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Hardware Technology

How a Computer Case Is Built 245

Posted by CowboyNeal from the ground-on-up dept.
mtxmorph writes "Ever wondered how that pretty case on your desk came to be? Tom's Hardware Guide recently took a trip to China to see the production process for the Chenbro XSpider/Gaming Bomb case. Lots of interesting pictures in this detailed article." I must admit, this is far more intriguing than I'd initially thought, if only for the subtle differences in corporate culture. Chenbro employees have the option of living "on campus" in employee housing.
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How a Computer Case Is Built More

How a Computer Case Is Built

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  • Pretty case on my desktop?
    You have to be vision impaired to like a plain white box with no distinguishing features.
    In fact it's the ugliest thing in my room.
    • In fact it's the ugliest thing in my room.
      What about yourself? Ok lame joke, so sue me :P
      • Well you would be true if i could have a CPU and motherboard inside my, but until that blessed day comes the computer case is the ugliest thing in my room :)
    • Pretty case on my desktop?

      You have to be vision impaired to like a plain white box with no distinguishing features.
      In fact it's the ugliest thing in my room.


      Well your plain white box wouldn't be if you bought a "Chenbro XSpider/Gaming Bomb" case. This new case would instead become the ugliest thing in your room.

      It looks like it went up against a markedly superior paintball side and had it's ass handed to it.

      -- james

    • Re:Pretty case? (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by isorox ( 205688 )
      In fact it's the ugliest thing in my room.

      Until you look in the mirror
    • Never fear, the ever emerging trend of ubiquitous computing will solve that.
    • I almost never look at my case. When I do, it's for a few seconds to change a CD or press the power button. Why should I spend $20-$100 on a fancy case that I'll hardly look at?
    • most of my computers have no cases at all. Some even have no chassis. But I don't think they look ugly. Ultimately, no case is the best case :)
    • Give me a nondescript case that sits off in the corner, doesnt make a sound, and has everything I need in a small container, and I will be happy, I don't like these ugly cases.

      I want my desk to only contain my KB, Mouse, and my 3 head LCD setup. it speaks volumes, and is alot sexier that some hideously designed case whirring like a jet engine, taking up space and not matching anything.
    • I've found that if you place the case under the desk, the fan noise is less noticeable.

  • Microserf... (Score:3, Informative)

    by c_oflynn ( 649487 ) on Saturday October 11, 2003 @08:03AM (#7189203)
    Anyone else read the Microserf book? Same thing as the campus living and whatnot...

    Oh and here is the Google Cache [216.239.39.104] of the Chenbro site, its already getting slow!!

    Pretty cool article though... I'm suprised at the amount of work that goes into one.

    • Re:Microserf... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Microserfs was fiction, of course, and the housing was actually the privatized suburban 'strip housing' that springs up around economic centers. (I'm living in a similar house in an old factory town right now.)

      That said, this shows how far China has come, and how far it has to go. It's the same thing everyone went through during the industrial revolution - unskilled labor arrives from across the country to work in less-than-wonderful conditions, try to make a buck, start families, create new enterprise a
    • http://www.tomshardware.com/ its 404 again. WTF is going on with his site? Its been having issues for almost a year!

  • XSpider translatator (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Tom's Hardware: How are you gentlemen?
    Chenbro: What you say?
    Tom's Hardware: Someone set us up the Gaming Bomb Case
  • > Ever wondered how that pretty case on your desk
    > came to be?

    No. I've seen a sheet-metal brake in action.
  • Didn't I read the article on Tom's Hardware last week or something? Meh, I like the pictures anyway.
  • These are nice, pretty boxes but I can't wonder how long after modders have got there hands on them they will have twin exausts and go faster stripes. By doing that they should be able to get to at least 4Ghz :)

