1. Ever need a flashlight to find a pin location or lose a screw that falls or something annoying where you need 3 hands, one holding a flashlight, etc? Acrylic case allows light to be pass through it, I can work in a dimly lit room fine, that's a first, unexpected happy aspect of acrylic case.
2. There is no part echo'ing. Ah, it has been wondered, but no one has tried. Sounds are not blocked as the material is not as dense as steel, but neither sounds echo/reverberate/whatever.
3. Because sounds dont get augmented or vibrate things, one has to worry about sound leaking instead. Funny thing is I have to COUPLE my hd to keep it quieter... and hide it somewhere. I might need an enclosure. I can no longer hear seeks, but I can drive motor noise leaking into a large opening in front. I could re-position but that's not easy...
4. I used Plexus canister acrylic spray on every part. THis made it incredibly clear, to the point that sometimes I crush my fingers on a wall thinking it is not there. Huge drawback to Plexus spray: Uh, I can't pick up my case as it slides out of my hands. Yeah. Hm. Looks nice though!
5. You have to work with cotton gloves. BTW, most comp geeks are not into fashion or sewing, I am actually. well sewing more. THe gloves are not cotton, they are polyester and have spandex in them, possibly some rayon. Kinda spiffy.
6. Yes, I am talking about SunBeamTech's acrylic 9 bay clear case, it's the only one out that makes any sense if you have a bunch of components. It is built very well.
7. In order to afix a hd or whatever I must first take off the rear panel. The rear panel has thumb screws, the whole case exterior has like 40 thumb screws. THis sounds fine and dandy until I realized that the MOTHERBOARD is attached to the rear panel. Yes, I have to remove the MB to attach or work on a hd. Hm! FUnny as hell to work on. How more awkward and freaky can you get?
8. I have built up static working on the case rather easily even on a humid island day. I don't care about such things as the psu is a powerfully good ground. I imagine some are concerned about this.
9. EMI? Eh, like modern cases really block all of it, they dont, never did, so why bother with worrying?
10. Ventillation: Acrylic cases like this one have LOTS of locations for 120mm fans. I can close or open locations for fans easily. I can even mount an internal rail and put fans inside, I can make a psu duct with just the unscrewing of front plates which go from top to bottom. Really cool case.
11. Acrylic cases have no fan grills. 50 cents fixes this issue, or if you are like me, I went for Bling atomic gold plated style. Will post pics
12. Fans do not need grommets. They transmit little to no vibration and can be smacked up right next to the wall of the case tight. Also, you can mount a fan inside or.... OUTSIDE! It doesn't matter on acrylic case. Can give you a lot more room! I do not need it as this case, for my needs has a large width and good depth.
13. Cutting holes is easy. However, on this case it has almost too many. However, in general, It would be super easy. each panel when removed from an acyrlic case lies flat on a table, there arent any welded on metal gunk or rivets. It just is a flat piece of plastic. THey come disassembled anyways! So you can mod to your heart's content. I also noticed how easy it would be to replace a side panel with a solid panel. Just buy a sheet of acrylic, trace the old panel on it and where the drill holes are as well, and cut with a knife. Acrylic is better than Lexan btw, scratches less and transmits more light.
So far the only issue is HD noise. I am using a Nightjar 450 silent psu. I have 4, 1900RPM Kama FLow 2 fans in it. on front, 1 rear, two on side. The side fans rock and I keep them at base voltage whatever that is for the controller. The rear fan I have on medium voltage, the front on low. The top has an 80mm blow hole which I just put a grill on and didnt bother with a fan. I am going to add a S1 rev.2 to my 5770 after I whip out the tin snips. 2 120mm side fans chill any passive video card setup.
Next I buy a few red and blue LED's
Acrylic cases look 20x better in person than in the photos. they look super snazy when all assembled with components and tastefully picked fan grills. With the Plexus spray, which no one has ever posted on the internet for such uses, the surface becomes even more scratch resistant and hides any possible micro scratches. People say they scratch easily, er, no they don't. I mean, I never did so far and disassembled it twice to add pieces I forgot or as I am "modding". just dont drop the screwdriver, work on a carpet, and use the gloves. It makes me feel all clean-room-from-some-asian-foxcon-suicide-ridden-factory to wear those little cloth gloves and build my pc.
