Antec Releases "Skeleton" PC Case 124
ThinSkin writes "It is appropriate to say that Antec was 'thinking outside the box' when the idea of the 'Skeleton' PC Case sprung to mind. The Antec Skeleton is an open-air PC case with a pair of shelves for the motherboard and other components — held up by arching arms. There are no side panels. This is ideal for the computer user who is constantly fidgeting with his PC parts, or someone who wants to show off his fancy components. Just have a compressed air can nearby. There is also a slideshow of Antec Skeleton images available."
Good for a lab. (Score:5, Insightful)
But man i would fear every open can of soda, and heaven forbid you have kids or pets.
Re:Good for a lab. (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It looks like it might be a good hair-dryer for hamsters, but it would radiate so much radio-frequency noise it could cause significant problems being used for computing.
It certainly would be illegal to offer systems for sale using this case in the U.S.
Most people wouldn't drive a car with the muffler and catalytic converter removed.
It's unfortunate that some may get poorly shielded cases like this and be just as much of a nuisance without even realizing it.
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Posted anon because modding you down for being an idiot would not be fair.
Electromagnetic radiation emitted by computers is not inconsequential, but not of practical concern, and certainly not to the degree where any caseless computer would be illegal to sell (presumably for violation of FCC regulations). Radiation is determined by resistance multiplied by the square of the current. The current consumed by the computer in total is significant; the amount of current in any given wire inside the computer tend
Re: (Score:2)
It wouldn't be fair because he is right.
The rf from a PC isn't a health issue it is an interference issue.
Heck If I run with the side of my case off I get waves on my monitor and static on my speakers.
Don't try to listen to an AM radio...
Put an RF source inside a conductive grounded box and the problem is solved so yes confining the RF to the inside of the case DOES solve the problem.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I believe they try to recreate asexually, but realize their attempts are futile. Then they forget and try again the next day.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Good for a lab. (Score:5, Funny)
Sooner or later you'll notice that your FSB has had an upgrade.
After that you'll just have to find a female connector if you got the male one, or a male one if you got the female one, and the rest is basic IO.
There seem to be some sort of protocol using a closed handshaking routine to initiate the data transfer though and I haven't got that one figured out. There have been quite a few attempts to reverse engineer and document the procedure for the whole handshaking process, part of the progress can be found in TFM by Neil Strauss, but there are no complete documentation yet.
Common practise for finalising the handshake routine includes brute-forcing. But that method requires a wide array of targets since the target host most often will notice the probe and close all ports well before the initializing handshake routine and following data transfer is over. Alternative practise includes paying for a one-time key usable against a single target. This method got its flaws though since the target are usually well protected against intruding code which won't execute whereby not finalizing the final stages of the procedure. You will still get all the benefits of making the connection and following thru the whole data transfer process, but the application will never fork into a new process.
But believe it or not, some people even see benefits of the lack of a child process. For instance you don't have to fight over resources, share memory or try to fight for priority.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
After that you'll just have to find a female connector if you got the male one, or a male one if you got the female one, and the rest is basic IO.
If you've got a female connector, you have no problem finding a male dongle for it. Ever.
Re: (Score:2)
I think some versions of the female connector may have some problems, for instance the slightly wider version. Though solvable.
Owners of the female connections better watch out and validate the handshake to make sure it's authentic and correct or they may end up with resource consuming hanged children processes running on a single core.
Re: (Score:2)
I think some versions of the female connector may have some problems, for instance the slightly wider version. Though solvable.
Pfft. Not hardly. As long as said version can transmit the "Yes" packet, it can interoperate.
Re:Good for a lab. (Score:4, Funny)
Thanks for pointing that out. If he kept on contracting himself, he'd form a singularity.
Re: (Score:2)
I really could use some contracting to be honest.
Re: (Score:2)
Buying, selling or dieting?
I could use all three I think.
But... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
At least the flying insects don't get sucked through a fan and splattered throughout the case.
In my 33 years on this planet, and over a decade in IT, I have never, ever seen this happen.
