DIYPC Alpha-DB6 Black Acrylic ATX Bench Case Bench Computer Case for ATX/Micro ATX Motherboard – PC Components not Included

This is a good product but a little pricey.Mine came assembled upside down, you would assume that the glossy black surface would be the top.But no, it's the dull matte finish side.On mine, they bolted all the hardware to the wrong side and you dont realize this until the very end when you need a BTX motherboard to fit on it.At that point I broke it back down completely and rebuilt it, but it did not really take that long.The cool factor of this is very high.You can run the cables under the motherboard and if you have a modular power supply there are hardly any wires sticking up.Considering the extreme minimalist style of this case, it is has some very good design choices.There is a little locking piece for the drives and CD rom that is pretty cool.There are holes in the baseboard itself to lead wires down or over the board as you chose.The power and reset buttons are very cool, and are just an indention in the main mounting board itself.The instructions provided are garbage, but lets face it, this kit is not really for people that read manuals anyway.For 50$ this is a must buy.80-100 seems to be the normal price and that seems a little high, but still worth it for someone like me

Everything about this is extremely clever.Pros: Very nifty and does the job well.Great price.Cons: Instructions are lacking, but you'll figure it out.There is no cable management from what I could tell.My kit was missing a stand-off, but I'll live.

While this open air case was great at first after a few months it began to sag after the plastic was exposed to heat from the computer components. This led to sagging from the weight of everything on top, especially the power supply placement, and i had to quit using it or my motherboard would have started to crack as well as the case.

Where do I start? As many have reviewed, this thing is a box full of "mystery" parts, with a pathetic "microscopic" instruction sheet.I'm a retired engineer who spent half my career in home-office based design projects, and half in the field, building big, very complex projects. I probably spent about two to three hours building this chassis, mostly by trial & error.The little screws were sorted into about six 'alpha' labelled compartments, which was nice - but the instructions only showed two of the screw types being used. You get to figure out the rest by yourself.On the plus side for putting this together, there was an ample supply of hardware connectors, and plenty left over if I wanted to change things around. That's rare.Once built, I've loved it. I've already had three sizes of ATX motherboards mounted on the chassis with no problems. One thing I wish they did was move the power supply mounting an inch or two further away from the 'top' edge of the the motherboard. That would provide better finger access to the 12V EATX CPU connector and CPU cooler mounting screws. On the other hand, doing that would move the power supply's intake fan further from the CPU cooler.

The brown paper that is attached to the black acrylic (presumably to prevent scratches) is a pain to remove (you'll need 15-30 min to do so). Also, the hard drive bays aren't the most secure. In other words, to install a hard drive, you first screw the plastic to the side of the hard drive, and then you _hook_ (no screws) the attached plastic into the bottom of the board. The attachment can slide out just as easily as it slides in. Other than these minor quibbles, though, the bench looks nice and is as advertised. I would buy again.

Directions are worthless, you just have to go with trial and error. Once you get it done, it's really pretty good. Very good test bed, allows you to swap out parts with ease.

It is mostly pretty well thought out. The PCI support bars aren't the best but I won't be changing cards/adding cards to them much. Sits pretty flat. Power button/reset button are pretty slick, look very nice.Hardware is nicely identified and packaged, instructions are adequateWhy 3 stars?:I don't understand how someone would put this much thought into this product and totally mess up the front audio/USB. I didn't even put it on because I would have to cut/desolder the USB3 cable or remove one of the feet. I'm guessing it was a product "upgrade" to put USB3 on it. Too bad it wasn't tested

It is the perfect size for my computer build and testing; but what concerns me is the excessive flex of the flat support panel. As I add additional components this flex has gotten worse. The power supply is relatively heavy at one end, and the drives at the other end are creating not only a bending moment, but a screeching noise as I lift the test bench at each end. (This is caused by the drive supports attaching the drives to the flat panel.) I do like the test bench so I came up with a fix. A small L shaped aluminum stringer attached (via machine screws) to the underside of the front and back panel edge prevents the flex as I lift the test bench. Note: A little shot of silicon at the HDD/CD-DVD drive support posts will take care of most of the squeaks.I gave it three stars because of the time it took to precisely locate six drill holes through the L beam and flat panel. These holes have to be tapped (threaded). The manufacturer has a choice: increase the thickness of the test bench or add an additional structural support across the length of the panel, I prefer both.