Wide open skeletal PC case

Antec's new Skeleton case is pretty rad -- looks like the manufacturer has been paying keen attention to the casemod scene:

The Antec Skeleton is a truly revolutionary enclosure. With a unique design that allows for unprecedented airflow, a front 92mm fan, and a top three speed 250mm fan with multicolor LED customization, the Skeleton goes utterly unmatched in stylish cooling. Factor in the layered component trays for top-notch convenience, as well as the rackmount quality side rails, and you have a case truly without equal.

Skeleton (Thanks, Paul!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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CommanderCool

Looks very weird I don’t know alot of people that would buy one…
icouldmakeyousmile

#21 – the PSU sits at the back under the motherboard. Pretty well concealed unless you have a round table. Besides, the kind of person who buys this “case” will be the person who buys a fancy looking PSU or gets it chromed.
Anonymous

#9: Half the point of shielding – and the important point so far as the FCC is concerned – is to keep your signal in.

In a typical machine you have things operating at many frequencies from perhaps 100MHz (~3 meters) to 3GHz or so (~10 cm). Why do you think this would act as an effective Faraday cage at any of these frequencies?
Ernunnos

The bigger the fan, the quieter for the same volume of air. Doesn’t have to spin as fast. Antec’s 200mm fan moves 83 cubic feet of air per minute at the lowest speed, which produces only 24db of noise. And this one’s 250mm. I just got one of Antec’s other products for my home theater it keeps a 700 W receiver cool with 1/10th that much air displacement.
AspireBlack

Big fans are not noisy. Since they cover a large area, they can be run at lower rpms. The exposed 92mm fan gives me concern for noise. Also, spill protection?
oneswellfoop

I sure hop it includes a feather duster to keep my mobo and cards cleans, as well as an eye mask so that the status LED’s on my mobo don’t blind me through my eyelids as I sleep. I’d have to cover the thing in a panyhose condom just to keep the dust out. Nice try though.
Beryllium

My cat would LOVE this. ;)

(except not; she enjoys sleeping on top of my tower)
Axx

Alright. I don’t get into many product postings here at BB. But I gots to say. That’s pretty wicked.
Modusoperandi

Remember when cases were tan boxes? Wasn’t that nice?
Anonymous

There’s a whole photogallery and a video available here (posted back in June) for anyone that cares:

http://www.futurelooks.com/computex-2008-spotlight-antec-comes-out-of-closet-with-skeleton/
Kieran O’Neill

#8: Lol, no. When cases were tan boxes, I sprayed mine black.

#1: Actually, depending on what you’re shielding from, I would reckon that would serve as a fairly effective Faraday cage. IIRC, cellphones operate at around 12cm – that case looks like it might do a fair job of blocking them.

I do wonder about some of the other issues, particularly dust.
Beanolini

Hopefully the ‘top-notch convenience’ of the ‘layered component trays’ will offset the extreme inconvenience of having a case that is THREE TIMES BIGGER than necessary, and incapable of supporting a monitor.
Kieran O’Neill

#6: I can think of a few cats who would love it, but not to lie on… ;)

“Hey, the cat’s all fluffed about, you think something’s riled her?”

“Naw, she’s just been gnawing on cables again.”
mark zero

No power supply, and no place to conceal one I think. A standard boxy one is going to look really ugly next to this, too. And I wonder if there will be grounding issues between the case and the power supply, if they are only connected via power cables.
EH

I’ve always wanted to buy a second desk. At least make it into an Ottoman.
Ubercore

I have my doubts about increased cooling. It would certainly help with convection cooling, but an open design like that would, I think, make the fan less effective than a well-design closed (and ducted) case. Also, the added turbulence of the open shape might hurt acoustic qualities.
Antinous

I usually keep a computer for about six years. Most of my friends can’t manage three. The difference that I can see is that I crack the case regularly and blow out the dust. This caseless version would be fantastic, both because it would stay cooler due to the design and because of the ease of dusting.
monstrinho_do_biscoito

ooh, thats just perfect for teaching my toddler about the dangers of spinning blades and electricity
Modusoperandi

Kieran O’Neill “#8: Lol, no. When cases were tan boxes, I sprayed mine black.”
Didn’t the fumes make you woozy as you painted the case while stuffed in your locker?
Anonymous

DIY!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47642593@N00/144656844/
I ran this way for a couple of years, I blew the dust off with an air compressor.
padster123

Looks silly, and would look even sillier with a cup of coffee tipped on top of it. With a “normal” case you at least stand a chance. Daft, inelegant, “look at me” design.
gene

I see no place to put my beer on top of this.
Teej

Drooooool…

Can we make this steampunk somehow, Cory?
raisinlove

Ok, I’ll believe it’s quiet enough, but when will we see cases that somehow gather all dust into some drawer? This open concept only seems to make dust collecting worse, no?
zog

PCs gather dust regardless.. this one might be easier to clean though?

anyway it’s amazing just for looking like what a computer SHOULD look like rather than some practical bit of office furniture or whatever.
Cyberwasteland

Looks awsome!

But why is there such a big fan, and several of them, when it’s open case?

I want one though
Sork

This explains a big more.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article840-page1.html
musicalwoods

Well, this style case isn’t new, just not well known/popular. Antec sure has put a pretty face on it, though. This is for the people that think clear acrylic cases cover too much up, haha.
Jerril

If air gets into your case (which I certainly hope it does unless you’re water cooled) then dust, cat/dog hair, etc gets into your case.

Open her up some time, but bring a can of air with you.

At least with the open case you’ll SEE the dust accumulate and hopefully blow it out now and again, instead of having it all hidden and not find out until it kills your CPU fan.
Anonymous

Computers collect dust because of IBM’s decision to use a unfiltered negative pressure case design in the original PC. Prior to that, all my computers used positive pressure drawn through a filter and were sparkly clean inside. Yes, I am indeed very old, and you kids better get off my damn yard.

This case will collect dramatically less dust than a normal enclosed PC because the outflow path is less restricted than the inflow, which will cause less dirt to be trapped. And, you’ll be able to tell when it’s dirty, which is a huge improvement.

Assuming the RF leakage is not too bad, WANT!!!

–Charlie
Sork

In computing: The bigger the fan the more quiet it is.
In sports: The bigger the fan the more noisy it is.
chetspartan

#15 – I believe most cases from reputable companies these days address the issue of dust pretty well. I know my 4 year old Antec P160 has a dust filter in front of the 120mm intake fan up front. It’s simple as heck to pop the front, take off the filter, run it under the faucet sprayer then dry it off with a towel and compressed air. It keeps the dust out really well. I used to dust out my previous case every 2-3 months, now I can go 6 and there is still less in there. I believe most of the Antec Performance One series cases have this feature.

This looks really interesting, but I agree with others here that real life use could be difficult for numerous reasons – cats, dust, grounding, etc…
soupisgoodfood

Looks neat, but no RF shielding, and I bet that big fan is noisy and not really that efficient since there is no ducting.