Re:But... (Score:5, Insightful)
Like the article says, this is for people who probably already have their case open anyways.
Re:But... (Score:4, Funny)
But! Even my mom wants this case!
Though my friends tell me how her case is always open.
Re: (Score:2)
Even an open case has a lid on, and has sides to put on when you're moving it, or watering the plants, or doing some DIY nearby, or in fact anything at all. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
And having seen the picture, a normal PC with the sides off seems to offer easier access and a better view than this monstrosity.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
How many times have you nearly destroyed your computer, only to be saved by the case? Not once in 20 years for me. I have gone through about 10 keyboards though.
Re:But... (Score:5, Interesting)
Already ordered one for our development lap where we're testing under lots of hardware configurations. We've been using old PC server towers, the kind that stand like 4ft tall, so we can easily access all the components when we need to swap out this or that. But they do take up quite bit of space. As the article said, it's a niche product. So i guess next week we'll see.
Re: (Score:2)
My first thought when I saw this was that it was an idiotic idea, but a couple seconds later realized that this would be ideal for many lab environments where you might need to change the hardware around frequently, and food/drinks aren't a big problem. As an embedded software engineer, I always have bare boards and components at my desk, though mine aren't the type that would fit in any kind of PC case, including this one, so I can see how this would be attractive.
I'd never put one in my house, though. O
Re:But... (Score:4, Funny)
Only the one time. And if they did survive, you could be sure they would learn the lesson.
Had a Irish Setter once. And an electric fence. He wizzed; I winced. But I must say, I never saw him repeat the experience.
Re:But... (Score:4, Funny)
"Already ordered one for our development lap where we're testing under lots of hardware configurations."
And don't think your lap wouldn't appreciate the weight reduction. :)
Re:But... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
That's what I was thinking. I've certainly had motherboards just sitting on a desk before without issues....
Re: (Score:2)
I ran a database server for a year or so out of a cardboard box that a motherboard came in. Motherboard sat in the box, power supply and hard drives sat on the lid, which was, of course, open.
Worked flawlessly in my basement like that. Although, we don't have cats....
Re: (Score:2)
Your not really testing with them then. Any IO card that slides into an ISA/PCI/PCIE or whatever slot has a tab on the bottom that sticks past the main board. You have to elevate them to accound for this or risk pulling the card our and not making a good contact or damaging something in the process.
If your just testing drives, then USB enclosures would do the job just fine.
But when you do something like leave the sides open or prop a main board on something for testing, it isn't really practical if you use
Re: (Score:2)
I wondered as well - our lab has thirty or forty motherboards and no cases - it's a pain in the butt to try to maneuver scope probes in a case.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:But... (Score:5, Insightful)
I already have dust buildup in my closed case. It has an acrylic side panel, so it does not offer RF shielding. It has a top fan, so it doesn't offer much safety from a beverage set carelessly on top. As a matter of fact, no matter how much I wanted to I couldn't set a beverage on top of this Skeleton, so I would set it elsewhere -- this case is possibly safer as a result.
Perhaps closed cases are overrated in terms of the amount of "actual" protection they provide.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"Perhaps closed cases are overrated in terms of the amount of "actual" protection they provide."
IME with customer machines, closed cases protect many interesting "dust bunny and (usually) dead insect" ecosystems. As for "pets", I've seen some machines with enough hair/dust/primordial "stuff" to build a small dog.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Perhaps closed cases are overrated in terms of the amount of "actual" protection they provide."
IME with customer machines, closed cases protect many interesting "dust bunny and (usually) dead insect" ecosystems. As for "pets", I've seen some machines with enough hair/dust/primordial "stuff" to build a small dog.
I used to work for a coal company. We had some ancient IBM PCs that interfaced to conveyor belts and such, and once a year I'd need to maintain the things. I quickly learned to unplug everything and carry the case outside before opening it up and dumping/blowing the quarter-inch of coal dust that had accumulated. I don't know why nothing ever shorted out; I always thought that pure carbon was a pretty good conductor, but the dust appeared to only be an aesthetic problem.
