Is this peak idiocy in case designs?

M76

[H]F Junkie
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Jun 12, 2012
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The following story is fictional, any similarities to real world events, or persons is entirely coincidental.
  • Marketing guy: What can we do to make our case more appealing?
  • Engineer: We have glass side panel, RGB, what more bling do you want?
  • MG: Ha! Only the left side panel is see through, what about the other, why isn't that see through also?
  • E: Because that only contains the back of the MB tray and cables, it is not pretty.
  • MG: Do I need to report you for an attitude problem? I said I want both panels to be glass! Make it so.
  • 2 months later
  • MG: This new case looks awful, what are all these cables visible in built systems, it's a mess! Who authorized this design?
  • E: You
  • MG: Don't blame me for your failure to follow my instructions! We need to fix it, but without retooling the manufacturing.
  • E: We could put a smaller side panel behind the glass panel to hide the cables and the back of the MB.
  • MG: Do it! I'm tired of having to fix issues you cause!
And so the Lian Li Lancool III was born:

peak.JPG
 
I dunno, I kinda like it - gives the case a more uniform appearance (though you're right in that it's basically looking at cable management panel and the SSD trays).

One thing I'm happy about with current case design - they all seem to be offering mesh front panels again.
 
I have a Lancool Mesh II. I don't even think I peeled the protective film from the back side. I like the case, but I thought that a glass rear panel was stupid.
 
It can always be worse! Always!

DSC07653.jpg


Or

DnUTgfMVsAA2K3Q.jpg


To each is own, I guess.
I picked up the Lan Li Odyssey from Microcenter in Philly a few years ago. Put a 8086K in it with a Titan-X. That's the boat case. Nice conversation piece.
 
It can always be worse! Always!

View attachment 495312
That actually would be a great idea if it contained a radial fan and it pushed air through the entire system. Of course the cooler would be twice the size of the system which would probably be matx max, but this actually makes me want to look for radial fan housings.
To each is own, I guess.
It's the sheer pointlessness of it. Create a problem by putting a glass side panel on the ugly side of the case, and then fix it by putting a regular steel panel right behind it.

That packard bell one looks like a PSOne and a regular desktop PC were sent through a Star Trek transporter together and this is how they came out. But even there the design has a purpose, it fits into a corner neatly. I don't know what is the purpose of a glass panel with a steel sheet behind it.
 
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I debated about getting the Lancool III or the H7 Flow. I went with the H7 due to is coming with the removable filters and not paying extra for them with the Lancool III. Just a bad decision/cash grab by Lian Li IMO. I never understood the back side of the case having a glass panel as well.
 
Lian Li used to make High Quality all aluminum cases manufactured in Taiwan. Now they are all cheap steel frame made in China. The only High Quality Made in Taiwan Lian Li cases are the collaborations with Ncase and Dan case
 
Ok that has to be the best config of one of those I've ever seen! There's a lot more room for activities than I remembered.
 
No problem, here it is in its current 16 drive bay configuration (14 used):

View attachment 496098


View attachment 496099

Current spec:

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
ASUS STRIX B550-A Gaming
128GB (4x32GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black
Palit GeForce GTX 1650 GAMING PRO 4GB GDDR6
LSI 3905-24i
Samsung 980 1TB (system)
WD Black 1TB (temp)
14x Seagate IronWolf 10TB (RAID6 storage)
Noctua NH-U12S SE-AM4
Corsair AX1200
Lian-Li PC-777B
Xubuntu 20.04

decent. only real limit i see is gpu length.


re op case, ive seen worse. it doesnt make much sense but it works.
 
...

It's the sheer pointlessness of it. Create a problem by putting a glass side panel on the ugly side of the case, and then fix it by putting a regular steel panel right behind it.

...

