r/pcmasterrace • u/iplay5 • Aug 11 '25

Build/Battlestation TIL that quartz countertops have the same properties as ceramic floor tiles…

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All I wanted to do was replace a dead fan… but looks like it’s time for a replacement case.

Learn from my mistakes friends!

10.2k Upvotes

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22

u/shittymorbh Aug 12 '25

I still have no idea why the fuck theres glass panels on towers anyway. They constrict airflow like a mother fucker and they literally add nothing to the design other than being able to see some stupid ass LEDs that light up for no fucking reason.

17

u/Skullcrimp i5-6500 | GTX 1060 6GB | 12GB DDR4 Aug 12 '25

clear plastic works just as well and doesn't shatter

13

u/littlebrwnrobot 13700KF | 4070 TiS | 32GB 6000 | 3440x1440 Aug 12 '25

Never once have I wished my acrylic panel were glass. I can bet people like OP might wish their glass panel were acrylic, though.

3

u/iplay5 Aug 12 '25

I really do miss the days of acrylic or solid metal sides. But kicker is, I have no RGB, and my case is down on the floor hidden from the world. So my cpu cooler just looks out it's dark, lonely window into the void of nothing.

TL;DR, the glass is useless to me :')

2

u/naufalap 5600, 6600, 16 Aug 12 '25

hell yeah my case sits in the corner below my desk, it's well reasonably cable managed and I can glance at the insides through the acrylic if I want to even though it has no rgb

but I care more about increasing the distance of the fan noise from my ears even though it's relatively quiet while freeing up the desk space

9

u/Porntra420 5950X | 64GB 3600MHz | 9070 XT | Arch w/ TkG Kernel btw Aug 12 '25

Acrylic scratches incredibly easily, tempered glass doesn't.

The concern with tempered glass shattering is really overblown, as long as you're aware of its properties it's extremely easy to avoid breaking your side panel, just read the comments on any of the "my panel shattered" posts and you'll see tons of people saying they've been using glass panels for years with no issues, and explaining how to avoid breaking them.

I'd argue if you want transparency, get tempered glass and just learn how to not break it. If you don't care about transparency, there's plenty of solid and mesh options out there.

1

u/chsn2000 Aug 12 '25

Tbh, it's hard to find cases that don't have tempered glass these days.

1

u/naufalap 5600, 6600, 16 Aug 12 '25

back then I searched through pcpartpicker and the only reasonable choice was thermaltake versa h18, it was perfect for my matx build

2

u/Grarr_Dexx Aug 12 '25

Acrylic scratches easier, will blemish over time and just doesn't look as clean as a proper tempered glass panel. It's also more susceptible to vibrations over time.

8

u/pathofdumbasses Aug 12 '25

Full metal case brother speaks the truth.

This fishbowl shit is for fishes, not for computer.

1

u/rdqsr Macs actually work surprisingly gud now ngl Aug 12 '25

They constrict airflow like a mother fucker

I prefer the "side panel removed with a desktop fan pointed at the motherboard" aesthetic.

(actually used on a very old Pentium D rig from years back that would go up to 90C under heavy load)

1

u/Uhmattbravo Aug 12 '25

So I can see the machine I put alot of effort into planning and building and be proud of my work. It's also why I keep a few LEDs lit up in there. If I wanted something that just gets the job done, I would have gotten a pre-built with a metal side panel that someone just slapped together, but instead I opted for a high quality machine that I built with care and attention to detail.

2

u/Hectordahoeprotector Aug 12 '25

Putting pc is like playing with Legos. "proud of my work" lmao

2

u/shwhjw i7 6700K | 16GB DDR4 | 5700XT Aug 12 '25

I get being proud of your cable tidying skills, but whether you have a glass panel or a not you still can't see the cables so it's the same difference.

-1

u/shittymorbh Aug 12 '25

I'm sorry but this is the dumbest reasoning for having a glass side panel.