    Rus

  • "living on campus" is not just an extra (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 11, 2003 @08:17AM (#7189261)
    The "living on campus" (what is considered by /. readers as a great thing) is not that great. The site is too slow so I can't read the article, though I do know a bit about China factories (living in Hong Kong and having visited a few myself, Hong Kong is part of the Guangdong province, Dongguan is one of the larger cities there). There is an important dark site to this whole China production work.
    The workers often come from far away - all the way from the west is not uncommon. These people come to the east because of the 'good' salaries (typically about 20 RMB per day, or USD2.5, 12 hour days, 7 days a week), to make money and after a year or a few years move back to their village having saved a bit to live from. The working conditions are often harsh, poorly lit rooms, dusty, hot, etc.
    They live on campus, often in single room appartments with shared facilities. Food is provided as well, the fee is normally around USD30 a month. Cheap, for you, but it is half of their salary! And all the rooms have strong iron bars - mainly against theft.
    Margins for these factories are also often really low - cents to the dollar. As a result workers are sometimes treated as slaves, I read regularly stories about this in the Hong Kong newspapers. About workers making just enough to pay for their own stay and the contract cost (often have to pay a commission to a middle man to get the job), and not being allowed to leave the factory. Breach of the one year contract would cost them a fine of about two months salary.
    The products coming from China are wonderful, and wonderfully cheap. Labour cost in China is low - China is now in the middle of the industrial revolution Europe and USA had in the 1800s. With all the poor working conditions and pollution included.
    This is something to realise the next time you buy a case, or another product "made in China"! There is a lot to improve here.

    Wouter.
    • Sounds alot like stories of factory visits to Czechoslovakia before communism bit the dust where econo-tourists were presented with gleaming factories for PR purposes when the truth was less than sparkling.

      In all fairness, this facility, the housing and, relatively speaking, the wages do not appear to differ much from manufacturing working conditions in the United States. A single U.S. electronics fabrication line worker earns about $1000 per month, spends half that on housing and a third on food, leaving
  • huh? in order to put my case on my desk I'd have to make a hole in the ceiling!

    (i've posted this as Anonymous Coward already)
  • I really don't see how anyone would be interested in how a computer case is built. There is nothing complex or interesting about computer cases. What am I missing?

  • It's just that for some reason the editors decided to link to www6. Just try other numbers, for example, I read it on www4. Links:

    www4 [tomshardware.com]

    www5 [tomshardware.com]

    • You imply they check the links! Next you'll say they read the articles they link to.

      Linking to the main dns [tomshardware.com] load balancer might be more productive.


      yarn@blue:~$ host www.tomshardware.com
      www.tomshardware.com A 209.197.121.1
      www.tomshardware.com A 209.197.121.2
      www.tomshardware.com A 216.92.211.178
      www.tomshardware.com A 66.39.107.248

  • not interesting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by treat ( 84622 ) on Saturday October 11, 2003 @08:53AM (#7189358)
    Many of our readers have written us with the same request: "Can you please explain how computer cases are created?"

    Shouldn't all literate people know how something simple like this is designed, tested, and constructed? If you can read this sentence but don't know how to fashion a trivial metal box, ask for a refund on your education.

    • Wanker (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Chuck Chunder ( 21021 ) on Saturday October 11, 2003 @09:52AM (#7189582) Journal
      How would "all literate people know how something simple like this is designed, tested, and constructed" if articles such as this didn't exist to tell them?
      • Maybe he meant all literate people know how to make something approximating the first Apple computer, which could have just as effectively been constructed out of macaroni shells and Elmer's glue on construction paper over the "look 'ma, I can hammer on plywood" process chosen for the prototype.

        On the contrary, I think most literate people are aware that they are unable to fabricate resin models with frickin' laser beams in their garage and don't fault their 7th grade science teacher for that ignorance.
        • Luckily this is about how to build a case in a well-equipped facility designed for doing such things. Not in your garage, where you lack the appropriate tools and raw materials.

          Every informed person knows about those rapid prototyping machines. They have been mentioned on Slashdot several times.

          Really, which part of this is news to you? That it's designed using CAD? That metal is made to the right shapes and attached together using rivets and welding? That it happens on an assembly line? That it is done i
          • Modern manufacturing processes are not news to me - I've done my share of time in MQC/QA in biologics and aerospace companies. However, personal tours of Chinese manufacturing plants that highlight the working conditions beyond racism, xenophobia and 'they work cheap' are indeed rare, so by /. standards, this qualifies as interesting enough.

