ADVANTAGE of Aluminum CASE???

[Guest]

OK, i have no idea why people like Coolermaster and some of these manufacture actually make and sell ALUMINUM case, which i have to say, it look absolutly gorgeous but EXTRAordinary expensive. $200 and UP.

what the real advantage of these case anyway, is it merely LOOKs; the thought of haveing a Server around(since most super-SERVER-computers have Aluminum case; better cooling? WHAT? I mean isn't CASE, whether aluminum or conventional case, JUST A CASE?

ANYONE has anyexperience with an aluminum case that they will like to share their experience with the rest of us.

 

[mousepotato]

I like the aluminum case. I will buy one as soon as I hit the lottery.

 

[Guest]

YEs we sell the coolermaster,
and it runs a little cooler, as it acts like a large heatsink, since aluminum is better for heat,
and no paint to seal in heat

CAMERON

CYBERIMAGE
<A HREF="http://www.4CyberImage.com " target="_new">http://www.4CyberImage.com </A>
Ultra High Performance Computers-

 

[Guest]

What a waste of money, it could only feasibly reduce your system temps by a few celcius, but you're spending hundreds of dollars on buying it?!

What a waste...

<b><font color=blue>Note to self: Never buy <i>anything</i> without checking with <font color=red>Tom</font color=red> first...

 

[HolyGrenade]

Only good if you wanna bragg to newbies!
'cos everyone else knows its nothing more than a waste of money.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[Guest]

SO what I'm hearing is that IF it ALUMINUM case, it will drop the overall TEMP. but ISN't coventional CASE metal too, and thus trasfer the heat to the metal?

ANYWAY,....................

mikiMOUSE, or you guys, i just saw the most BEUTIFUL ALUMINUN CASE ever, just 2days ago. WHEN i first saw it, i DRewllll all over the place. BEcareful with your CC though.

HERE is a PICTURE of the CASE.
http://www.soldam.com/products/11sp/images/bk_b.jpg

HERE is the PRICE LIST of the CASE. be sure too look at the case FIRST, THEN drewlll, then look a the PRICE(or you can skip, and KEEP your DREAM open. hehehehe)

http://www.soldam.com/products/11sp/order.html

IF anyone, know of anycase that is MORE or AS beatiful as this case, UNDER $150, let me know, I WANNA get one.

 

[Grizely1]

Lighter to move around? LOL

-----------------
"648kb is all the space anyone will ever need!"

Bill Gates, 1980s

 

[mousepotato]

WTF the xtra cooling would add up to squat, but it looks great. I don't waste my money on s**t that looks good, right now, because I am poor. But, like I said, when I hit the lottery (I am planning on doing this soon), I will buy one.

 

[Guest]

That's a kick a$$case. It would be a real shame to put a side cover on it and hide that Blue anodized interior.

"Yesterday's solutions are Today's problems...."

 

[Kelledin]

Actually, you will find that a lot of industrial computer chassis are steel instead of aluminum (especially rackmount chassis, like <A HREF="http://www.appro.com/" target="_new">Appro</A>). The advantages of aluminum are that it is much cheaper (in terms of raw stock), lighter, and easier to machine. The disadvantages are that it is very soft, can't take much heat, is very difficult to stamp without melting/burning and damn near impossible to weld (it's a very fine line between keeping your torch hot enough to weld aluminum, and hot enough to destroy it). In my life, I have met many welders, and only <i>one</i> was capable of welding aluminum. This one welder was just a welding genius.

So what does having an aluminum case mean to you? Primarily, it means that it will be lighter. It also means that if the threads are tapped straight into the aluminum (vs. a threaded insert of some harder metal), then they can't take much torque before the threads strip. It also means that case mods via drilling/sawing/cutting will be easier, but welding will be pretty much a no-go. Perhaps it dissipates ambient heat faster than steel as well, although I'm not sure of that.