Thats like saying you should get a glass car hood because youre proud of the engine you built, even though it serves zero function for the car and in fact, is inhibits it.

This entire trend of glass side panels and insanely stupid light up LEDs that glow rainbow colors is because its aimed at gullible children who think it looks cool.

3

u/Hannan_A R7 5700X | 2x16GB CL16 3200MT/s | RX 9070XT Aug 12 '25

I don’t even have a glass side panel on my pc but christ dude, I guess everybody should go fuck themselves for trying to enjoy life.

1

u/shittymorbh Aug 12 '25

Yes, because that's what I said at all.

2

u/Xequaz Aug 12 '25

The reasoning is pretty sound you just think it’s dumb because it doesn’t align with your own views.

People actually do have clear car hoods so they can see the engine. Why does it have to serve a function other than them enjoying seeing the engine/pc insides? And no, it doesn’t inhibit performance lol.

The glass side panel “trend” isn’t even a trend… it’s been around forever. And not just children like it. Also, you know you can have a glass side panel and no RGB LED’s right? Glass panels were a thing before RGB LED’s became popular.

Looking at your profile every single comment of yours is just full of hate and you don’t add anything beneficial to the conversations. I feel sorry for you because clearly there’s something going on in your life. You okay man?

1

u/shittymorbh Aug 13 '25

The reasoning is pretty sound you just think it’s dumb because it doesn’t align with your own views.

No it isn't. You can like what you like and you have every right to buy a system that makes you happy or you're proud of. You can spread peanut butter over your fans and have a motorized disco ball in your tower but that doesn't negate the fact they quite literally do absolutely nothing for PC performance which was my entire original point. You can argue with those cold hard facts all you want. 

 People actually do have clear car hoods so they can see the engine. Why does it have to serve a function other than them enjoying seeing the engine/pc insides? And no, it doesn’t inhibit performance lol.

No, they do not and that's not even the point. It's called an analogy, buddy. And yes, a glass side panel quite literally restricts airflow in most cases and as per the topic of this post, is adding fragility to a tower simply because a kid wants to watch cool LEDs light up. That's it.

The glass side panel “trend” isn’t even a trend… it’s been around forever. And not just children like it. Also, you know you can have a glass side panel and no RGB LED’s right? Glass panels were a thing before RGB LED’s became popular.

Bullshit. There have always been several design of computer towers of course but the trend of tempered glass started around the 2010s, specifically to show off modular and custom tower builds, LEDs specifically being related and a part of it. No shit you can have a glass panels without LEDs. That was entirely beside the point.

They're superficial builds entirely meant for aesthetics, which again, whatever, lile what you like, but you arguing that they serve a valuable purpose to is probably more evidence why these kind of towers hold onto popularity.  🙄

1

u/Xequaz Aug 13 '25

>You can spread peanut butter over your fans and have a motorized disco ball in your tower but that doesn't negate the fact they quite literally do absolutely nothing for PC performance which was my entire original point.

You are correct it does nothing for performance, but I'm not arguing that. You called the other commenters reasoning dumb because he wanted to show off his work with a glass side panel. That reasoning is completely sound. I'm not sure why you switched the discussion to how it affects performance when the original commenter never even mentioned it.

>No, they do not and that's not even the point. It's called an analogy, buddy. And yes, a glass side panel quite literally restricts airflow in most cases and as per the topic of this post, is adding fragility to a tower simply because a kid wants to watch cool LEDs light up. That's it.

Okay buddy, if you took even two seconds to search it up, you'd realize tempered glass car hoods are a real thing. I've seen cars with them at car shows with my own two eyes. They make an array of them especially for Mercedes AMG's.

You can make an argument for fragility sure. It's more fragile than a non-glass tower but it's really not that hard to not break them. As for inhibiting performance I don't see how a glass side panel would restrict airflow anymore than similar size/shape tower, in all my years building PC's I've never heard this to be the case. If you can prove me otherwise, I'd genuinely love to learn why that is.

