opening a mac case

Neutron · Post by **Neutron** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:21 am

i just looked inside one, there is room for full length scope cards in there. however there is no fan for them, and the DSPs do get a bit warm.

apart from that it seems quite well designed to me.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:46 am

If I was opening one that had a lot of cable stress/weight attached to it (like with 3 Scope cards), I'd want to be more than carefull. Not for the sake of the mac, but for the sake of the 4000 dollars worth of cards being stressed.

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:50 am

<Shroomz> wrote:If I was opening one that had a lot of cable stress/weight attached to it (like with 3 Scope cards), I'd want to be more than carefull. Not for the sake of the mac, but for the sake of the 4000 dollars worth of cards being stressed.

and that's where magma enters the arena

Post by **hubird** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:52 am

Hm, some of you really hate design for it's own uh?

Yet that removeable side panel is very practical.
You just have to get used to the different approach of a mac.
It doesn't look like a box which you can decontruct in it's ultimate components.
This probably scares you, even without knowing it.
You're somehow conditioned to see 'components' if you look at a computer.
The idea of housing a mobo in a panel does shock you more than the actual (serious) disadvantages you may see, isn't it?

The only serious design point, technically, is named by Kylie tho, as the two harddisks at the right side of the pictures are indeed close to the processor cooling part when the case is closed.

cheers.

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:00 am

hubird wrote:It doesn't look like a box which you can decontruct in it's ultimate components.
This probably scares you, even without knowing it.

yes, I confess you have my number...

The only serious design point, technically, is named by Kylie tho, as the two harddisks at the right side of the pictures are indeed close to the processor cooling part when the case is closed.

I knew there must be something...

the sheer possibility to roast the cpu and the disks at the same time with a failing fan is simply astonishing

(no offense, mate)

-greetings, markus-

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:04 am

hubird wrote:Hm, some of you really hate design for it's own uh?

Not at all. It's really not as bad as my estimations. It's a Mac, it can't be badly designed, right?

Post by **hubird** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:05 am

astroman wrote:another proof for 'overengineering' is the non-fitting of the case if a PCI card needs a tiny bit of extra space, like for the S/TDM cable.

this is the real showstopper of this model, Neutron.
You can't get the case closed completely if you have a STDM cable connecting two or more cards.
The supply box is in the way, and there's not much you can do about it.
I used it this way anyway for a short time, but my cards are now in my older mac (G4/733) which doesn't have this problem.

Post by **hubird** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:10 am

<~Shroomz~> wrote:
hubird wrote:Hm, some of you really hate design for it's own uh?
Not at all. It's really not as bad as my estimations. It's a Mac, it can't be badly designed, right?

well I wasn't thinking of you actually, but of G and S whom's latest contributions show they don't like design (and computer)

I prefer the streight design of the G5 model a lot more btw, but the door panel I'll miss.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:19 am

and I wasn't making it personal.... Watcha Gonna Doo.

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:39 am

hubird wrote:Hm, some of you really hate design for it's own uh?

it looks nice from the outside, but still I'd prefer a SGI Octane2 for its design

-greetings, markus-

Post by **hubird** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:49 am

the box looks cool indeed.
Can it house full length cards?

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:57 am

hubird wrote:the box looks cool indeed.
Can it house full length cards?

I'm afraid no. but you can't run an OS compatible with scope either (unless it's ported to the MIPS architecture), so what...

valis · Post by **valis** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:44 am

kylie wrote:
hubird wrote:Hm, some of you really hate design for it's own uh?
it looks nice from the outside, but still I'd prefer a SGI Octane2 for its design

-greetings, markus-

I did love my SGI's when I used them (Indigo, IndigoII extreme, Octane, Octane2) but man forget using any non-SGI OS on them. Even for the more recent NT based machines you needed their HAL, their kernel, their drivers etc etc (and in many cases this meant that hardware that would normally work on NT wouldn't actually work with their HAL/kernel). The upside to using an SGI was when you were working in a production environment with lots of assets spread throughout the network...

The PC world is currently awash in crappy cases designed for the 'gamer' with neon lighting everywhere etc. Plastic 'windows' on the side of the case hurts thermal dissipation (versus aluminum etc) and increases noise (can't easily slap some linoleum flooring underlay on that now can you). It's amusing on other forums when someone posts up their 'new DAW' and it's got 15 lit components inside and is watercooled and overclocked to the hilt (with 2 graphics cards for twice the framerates!) Definately a casual/hobbyist who's having fun rather than a machine intended for a true production environment.

In the PC world I generally hold Lian-Li cases in high regard for their excellent finishing/deburring, solid aluminum construction, good airflow and generally well engineered design.

This case also caught my eye recently:
http://www.coolermaster.com/products/pr ... il&id=2584
It comes with soundproofing pre-applied, decent removeable drive trays and room enough for even workstation class xeon/opteron motherboards.

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:36 pm

I like this one:

http://www.yang-it.de/0420.htm

Post by **hubird** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:19 pm

Neutron wrote:apart from that it seems quite well designed to me.

pros recognize quality...SCNR

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:57 pm

I think I'll stick to the Lina-Li cases I use. Classic All black aluminium cases with no silly ugly weird curves or graphics, modular design for easy access to everything. All thumb screws (don't need a screwdriver), Motherboard slides out, Drives in alloy cages that are easily removed. Very solid construction.

Oh and this thread is off topic.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:56 pm

kylie wrote:
The only serious design point, technically, is named by Kylie tho, as the two harddisks at the right side of the pictures are indeed close to the processor cooling part when the case is closed.
I knew there must be something...
the sheer possibility to roast the cpu and the disks at the same time with a failing fan is simply astonishing (no offense, mate)

no need to worry - there's a lot of airflow in this area (I actually don't even know the number of fans...)
Though I never had a component failing on this model I'm pretty sure it will shut itself off, once the main fan fails.
The fans are definetely controlled by software as the very same machine under OS9 made a lot of noise, while it's pretty reasonable under OSX - without changing a single component.

This 'double-mirror-door' model marks a turning point in Apple's product policy - it was the latest model that could run OS9 if it was purchased before a certain date and the exact same machine later got a slightly modified BIOS that would prevent booting anything but OSX.
From then on no other Apple machine would boot OS9 anymore.

if Neutron consideres such a box for Scope he got to make sure it will boot OS9 - there's no outside indication for this.
I've had severe memory problems with this box under OS 9, in a way that the error only occured under specific circumstances, but those errors were 100% real, as they could be perfectly reproduced by exchanging the memory chips.
For example the machine would tell you a file was missing, or a network driver failed and such stuff - totally wierd.

You'd never associate that with memory - I only succeeded to identify the source because I had an identidentical image file running on another virtual machine in the same network that only failed on the DualMDD Mac, but ran after exchanging the memory chips.

Imho the Quicksilver model is a better choice.
But of course if you get a Dual MDD for free or for a hundred bucks it's not that bad - you just cannot make it a real silent performer, that's impossible.

cheers, Tom

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:04 pm

valis wrote:This case also caught my eye recently:
http://www.coolermaster.com/products/pr ... il&id=2584
It comes with soundproofing pre-applied, decent removeable drive trays and room enough for even workstation class xeon/opteron motherboards.

mmm... That looks like a well built case. At 18 kilos it must be solid.