  • Journalist lacks critical review (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stomv ( 80392 ) on Saturday October 11, 2003 @08:56AM (#7189375) Homepage
    Over and over again, this writeup seemed like it came from a FUD factory. I'm sure that these cases are outstanding -- however, statements like

    unless you buy a quality product you are wasting your money.

    are pure drivel. Buying a $100 case for middle-of-the-road or lower requirements is a waste of money. A machine used to run your OS and assorted apps, with generic HD, motherboard, processor, and drive components does not require a high quality case. Spending $100 on one is simply a waste of dough... and not the converse, as the Tom's journalist -- or Ken -- would have you believe.

    • Nobody would read Tom's. It's geared towards gamers with more money than common sense, who are convinced they need to spend as much as possible, and want to impress all their lamer, I mean gamer, friends, with their big shiny bright green case.

    • Whatever case you get, you want to get something suited to your needs and those of your hardware. If you've got a hot machine, you want to make sure you get a case with plenty of good airflow over the areas that get hot -- and it's no good if it keeps your motherboard cool if it's letting your HD's cook because they're in deadzones without even enough space for convection cooling.

      Cheaper cases usually come with cheapo PSU's with poor specifications and build quality, which can easily lead to annoying (and
      • Antec cases are really nice, but overkill for average systems (most people can't see putting a $120 case around a $350 system). Also, I'm not a big fan of drive rails. Quick and easy to use -- *until* you break or lose one.

        There's a LOT of variation among mid-price cases. Some are made as cheaply as possible and are complete crap; others are actually pretty nice.

        Right now I'm buying Raidmax midtowers -- heavy gauge steel inside and out, 10 drive bays, good elbow room, easy to work in, smooth edges everywh

  • The employees can come and go from the campus when they are not working

    What a progressive company. They certainly do have a great compensation package there.
    • It sounds like China is like the US was in the 19th century.

      For example, the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago, which was once a factory housing area for railroad car factory workers.

      China is just now experiencing the industrial revolution, for good and bad.
  • Only cases that are hard tooled offer the best levels of quality consistency from case to case. This does not mean that cases produced using soft tooling are inferior, but consistent quality is difficult to control with soft tooling; and the additional time and labor that is required to produce quality soft tooled cases means that manufacturers must charge more for cases made with the soft tooling process to cover their production costs

    So let me get this straight.. hard tooling is better and costs less,
    • No. While they say that hard-tooling is superiour, they do admit that they use soft-tooling as well for lower production amount units.
    • Something I forgot. They also state in the article that the _initial_ costs for hard-tooling equipment are extraordinary high compared to soft-tooling.
    • Hard tooling has a big up-front cost, but a lower per-part cost in production. It's not a small difference, either. Once the dies are made, stamping is an incredibly cheap process. Plasma cutting, laser cutting, water jet cutting, CNC punching, and CNC machining are slow, expensive processes.

      This is a classic manufacturing decision. You face this making quantities of anything from sheet metal or plastic. It's a classic issue in automotive design. It's why low-volume cars often have large fibreglas bo

    • So let me get this straight.. hard tooling is better and costs less, soft tooling is worse and costs more?

      Spend more on hard tooling, and you get a lower cost per part. Very simple.

      Soft tooling is made from less expensive, less durable metals such as soft steel or even aluminum. It can be used to make a few hundred or perhaps a couple thousand parts for prototyping or a small production run. They are cheaper to make not only because the metal is cheaper, but also because the metal is easier to work, so i
      • I take it case-hardening a soft tooling die wouldn't help, due to the high pressures when stamping?
      • Sorry, the words "hard" and "soft" do not describe the metals used in tooling. They describe how two different types of punch press machines perform their function.

