-- DesignComp DCI CM 42-CL DIY Acrylic Case
-- Price: ~ $199.95
USD
-- 07.25.2002
-- By: GideonX
-- Page: 1 2
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A while ago, we spoke with DesignComp
on getting some acrylic
cases in for review, since they were rather uncommon at that time.
They went through a break to re-work their acrylic case. Now
after a year and a half, they're back with a new acrylic case.
Instead of the normal pre-assembled case, this one is a Do It
Yourself case.
There are four
different choices for this case, they're all the same but with different
colors. We're looking at the clear version, but you can find blue,
red and gray on their website.
When they mentioned a DIY case, I was
hesitant for a second due to the fact most acrylic cases are held
together with welding glue. I was not about to get into a mess
while working on clear acrylic! But that fear was laid to rest,
when I heard the case was put together with your basic screws.
The acrylic pieces come packed between two
sheets of Styrofoam to protect it during transport. In the above
picture you can see the printed instructions along with some screws
fitted into the Styrofoam sheet. Here is my first gripe upon
opening the box. I took a look at the instructions, which is a
total of 3 sheets. On these sheets, all you see are diagrams which
are very small with no descriptions. The parts and pieces are also not fully explained. To put it
bluntly, the instructions are horrible. If you're the kind
of person who has trouble
putting together a $39.99 piece-it-together table or dresser from Wal
Mart, you will most likely have a hard time putting this together.
I'll try to explain as best as I can in this review, hopefully that will
help a bit.
Here is the accessories that come with the
kit, they even included a pair of cotton gloves so you can wear it while
putting this together. I found that wearing the gloves made it
hard to put screws and grab the acrylic pieces securely. I tried
it for a while, then just took them off and washed my hands as you will
see later on.
There
is no parts list in the box, so I am going on faith that they included
everything that's needed. The bags contain screws of
different length, extra long brass stand offs, expansion bay spacers,
case speakers, acrylic feet with a rubber bottom, acrylic face plates, power/reset/led PCB
for the front and the I/O panel for the back.
Some quick specs on the case from Design
Comp:
-
4 x 5.25" exposed bays
-
2 x 3.5" exposed
bays
-
5 x 3.5" internal HDD bays
-
5 x 80mm fans (Optional)
-
material - 5.0mm and 8.0mm thick acrylic panels and aluminum
backplate for I/O port opening and PCI slot area
-
Dimensions:
445mm(H) x 220mm(W) x 475mm(D) 17.5"(H) x (8.75"(W) x
18.75"(D)
-
Weight (case only) - 5.5 KG or 12 lbs (Packaged) 7.0
KG or 15.5 lbs
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