Borg Computer Case
It's no secret that I have a love for science fiction, and that Star Trek was a regular viewing throughout my childhood (and even as of late). A surprising advertisement that came my way was from a company called CherryTree that manufacture a computer case inspired by the recent Picard TV show. While I will admit I did think at first that it was likely a scam, I decided to take the plunge and purchase one. My track record for purchases like this isn't good, especially with the die-cast model engine which turned out to be a bag of random Lego pieces, but thankfully this time around it turned out to be real.
Packaging
The case comes packaged both in a wooden crate (shown below) and also in a larger cardboard box filled with the usual packing peanuts. It's hefty in size (the courier struggled to get it through the door of their van) so from a first impressions perspective it should have survived the trip. Compared to other items I have had delivered this is definitely one of the more sturdy.
The artwork on the packing crate is a really nice touch
Size
The first thing to note about this case is that it isn't small... It's currently located on top of my server rack and takes up the majority of the space. In part the case is so large to cater for the fiber-optic lights within rather than peripherals like HDD's. As the inside isn't as organised as a case from Corsair or Lian Li, it is a little amusing to see the amount of fans at the rear, given its overkill for a standard PC. I'm tempted to put the Threadripper Pro system I have been contemplating in there as its got plenty of cooling capacity and the storage would be PCIe based.
You can see from the rear its a sizeable case with plenty of cooling
Damage
Despite all of the packing material the case was damaged during transit. After taking the case to pieces (which is made difficult by the lack of instructions) the culprit was found. The optional blu-ray drive I had purchased had two blobs of hot glue to hold it in place, with no glue at the rear of the drive. Sadly, as the case had moved around during transit the drive had acted as a pendulum, snapping the front of the case. In turn, with one part of the case weakened and the drive now bouncing around the inside, a second part of the case snapped due to the stress, and multiple fiber-optic strands were snapped. Truthfully its a real shame as the packaging was done really well, only to be let down by not using a proper clamp or more hot glue at the rear of the drive. Thankfully, with some epoxy and patience I was able to mend the broken parts of the case (including the fibers).
Poor fitment of the blu-ray drive resulted in the outer shell breaking in two places
While glueing plastic is easy, repairing snapped fibers is not...
Next Steps
For the moment (while I decide what system to put in the case) its in display mode, using the included LED controllers to control the lights. These work well, and thankfully they remember the last colour combination (as they are full RGB), making it fun to control at night using smart plugs. At some point I will fit a hefty system into it, ideally linking its CPU usage to the LED colour for added effect.
