Your box: exposed?

[LosT]

It seems to me that the percent chance that your box has a side off or cover off is directly porportional to the amount of experience with computers that you have. Does anyone else seem to think that this is the case? (I know, bad pun)

For instance, how many of us here have a PC running without a case/side/door/face plate cover on?

Just a random thought.

LosT

[TheCotMan]

It seems to me that the percent chance that your box has a side off or cover off is directly porportional to the amount of experience with computers that you have. Does anyone else seem to think that this is the case? (I know, bad pun)

For instance, how many of us here have a PC running without a case/side/door/face plate cover on?

Over ~20 years of work [meaning programming and playing with them, not employment] with computers, but my lids are shut and cases are closed. This is true at home with multiple boxes and also at work.

However... there was a time for about 6 years, where at least one of my boxes was always open due to upgrades and trying to fix cheap crap. Now I pay more for better hardware, and newer systems really expect the box to be closed to permit air-flow to properly cool all of the parts. In addition, I try to buy with consideration of use to avoid future upgrades. I try to plan either a 3 or 5 year refresh cycle with devices, and it seems to work well.

Also, at work, it is not really a "do-able" thing since rack mounted blade chassis and multi-U systems can only be opened when they are either powered down, or pulled out into the walkspace or both.

(HEY! A short reply!)

[Edit: added content above in [ ] ]

[CyberVenom]

My computer at home has no case at all. Just a motherboard, a power supply, some drives, and an LCD monitor wired together on my desk. I keep planning to build a custom case for it but haven't have the time. :( I smashed the top of the LianLi it used to live in because the damn thing wouldn't stay on for more than 1/4 second at a time, even after I verified that the memory, power, cpu, and cooling were all working fine. I eventually traced the problem down to my GeForceFX, and when I put my GeForce4 back it it ran great, but by that time I had already used my shiny aluminum case as a stress toy...

[jesse]

haha, case side being left off as a sign of computer skill?

what about Sun hardware that automatically shuts down if it's opened?

[skroo]

For instance, how many of us here have a PC running without a case/side/door/face plate cover on?

I hate to admit it, but I currently have two PCs, a Mac 7300/200 (containing a G3/400 upgrade), and an Apple Lisa in that state. The PCs have been undergoing various gonzo experiments, the Mac refuses to recognise the Seagate Barracuda I threw in it, and the Lisa needs a drive alignment.

Shit, I really need to finish these things off.

[octalpus]

I used to have a bad habit of that, but I've mostly stopped. We get an ASSLOAD of dust in our systems, so even covered, I have to clean them out at least once a month. I do have easy to remove thumb screws on all my boxes, though, and half of them aren't really secured, the cover is just sort of slid in and left like that.

[skroo]

what about Sun hardware that automatically shuts down if it's opened?

Ah, but that can be defeated ;)

However, I don't believe that having a case off of something necessarily denotes some great in-depth of understanding of anything related to computing. For me, it usually means, 'I was going to put this back together, but drank beer instead".

[CyberVenom]

The fact that someone opened their computer case may not be a direct indicator of computer knowledge, but it does show that the person thinks they know what they are doing. Otherwise they would be happy to leave it in the black-box "just works" state.

[Grifter]

I have three machines with the side off of them; the others are all sealed up. And ironically as I was reading this thread I moved my foot and jammed my toe in one of the fans in the machine under my desk. I can honestly say that this has never happened before but now I'm thinking maybe it's time to put the side on.

[renderman]

For the most part in the past, I ran caseless because I was a cheap bugger who got crappy cases, jammed a crapload of kit into them and had no airflow as a result. Hence needing the case off to get some sort of airflow.

The large number of fans resulted in my now being able to ignore a jet engine on my desk.

I just built a new box and spent a bit more on a case and got and Antec Sonata 'Quiet' Case and There's no way I'd run this without the panels. It's a Freaking beutiful case and with all the panels on, it's freaky quiet.

I've still got a few boxes running caseless for testing/pillaging/temporary use, but don't we all.

Hey skroo: A Lisa 1 or Lisa 2?

[phobal]

Dell's laptop cases suck ass. They're ugly and they don't ventalite well. I'd get something from http://www.voodoopc.com, but I don't have a lot of money to piss away. But my case has some nice stickers on it! Whoo!

[skroo]

Hey skroo: A Lisa 1 or Lisa 2?

It's a Lisa 2/10. I kinda wish I'd found a 1 so that I could have the nifty Lisa logo on the front-left of the case (and joy of trying to make the Twiggy drives work), but I'm not complaining.

Oh, and those phots were taken before I started in on cleaning it up. It had previously been the inventory machine for a mechanic/parts dealer, hence the aeons of grease and dust on it.

[renderman]

It's a Lisa 2/10. I kinda wish I'd found a 1 so that I could have the nifty Lisa logo on the front-left of the case (and joy of trying to make the Twiggy drives work), but I'm not complaining.

Oh, and those phots were taken before I started in on cleaning it up. It had previously been the inventory machine for a mechanic/parts dealer, hence the aeons of grease and dust on it.

I've got one too. Built like a Buick are'nt they. Drop me a line, I might have some software around for them.

[skroo]

I've got one too. Built like a Buick are'nt they. Drop me a line, I might have some software around for them.

Cool, thanks. I'll definitely take you up on that. So far I've managed to find quite a lot for them, but anything not freely available online would be a major plus.