Case modding, by definition, usually infers that a stock case (usually a boring beige piece) is modified into something that looks different from it’s original form. Manufacturers nowadays, are coming out with a whole slew of pre-modded cases, most of which include some form of funky lighting and cut-outs intended to display the innards of your PC for all to see. Thankfully, some manufacturers do subscribe to the belief that ‘Less is More’, as we can see from some of the following pictures, where simple curves and lines dominate the casing design, and where aesthetics rules instead of shockingly garish plastics.
Silverstone’s TJ07 casing is simply humungous, to the extent of supporting extended ATX motherboards, as can be seen with the dual CPU setup.
The two cases above are somewhat newer, and designed specifically to complement Western Digital’s latest Raptor X windowed hard disk drives, with plexiglass sheets positioned directly where the hard disks are installed, so you can see the actuator motors in action.
These two are cases designed and manufactured by a company called Testa Motari. While they do subscribe to certain standard elements found in conventional casing design, the overall package is different enough to warrant a second, or even third look. Good luck finding these on Asian shores though, as their current target market appears to only be Europe for the time being.
Thermaltake’s Mozart TX casing brings new meaning to the phrase ‘buggeringly huge’. For some odd reason, the system is designed to house multiple watercooling systems and only one computer. There’s even the option to add on a mini LCD, which looks supiciously like one of those car LCD systems adapted to fit into a 5.25″ bay. If any, i’m giving Thermaltake props for having the balls to actually make and sell a monstrosity like this.
Zalman’s line of products built around silent performance is boosted by their HD160. While technically not made by them (the HD160 is apparently made by OrigenAE) the system is as silent as can be, especially when outfitted with a couple of Zalman’s other products. This case is also extremely well made, with great care going into component layout and actual cooling performance. Reviews are aplenty online, just hit up Google.
This is Asus’ second attempt at their Vento casing. Some say the original Vento was rather beautiful, but I personally feel it was ugly and plasticky, not to mention horribly expensive. I can’t say much about the new Vento either, save for the fact that I still think Asus should stick to designing motherboards and graphics cards, or just fire the casing designer as well as the manager who approved the design for manufacture. Asus, sorry to say this, but I’d probably rank the Vento alongside Thermaltake’s Mozart TX: butt ugly and a disgrace to casing manufacturers everywhere.
Gigabyte’s trying to make some headway into the casing market with some selected aluminum designs. While not exactly pretty, their cases aren’t exactly ugly either. They’re well built, and have a reasonably decent feature list, not to mention cable-organizing friendly. Prices here are still within acceptable ranges too.
Arctic Cooling’s Silentium range isn’t exactly new, though they’re one of the few manufacturers putting emphasis on silence. Their designs are simple, and lean towards functionality over form. The use of a proprietary power supply, even if it is a silent model, is probably one of the bigger weaknesses of the Silentium range, though our pals at Arctic Cooling tell us this will be rectified in future revisions of their casing product line.
Lian Li is pretty much a mainstay in the aluminum casing industry, having made their name in selling nothing else by aluminum enclosures. Over the past year or so though, they’ve moved to designs incorporating perforated metal. it looked plenty cool in the beginning, but in my opinion, it’s getting old.
Last but not least is the Pininfarina case, made by a group called Spire. i actually saw a wooden proototype of this case back in last year’s CeBIT, and it looks like Spire have finally gotten it to market. Simple and sleek, with a side-opening motherboard tray design – I like this one.
Next up, something a little more geek-oriented: graphics cards, or maybe motherboards.
