How many companies actually build PC chassis? It seems that a lot of them are "clones".
Take for example my Nexus iStyle. There are several identical models from other manufacturers:
- Suntek Vivid
- Atech - AFT6551
- Atech STK6551
- Kobian/Mercury Aqua
The chassis underneath all of the plastic covers is also used in other cases which look nothing like it on the outside:
- V-Tech EC-7104
- Mercury Aero One
- Atech AFT6551
- Various Suntek cases
Chassis Manufacturers
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
I'm rather curious about this too. Noticed that the Silverstone LC10 appears to be based on the same chassis as an ancient PII someone donated to us at work, which has been quite convenient for figuring out if everything will fit before I buy. 
Modern equivalents are the Chieftec BE-01B and the Codegen 2005-CA, but no idea who gets what from whom.
Here's another clone set previously mentioned on the forum:
Silverstone TJ06
Avance Terminator C001
Aerocool Spiral Galaxies
Sharkoon Silvation
Enermax MaxFlow CS-718
ThermalRock Circle RH-F030 (is there an uglier bezel?)
I also can't quite tell if the Codegen S-201 server cube is the same chassis as the discontinued Chenbro SR102. They seem to have the same size and holes, but the Chenbro's advertised with thicker steel.
Enermax FS1500B and FS2300SS look like Guanghsing products, and their FS1200BB and FS2200BB are nearly identical to server enclosures from AMS.
Modern equivalents are the Chieftec BE-01B and the Codegen 2005-CA, but no idea who gets what from whom.Here's another clone set previously mentioned on the forum:
Silverstone TJ06
Avance Terminator C001
Aerocool Spiral Galaxies
Sharkoon Silvation
Enermax MaxFlow CS-718
ThermalRock Circle RH-F030 (is there an uglier bezel?)
I also can't quite tell if the Codegen S-201 server cube is the same chassis as the discontinued Chenbro SR102. They seem to have the same size and holes, but the Chenbro's advertised with thicker steel.
Enermax FS1500B and FS2300SS look like Guanghsing products, and their FS1200BB and FS2200BB are nearly identical to server enclosures from AMS.
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acaurora
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well, antec makes their cases for sure, or at least now they do. Their older cases seemed to resemble Chieftec/Chenming cases.
Thermaltake steals designs from other companies and changes them ever so slightly (See Wavemaster vs Tsunami). Their origional ones were.... rather *ahem* loud.
The new ASUS cases are origional, to my knowledge. Very interesting outside, but the intakes are pretty badly made.
Shuttle, of course, makes their own.
Silverstone, I always thought made their own. I guess not o.0
I dont know much about who makes their cases, but I do know this: The P180 will ROCK MY WORLD ;P
Thermaltake steals designs from other companies and changes them ever so slightly (See Wavemaster vs Tsunami). Their origional ones were.... rather *ahem* loud.
The new ASUS cases are origional, to my knowledge. Very interesting outside, but the intakes are pretty badly made.
Shuttle, of course, makes their own.
Silverstone, I always thought made their own. I guess not o.0
I dont know much about who makes their cases, but I do know this: The P180 will ROCK MY WORLD ;P
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Tibors
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Modern day manufacturing is rather more complex than "Company X makes this". It is not uncommon that the design, manufacturing of the parts and the final assembly are all done by different companies. The brand name you see on the final package is often owned by a company that only consists of sales & marketing and procurement departments (and some overhead of course). If the procurement departments of different brands go shopping at the same parts manufacturer, then you'll see products that look a lot alike.
My take on the manufacturing situation is that whoever pays for the testing "made" the product, because they are the ones that set the rules for what gets shipped or fixed.
Take this scenario; company A wants to create a product that they only have a overall concept for. So they contract the design to company B who are design specialists, company B sends them the design; company A deside they don't like it and ask company B to change parts of the design. Company B does this, and send the changed design back to company A. Company A then asks company C (a manufacturing company) to produce said product. Company C make the product, but don't do quality control. So company A now asks company D to test all their finnished products before they ship them. Company E sees this product doing well and decide they want to get in on the act, so they ask company A if they can license the design. Company A says yes, and company E is able to do the jobs of companies C & D themselves.
Company A sells the product at a premium, whilst company E sells it at bargain basement prices. Far more of company E's products fail.
Obviously, this is only one example. But it does give you an idea of just how complex the "manufacturer" question can be
Take this scenario; company A wants to create a product that they only have a overall concept for. So they contract the design to company B who are design specialists, company B sends them the design; company A deside they don't like it and ask company B to change parts of the design. Company B does this, and send the changed design back to company A. Company A then asks company C (a manufacturing company) to produce said product. Company C make the product, but don't do quality control. So company A now asks company D to test all their finnished products before they ship them. Company E sees this product doing well and decide they want to get in on the act, so they ask company A if they can license the design. Company A says yes, and company E is able to do the jobs of companies C & D themselves.
Company A sells the product at a premium, whilst company E sells it at bargain basement prices. Far more of company E's products fail.
Obviously, this is only one example. But it does give you an idea of just how complex the "manufacturer" question can be
Makes sense, but I'm curious about how to identify A. Silverstone didn't even exist when this old PII came out, so while the bezel's original work, they clearly purchased the chassis from someone else. Whom?
It's useful info if one's catastrophically modifying a case and needs a backup; I'm more comfortable destroying a Codegen than a Silverstone. OTOH, it's also useful for comparison shopping, which is probably why B, C, and D don't publicly announce their roles, and why E even tends to - um - exaggerate theirs.
