This $2,000 PC Case SHOULDN'T Exist
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,838 words · ~9 min read
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the mbx mark ii is a pc case that by all
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accounts has no right to exist it was seven years in the making weighs
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a shocking 100 pounds fully loaded and everything about it was purpose built
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from the 8 millimeter thick aluminum motherboard tray
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to the 274 screws required for its assembly
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it's the brainchild of charles harwood the creator of murderbox and fellow bc
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boy and integrates more pc industry firsts than i can keep track of
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including diffused basement lighting integrated comprehensive cable
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management frameless cooling fans and an
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utterly unique visual design that doesn't scream performance so much as it
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whispers it it's built to be the case that you use for the next 10 years and
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it's manufactured to the highest standard but it comes with a price tag
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that reflects its pedigree let's get up close and personal with it
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rose wolves closed loop CPU coolers feature a performance copper base pwm
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fan speed control and more for an affordable price check them out today at
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the link below it was 10 years ago but i remember the
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day i met this guy like it was yesterday he drove two hours to pick up some 10
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water cooling fittings from me because a customer commissioned one of his already
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famous murderbox gaming machines and
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no other fitting was good enough for him
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it was this rejection of good enough that drove charles to do things the rest
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of us thought were crazy i still remember him explaining to me that wires
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shouldn't be hidden they should just be beautiful when he unveiled the first
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individually sleeved power supply no one is going to spend that kind of
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time and money on a power supply i said but i think we all know how that played
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out every one of his creations was like that
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a work of art utterly unique and always pushing the limits whether it was tubing
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layouts lighting or design with zero compromises on build quality
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unfortunately charles had a problem building a single murder box an eight
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thousand to eighteen thousand dollar machine often including in-person
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delivery is a two to four week endeavor
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and that's assuming that nothing goes wrong with sourcing and building
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whatever cutting-edge new design or material he's working on
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he'd never get the parts production economical like that the business model
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had to shift that's where murder mod came in
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charles partnered with niels a pioneer in the sleeving space to create a lineup
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of aftermarket faceplates mid plates
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mounts and other accessories that would allow tj07 owners to upgrade their
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existing systems to something worthy of the million dollar pc galleries and
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these two business models complemented each other well
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on paper the higher margins and sales volumes of
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accessories would help to absorb the cost of prototyping and development
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while the boutique system business would give murder mod a high profile avenue
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for showing off its latest creations except for another small problem
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accessories are only high volume if they're compatible with more than a
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single high-end case from niche manufacturer silverstone and their only
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high margin if you have the upfront funding and the know-how to navigate the
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quagmire of overseas mass production so he forged a relationship with
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silverstone with the plan of bringing a tweaked and pre-modded tj07 to market
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and then iterating from there another great in theory idea that turned
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into an endless cycle of prototyping and refinement until finally
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four years later thanks to a cash bailout from a community member named
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richard it was ready to ship to the early backers
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every component of the mark ii has a story
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literally everyone but i won't bore you guys talking about the 50 000 unit
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minimum order quantity on each individual variation of the custom-made
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hex screws let's start with the luminous panel
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ten years ago pc lighting was done with cheesy plastic cathode tubes with cheap
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inverters that usually burned out quite literally burned out in a year or two
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there had to be a better way and the inspiration came from runway fashion
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shows now building a panel that looks like
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this is easy if you have a bunch of space behind it
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for light distribution and diffusion but charles had to do it without taking up
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any of the space for radiators on the bottom or for the system itself on top
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so he ended up with leds on one side firing into what he calls the core
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a proprietary material that he modified and etched with a grid to project the
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light upward the remaining three edges were lined
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with reflective material to bounce back and recycle the light that would
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normally pass right through and be wasted
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a final piece of semi-translucent material was added on top to diffuse the
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light giving the finished luminance panel a glow strong enough to be seen in
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daylight but subtle enough to game next to at night and at a thickness of just
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15 millimeters the blood drips in the front have an
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equally fascinating backstory the first iteration was a murder mod