Yes, but... (Score:1)
With the properly overclocked CPU, can you deep fry a turkey on it?
Re: (Score:2)
Nevermind that, the question is does it blend?
How appropriate (Score:4, Interesting)
Halloween is just around the corner!
Seriously though, Antec makes some amazing cases. Thing is, it's so easy to get into my P180B, I don't think this skeleton case is going to be any better.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
*insert witty Vista-bashing comment here*
Noise Level? (Score:4, Insightful)
My only concern would be the noise level from all of the components. I suppose it wouldn't matter if I had "quiet" devices. Overall pretty cool looking case.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
My only concern would be the noise level from all of the components. I suppose it wouldn't matter if I had "quiet" devices. Overall pretty cool looking case.
RTFA "Above, the huge 250mm fan is controlled by a three-speed switch, and is extremely quiet at the lowest setting.". Sounds OK to me as long as you don't need a hell of a lot of cooling doing. And yer i agree, amazing looking case.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
And if the computer is running Windows Vista, the whining from the user itself.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
RTFP: I said components, not the CPU fan. As someone else stated HD's, power supplies, overclocked GPU's....THOSE are the real noisemakers unless you use major passive or water cooling. The BFF over the CPU is only part of the solution.
Definition of a 'Component' (Score:2)
In the repair field, a fan and heatsink combo is considered a component, and is called a 'Thermal Module.'
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not a problem. For the CPU fan, get a Thermaltake Tsunami, which has a giant 120mm fan and is very quiet (this might not fit in this new Antec case, though). For the power supply, get a Seasonic power supply with 80+% efficiency and a 120mm temperature-controlled fan, also very quiet. For the GPU, get a GPU with only passive cooling. I have some Nvidia card (6600?) with heatsinks on both sides with a heatpipe connecting the two.
On my system, the only problem with noise is the 4 hard drives, and the vari
Re: (Score:2)
It's sad that Antec no longer make the Phantom500 power supply. It had a passive cooling design with a fan in it that only operates if the temperature was over 60*c. I have one in my server at home and it's never come on. Even with the watercooling pump and fans on the radiator, it's virtually silent.
Zalman also is worth mentioning. They make arguably the quietest and highest quality fans available on the market. My parents PC has a Zalman CNPS-9500 CPU fan, and you have to look for the lights on the front
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but for those of us who have their PCs on 24/7 with the cases open and a hard drive or two just sitting on the desk, sans enclosure, connected to the PC wouldn't mind something like this at all. In fact I'd love to have something like this.
When I get tired of the noise coming from the computer, I just shut the office door. When I'm using the computer, I just tune the noise out or turn the speakers up and don't even notice the PC.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I like it too but already have my 'show-off' cases for 5 years and expect another 5 out of them. This takes up more real estate than the more standard shape and i really would not have room for this :(
A tad pricey for what you get. That is more than my clear ones were back when there were only 2 places on entire internet to get them!
Re: (Score:2)
What TFA fails to report is... (Score:4, Funny)
Tesla Coil! (Score:5, Funny)
Just put a Tesla coil on top.
No, I haven't thought mu cunning plan through.
Re:What TFA fails to report is... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it really is funnier in German than English.
Dust? (Score:1)
This would be better if it had some sort of fabric cover over the top, maybe even a splashproof one. The design looks a bit impractical unless you've got lots of desk space though.
Re: (Score:2)
The design looks a bit impractical unless you've got lots of desk space though.
That's more or less what I was thinking too. It looks kind of cool, but where the hell would I put it? It doesn't fit anywhere a normal tower does. Think I'll just stick with my massive Chenming tower, which actually for me takes up 'less space' despite being twice the size.