What would really be cool is a titanium chassis--stronger and yet lighter than steel =)

Kelledin
<A HREF="http://kelledin.tripod.com/scovsms.jpg" target="_new">http://kelledin.tripod.com/scovsms.jpg</A>

 

[Guest]

yes I agree its expensive, but I have one I bought for myself,
and I have to tell you the look of raw finished aluminum
is beautiful and its gets slot of complements..
you are right it only cools about 5 C, but hey I will take everything I can get.

these are cool too

http://www.pcmods.com/

best
CAMERON

CYBERIMAGE
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Ultra High Performance Computers-

 

[Guest]

here are some cool cases too one alumimum one see through

pretty awesome with neon too
cases are getting more expensive because they are no longer generic, they are designer now

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Ultra High Performance Computers-

 

[Crashman]

DAMN I nearly PASSED OUT when I say the price, it cost more than each one of my cars!

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Crashman]

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, I have built various things out of steel and aluminum, sheet steel is cheaper than aluminum of the same thickness, it's even cheaper by weight. Aluminum can be welded by almost anyone with a few hours training, I weld it often, using M.I.G (metal inert gas) equipement and Helium or Argon. This is also called GMAW or Wire welding. The reason most welders can't do it easily is that CO2 is often used for GMAW on steel because it provides better penatration. Unfortunately, CO2 carberizes aluminum, hence an inert gas must be used. Oxy-acetylene welding is almost impossible with aluminum, but a few people can so it. Also, TIG (tungsten inert gas) , aka HeliArc, was practically invented for welding aluminum, before wire feed was available. And the most common industrial application, spot welding, can be done easily on it. It also conducts heat better than steel and requires no paint which would slow the convection of heat to air. I bet I never mentioned I took welding for a year and machining for a semester in college! BTW aluminum cans are olny cheap because they are very thin, very little aluminum used! And it's Aluminium for you Brits out there.

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Guest]

HI
thanks you I totally agree, just did not want to type all that
but you are quite right and that was what I was trying to say..
right on
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Ultra High Performance Computers-

 

[ksoth]

I work with aluminum daily, albeit not too complexly, and have learned a few things about it. Aluminum is very light but it is tough. I regularly drill and screw thin aluminum, and it will strip but not too easily (steel does not strip nearly as easily though). I believe the reason why aluminum cases cool better is because of it's specific heat properties. Water is a good coolant, as it has a specific heat of 1.0 (which means it takes 1 calorie of energy to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree celcius). Now, aluminum has a specific heat of 0.22 and steel has a specific heat of I believe 0.09 or less maybe. So, basically, aluminum can absorb more heat and more energy before it itself changes into a higher temperature. Therefore, the aluminum stays cooler longer and is able to absorb more heat from the air before getting to a higher temperature. So, the equilibrium temperature between the case and the air inside therefore stays lower for aluminum.

Aluminum is very cheap, but so is steel. Now, aluminum is expensive because the process of extracting aluminum from raw ore is extremely expensive. The only way to do it is to zap the ore (i think its called borite or boxite or something) with hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity. It is a slow and expensive process this way, so that is why recycling aluminum is in high demand, because it is much cheaper to melt pure aluminum than to extract it from raw ore.

Crazy!!!

"We put the <i>fun</i> back into fundamentalist dogma!"

 

[Guest]

I agree they do look pretty cool... but considering nobody really cares what kinda case you got if you don't move it around much (well.. apart from LANS) i don't really care if my case is pink.. Well maybe if it was pink... but eh.. I like my case the way it is.. it's an Aopen Hq45... HQ? ahh it's something like that anyway, cool design..

The 5C isn't really important if you have a high quality HSF which i will be getting shortly... I mean, yeah it's cool to see your system (i am gonna hazard a guess and say it doesn't help the CPU temp, but rather the motherboard temps? correct?) cooled a little, but it's not worth hundreds of dollars to achieve... I generally don't leave my case on at the moment anyway, course i will after i mod it a little... but that's different...

<b><font color=blue>Note to self: Never buy <i>anything</i> without checking with <font color=red>Tom</font color=red> first...