Personal computing discussed
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JustAnEngineer wrote:Why do your office customers need an ATX case instead of something more compact?
Vinceant wrote:Obviously. They are something more compact than ATX. However, if your clients require 7 PCIe cards in every desktop machine, you can't give them micro-ATX PCs with only 4 PCIe slots.Both those cases you linked will not work. They are not ATX.
Vinceant wrote:It's possible that the sub-group of users in that market that need to open up their desktop cases to swap PCIe cards on a daily basis is an even smaller niche.I mean, I guess I get it. Full ATX business/practicality focused cases for affordable prices are probably a pretty small market, but it still astonishes me that the 2300/2500 were all that was there with that hinge type mechanism. Why companies with even 100+ dollar cases uses that god awful friction fit/pinch mechanism is beyond me.
Vinceant wrote:Hard to explain fully but briefly, but it makes sense for this client. Short answer is: lots of PCI express slots needed short term and for future proofing/application flexibility, so full ATX required.
JustAnEngineer wrote:Having committed to the larger ATX, EATX or SSI-CEB form factor, you can filter appropriately to get a list of cases available from your favorite e-tailer, like so: Newegg Search to quickly find inexpensive options like the Cooler Master N400, the Corsair Carbide Series 200R and a couple of cheap boxes from Apex.
JustAnEngineer wrote:It's possible that the sub-group of users in that market that need to open up their desktop cases to swap PCIe cards on a daily basis is an even smaller niche.
Flying Fox wrote:Vinceant wrote:Hard to explain fully but briefly, but it makes sense for this client. Short answer is: lots of PCI express slots needed short term and for future proofing/application flexibility, so full ATX required.
I am curious, 7 slots even for the short term? That seems a little excessive. Granted the only thing I can think of is some high-end data/imaging capture setup where data transfer rates are important. If the need is just lots of USB ports or drives, you normally don't need more than 3 or 4 slots.
Future proofing? Let's be honest here. Are you really ever going to need more than 3 or 4?
Vinceant wrote:If the client really insists of such customized setup, they should be willing to pay for it. I fail to understand why they (or you) are nickel and diming here. Costs of multiple PCIe x16 video cards easily dwarfs the $100 difference here.Requirements not set by me, but by the specific client I still build custom machines for. What they are doing doesn't strictly require all of those PCI express slots, but a couple of the requirements the owner of said business has laid out does require more flexibility than a typical compact board would allow. And, well, the client is the one writing the checks, and honestly them wanting it this way doesn't really end up costing them significantly more than any other normal basic office computer I could custom build, so it is what it is. Like I said, hard to explain briefly, but we ended up needing primarily full ATX boards and cases for good reason.
Vinceant wrote:One of the main reasons? Monitors. Lots of them. So lots of video cards.
JustAnEngineer wrote:Oops! I mistook this as a thread seeking an answer to a question.
Cheap, windowless, low-bling, roomy ATX cases with removable dust filters:
$54 Antec P7 Silent
$55 Apexgaming Hermes 51
$60 Apexgaming AK-47
$63 -10MIR Corsair CC-9011023-WW
$69 Cooler Master NSE-400-KKN2
$70 Antec Three Hundred Two
$88 Phanteks PH-EC416PSC_BK
$89 be quiet! BG021
$90 be quiet! BG022
$94 Fractal Design FD-CA-MESH-C-BKO
$97 Fractal Design FD-CA-DEF-C-BK
$98 Antec P100
$100 Cooler Master RC-902XB-KKN2
$106 Phanteks PH-ES614PC_BK
Without dust filters:
$50 Fractal Design FD-CA-ARC-R2-BL-W
$79 Thermaltake CA-3K7-45M1NU-02
Flying Fox wrote:There are such things as ATX open benches for under $100, but I struggle to reconcile that style of case with the "no transparency" requirement.I pick a couple at random and they are not hinge style side panels, which is a thing stated by the OP. It you really need to swap out cards all the time, may as well go with an open bench?
just brew it! wrote:An open bench style case is going to be a complete non-starter in an office environment.
just brew it! wrote:I think it is a bit much to expect a decent hinge-style side panel in the $60-and-under segment. Great that the Fractal Design Core 2300/2500 met all of his requirements before, but now that it is going away it may be time to decide what features to compromise on.
An open bench style case is going to be a complete non-starter in an office environment.
Flying Fox wrote:I pick a couple at random and they are not hinge style side panels, which is a thing stated by the OP. It you really need to swap out cards all the time, may as well go with an open bench? I am seriously doubting the actual business requirements vs the OP's own preferences. I do appreciate that everyone has their thing, so there's that.
JustAnEngineer wrote:Oops! I mistook this as a thread seeking an answer to a question.
Cheap, windowless, low-bling, roomy ATX cases with removable dust filters:
$54 Antec P7 Silent
$55 Apexgaming Hermes 51
$60 Apexgaming AK-47
$63 -10MIR Corsair CC-9011023-WW
$69 Cooler Master NSE-400-KKN2
$70 Antec Three Hundred Two
$88 Phanteks PH-EC416PSC_BK
$89 be quiet! BG021
$90 be quiet! BG022
$94 Fractal Design FD-CA-MESH-C-BKO
$97 Fractal Design FD-CA-DEF-C-BK
$98 Antec P100
$100 Cooler Master RC-902XB-KKN2
$106 Phanteks PH-ES614PC_BK
Without dust filters:
$50 Fractal Design FD-CA-ARC-R2-BL-W
$79 Thermaltake CA-3K7-45M1NU-02
Flying Fox wrote:Vinceant wrote:If the client really insists of such customized setup, they should be willing to pay for it. I fail to understand why they (or you) are nickel and diming here. Costs of multiple PCIe x16 video cards easily dwarfs the $100 difference here.Requirements not set by me, but by the specific client I still build custom machines for. What they are doing doesn't strictly require all of those PCI express slots, but a couple of the requirements the owner of said business has laid out does require more flexibility than a typical compact board would allow. And, well, the client is the one writing the checks, and honestly them wanting it this way doesn't really end up costing them significantly more than any other normal basic office computer I could custom build, so it is what it is. Like I said, hard to explain briefly, but we ended up needing primarily full ATX boards and cases for good reason.Vinceant wrote:One of the main reasons? Monitors. Lots of them. So lots of video cards.
I am sorry, how many are we actually talking about here to be "lots"? 8? 16? You can easily get away with just 2 cards. More than 16? The cost of the case will be so minuscule. Then there is also this thing called DisplayPort daisy chaining (granted I have read that not all implementations work, but solutions are out there), which reduces the need for >2 video cards a lot. It does come down to what you mean by "a lot". High end home setups can do 4-6 easily these days.
Vinceant wrote:Why is that mechanism not on all cases in the 70 and up segment though? I can understand the cheaper market not using it because, you know, cheap. But 70-100 dollar cases are devoid of this feature as well.
Vinceant wrote:But given that there was a case in that price bracket that did all the things, it's a hard sell to explain that there just isn't anymore. Wouldn't YOU be annoyed if they stopped making something you used regularly and the only product that met all of your preferences and requirements was nearly double the cost? Just about anybody would get annoyed with that.
Vinceant wrote:Inflation. Increase your budget.Newegg currently only has two cases under 60 dollars that has USB 3 FPIO and no windowed side panels that can fit an ATX board. wtf is going on?
Vinceant wrote:"inflation" explains a slow increase in price. Not the falloff of all cases without windows and usb 3 on the front in the past 5-6 months.
JustAnEngineer wrote:If you just want cheap and nasty, there are still cheap cases available. Adding more USB ports is easy, too.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... A5W4WG1112