Why always honeycomb grills?

[supernewbie666]

Why do even the most expensive and highest quality silent cases have to use honeycomb fan grills? Why don't they use wire grills?

Its fairly annoying to remove those damn honeycombs! Same with their stock fans that always need to be replaced (except maybe for casual users).

I am so angry!

[flemeister]

Because they're cheaper, and the majority of buyers are perfectly happy with stamped fan grills and cheapo stock fans.

[NeilBlanchard]

They have the greatest open area vs the metal area of any stamping. Wire grills are marginally better, but they cost a lot more, I would imagine.

[flemeister]

Ooh, I just remembered reading this nice article recently: Effects of Grill Patterns on Fan Performance/Noise

[lodestar]

Same with their stock fans that always need to be replaced (except maybe for casual users)

Sharkoon, who seem to only market in Europe, have introduced cases with no stock fans at all. They are tagged, not surprisingly, as an 'Economy' variant such as this one http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/content/t9-economy. This particular case is relatively cheap, around €40 or about the same price as an Antec VSK-2000.

[ntavlas]

Another reason is EMI shielding. Gaps/holes can only be up to a certain size for the grille to block EMI.
I don`t know how important this is in practice (many people remove the grills or run computers in wooden cases with no problems) but I think there are regulations regarding EMI which leave manufacturers with little choice.

Wire grilles were designed to prevent injury to the user from the fan`s blades.

edit: Some atx power supplies use wire grilles. Perhaps PSUs are considered internal devices and thus are subject to more lax regulations?