RAM | Reseller Advocate Magazine: Issue 52

By Chris Angelini

It's all about Differentiation The beige box is dead, and now everyone wants to make a statement. From clear cases to polished power supplies, though, it seems that there's a fine line between tasteful decoration and gaudy excessiveness. The word bling might conjure up images of platinum fronts and diamond-encrusted pendants. But set aside that stereotypically urban definition and envision systems with some personality. Especially when it comes to courting discerning enthusiasts, bling can be a good thing. Don't think for a second that your mainstream customers want to be reminded of frugality every time they look at their PC. Believe it or not, there are easy, affordable ways of dressing up less expensive machines to look like a million bucks.

Step 1:
Choose an Attractive Case

When it comes to a dolled-up white box, your customer sees the chassis before anything else, and if it looks like you cut corners to save money, there's a good chance they'll take the tier-one road for something a lot more polished. Don't get us wrong—there's a time and place for dressing up. Rackmount servers are workhorses, not beauty queens. Corporate workstations are also usually tucked out of sight. But a majority of customers really can appreciate the extra effort dedicated to aesthetics.

So what makes one case more attractive than another? You could ask 10 customers and get as many answers. It's all subjective. However, there are a few pervasive trends generally celebrated by the enthusiast crowd and popular enough that chassis vendors have started including them in their mass-produced (and cheaper) products. The case window is a perfect example. Not only is it the gateway to more aggressive modification, but it also allows enthusiasts to show off their hardware. And when it comes to an NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossFire machine with a UV-reactive motherboard and LED-equipped memory modules, showboating is absolutely justified. Believe it or not, modders used to add windows manually with Dremel tools and acrylic.

Cooler Master's Stacker 830 is a perfect example of edgy done right. It blends the silver and black colors believed to be so tasteful with lots of attention-grabbing angles. A black mesh covers the top, front, and sides of the case, preserving a lower profile image than many other “bling-oriented” cases.

Form and function matter equally when it comes to the enthusiast crowd. If HP is offering front-panel USB connectors, you might add audio connectors and a media card reader. When Dell implements custom plastic ducting to keep noise down, try substituting 80mm fans or larger 120mm coolers, which operate more quietly. The same Cooler Master case delivers front- and top-panel USB ports, reversible motherboard trays for ATX and BTX compatibility, and provisions for up to nine fans.

Not Your Grandfather's White Box
Featuring composite panels and thermal chambers, Antec's P180 puts you on the level with larger OEMs and their ducting solutions.

Antec's P180 is a somewhat less expensive option sporting just as much visual appeal and real-world practicality. There's no window; however, composite paneling, thermal chambers, and specialty ducting will still endear such an advanced design to those who plan on tweaking their hardware within the confines of cool case.

Step 2:
Snag a Snazzy Power Supply

Whoa. Since when were power supplies considered fashion accessories? Apparently, being pushed into the limelight by power-hungry processors and graphics cards has caused the once-mundane components to go Hollywood. Brushed steel boxes have been replaced by polished chrome, modular connectors, oversized fans, colored LEDs, and power outputs rivaling small generators.

Unpretentious Style
Like any sexy sports car, the Cooler Master Stacker 830 radiates class without overdoing the styling cues. That's particularly important in building attractive white boxes.

It's obviously only worth spending extra on an aesthetically tricked-out power supply if your customer will see it. Buried at the bottom of a sealed case or inside a hidden home theater box, sleek looks go to waste. Mounted prominently in a windowed chassis, however, you can make a real impact.

More Than a Pretty Face
Tunable rails, 600W of power, and plenty of bling make OCZ's PowerStream SLI a hot reseller ticket.

Check out OCZ's PowerStream 600W SLI for a taste of an enthusiast supply with serious bling factor. The casing is polished to a mirror finish. The internally housed 80mm fan glows blue when it's spinning, and each of the power connectors is sheathed in a mesh sleeve. Even more importantly, the PowerStream has a spec sheet to defend its sharp looks. Three tiny pots on the unit's rear let customers tune individual rails should one or more be pushed out of whack by an over-aggressive load. True SLI compliance comes as a result of multiple six-pin graphics connectors and lots of testing. Finally, you can guarantee plenty of juice in reserve thanks to dual 12V rails, which are most commonly taxed by powerful processors and multiple graphics cards.

Granted, the OCZ supply is pricey, even for modders. If you're looking for less expensive alternatives, consider Enermax's 620W Liberty, FSP Group's FX700-GLN, and Thermaltake's 550W ToughPower. All three duck in well under $200 and offer enough power to drive a dual-core system with two video cards and four hard drives. Yes, we tested it just to be sure. Or, if your angle is relative silence, Antec's Phantom 500 can drive a fairly beefy system while still sporting the sleekness of an all-black housing and blue lighting. It's available for less than $200, too.

Sleek and Silent
At low loads, Antec's 500W Phantom is utterly silent. Crank up the power and a small fan helps keep the sexy supply running efficiently.

At the other end of the spectrum, be especially careful not to overemphasize the bling and upsell supplies that don't serve up enough power for their intended environments. A supply such as Logisys' PS480D might look sexy with its shiny black housing and 480W rating at a $15 price point. But a scant 16A on the 12V rail almost guarantees any modern processor will overwhelm it, sending the user back to your support department. Skip the cheap stuff when you're shopping for a power supply with flair.

