Rant : why so little choice in PC cases...?

[mikeselectricstuff]

OK so there are a zillion PC cases out there. But why does nobody make one that you can swap the PSU and drive bays over so you have access to drives and all the IOs from the same side.

I'm getting tired of having to butcher cases to make my own :



I've just spend a couple of hours looking, and found one, just ONE ffs! but it only has one 5.25" bay.
http://www.semaphore-systems.co.uk/IPC-5120-Desktop-Wallmount-Chassis-for-MicroATX-ATX-Motherboard-with-Front-I-O-Interfaces.html

Surely I can't be the only person that wants something like this ?

Do PC case manufacturers have no imagination? Stop all the dicking about with fancy lighting and similar useless crap and make something useful!

[Deathwish]

I love cheiftec cases, the BA -01b full tower range, had 2 on wheels full to the brim till i had them stolen

[Matje]

OK so there are a zillion PC cases out there. But why does nobody make one that you can swap the PSU and drive bays over so you have access to drives and all the IOs from the same side.
...
Surely I can't be the only person that wants something like this ?

Probably not the only person, but very likely one of very, very few people wanting something like that. So basically no manufacturer is going to create a PC case like that, as there is no market and thus no money in it. The vast majority wants to setup the PC once and not fiddle with it afterwards.

Free market in action, huzzah! Just you wait until there will be no way to have a proper serial, parallel, SCSI etc. interface on a PC anymore...

[kingofkya]

I think most people don't want to acknowledge that there pc even has wires.

Closest thing i know of, psu still goes out the back though, and it just has a laptop cdrom
http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/2U/523/SC523L-520.cfm

[amyk]

Here's another one - not cheap though:
http://www.idealez.com/rackmount/product-detail/en_US/101121

[mikeselectricstuff]

That's not bad, but pretty huge. Really want a vertical format.

 Price not a problem (though not sure I believe the "free shipping"

I think it's one of those "we don't make it because nobody wants it...  nobody asks for it because nobody makes it" situations.

How hard can it be to make  a case where the PSU and drive bay can be swapped over?

Looks like it's going to be metal bashing time again....

[soren]

http://www.cooltek.de/jonsbo-powered-by-cooltek/w-serie/131/w2

[mikeselectricstuff]

http://www.cooltek.de/jonsbo-powered-by-cooltek/w-serie/131/w2

Huge, only one 5.25 bay.

[nctnico]

That's not bad, but pretty huge. Really want a vertical format.

If I'm not mistaken you can remove the 19" flanges from this case (http://www.idealez.com/rackmount/product-detail/en_US/101121) so you could use it vertically. Maybe add some feet to it. Still I don't see much use for I/Os since everything is USB nowadays. I have two USB hubs on my desk to plug in programmers, sticks, RS232 adapters, etc. The RS232 always has an extension cable fitted. In fact I never need to plug something into my PC.

The airflow looks really shitty in this PC case:
http://www.semaphore-systems.co.uk/IPC-5120-Desktop-Wallmount-Chassis-for-MicroATX-ATX-Motherboard-with-Front-I-O-Interfaces.htmlv
Look how bad the hard drive is mounted in a corner! That is just asking for trouble. A couple of months ago I got a Dell precision 5810 tower in which everything has airflow while it is super quiet.

[mikeselectricstuff]

That's not bad, but pretty huge. Really want a vertical format.

If I'm not mistaken you can remove the 19" flanges from this case (http://www.idealez.com/rackmount/product-detail/en_US/101121) so you could use it vertically. Maybe add some feet to it. Still I don't see much use for I/Os since everything is USB nowadays. I have a two USB hubs on my desk to plug in programmers, sticks, RS232 adapters, etc.

CD drive would still be vertical, which is a pain, and it's very deep.
Even if you didn't have anything going into PCI slots, you still have all the ATX panel stuff - ethernet, video, audio etc, etc. etc. And the neatest way to add USBs is on PCI blanking plates.

[EEMarc]

I don't have a optical or magnetic drive in my computer. In the rare case that I need to load a program with a DVD, I use an external drive. That drive is shared between all of my computers.

Like you, I have the rear of my computer facing me on my desk for easy IO access. Its ugly, but it is handy.

[LabSpokane]

Mike,

If you quit living in the 90's with all that dead tech spinning media crap, you'll have a lot better options.

[slateraptor]

Mike,

If you quit living in the 90's with all that dead tech spinning media crap, you'll have a lot better options.

LMAO...ouch! ><

[mikeselectricstuff]

Mike,

If you quit living in the 90's with all that dead tech spinning media crap, you'll have a lot better options.

CDs and DVDs are far from dead. CDRs and DVDrs are, and will always be cheaper if I want to give someone a big load of data in physical form. 
And I have a LTO tape drive for backups.
I also don't want a PSU fan facing me due to noise.

[Monkeh]

I also don't want a PSU fan facing me due to noise.

Get better PSUs, you should have to workto get one audible these days.

[nctnico]

CDs and DVDs are far from dead. CDRs and DVDrs are, and will always be cheaper if I want to give someone a big load of data in physical form. 
And I have a LTO tape drive for backups.
I also don't want a PSU fan facing me due to noise.

If I need to give someone a lot of data I use services like Wetransfer or Dropbox. Maybe I send an SD card. The amount of data that fits on a DVD isn't even sufficient in most cases. If I where you I'd use extension cables to get the connectors from the back of your PC to your desk. I have done so for the past 20 years. And a tape drive? Really? You know how unreliable these are? IIRC you can write a tape about 30 times and then it's ready for the bin. Also the amount of data which fits on a tape is extremely small compared to a hard drive. Not to mention the time it takes to restore the data. I'm using several external/internal hard drives and Rsync to make daily (incremental) backups of all my data. I'm guarded against drive failure, computer failure, physical theft, flooding and fire. If I need to restore something I simply copy it from the backup drive inside my PC.

