I wish there were more--or at least better--case choices out there for BYOPC projects... some are just so hideously ugly (who ordered the "alien head" case???). Something simple and sleek (looks great, no exposed connectors/ports), made out of high-quality materials (no flimsy plastic, and also non-aluminum for noise reasons... unless they've designed it to avoid the aluminum "ringing"--i.e., thick aluminum gauge, possibly plated), no sharp edges or corners, great internal design for both layout and cooling (and to avoid proximity of analog sound components to the PSU), and designed to be quiet. I don't mind spending a little more for a decent case, but it shouldn't have to cost $500, either.
Obviously there is a market for this--look how people rave over Apple's case designs. Is it really that hard? Their cases (Mac Pros) are just simple--nothing fancy. The current Mac Pros are nice, but the case design (externally) is not really remarkable. Lian-Li has some cases that are similar (or rip-offs, more or less!), but the number and variety of cases of that quality and style is disappointingly small. Silverstone and some of the other HTPC manufacturers have some decent cases, but there always seem to be some tradeoffs (e.g., Silverstone tends to mix aluminum and steel on most of their cases, which looks a bit mismatched to me). Is it really that hard to design a great case???
Anyhow, a couple of sites I really like regarding cases and the like:
www.endpcnoise.com
www.silentpcreview.com
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