It's useful info if one's catastrophically modifying a case and needs a backup; I'm more comfortable destroying a Codegen than a Silverstone.
OTOH, it's also useful for comparison shopping, which is probably why B, C, and D don't publicly announce their roles, and why E even tends to - um - exaggerate theirs.Here is the truth all of your cases are made by some chinese company and some American company slaps their own bezel on it and charges twice the original price.
Not that I'm defending thermaltake but possibly their not copying anyones design but rather buying it from the same exact manufactuer.
I have a copmucase lx and my brother has a tt tsunami and on the inside they look exactly the same. They even have the same quality control stamp!
Not that I'm defending thermaltake but possibly their not copying anyones design but rather buying it from the same exact manufactuer.
I have a copmucase lx and my brother has a tt tsunami and on the inside they look exactly the same. They even have the same quality control stamp!
Thunder wrote:Here is the truth all of your cases are made by some chinese company and some American company slaps their own bezel on it and charges twice the original price.
Hard to believe, but there are companies in countries other than China or USA! And Thermaltake, the company that "charged twice the original price" on your brother's machine is based in Taiwan (count that as part of China or not, it's not American).To go back to Romeo's example, in reality the flow of design idea's often goes the opposite direction:
Company C develops a new product, and sends its sales department around to Company A asking if they're interested. Company A then specifies tweaks/revisions to the base product to differentiate the product for their branding (with cases that often means a bezel) which Company C then produces.
Company A sells the product, with their logo on it, and their marketing makes it appear that they designed it, but they didn't.
When Company E comes along with a product that is identical to Company A's, its not necessarily a knockoff at all. They have the same arrangement with Company C that A does, just that because A beat them to market, E looks like they're copying. Because the design is already in the market, Company E isn't willing to pay as much for it as Company A was, so they can often sell the final product for less.
Not that knockoffs don't happen, but knockoffs are rarely identical. They usually tweak the design just enough to avoid the lawyers getting involved.
This sort of thing isn't limited to cases. Nearly every electronic product is produced by far fewer sources than the branding would have you suggest. LCD displays are a good example; you could count on one hand the number of companies that actually produce the panels themselves, regardless of how many different brnads you see on the store shelves.
Company C develops a new product, and sends its sales department around to Company A asking if they're interested. Company A then specifies tweaks/revisions to the base product to differentiate the product for their branding (with cases that often means a bezel) which Company C then produces.
Company A sells the product, with their logo on it, and their marketing makes it appear that they designed it, but they didn't.
When Company E comes along with a product that is identical to Company A's, its not necessarily a knockoff at all. They have the same arrangement with Company C that A does, just that because A beat them to market, E looks like they're copying. Because the design is already in the market, Company E isn't willing to pay as much for it as Company A was, so they can often sell the final product for less.
Not that knockoffs don't happen, but knockoffs are rarely identical. They usually tweak the design just enough to avoid the lawyers getting involved.
This sort of thing isn't limited to cases. Nearly every electronic product is produced by far fewer sources than the branding would have you suggest. LCD displays are a good example; you could count on one hand the number of companies that actually produce the panels themselves, regardless of how many different brnads you see on the store shelves.
My machine has the same chassis as an Antec Lanboy (first version), but a slightly different bezel (which is nice because I don't like drive bay doors anyway). It obviously doesn't say Antec anywhere on it, but it does have the same Quality Assurance stamp on the chassis as do authentic Lanboys.
What I think is interesting about all this is that it means you can sometimes get a top rate case for a second rate price because you're not paying for the marketing and image, and most of the engineering comes free.
If there was a 'knock-off' directory or listing somewhere, that'd be sweet.
Then maybe I could upgrade...
"Hey, cool new case, what is it?"
"It's an *ahem*Antec Performance One*ahem*
What I think is interesting about all this is that it means you can sometimes get a top rate case for a second rate price because you're not paying for the marketing and image, and most of the engineering comes free.
If there was a 'knock-off' directory or listing somewhere, that'd be sweet.
Then maybe I could upgrade...
"Hey, cool new case, what is it?"
"It's an *ahem*Antec Performance One*ahem*
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ZeroAquaduct
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Actually, you would be surprised that most companies now don't manufacturer their own products, including companies not in the computer industry. For example, Nike doesn't manufacturer their own products. They have a network of manufacturers throughout the world (usually in low labour cost countries) that work for them on a contract basis. They don't own any of these manufacturers.
Basically, Nike is a big marketing firm. That's why they're so successful. They spend all of their time and efforts with marketing and developing brand loyalty, while leaving the manufacturing to specialists in low labour cost countries. Brand loyalty = higher price charged. Low labour cost = low cost structure. In the end = high profits.
Basically, Nike is a big marketing firm. That's why they're so successful. They spend all of their time and efforts with marketing and developing brand loyalty, while leaving the manufacturing to specialists in low labour cost countries. Brand loyalty = higher price charged. Low labour cost = low cost structure. In the end = high profits.
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oldabelincoln
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...and there are the really confusing situations like Coolermaster and ATCStek. Not clear if Cooler
master used/uses ATCS cases (they used to even say "ATCS" in front), or if Coolermaster bought ATCS (allegedly precipitating the departure of designers to form Silverstone) or if ATCStek was/is the same company as Coolermaster. The only thing that is clear is that the cases are the same. Or were.
master used/uses ATCS cases (they used to even say "ATCS" in front), or if Coolermaster bought ATCS (allegedly precipitating the departure of designers to form Silverstone) or if ATCStek was/is the same company as Coolermaster. The only thing that is clear is that the cases are the same. Or were.