i didnt know where to post this so sorry if its in the wrong place. anyways ive always wondered why are most cases made of aluminum or another type of metal? is there a reason for this?
Aluminum = Light and inexpensive If you were to make a case from silver.. It'd be heavy and expensive... What else to make a case from? Rofl >.< This thread is kinda pointless... Anyways... Seriously, what else would you want a case made from? Wood? No, that would warp after a while if not perfectly treated. Plastic? No, static would kill it. Glass? Yeh... sure.. one tap and your components come crashing down. The only other things I can think of might be fiberglass.. and maybe tempered glass... Right now cases are mostly being made of: Aluminum, Steel, and Plexiglass... (Some do, however.. have plastic front bezels, but that doesn't really matter.. because it isn't in contact with any components)
The main reason nower days is heat conductivity, previousky it was strength as most plastics on the 80's didnt have the sema structural strength as modern plastics. Static i only caused in certain types of plastic, mainly polyethane. (Dont worry, i know i cant spell)
well that wasnt my point but w/e i was wondering does aluminum have a reason LIKE preventing EMI or certain stuff from the boards THAT WAS MY POINT not to wonder what cases can be made of a case can be made out of anything that can support the components i was just wondering if there was a certain reason behind it
the original reason for steel (thin) cases was cheap cost, durable, and good emi protection (as much to keep emi out as in). aluminum came along and wasnt as cheap, but was lighter, just as strong, and still provides decent emi protection (although not as big of a deal now) now full plexi gives you a decent cost, not anywhere near as durable, lighter (but without the durability it's not like you are gonna carry it around a lot), and super bling. of course it offers no emi protection but i dont know of too many who have complained about emi probs. i havent had any.
yah most store bought branded computers like dells are plastic with a steel frame. I think aluminum just happens to be one of the cheapest metals availible right now
if u shop around the more expensive cases are made of aluminum and the reason for this is it is light and does not hold heat so works very well at helping keep the case cool.
Wasn't steel also used to provide a ground for all the components? Or am I just pulling that out of my butt.
aluminum cases hold heat less because they aren't painted, best heat dissipation you get from dark colours, that is why they originally painted refridgirators white, because they do not radiate heat as much as black, if you would sand down every last bit of white paint from a "el cheapo" case it would most likely even the heat radiation or top it since you can construct thinner with metal bacause it is stronger.
the paint theory is pretty much mumbo since all the aluminum cases are anodized so the metal is sealed just as much as a painted case. aluminum is just a better conductor of heat (painted or not) than steel. aluminum absorbs heat at a fast rate (copper is even faster) and realeases it at a fast rate (faster than copper). steel takes longer to absorb heat and once absorbed, holds it for a long time. that is why you dont see steel heatsinks
Copper Cube This has been since the 24th of December in '03, but it's worth a look for sure!!! Copper Cube
Well really alu case are more expensive couse they are not produced in such big numbers, the tooling necesary to make them is more expensive (they cost more to produce) and the thermal characteristic differences between a steel case and a alu one are almost equal, as you would need to design the case to transfer heat from the inside and disipate it to the outside quickly only the zalman case does that. (So a plexy case would be what 10x hotter than a steel one???) Only HD and optical drives take some advantage transfering some of their them to the case, the CPU dont transfer it, nor does the GPU or any other card, you need direct contact beetween the hot component and the case, and a large disipator area outside (small contact between panels and case dont transfer much heat, and a completely flat panel almost catch no heat from the inside case air) There are some cases wich have steel honeycomb grills on their windows to respect the EMI thing, pure acrylic ones are bad for interferences. You Could always put aluminium/cooper foil inside a case to better its EMI radiation/reflection (if that foil is grounded of course the emi will go to earth)
whats the deal with all this EMI stuff? ive been running my computer with no case for awhile (chipset hook on my p4 board broke and waterblock wouldnt stay on) so it now sits on my desk. is emi bad for people?!? i know that sounds kind of stupid but is it harmful runnig ur pc outside the case
Weel i have heard so but is much worse just living on a city with all the contaminations eating "garbage quick" food and much other things. I thing Electro Magnetic are bad for other stuff like wireless com, HQ audio, and it just make other stuff work less than optimal, also if you have a strong source of EMI near your pc and it is unshielded it would not work quite right (not be as stable). High end audio equipment and High end cables are all covered on shields so its performance its not affected much by EMI. You remember how the first rounded cables performed worse than the flat ribbon cable, that was caused by Electro Magnetic "contamination" of the cable, as the cables needed to be one beside the other and certain cables far from the other and not parallel (well the explication i readed was much more elaborated than that ) So yes you can use the computer like that but its not the optimal way.
black92rs said it pretty much. I believe modern atx cases are to what ever goverenment regulation to not give off emi. It interfers with all sorts of radio devices and yes unproperly shielded cables will lead to poorer performance. Thats also one of the reasons there's a not so arbitrary restriction on cable lengths like ata and usb.
