[O/C]Crystal Edge Case Review

Crystal Edge Case Review
by George Harris (Dolk)

When I first received the Crystal Edge Acrylic PC Case from My Open PC, I felt that this case could bring out a new level in my ability to make computers look attractive. When you look at a case, sometimes you just want to know what's in it. You want to see what's going on. You want lights to blind you as you look past the fans and at the hardware. I had never used an acrylic case before, and have always wanted to make a computer out of one. After working with one, I never want to touch one again.

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Good read Dolk, nice honest review - I like it. I'm surprised in how solid you said it was - from looking at it I wouldn't have guessed that. Overall, it sounds like its an decent case albeit with some arrangement issues. Conclusion makes sense - I could see this being right for some people, but for the wrong person jumping in I could see how building this from scratch ikea style could be a bit of a headache... And someone more creative than me would need to figure out how to make cable management work well. I think you'd need to sleeve everything up and that could look pretty sharp.

Yeah I wish I had a lot more time and money to spend on this case. It would really be nice next to the TV as a HTPC.

Thank you for your detailed review.

Your review shows all the pros and cons of CRYSTAL edge, transparent acrylic case.

Actually, CRYSTAL edge is designed as a case not for high-end gaming PCs,
but for a small(mini tower) and fashionable case for HTPC, family room PC or
decorative PCs.

If you are a computer expert who are frequently asked to build PCs for
family members and friends, this case can give them surprise and reveal
what you have done.

As you found, this case is very light weight but solid as a tank due to the
unique aliminium profile structure. In our lab we tried for 5 adults to stand
on the case without damaging it as a test.

In addtition to your through review, there are many PC components in the
market such as fans, CPU cooler and even power supplies which
add lighting without addiing optional lights.

The following pictures are my home PC, day and night. FYI, I just used round
cables and cable ties.

Thank you, Dolk.

Benjamin Ko / MyOpenPC(dot)com

Thats definitely a better looking PC than what I attempted

With the right hardware that Case would be great for showing off, but it really does come down to a lot of planning and time.

And still to this day, I have never seen a stronger case in my life. I could probably stand on it, and the thing would not break.

Thanks for suppling the hardware for the review. It was a lot of fun and a good challenge.

You are welcome, Dolk.

I really appreciate you for your time and efforts to prepare this review.

FYI, some people have used our acrylic cases more than 9 years
just upgrading internal components because there is no rust and
variations of cases.

And one more important thing is that this case is suitable for
educational purpose. Nowadays, normal PC users do not know
which is which inside the PC case and what they look like.

I strongly believe that this case can motivate children's interset in
PC hardwares.

Benjamin's take on the case looks a lot better. Dolk, your efforts, sorry to say, look just like the internals of my old emachine case

Actually the mATX board comes from an eMachine

Unfortunately his is better, but with a couple cable sleeves, and the right cable ties, this thing would have been rocking.

Added a note, the manufacturer was nice enough to give OC members an exclusive discount on the case. For more info here is a link to the cyber deals thread.

Thanks Ben for this offer!

Matt