I worked as a PC repair tech and had some people who wanted high-end rigs, but they didn't care for neat wiring or expensive cooling. Instead they wanted to get metal cases like Antec ones because they supposedly keep the system cooler. Is that so? What cooling difference are we talking about here? 2-3C on the CPU? Metal cases, for some reason, rarely come with enough space behind the motherboard tray to hide all the wires. In fact, most of them don't even allow you to neatly hide cables. I figured having your cables stacked neatly and having extra space inside a case would help with temps more than a metal case with cluttered wires that get in the way of airflow, but I could be wrong.
But then if you have good air flow the case material isn't going to matter much anyway.
I find that wire management combined with adding a fan or two inside the case (to cool specific components - VRMs and the bottom of the CPU socket) is the best way to go.
[quote name="MonarchX" url="/t/1519149/whats-the-deal-with-metal-cases-are-they-somehow-better#post_23009031"Metal cases, for some reason, rarely come with enough space behind the motherboard tray to hide all the wires. In fact, most of them don't even allow you to neatly hide cables.[/quote]
Having two metal cases since I started getting into building computers, I concur. The metal case you may work with may just be cheap and built for form > function. I used to have a HAF 922. For those of you not familar with this case, its a Mid-tower gaming case from Cooler Master, great case by the way. I'm the kind of person who needs everything in the case. I ran 4 HDDs, 1 ODD, and a 6 foot light strip inside the case and I never had any issues. The HAF series as a whole has some of the widest side panels for wire tucking, hiding, routing, and much more. Thats just one series though. Currently I am rocking a Corsair Air Carbide 540 which probably has the best/worst cable management in all of existence. (I'm serious, those mods with the 540 may look good in the front but check out the back ones and
[quote name="MonarchX" url="/t/1519149/whats-the-deal-with-metal-cases-are-they-somehow-better#post_23009031"Metal cases, for some reason, rarely come with enough space behind the motherboard tray to hide all the wires. In fact, most of them don't even allow you to neatly hide cables.
Having two metal cases since I started getting into building computers, I concur. The metal case you may work with may just be cheap and built for form > function. I used to have a HAF 922. For those of you not familar with this case, its a Mid-tower gaming case from Cooler Master, great case by the way. I'm the kind of person who needs everything in the case. I ran 4 HDDs, 1 ODD, and a 6 foot light strip inside the case and I never had any issues. The HAF series as a whole has some of the widest side panels for wire tucking, hiding, routing, and much more. Thats just one series though. Currently I am rocking a Corsair Air Carbide 540 which probably has the best/worst cable management in all of existence. (I'm serious, those mods with the 540 may look good in the front but check out the back ones and
)[/quote]
Who cares about how the back looks like? It's all about the front, nice and neat! You should've gone with Graphite 760T - it definitely has the absolute best wire management design - check out how nice and clean mine is! I don't even have those nice cables, but the case still looks awfully OCD:
I never understood this. The computer is a complete system, not just a front end. To me it's just saying, you don't care what the back of a girl looks like, as long as the front is clean. This to me comes off not like a computer enthusiast but instead someone who just buys an OEM and puts in under their table and forgets about it.
Why do you think they make cases with window on just one side? The idea is to minimize cable visibility which can only affect one side. The other side needs to be functional, not pretty.
Why do you think they make cases with window on just one side? The idea is to minimize cable visibility which can only affect one side. The other side needs to be functional, not pretty.
That still sounds stupid. Why don't they just make that one side bare metal then? Save some money on powder coating? Why bother painting it if it's just functional? Oh right, because it's a three-dimensional object that is viewed from all sides.
So much this. I can't live with a messy computer. Cable routing is actually very tricky and extremely satisfying when you figure out how to make it look just as good as the rest of the build. It's taking pride in your work that counts for many of us.
I never understood this. The computer is a complete system, not just a front end. To me it's just saying, you don't care what the back of a girl looks like, as long as the front is clean. This to me comes off not like a computer enthusiast but instead someone who just buys an OEM and puts in under their table and forgets about it.
Did you look at his rig? If you did you would know that he is not "someone who just buys an OEM and puts in under their table and forgets about it." His build looks awesome.