If noise is an issue: get the Dell system I mentioned earlier. With an SSD + Western Digital green drive it is freakishly silent. I actually had to get used to my office being so quiet. Before I had 3 PCs running and even with alterations to make them low noise they where still very audible. You can only get so far with standard PC cases due to poor choices in the past (like the fan in the PSU also providing cooling for the entire system).

[mikeselectricstuff]

CDs and DVDs are far from dead. CDRs and DVDrs are, and will always be cheaper if I want to give someone a big load of data in physical form. 
And I have a LTO tape drive for backups.
I also don't want a PSU fan facing me due to noise.

If I need to give someone a lot of data I use services like Wetransfer or Dropbox.

I'm on domestic broadband where upload speed is limited.

Maybe I send an SD card. The amount of data that fits on a DVD isn't even sufficient in most cases.

Blank CDR and DVDRs are cheaper. And not everyone has and SD reader.

If I where you I'd use extension cables to get the connectors from the back of your PC to your desk. I have done so for the past 20 years.

And a tape drive? Really? You know how unreliable these are?
IIRC you can write a tape about 30 times and then it's ready for the bin.

LTO3 appears to be about 100. Plenty if you have a pool of a couple of dozen tapes. Way cheaper than a comparable number of HDs

Also the amount of data which fits on a tape is extremely small compared to a hard drive.
Not to mention the time it takes to restore the data. I'm using several external/internal hard drives and Rsync to make daily (incremental) backups of all my data. I'm guarded against drive failure, computer failure, physical theft, flooding and fire. If I need to restore something I simply copy it from the backup drive inside my PC.

I have a daily auto backup of work files using   versionbackup, which gives me access to every different version from the last 30 days to a NAS in another building.
The LTO is a periodic backup of that data, as well as for disaster recovery to allow quick restore of OS stuff. Capacity is fine for what I need.
LTO3 tapes are about GBP10-15 for 400-800Gb, and more robust than a 'loose' or external-boxed HD.
Access speed for restore isn't a huge issue as you don't do it very often.

[Kevman]

How bout having the cables come out the top, rather than the front?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163180

[nctnico]

LTO3 tapes are about GBP10-15 for 400-800Gb, and more robust than a 'loose' or external-boxed HD.

In the long run: no
One of the problems I've seen with backups on tape (or any offline medium) is that when a new computer is installed some of the information (archive data) remains on the backup which then slowly gets lost due to drives not being backwards compatible, medium getting damaged/lost or due to aging of the medium. This is why I decided to have all my data online so monitoring it's health and moving it to a new medium doesn't take any extra effort or attention for both archive and 'active' data. I can access projects from 20+ years ago within seconds. It is not necessary to access those projects that quickly at all but knowing they are at my fingers tips solves a lot of tedious logistics which come with storing and labeling DVDs or tapes.

[LabSpokane]

Mike,

If you quit living in the 90's with all that dead tech spinning media crap, you'll have a lot better options.

CDs and DVDs are far from dead. CDRs and DVDrs are, and will always be cheaper if I want to give someone a big load of data in physical form. 
And I have a LTO tape drive for backups.
I also don't want a PSU fan facing me due to noise.

Well, there is that floppy drive that you seem to be clinging to...  I think you need to up your specs to "must house 8-track tape deck." 

And you do know that they give away 4GB flash drives at trade shows now? 

[codeboy2k]

I stopped using tape for backups about 5 years ago, and just went to hard disks for back up storage. Before that I tried using CD and DVD for backup, but too much swapping disks and very unreliable after just 5 years.

Now I use a local raid server for backup.  (note: I am not *depending* on raid technology for backup, I am backing up my main PC to a raid server).  Since I am running linux, I use automated scripts to make back ups of important work for me on a regular basis.  The raid server is also my time machine server for my OS X desktop.

For anything offsite, I use a USB drive now and ship that away, or the cloud like Dropbox if it's not excessive. I can encrypt stuff and put it there safely without worry.

[GoneTomorrow]

I also don't want a PSU fan facing me due to noise.

Get a nice 80Plus Gold or Platinum PSU, the fan won't even spin until you get to a couple of hundred watts.

[Muxr]

Every peripheral I use is either USB or Thunderbolt based. I have more computers that I wish to count and I've long stopped buying DVD drives. I just have one USB based one, that I plug in per need, which is rare.

Active (powered) USB and Thunderbolt hubs is what I use.

[free_electron]

What are CD's and DVD's ?

I gave up on those about a year ago after i just bought a brand new blu-ray disc of 'the hobbit' and my player wouldn't play it. I took it back to the store and swapped it. same story. Turns out my player is outdated and needs an' upgrade' and the manufacturer ( samsung) doesn't have one because 'too old' : 2 years... ) . I was really in the mood for a nice movie night .. needless to say i ended up going to bed really pissed off... That's when i swore NEVER EVER to buy anything on physical media ever again. If it can't be downloaded or streamed i can't be bothered. I am done with these crappy formats that break all the time because for whatever reason. For all i care the producers of these media carriers and players can ram them up their ass , preferably sideways.

[bitwelder]

Well, Facebook is going to Blu-Rays for their cold storage:
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/meetings/documents/storage14/Kestutis_Patiejunas_Facebook_FreezingExabytesOfDataFacebooksColdStorage.pdf