        "Hard" tooling of sheet metals means making two large pieces of metal, one with a bunch of holes and the other with a matched set of punches. They operate by stamping a blank sheet of metal in a single stroke and producing an entire pierced and formed part. The press can stamp a high quality part out in seconds. Thus, the savings when makin

        • You might just be perpetrating a clever troll, or you might just be misinformed. Sorry in advance if I spoiled any trolling

          John, while my comments may have been a bit inaccurate with respect to stamping processes, I'm pretty sure that they accurate describe hard vs soft tools for injection molding.
      • That explains one case I had... it had a nice layout, but the metal was thin, and every interior edge was like a razor blade (I actually covered them all with duct tape, to avoid being sliced to ribbons).

        I sold the beast to a client, thinking I'd never see it again. Guess what machine I've now upgraded twice and done other work inside a dozen times... Thank ghod his next major upgrade will require a new case!!

  • Focusing on the wrong thing (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) on Saturday October 11, 2003 @09:27AM (#7189475)
    As a software engineer specializing in user-interface design, I don't believe the computer's enclosure is where the user's attention should be focused. "Oooh ... shiny!" So what? A computer user spends most of his time looking at the screen anyway: the case has no purpose other than to support some parts. And the truth is that, whether it be cars, computers, or women, it's what's under the hood that counts.

    It's just ego, really, and the desire to be thought well of by other people. Now, I'm not deriding the ego trip, in and of itself. In the right context, it can be highly motivating. I mean, most of us programmers love to have someone in our own field look at our work and say "Hey ... that's way cool ... how'd you get it to do that?" The desire for more positive feedback of that nature drives us to do even better next time. So if you really want to stand out from the computing crowd, learn coding and do something cool and useful that the rest of us can enjoy, and you'll really impress us. Your shiny new plastic computer case with the electroluminescent panels stuck all over it will not. Put the money into a faster processor or a better video board instead, or better yet some programming classes at your local college.

    To be honest, if some manufacturer were to make a case that blended in with the rest of my office (say, a nice dark woodgrain finish that would match my desk) I'd be first in line to buy it. Some years ago I did something like that. I bought some wood-grain contact paper and covered a mini-tower with it, and spraypainted the front panel a matching color. It looked very nice, fit right in with the rest of the decor. Hm. I may have to try that again, now that you got me thinking about it.
    • Sorry, but likely because you're a software engineer you're not understanding the mindset of many people, for whom the design of an item counts for more than what's under the hood.
      • More the fools they. Billions of dollars are thrown down the toilet every year over such fleeting concepts as style and design. One could argue that this is symptomatic of a systemic failure of American culture.

        The fact that I'm a software engineer has nothing to do with the fact that I can recognize shallow, trite behavior when I see it. And that's irrelevant to my original point which was only meant to apply to computers. All the important action takes place on the screen: all the box does is lie t
  • Its a good article in that is shows that even the simplest parts of our computers have a lot of time invested in their design and manufacturer. Too many people see some elements of their PCs are "overpriced" when compared to others. As in "why should this piece cost so much when it doesn't do as much as this other one"

    There are some interesting points in the article, provided you ignore the overbearing emphasis on quality assurances. I think the heavy focus on QA in this article is an attempt to show th
    • I've noticed the same thing -- the early stuff from China was complete crap, very obviously not well made, but over the past 3-4 years has become much better; I no longer cringe at "Made in China", at least for the midrange and better stuff.

      As to quality and the bottom line, when I find a case (or other component) that I like, I stick with it, for myself and my clients. So they sell me more units than if their only motivation was upfront cost-cutting.

  • I was looking at the stamping/folding gear - No company in the US would be allowed stamping/folding gear like that! It is possible for someone to get a limb in the press, and get it folded or stamped, or to put fingers ABOVE the working area where things are moving

    OSHA would throw a fit - which is why the cases are made in China

    I remember a factory that had a die press. It had a metal cage around it, and full safeties - the operator had to close the door, and use a 2 button (one for each hand) activatio
    • "Yes, you have to protect workers from ACTIVELY trying to hurt themselves"

      If you don't, then they WILL hurt themselves. Earlier this year, a friend of mine worked at some plant where they cut and package tickets, and one of the maintenance workers decided that he was going to fix a damaged machine while it was still running. He got down on the floor and reached his hand under an opening in the machine and proceeded to tinker.
      Well, suffice it to say, he lost his arm that day.. The thing shredded his arm t

      • No wonder all the manufacturing is moving out of the US. If the company is responsible for such an obvious neglect on part of the worker, I won't want to do manufacturing in the US either. Maybe the cause is our neglected public education system.

