true. Despite how important they are in ... well, pretty much every part of our lives, people seem scared to death to acknowledge the value of sensorial aspects of the products we buy. Does it look good? Does it feel good? Does it fit with its surroundings? Does it fit with your sensibilities, tastes and self-image? These factors are typically more important to purchase decisions than functionality.

That is probably the most admirable quality of the RGB fanatic crowd - at least they're somewhat honest about the basis for their appreciation of the things they buy, and to some extent bypass the often-elitist macho nonsense of "look how functional and rational and intelligent and [insert traditionally western masculine virtue] the thing I bought is (and please ignore how me saying this and showing this off is exactly the same as what I'm implicitly criticizing, as functionalist aesthetics is still aesthetics)". We experience the world through our senses first, and thus the threshold for surrounding ourselves with things that don't stimulate those senses in some positive way is - quite rationally, really! - very high. Different people value different aspects, but the amount of PC enthusiasts who actually don't care about these things (and is thus willing to surround themselves with things they find actively ugly or unpleasing) at all is very, very low.

I mean, even my own objections to open-frame, unfiltered cases above partly do this - while I'm pretty open that my desire for keeping my PC clean goes far beyond any functional value, I still mostly present it as a practical, functional argument rather than one of aesthetics and taste. Just goes to show how one gets caught up in particular ways of talking about things in particular contexts.