marklar
09-01-2001, 02:48 PM
Hi, I’m making a computer case for my design and technology GCSE next year and I would really appreciate it if you could take 2 minutes out of your time to fill out this questionnaire to help me design my case. Please don’t just look at it and think “oh my god this is too long I can’t be bothered to” and just click that back button. Even though I’ve written a lot it’s really not that much for you to type, just put the question number and part down followed by the choice letter/answer
e.g. 1.a) b,c b) b,a,d (ports at front), c.
Have fun ….
1.a) Would you buy a new case for
a) appearance,
b) cooling,
c) for more drive bays,
d) other (please specify e.g. ports on the front, space saving)
or d) you wouldn’t buy one if you already had a perfectly fine case but it looks really boring?
Note: You can put more than one choice.
b) Also for the first four please put them into order of the most important to least important?
2. What price would you pay for a case?
a) The price for one that had good cooling (had lots of fans everywhere), looked cool with a side window and a good paint job and say 4 5¼ bays and 4 3½ ones and also some USB and P/S 2 and sound ports on the front panel.
b) Also what price for a standard beige one with say only one a front panel fan and the power supply fan and 3 bays of each size.
3. a) How many bays (both 5¼ and 3½) would you ever use on a case (please be realistic)?
b) How many are you currently using?
4. Which is your favorite case material a) wood, b) plastic (also would a case totally made out of clear plastic appeal to you) or c) metal (also which one aluminum, steel, etc…)?
Note: I’m not to sure but I’ve heard somewhere that the case being metal earths the hard drives and if it is wood static will build up or something but could some one please confirm this it would help.
5.a) What colour would you like the case to be?
b) Would you like it multi-coloured?
c) Would you like any design painted on the case? E.g. A skull and crossbones, a flower, the radioactive hazard symbol or flames.
6. Do you move your PC around a lot? (e.g. to LAN parties) If so would you like it to have a handle and be made out of aluminum so its light?
7. Is air flow a concern today and should I put fans on to improve air flow? Also any tips to improve air flow, as I don’t know much, would be helpful e.g. but do the fans above the PCI and AGP slots blow in or out etc.. any links to sites with airflow tips would also be very helpful.
Where should the fans be and how many/what size do you recommend and should the fans blow in or out?
8. Do you change components a lot and need easy access to the PCI slots and also the drive bays? Lots of people have told me to have a slide out motherboard tray and slide out drives. Could someone please explain how this works and how I can incorporate it.
9. a) Do you have any problems with your current case or anything you would like to see changed with the current design of cases? If yes what are they?
b) Are there any features your case has or you have seen on a case which you thought looked cool or would be really useful? If yes what are they?
10. Would you prefer a case to have ports at the front? (the USB, P/S 2 and sound jacks).
Note: As I’m not a real case manufacturer and this is just a school project the only way I can have ports at the front is by repositioning the motherboard as in my idea below.
b) As all I can do is turn the motherboard would you prefer to have it with all the ports on the side (as in the idea below) or would it be better to have all the ports at the front (this might look bad and the wires would clutter the desk)?
10. Is your current case located a) to the left of the monitor b) to the right of the monitor c) under the desk or d) other.
Note: This may sound like a weird question but the reason is that if the majority of you have it to the left then it can do my idea below.
My idea so far is to put the motherboard horizontal and have the ports sticking out the right hand side of the case. This would mean that the P/S 2 and USB ports are closest to you while the ports for the monitor and network card (PCI/ISA) are at the back so the only the wires that come round the front any way can be seen and it would make it easy to attach USB devices and also headphones if you have integrated sound. I would have the hard drives and CD drives over the CPU and RAM slots and the power supply over the south bridge so you can still get to the PCI/AGP slots. The problem with this design is it would mean the case would have to be wider (the width of the motherboard) and also have to be to the left of the monitor. Is this an issue as this would mean you would need to have space for this and it would have to be on the left of the monitor (or you could put it under it if you wanted). However you could also put the printer/scanner on it to save space, but I was thinking of having a clear plastic window on the top as that would look pretty cool.
Please tell me what you think of this idea and also any problems you see with it or any modifications you thick I should make to it.
Also any other ideas like that one or any good tips or features you think I should include.