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face plate a very rudimentary solution to the tj07s
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dated even then septuple five and a quarter inch bay design optical drives
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were already on their way out it was water cut and used an led strip
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mounted inside a hammond project box reflecting off a piece of white acrylic
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simple but in the mark ii the entire basement
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where the tj07 mounts storage drives by default is taken up by up to 6 by 120
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millimeters worth of radiators and the power supply and the front is a modular
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space that can be adapted for three and a half inch storage water cooling
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controllers pumps two and a half inch storage a slim optical drive you pretty
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much name it so there's potentially a lot of stuff that has to go in there
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he needed something more compact so charles created a lighting solution
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using only a single led firing upward through an acrylic block with silver
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mylar edges like the luminance panel but this time using a piece of adhesive
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vinyl at the back that's printed with a gradient graphic on it to control light
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reflection toward the front and a strip of a photographic material called
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duratrans to diffuse the light coming out this combination ensures that the
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drip fade to black effect will be perfect and seamless even in complete
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darkness a characteristic that not only looks sick but also helps hide the
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optional stealth slot load optical drive bet you didn't see that one coming
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the top grille was also designed as a tj07 mod that you could just
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drop into the existing flange and was inspired by ceiling fans
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why do we need frames in a position where we don't need to create static
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pressure to build this charles bought almost
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literally every cooling fan on the market to find the ideal one he needed a
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clean aesthetic the right hub size easily removable fan blades in case
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painting was required to match the look of a particular build and quiet
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operation out of the box without fan control because there would be no room
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for pwm wires in the tiny two by four
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millimeter wire management channel every unit was shipped to callan in
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australia where he painstakingly hand assembled them this process involves
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removing the fan frames removing the existing wiring from the fan hub
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soldering the new leads specially designed for the top mount epoxying in
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the hubs running the wiring around the internally machined frame and
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terminating to a single sleeved 3-pin connector that will work with basically
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any motherboard one-of-a-kind looks and drop-in
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compatibility like this are really really tough things to combine which i
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guess brings us finally to my ulterior motive for making this video so
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this video isn't sponsored i mean after all the money he's lost on this charles
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couldn't afford our rates and i wouldn't ask him anyway but there is something in it for me
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i want to see what he'll create next so i offered to do a profile of the mark ii
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and its history in hopes that they'll all sell so he can repay his investors
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and work on something new there are 142
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mark ii cases left in the world you'll find the where to buy link in the video
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description the config that we showed would run a whopping 2 000 us dollars
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but for this video charles and mod 1
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created a more basic limited time promotional bundle including everything
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that you need to get started the case it's 150 page user manual and a quad
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radiator mount as well as the optional luminance panel for 12.99 it's still eye
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wateringly expensive but there will never be another production run of the
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mark too it was a financial disaster for everyone involved so if you want to own
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a piece of pc history the case equivalent of something like a delorean
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something only a fanatical person would build well
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you know where to get it blue apron delivers all the farm fresh
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ingredients that you need right to your doorstep in exactly the right
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proportions for delicious home-cooked meals no trips to the grocery store no
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waste from unused ingredients their recipes are chef-inspired and they offer
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two types of plans the two-person plan and the family plan and there are now
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eight recipes to choose from each week instead of six blue apron recipes are
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delivered in a refrigerated box so the ingredients will stay fresh even if
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you're not at home when your package arrives and blue apron ships to most of
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the united states there's no commitment you can skip or cancel the service at
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any time and prices start as low as nine dollars per serving the first 50 people
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to sign up at our link below are gonna get 50 bucks off their first two weeks
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of blue apron so go check it out now
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so thanks for watching guys if you disliked this video you can hit that button but if you liked it let us know
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in the comments hit that like button maybe get subscribed and while you're at
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it check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description while you're down there
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we'll have a list of everyone who contributed parts for charles to do the showcase build including silverstone ek
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mod 1 Gigabyte NVIDIA and aqua computer
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as well as a link to our merch store which has cool shirts like this one
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oh i forgot to call it the forum
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for