Tempered glass, am I being paranoid?

Devrij · 1 Aug 2022 at 10:22

My old NZXT Phantom has an acrylic panel (which I like looking through), and something in the case is vibrating/resonating and I'm just generally sick of it.

Looking at new full tower cases, everything these days is tempered glass. I have a 6 year old, and I have a wife who loves to move our furniture around periodically. I have also seen a lot of broken side panel pictures (usually next to ceramic tile floors, but still). So I am a bit worried about the ability of the glass to survive all of this, maybe a house move in the next year or two etc. I also like full tower cases and I imagine that much glass is very heavy.

So am I being overly cautious, or should I avoid windowed cases? I just want a big case that is super easy to work in and has loads of space for everything. Obvious choices like the O11 full tower look nice, but man that is a lot of glass

chroniclard · 1 Aug 2022 at 10:25

Overly paranoid I think. Unless your pc is sat somewhere it's going to get bashed?

Glanza · 1 Aug 2022 at 11:17

Paranoid, you only see the posts online of people breaking theirs to get karma on Reddit etc and nothing from the dare I say millions out there that don't have issues with theirs, I've had 3 or 4 cases with glass side panels, some with both and never had an issue with them smashing or breaking.

tamzzy · 1 Aug 2022 at 11:19

agree with the above paranoid is the right term to use lol

drakulton · 1 Aug 2022 at 11:33

Just replace the acrylic in your NZXT phantom with some greenhouse glass. And still keep the paranoia.

PinkFloyd · 1 Aug 2022 at 14:40

Just be careful when moving it. I've got an NR200P with the glass side panel and I've gone to 10+ LANparties with it, plus move it around the house occasionally without any issues. Just be careful moving it, don't boot it under your desk and put it in a box or pack sensible if you have it in a car.

Devrij · 1 Aug 2022 at 17:53

Thanks gents, thought this would be the case. I have it on a side cabinet next to my desk so shouldn't take any abuse. just worried the occasional bouncy ball launching off of it might have been cause for concern

Darujhistan · 2 Aug 2022 at 15:56

Tempered glass is fine.

Haggisman · 2 Aug 2022 at 17:11

I dare say the quality of tempered glass might be something to consider - a £100 case is probably going to have a thicker/more substantial pane than a £20 one - but saying that, my son's Kolink case seems pretty chunky, even though it was less than half the price of mine. Both have been moved around the house several times with no issues. If I was going to LANs every weekend I'd probably avoid glass, but otherwise I don't think you have anything to worry about unless you are planning on dropping it

nst68 · 2 Aug 2022 at 22:23

Darujhistan said:
Tempered glass is fine.

not so good as a shower screen :eek:

arknor · 6 Aug 2022 at 00:22

I have my case on the floor, only one side is tempered glass, I'm paranoid as hell every time something falls off my desk

Zodasaur · 16 Aug 2022 at 00:32

Haggisman said:
I dare say the quality of tempered glass might be something to consider - a £100 case is probably going to have a thicker/more substantial pane than a £20 one - but saying that, my son's Kolink case seems pretty chunky, even though it was less than half the price of mine. Both have been moved around the house several times with no issues. If I was going to LANs every weekend I'd probably avoid glass, but otherwise I don't think you have anything to worry about unless you are planning on dropping it

What tempered glass case can you buy for £20?

Haggisman · 16 Aug 2022 at 07:06

It was just an example to illustrate the point - my son's was B grade and was £20, looks like the cheapest new ones are a couple of Aerocool models at £32

Gregvivi0401 · 16 Aug 2022 at 07:44

nst68 said:
not so good as a shower screen

Omg.

Devrij · 18 Aug 2022 at 15:54

We'll I'm being super original and getting an O11 D XL, so thanks everyone for convincing me

Yaayuh! · 18 Aug 2022 at 16:25

My Phanteks Evolv X arrived smashed into a million pieces

. Didn't even get it out of the box, it sounded like one of those rain sticks lol.

OcUK got swapped out immediately, though.

Drumroll · 18 Aug 2022 at 17:22

Tempered glass will be susceptible to damage if suffers impact from its side or of bulged, but that would be over some time.
Yes, you can damage a side panel with impact but is more like a chance, not a rule.
Most decent cases will protect the side panels, as they will basically slide in some gap surrounded by metal or plastic.
More than once, with the many O11 variants that I’ve used, some of them the metal strip attached/glued to the glass panel wasn’t 100% secured, and that would cause some issue.
True is, no panel is 100% impact resistant. One panel may survive 100s of small impacts but shatter next time. I would recommend try to keep it as protected as possible. Using a cart or trolley to keep it away from the floor may help, as depending on the one (trolley) used, it can be adjusted to be slightly larger than the case, creating some extra protection.

Devrij · 19 Aug 2022 at 16:08

Well it's arriving on Monday, so I've told my wife to be gentle with the box as I'll be at the office (and to give it a tip to listen for broken glass)

arknor · 20 Aug 2022 at 01:46

Devrij said:
Well it's arriving on Monday, so I've told my wife to be gentle with the box as I'll be at the office (and to give it a tip to listen for broken glass)

tell her to refuse delivery if she shakes the box and hears broken glass

Hotwired · 20 Aug 2022 at 01:49

I'm sure you'll only get the very best delivery service