Logisys CS888UV: Glowing Acrylic!
by Purav Sanghani on November 5, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Internal Design
Since we are dealing with a clear acrylic case, we are not surprised to see the insides of the CS888UV. To get a clearer view, though, we removed the side panel to show the various parts.At the front, we see where the bundles of USB, audio, and the other front panel wires come together. There are two circuit boards: one for the power/reset buttons and lights and one for the auxiliary ports. The front instrument panel (power/reset buttons, lights) wiring is bundled as a single ribbon cable to reduce the mess that we have seen before in many cases.
Click to enlarge.
In the image above, the bundle of wires is twist-tied to one side of the drive bay mounts. The drive bays are actually two molded pieces of acrylic, which are screwed to the case from the top and bottom. We saw this design in the CS888CL, which was included in our clear case roundup in July.
There are a total of four 5-1/4" drive bays and eight 3-1/2" drive bays, two of which are exposed for floppy drive applications. As with the CS888CL, Logisys does not implement rubber HDD mounts on the CS888UV. Rubber stoppers help HDDs absorb any vibrations that may be carried through the acrylic to the drives. In effect, these stoppers greatly reduce the risk of damage to those HDDs.
Click to enlarge.
The expansion slots are supported by a steel casing that help increase the strength of the acrylic in that area when mounting add-on cards. We noticed how ClearPC had failed to implement this type of support in their Secret Agent suitcase style acrylic case, which resulted in a cracked area in the acrylic.
Click to enlarge.
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Zepper - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
Clear cases are only for store and show displays - they have little or no EMI/RFI containment/rejection..bh.
The Beave - Sunday, November 7, 2004 - link
#7, I agree. And who reviews a UV reflective case and doesn't shine a UV light on it to see how it looks? I don't care if the manufacturer didn't include one, it's the main reason anyone would buy this case in the fist place, and the reviewer didn't even try to do it. One of the worst hardware reviews I've EVER read.KristopherKubicki - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
WooDaddy: Dont forget Lian Li either.Kristopher
SMT - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
That's gotta be the most impractical case design ever. This case is to computers what the Peavey Dan Armstrong is to guitars.stephenbrooks - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
Well... This case is clearly for novelty value and is probably not designed with competing with the best technically spec'd metal cases in mind. I think it achieves what it's supposed to do pretty well - kind of a cross between a PC and a lavalamp-like glowy room oddity.Slik - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
meh, I don't like where the fans are placed on this case; but Acrylic cases in general are great looking if you set them up properly.I also wouldn't expect an acrylic case to crack on you, If you manage to crack it then you're already handling your computer case way too rough.
Its a matter of personal preference, like steel and aluminum there are good looking cases and ugly cases; This being one of those ugly cases. :)
LoneWolf15 - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
The side fan design is simply horrible. It maximizes cable clutter, for one. Mounting two side fans in the middle? It doesn't take an engineer to understand that it would make a lot more sense to put one fan over the CPU area where it gets hottest, and one fan in a top blowhole as hot air rises to the top of the case. Routing cables for these would also be far cleaner. Logisys also had enough space to make front and rear 120mm fan mounts, and blew it. Just as much airflow with less noise, and less power consumption.michael2k - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
#5But if Macs were half as good as PCs, Apple would have to lower their prices accordingly :P
WooDaddy - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
#1 Agreed...It looks like the only company to really come out with Apple like designs is SilverstoneTek. We should make a thread tracking the coolest (not by temperature) cases that break the norm for PC cases... including the demon/transformer/car looking cases. I'm a 28 dude and I don't want my case looking like a fisher-price, mattel reject.
bldckstark - Friday, November 5, 2004 - link
Jeez. Leave the mechanical design to the mechanical guys. I am almost positive that the reason they have 10 screws in the panel is to minimize thermal distortion of the acrylic at operating temps. If they had used 4, you would have complained about the gaps and warpage (and EMI leakage) that occurred every time the case heated up. Also, no one wants to use the red washers I agree, but the washers are there to minimize the probability of cracking and to help with vibration and sound issues. These are all valid reasons NOT to buy an acrylic case, but not reasons to rip on them either. I've seen better $35 cases than this one.