        On the other hand, it's interesting that while GM and Ford are moving manufacturing out of the US, the Japanese and German auto manufacturerers are opening more auto plants in the US. Which leads me to think that it's not the workers that's the blame, but wastef
    • The article claims that the stamping equipment CAN'T engage if hands etc. are in the way - sensors detect it & turn the equipment off.
      • A friend of mine is an industrial designer who works with lots of plastic shops in the far east. He said that every molding shop has had at least one incident of somebody losing an appendage... in fact, the larger machines which make plastic car bumpers and such have been known to liquefy an entire person who happened to be standing inside working on the tool.
      • Despite what the article SAYS - look at the picture

        http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20031006/imag es /img_3517.jpg

        Notice the rams ABOVE the tool - that it a potential pinch point, and it has NO guards around it! That would be an OSHA violation
    • I notice that the workers in the pictures aren't wearing goggles, ear-protection or respirators, like when they blow the dust off the cases prior to painting. Nothin' like breathing in fine metal dust over 20 years to give you that (wo)manly cough...
      It is possible for someone to get a limb in the press, and get it folded or stamped ~.
      Hey, if getting one's hand stamped is good enough for Darth (er, Anikin), then it should be good enough for them!
  • This story has been on the /. front page for three hours and there isn't a single comment rated at 3 or more. And not just on this story, all of today's stories have very few articles which have been modded up.

    Is there a shortage of moderators today?

  • Is it just me or did we just slashdot tom? I can't seem to load pages beyond the intro.

  • Here, one of the Chenbro employees is re-working the die to implement an engineering change required to improve product quality. Chenbro is continually looking for ways to improve the quality and consistency of their products.
  • No matter how hard you work nor the time that it takes to build one if the end product is just ugly! I mean look at the case design of apple products (i.e. G5), and you'll see what i mean by that. Design plays equal role as does engineering. G5 for example uses state of the art anodizing process called Microplasmic anodizing that coats material (i.e. of G5 -- Aluminum alloy) and makes it as twice as harder than steel. You can read more about this process at http://www.microplasmic.com One more thing that t
  • "Ever wondered how that pretty case on your desk came to be?"

    not really, no.

  • Ugly (Score:2)

    by Zed2K ( 313037 )
    I think just about all the latest cases are so damn ugly. Stupid window panels, layered on plastic to make it "look" hi-tech. Stupid full front doors. Ughh.

    Give me back the days of the normal mini-tower cases. There was nothing wrong with the old cases except the materials they were made out of, sharp edges steel, not very good circulation, hard to remove drive bay and pci slot covers, no front access USB/firewire/sound connectors, and all the same color. But the overall look of the minitower cases wa
  • Many of our readers have written us with the same request: "Can you please explain how computer cases are created?"

    Remember that TV show? I could sure enjoy seeing it's return given today's trash television programming. It could have Temptation Island's timeslot IMHO.

  • Where did these Chinese people get names like Jerry, Johnny, Kevin, Ken, Jim, etc? Don't they have _real_ names? Why does everyone think English is so cool?
    • I work at a computer company with a number of Chinese who have "Americanized" their names; there's Ray, Johnny, Jane, etc. It reminds me of a stand up comic I saw years ago who said, "Black people are naming their kids Sheniqua and DeShawn. White people are naming their kids Britney and Dakotah. The only Americans with normal names like Theresa and James are Asian."
    • Chinese Christians -- and there are quite a few in Singapore and Taiwan, esp. in the higher classes of society -- usually have "English" Christian names in addition to their Chinese names.
  • This was not an objective article. THG was invited to goto the factory. They talk about how many people ask them how cases are made... you know what? I think that's bull. I think nobody asked them, they just bit the shiny hook that Chenbro dangled, and we're now eating fish.

    This is an advertisement, disguised as an article, with very little content.

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