Fanboying about the Case.
We’d best talk about the case in some detail, as it’s what started me out on this ruinous venture. This thing is simply insanely over-engineered, or to put it another way, thought out to Obsessive-German-Engineer* levels – it’s actually a pleasure to build a computer inside the thing.
Firstly, the level 10gt gives better accessibility than disabled parking; you can get to the motherboard via a door, for christ’s sake. And the door itself is removable! This itself has been done before, ish, but wait, there is more. The back panel (on the opposite side of the case to the door) is also removable, via two sensible looking 6-32 screws. This gives two-way access so that all cables can be routed through the rubber portals surrounding the motherboard, and thus, tucked neatly out of sight behind.
Your grandmother would be proud. And she can admire how tidy it is via the door’s window (which owing to the humungous fan in the middle, is more of a porthole.)
Hang on while I talk about the “ventilation system.” Those whacky germans designed the case with a specific airway path, made possible mostly by two ludicrously large fans, but also by their dust filters(!)** And yet more fans. These fans are lit by LEDs (actually a relatively common gimmick) and can change colour & fan speed via buttons at the top of the case. This sounds silly, but the fan speed is important, and the colour… well at least you won’t get stuck with one you hate?
Moving on to the hard-drive enclosures, there are five. They are hot swappable. You can remove them from your computer in three seconds via hidden handles. It looks really cool. They’re also screwed onto rubber mounts, so vibration noise is much less of an issue.
Practically every tiny little feature is an exercise in “wouldn’t it be cool if…” All the screw that come with the case are black. The (ordinarily throw-away) panels which hide the 5.25″ bays are made of a three layer plastic-filter-metal mesh combination, with plastic hinges so that they snaps neatly into place. It has a handle. The door and hard drive bays can be locked. the doors fans’ direction is adjustable. Its’ four legs have rubber soles, and rotate 90 degrees, allowing the case to be horizontal. And if you wanted to place it horizontally, the back panel has a t-shaped ridge that slightly raises the case whilst also providing additional structural integrity. And then there’s my favorite daft feature; – a headphone hanger. A removable headphone hanger. A removable headphone hanger, that, when not in use, is covered by a small, labelled piece of rubber that sits flush with the case, so as not to ruin its’ bizarre looks.
Best Case Ever.
*Co-designed by BMW, this is the pragmatic, mere-mortal version of the proof-of-concept Level 10. The level 10 is such an exercise in geekery that the above review directly compared it to that of a very high-class prostitute.
**the dust filters click in and out via tiny springs. Insanely. Over. Engineered.