Thanks a lot for filling out the questionnaire (if you did). Your really helping me out a lot.
For those of you who are about to click that back button, please don’t. I really need a lot of people to fill this out and it only takes a couple of minutes.
Thanks in advance.
e.g. 1.a) b,c b) b,a,d (ports at front), c.
Have fun ….
1.a) Would you buy a new case for
a) appearance,
b) cooling,
c) for more drive bays,
d) other (please specify e.g. ports on the front, space saving)
or d) you wouldn’t buy one if you already had a perfectly fine case but it looks really boring?
Note: You can put more than one choice.
b) Also for the first four please put them into order of the most important to least important?
2. What price would you pay for a case?
a) The price for one that had good cooling (had lots of fans everywhere), looked cool with a side window and a good paint job and say 4 5¼ bays and 4 3½ ones and also some USB and P/S 2 and sound ports on the front panel.
b) Also what price for a standard beige one with say only one a front panel fan and the power supply fan and 3 bays of each size.
3. a) How many bays (both 5¼ and 3½) would you ever use on a case (please be realistic)?
b) How many are you currently using?
4. Which is your favorite case material a) wood, b) plastic (also would a case totally made out of clear plastic appeal to you) or c) metal (also which one aluminum, steel, etc…)?
Note: I’m not to sure but I’ve heard somewhere that the case being metal earths the hard drives and if it is wood static will build up or something but could some one please confirm this it would help.
5.a) What colour would you like the case to be?
b) Would you like it multi-coloured?
c) Would you like any design painted on the case? E.g. A skull and crossbones, a flower, the radioactive hazard symbol or flames.
6. Do you move your PC around a lot? (e.g. to LAN parties) If so would you like it to have a handle and be made out of aluminum so its light?
7. Is air flow a concern today and should I put fans on to improve air flow? Also any tips to improve air flow, as I don’t know much, would be helpful e.g. but do the fans above the PCI and AGP slots blow in or out etc.. any links to sites with airflow tips would also be very helpful.
Where should the fans be and how many/what size do you recommend and should the fans blow in or out?
8. Do you change components a lot and need easy access to the PCI slots and also the drive bays? Lots of people have told me to have a slide out motherboard tray and slide out drives. Could someone please explain how this works and how I can incorporate it.
9. a) Do you have any problems with your current case or anything you would like to see changed with the current design of cases? If yes what are they?
b) Are there any features your case has or you have seen on a case which you thought looked cool or would be really useful? If yes what are they?
10. Would you prefer a case to have ports at the front? (the USB, P/S 2 and sound jacks).
Note: As I’m not a real case manufacturer and this is just a school project the only way I can have ports at the front is by repositioning the motherboard as in my idea below.
b) As all I can do is turn the motherboard would you prefer to have it with all the ports on the side (as in the idea below) or would it be better to have all the ports at the front (this might look bad and the wires would clutter the desk)?
10. Is your current case located a) to the left of the monitor b) to the right of the monitor c) under the desk or d) other.
Note: This may sound like a weird question but the reason is that if the majority of you have it to the left then it can do my idea below.
My idea so far is to put the motherboard horizontal and have the ports sticking out the right hand side of the case. This would mean that the P/S 2 and USB ports are closest to you while the ports for the monitor and network card (PCI/ISA) are at the back so the only the wires that come round the front any way can be seen and it would make it easy to attach USB devices and also headphones if you have integrated sound. I would have the hard drives and CD drives over the CPU and RAM slots and the power supply over the south bridge so you can still get to the PCI/AGP slots. The problem with this design is it would mean the case would have to be wider (the width of the motherboard) and also have to be to the left of the monitor. Is this an issue as this would mean you would need to have space for this and it would have to be on the left of the monitor (or you could put it under it if you wanted). However you could also put the printer/scanner on it to save space, but I was thinking of having a clear plastic window on the top as that would look pretty cool.
Please tell me what you think of this idea and also any problems you see with it or any modifications you thick I should make to it.
Also any other ideas like that one or any good tips or features you think I should include.
Thanks a lot for filling out the questionnaire (if you did). Your really helping me out a lot.
For those of you who are about to click that back button, please don’t. I really need a lot of people to fill this out and it only takes a couple of minutes.
Thanks in advance.