Did you look at his rig? If you did you would know that he is not "someone who just buys an OEM and puts in under their table and forgets about it." His build looks awesome.
The front is clean but we are saying the back should look just as clean. A pc is no different than a show car. Everything on a show car is clean not just the stuff you see from the outside. The engine is clean the trunk is clean. Everything
The front is clean but we are saying the back should look just as clean. A pc is no different than a show car. Everything on a show car is clean not just the stuff you see from the outside. The engine is clean the trunk is clean. Everything
The front is clean but we are saying the back should look just as clean. A pc is no different than a show car. Everything on a show car is clean not just the stuff you see from the outside. The engine is clean the trunk is clean. Everything
If you read my post the guy accused him of having the attitude being some guy who just buys an oem machine and that is that. Looking at his rig nothing could be farther from the trust.
I also agree with backside cable management. I don't know how many times I've re-done the backside. Even when I'm bored I'll look at the side and tried to find out if there were more possible ways to improve it.
I am sure if he mad the fron
If you read my post the guy accused him of having the attitude being some guy who just buys an oem machine and that is that. Looking at his rig nothing could be farther from the trust.
I still don't get it. I am all for having functional back of the motherboard, where I hide all the wires, but making is as neat as the front makes no sense to me because that side is NOT demonstrated. Only one side is demonstrated, which is why you have one single window in most cases, except for one I think. You just need to be able to easily find what's where and be able to disconnect/upgrade and perform activities like that without getting lost in a mess that requires you to get out of your way to replace things. Aside from that - it shouldn't matter how it looks. I mean for real - its the cable HIDING or MINIMIZING aspect that makes the front look good in additional to overall neatness. How are you supposed to HIDE the wires that are behind the motherboard? NO matter how much of an OCD neat-freak you are, that side isn't going to look good enough to be demonstrated or good enough to have another window there. It may look neat, but it will still have a crapton of wires there! If you think your wires looked good in the first place - why did you bother hiding them?
I still don't get it. I am all for having functional back of the motherboard, where I hide all the wires, but making is as neat as the front makes no sense to me because that side is NOT demonstrated. Only one side is demonstrated, which is why you have one single window in most cases, except for one I think. You just need to be able to easily find what's where and be able to disconnect/upgrade and perform activities like that without getting lost in a mess that requires you to get out of your way to replace things. Aside from that - it shouldn't matter how it looks. I mean for real - its the cable HIDING or MINIMIZING aspect that makes the front look good in additional to overall neatness. How are you supposed to HIDE the wires that are behind the motherboard? NO matter how much of an OCD neat-freak you are, that side isn't going to look good enough to be demonstrated or good enough to have another window there. It may look neat, but it will still have a crapton of wires there! If you think your wires looked good in the first place - why did you bother hiding them?
It's all a personal preference i guess. I'm with you tho, i don't care about the back since that always has the side panel on it.
To each his own. I'd rather invest time elsewhere, since to me it's useless to make the back look neat.
I work purely practical when it comes to my system. The time i need to organize the backplate completely is not worth it for me.
Whether the cables are hanging loose or are strictly and perfectly organized in the back, has 0 influence on how my system performs and looks, since i can't see the backplate.
I still don't get it. I am all for having functional back of the motherboard, where I hide all the wires, but making is as neat as the front makes no sense to me because that side is NOT demonstrated. Only one side is demonstrated, which is why you have one single window in most cases, except for one I think. You just need to be able to easily find what's where and be able to disconnect/upgrade and perform activities like that without getting lost in a mess that requires you to get out of your way to replace things. Aside from that - it shouldn't matter how it looks. I mean for real - its the cable HIDING or MINIMIZING aspect that makes the front look good in additional to overall neatness. How are you supposed to HIDE the wires that are behind the motherboard? NO matter how much of an OCD neat-freak you are, that side isn't going to look good enough to be demonstrated or good enough to have another window there. It may look neat, but it will still have a crapton of wires there! If you think your wires looked good in the first place - why did you bother hiding them?
I think it's just OCD kicking in. I know I'm pretty OCD about that and it would bug the heck out of me, but like stated. It's really a personal thing.
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