Unpractical, really (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if we assume that there are no problems with air circulation and proper cooling (it's Antec, after all), this things takes up much more desk space than a normal tower case, cannot be used like a destop type case (however awkward they are) because of its shape and cannot really be placed under the desk (it negates the whole puprpose of such a design and most computer desks have no place suitable for something like that anyway, except maybe the printer shelf). So it's half a desk for a weird novelty. Not worth the hassle, IMO. Even for someone who likes fiddling with the parts a big tower without the left side panel and placed on the right hand side of the desk would be probably a lot more practical.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Hang it on the wall.
Re: (Score:2)
But often when swapping parts you need to turn the case on its side. If you have a really tall and long case, like most of the cases I use, this takes an awful lot of desk space. My desk never has that much space, so I'm inevitably stuck unplugging everything and transferring the computer to the floor.
If you compare this to a case that's lying flat, it actually uses a lot less space.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe a little less, not a lot. But my tower sits on the floor anyway; it's a pretty trivial matter to lay it down in the rare circumstance that's required to swap a part. Anything besides a motherboard can usually be done just fine without even moving it. But this Antec case... it just doesn't look useful for anything really. There's other system test bed setups that are a lot more accessible if that's your goal, and any other standard case is going to fit somewhere. This one just gets in the way, and you
Re: (Score:2)
There are tower cases designed for the purpose of swapping parts while in the normal working position, they even have levers to push cards into slots so you don't trip the case over while pushing on a card.
Re: (Score:2)
That's why I said often, not always. If you're only swapping expansion cards and hard drives, this is overkill.
Re: (Score:2)
Even if we assume that there are no problems with air circulation and proper cooling
It's very difficult for me to believe that an open-air case with a big fan blowing out of the top (heat rises) will have inferior thermal characteristics to virtually ANY enclosed case. Give me a link to an enclosed, fans-only, case that has better thermal characteristics. Liquid cooling doesn't count.
cannot be used like a destop type case
This *IS* a desktop-type case. It's an open-air desktop case. It's taller than the normal desktop because of the fan and you can't stack stuff on top of it. A case you can stack stuff on does not define "deskt
Re: (Score:2)
It's very difficult for me to believe that an open-air case with a big fan blowing out of the top (heat rises) will have inferior thermal characteristics to virtually ANY enclosed case. Give me a link to an enclosed, fans-only, case that has better thermal characteristics. Liquid cooling doesn't count.
It's much harder to direct streams of air in an open case. It can be done, but it's an engineering feat an order of magnitude harder than designing a properly cooled enclosed case (take a look at some prebuilt high-end workstations from IBM, they are perfectly quiet yet run cold because the air is directed through dedicated air ducts, everything in its path is carefully designed and there are seals on the side panels to prevent any unwanted inlets or outlets from appearing due to pressure).
This *IS* a desktop-type case. It's an open-air desktop case. It's taller than the normal desktop because of the fan and you can't stack stuff on top of it. A case you can stack stuff on does not define "desktop" case. The iMac is a desktop.
I think it was re
Re: (Score:2)
It's much harder to direct streams of air in an open case.
Putting all the components in open air negates the "streams of air" issue because the cold air is everywhere around the case. The paranoid could set up a box fan and point it at the case and have pretty much the same effect as ducting. With this case you start worrying about a cool ROOM.
As I said, give me a link to a better air-cooled case. Trust me, it doesn't exist.
There are tower cases with the disk cage swiveling out for easy access,
With the Antec case you just hook them onto the side. Way fewer steps than anything else I've seen.
individual disks mounted on rapid-mounting slide rails, and expansion cards locked in place with levers - no need to push on them to insert,
I hate rails, and especially those level lo
EMI (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:EMI (Score:5, Funny)
Screw EMI. After all, they're part of the RIAA.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly. The box is there for a reason. EMI is one of them.
The other reason for the box, is to keep the monkeys I work with from getting out of control.
Re:EMI (Score:4, Insightful)
My previous computer was mostly plastic (yeah, bad choice... the case broke at a LAN party but I kept using it for 4 more years) with only a plate of steel behind the motherboard. This should *increase* the EMI (read: ground plane [wikipedia.org]) but I certainly never had a problem. A CRT monitor or even your cable box produces far more EMI (and in those cases, more "tonal" EMI) than your computer.