Sortof reminds me of an nzxt motherboard I saw a while ago; they put metal panels on it to hide all the "ugly" electronics that's the motherboard, I kid you not. The only thing that would make it more ridiculous would be to have a metal panel right beneath the glass panel on both sides ^_^
 
Sortof reminds me of an nzxt motherboard I saw a while ago; they put metal panels on it to hide all the "ugly" electronics that's the motherboard, I kid you not. The only thing that would make it more ridiculous would be to have a metal panel right beneath the glass panel on both sides ^_^

Those mobo panels are mostly plastic, also you can find that other mobo maklers are taking over this trend albeit to some lesser degree. I did like the NZXT fallout mob cover for their ltd ed fallout case.
 
I did like the NZXT fallout mob cover for their ltd ed fallout case.
I do like the aesthetics of their motherboards for the most part, and I believe they are just rehashed Asrock boards if I'm not mistaken. If I wasn't already happy with the hardware I have I might have tried one out. That being said I can understand making the motherboard more pleasing to look at, but the glass panel on the back of the case is still mind boggling.
 
Glass hotboxes have been the IT thing for years now. More glass, less airflow is the mantra of case makers across the globe. Apparently doubling down was a natural progression. 🤪
 
My only problem with this is they went through all this trouble to intentionally design that, like that, and then made it black. They should have made it poop brown or puke green or already cigarette-tar-smoke-stained beige . Were they even trying?

My biggest issue with the snail design is that its missing eye stalks. They need to revise it and include the eye stalks - maybe even make them functional (ie: they're WIFI antennae).
 
It should be more impractical than that

make one eye stalk the psu power cable and the other the monitor cable
 
Glass hotboxes have been the IT thing for years now. More glass, less airflow is the mantra of case makers across the globe. Apparently doubling down was a natural progression. 🤪
This is why I'm one on the few that disliked the 011 Dynamic case. I had that case and the XL version and the original was a hot box with higher end hardware. The XL version wasn't as bad, and I attribute that to be able to install at least a 120mm fan as rear exhaust. I have strayed away from glass cases besides the 7000X Corsair case which actually has decent airflow. Currently using the H7 Flow which has excellent airflow.
 
But even there the design has a purpose, it fits into a corner neatly.
How do you plug in your cables if the case is tucked into the corner? Are there ports on the front, under the drives?
 
How do you plug in your cables if the case is tucked into the corner? Are there ports on the front, under the drives?
I presume it goes on a corner desk / cubicle that has cutouts for cable routing. And not in the corner of a room as pictured here 🙃
 
I still use the PC-777b aka "Snail Case" as my daily driver.
It's quite unique. Looks like the inspiration for it came from the McLaren F1 of hifi speakers..

bw-nautilus-speaker.jpg
B&W Nautilus

Glass side panels can eat a dick. Always paranoid breaking them and they get finger prints and dust shows so easily.
 
It's quite unique. Looks like the inspiration for it came from the McLaren F1 of hifi speakers..
E: Damn, those speakers are weird looking, and crazy expensive.
MG: We should make a computer case with a similar design! Then we can charge a lot for it, too!
 
i think the case came before the speakers, theyre 2012, case was 2010/11 wasnt it?!
 
The "Nautilus" speakers first came out in 1993. The PC-777 case came out in 2005.

That said, I doubt the Nautilus influenced the PC-777*. Lian-Li said the PC-777 was a 20th-anniversary special based on their old logo or something like that.

*My E/MG dialogue above is because I thought it was funny and not because I think it went that way
 
The "Nautilus" speakers first came out in 1993. The PC-777 case came out in 2005.

That said, I doubt the Nautilus influenced the PC-777*. Lian-Li said the PC-777 was a 20th-anniversary special based on their old logo or something like that.

*My E/MG dialogue above is because I thought it was funny and not because I think it went that way
ah ok, oldest info i could find for them was 2012...
 
Speaking of speakers, I preferred KEF's 107 over the B&W 801 design back in the late 80s. Neither quite had the 'zing' and killer bass attack of the Infinity IRS Beta if you had the right amps to do justice with them, of course. ;-)
 
It's quite unique. Looks like the inspiration for it came from the McLaren F1 of hifi speakers..

View attachment 501042
B&W Nautilus

Glass side panels can eat a dick. Always paranoid breaking them and they get finger prints and dust shows so easily.
I skipped a glass side panel because of this. I miss the durable and clean acrylic side panels :(.
 
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