Step 3:
Consider Cooling Alternatives

Let's be honest here. How often do you really venture away from the reference processor-in-box cooling solutions bundled with AMD and Intel processors? Not often? Don't worry, you're probably not alone. A certified cooling solution is one of the best reasons to snag a PIB package, and there's certainly nothing wrong with relying on proven results. But when you're pushing the boundaries of bling, it often helps to get a little experimental. You'll find that there are plenty of coolers more effective than what AMD and Intel include. Lights, impressive arrays of copper fins, and oversized fans all characterize the burgeoning aftermarket of super-cool coolers.

Zalman is perhaps the highest-profile vendor, renowned for its oversized products that generate very little noise. One of the company's current flagships, the CNPS9500, will fit any modern AMD or Intel platform from Socket 478 to Socket 939 to LGA775. You simply inventory one model and pitch it to anyone in search of a premium heatsink and fan combination. Now that's what we call VAR-friendly. And the cooler compromises nothing. It's more than half a kilogram of copper with very efficient heat pipes. A 92mm fan, laced with blue LED lighting, is fully adjustable through an included variable speed controller.

The Big Kahuna
When it comes to serious cooling, Zalman's CNPS9500 is top of the line. Plus it'll fit on nearly every motherboard
you sell.

Notoriety doesn't stop with Zalman's CPU cooler lineup. The company also offers a compelling family of graphics products designed to muffle the howl your customer experiences when a card starts cutting through demanding 3D scenes. The Zalman Fatal1ty FS-V7 is compatible with nearly every single board in your arsenal since it lines up with existing mounting holes. Red LED lighting adds serious flair, while an 80mm ball bearing fan spins at up to 3,500 RPM to keep the copper base nice and cool. You even get little red RAM-sinks, which sit atop exposed memory modules and dissipate heat.

Understanding that $45 is a lot to spend on a VGA cooler, some of your customers might prefer an aftermarket unit from Arctic Cooling. Each of the company's Silencer coolers is designed to work with specific models from ATI's and NVIDIA's respective lineups. And at about $30, none are particularly expensive. They all feature slow-spinning fans emphasizing silence while maintaining the cooling power of a stock solution. With thermal paste pre-applied to the copper base and a six-year manufacturer warranty, the Arctic Cooling Silencer series makes for yet another reseller-friendly addition.

Step 4:
Accessorize!

So you've found the perfect all-purpose case with good looks and great features. It's playing host to a matching power supply with enough output to drive two high-impact graphics cards. You just swapped out a boring stock heatsink and fan in favor of something with lights, and now you're looking to take the next step. Welcome to the world of accessories, where it's easy to add plenty of personality but difficult to stay stylish.

When it comes to accessorizing, less is often more. Mixing fans, grills, controllers, cold cathodes, and acrylic can look as tacky as dressing in a Paul Smith polka dot shirt, striped Marc Jacobs pants, black Ferragamo shoes, and white tube socks. Ouch. In moderation, though, a reseller in tune with the market should be able to build classy ensembles.

Hot 3D? Silence!
Arctic Cooling's Silencer line of graphics card coolers offer superior thermal dissipation with less noise than most factory solutions.

Start with fans, since it's a forgone conclusion that you'll use two or three for proper air circulation anyway. A good fan will move plenty of air without creating an acoustic racket. The flash factor comes into play when you add clear housings, LED lighting, and UV-reactive materials. Generally, the nicest looking effects revolve around just one color, though. If your CPU cooler employs deep blue LEDs, a pair of matching exhaust fans add even more flavor to a windowed case, for instance. You can further the effect with a standalone lighting kit. Either cast a backlit glow using cold-cathode tubes or spotlight points of interest via directional LEDs. You won't have to spend much, yet the visual impact of a deep red glow from behind an all-black chassis is quite captivating.

Depending on the customer, you might offer specialized fan grills with the Half-Life 2 logo or an add-on controller for manual control over rotational speeds. Case badges are popular, as are skins (vinyl covers meant to look like custom airbrushing). You'll even find anodized thumbscrews for true color matching.

Step 5:
Organize

Looking good isn't just about eye-catching hardware. It involves a healthy dose of organization, too. Server customers will load up on hard drives. Gamers want a pair of graphics cards. Multimedia fans might ask for two DVD burners. In every case, it's imperative to keep cabling neat and tuck power connectors aside. The benefit isn't just aesthetic. Cleaning up the inside of a case can help improve airflow, reduce temperatures, and minimize the chance a rogue wire will fall into a fan's line of fire.

Cable management is more an art than a science, though. Fortunately, there are plenty of aides at your disposal. Short tie wraps, for example, are very inexpensive and easily pull stray wires together. Pick up a set of self-adhesive tie mounts and tether the wraps to an out-of-the-way corner where nobody will notice them. If you want to get a little more advanced, sleeving kits envelop the entire length of a wire. They either add uniformity by covering every cable with the same color or, if you take the UV reactive route, an extra splash of excitement.

No matter how you approach cable management—whether through bundles of sleeving or simple twisty-ties—the idea is to pull wires together and away from where they'll be seen or affect cooling performance. That practice alone will benefit all of your system builds from rackmount servers to small form factor PCs.