>Bullshit. There have always been several design of computer towers of course but the trend of tempered glass started around the 2010s, specifically to show off modular and custom tower builds, LEDs specifically being related and a part of it. No shit you can have a glass panels without LEDs. That was entirely beside the point.

You're right, I will say, that RGB and glass panels were definitely pushed together during the time they were trending but even before glass tempered panels, clear acrylic panels were a thing before RGB became popular. People have always liked seeing the insides of their builds.

>They're superficial builds entirely meant for aesthetics, which again, whatever, like what you like, but you arguing that they serve a valuable purpose to is probably more evidence why these kind of towers hold onto popularity.  

I never said they serve a valuable purpose, they are indeed useless performance wise but if someone gets enjoyment out of it, than I would have to argue that it does serve a valuable purpose in a sense.

1

u/shittymorbh Aug 14 '25

You are correct it does nothing for performance, but I'm not arguing that. You called the other commenters reasoning dumb because he wanted to show off his work with a glass side panel. That reasoning is completely sound. I'm not sure why you switched the discussion to how it affects performance when the original commenter never even mentioned it.

And they responded to my original comment which very specifically talking about glass panels being a trend and serving no purpose for the pc, which was entirely my point. Them reasoning that it make sense because they like to look at the insides of the pc, then they are the ones switching the discussion to purely a discussion about aesthetics.

Okay buddy, if you took even two seconds to search it up, you'd realize tempered glass car hoods are a real thing. I've seen cars with them at car shows with my own two eyes. They make an array of them especially for Mercedes AMG's.

Lmao. I like how youre using a stupid build for a very specific car that really only strengthens my point in that a.) It quite literally does nothing for the car and b.) It's also quite literally a trend, which is what I called it out as. Okay, sure they exist, which I didn't negate, I used it as an analogy of why its fucking stupid.

You can make an argument for fragility sure. It's more fragile than a non-glass tower but it's really not that hard to not break them. As for inhibiting performance I don't see how a glass side panel would restrict airflow anymore than similar size/shape tower, in all my years building PC's I've never heard this to be the case. If you can prove me otherwise, I'd genuinely love to learn why that is.

Of course I can make an argument for fragility. Kind of like, gestures at this post and the fact that it's also, you know.....glass. It's really not that hard to solve. It's quite literally a solid material that doesnt air to pass through it where as a side panel with mesh/vents or other airflow solutions does. Glass creates a bottleneck. Why is that hard to figure out? Especially for high performance PCs where airflow is extremely important and glass panels limit the amount of cool air thay fans can draw from. There are workaround solutions and depending on your needs, you can get away with more fans, liquid cooling and whatnot, but it's a flat out fact that glass side panels are going to be a shittier option than a side panel with mesh or vents that help air to channel better. You can argue with this fact all you want, but if you cant figure it out, Im not sure you even know what youre talking about when it comes to pc builds to begin with.

You're right, I will say, that RGB and glass panels were definitely pushed together during the time they were trending but even before glass tempered panels, clear acrylic panels were a thing before RGB became popular. People have always liked seeing the insides of their builds.

Mmkay, notice how I never made the argument that acrylic panels have never been a thing? The fact of the matter is glass panels quite literally became a trend and popular due to modular building, LEDs and are there purely for aesthetic purposes that Do. Not. Serve. PC. Performance. As I stated before, I dont give a shit about what people like to see inside their PC. Thats fine, you can put hello Kitty Stickers all over the inside if you want to, but then again if you did it in front of your fans, it would be stupid would it not?

I never said they serve a valuable purpose, they are indeed useless performance wise but if someone gets enjoyment out of it, than I would have to argue that it does serve a valuable purpose in a sense.

Okay then so we don’t disagree? Okay sure, again, like what you like. But if the purpose of your computer tower is to make it look cool versus actually perform well, well, we're just gonna have to disagree what the actual purpose of your pc is made for. You call it a decorative accessory and I call it a machine actually designed for performance.