...just checked. The FCC compatibility requirement is basically a "free air" certification.
Re: (Score:2)
...with only a plate of steel behind the motherboard. This should *increase* the EMI (read: ground plane [wikipedia.org])
In antenna designs the presence of a ground plane increases the radiation in certain directions while lowering it in others (most notably the direction of the ground plane itself). The total amount of radiated power is not increased (ignoring effects of possible improved antenna matching). Your PC is no antenna, designed to radiate (though it will). The influence of the ground plane will be very unpredictable.
EMC issues? (Score:1, Interesting)
A modern PC built in that is going to radiate from DC to daylight!
Little chance of anyone actually being able to sell PCs built in that thing into the European market as it would never pass the radiated emissions limits (And would quite likely have problems with the immunity requirements).
I suspect that pretty much the same thing applies wrt the FCC in the states.
I know, it makes me a boring old fart, but I was under the impression that the point of building a PC was to build a good one, and I have a lot of
Re: (Score:2)
Who cares? Anyone who buys a case like this isn't going to buy a pre-made computer, they're going to build it themselves. There's no laws (at least here in the USA) against selling parts like this, regardless of the fact that the resulting system won't be EMI-compliant.
Besides, the typical place for one of these to be used is in a corporate lab, where EMI, reliability, and acoustics aren't a concern, and listening to the radio definitely won't be a concern.
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
There's no laws (at least here in the USA) against selling parts like this
No, just laws against using them [wikipedia.org].
Nothing new, just slightly prettier (Score:3, Interesting)
Prior Art? Kinda? (Score:1)
This has been done ... http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Tech_Station [highspeedpc.com]
that's hardly 'open' (Score:2)
It ought to look more like a Tri-D chess board from Star Trek. (Pic [memory-alpha.org])
EM Shielding? (Score:1, Informative)
Doesn't seem like a very good idea to me...
Solid metal casing also shields EM radiation from leaking out of the computer, and that can be quite a bit.
I never understood why people go for those Plexiglas cases either...
Ever tried to operate a radio near an ungrounded computer without proper shielding? +9db interference in most of the shortwave spectrum is what I got last time I tried that...
Awesome. (Score:5, Funny)
new spin .... (Score:1)
looks perfect... (Score:2)
For when my 7 month old son decides it's time to learn walking... :-P
This is not the STUPIDIST idea ever (Score:2)
You can by a lot of dry wall screws and angle iron for that price, *and* customize it with a tin foil hat hanger!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If it was comparable with a standard simple case $40-100 I could see getting one just for the fun of it. Unless the entire thing is a solid block of Aluminum and functions as a giant passive heat sink there's nothing there worth almost $200.
Why so cramped? (Score:2)
If I'm gonna get a 'Skeleton Case' I don't want it to be tiny and cluttered, I want it to be open and easy to fiddle with. That case looks cramped as fuck. My 20.6" x 8.1" x 17.8" case is cramped with cables already.
I will not be purchasing one of these. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Slashdot desperately needs a -1 too informative mod.
Been doing it for years. (Score:1)
I've used a skeleton case for years. (Standard Case with all paneling removed). It experiences low temperatures, and it's really nice being able to look over and see your machine doing its job. Also makes modifications/repairs very easy.
Unhealthy - lack of RF shielding. (Score:2)
One of the benefits of having the computer in a metal case is the shielding from high-frequency radiation. Older computers used to have a problem with RTC time skew because of interference from various components. The early plastic-cased computers with the external floppy drives could make cordless phones ring whenever they wrote to disk.
This is NOT a healthy development.
Re: (Score:2)
hahahaha.
It would be fine.
No big deal (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Other options (Score:2)
I seem to recall seeing something like this in a catalog I got not long ago. It was designed for component testing. It wasn't quite as fancy though.
Skeleton? Here I was thinking bones... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Reminds me of this gadget [highspeedpc.com].