Last year I looked for an open air ATX bench
case to build a modest test system.
Popular tech YouTubers like JayzTwoCents and
Paul’s Hardware prefer the Praxis Wetbench
open-air bench case.
I have two problems with that bench case:
too big and too expensive.
The Praxis bench case is 18” x 19” x 17”
and cost $200 USD.
I needed a bench case that was compact and
cost a lot less.
The Electric Magic Creative Personality open
air ATX bench case is 11” x 7” x 16”
(standing up) and cost $56 USD.
If you think assembling IKEA furniture is
bad, try assembling this bench case.
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Before I deep dive into the Creative Personality
bench case, I must mention that this video
WAS NOT a paid promotion.
I bought this bench case with my own money
and Electric Magic has no editorial control
over this video.
I also bought the Funko POP! collectible figures
with my own money and Funko POP! has no editorial
control over this video.
On that note, I do own a small position in
Funko POP! stock.
Amazon affiliate links for the items mentioned
in this video are available in the description
below.
Every purchase earns a small commission that
supports my channel.
Please comment, like, and subscribe, and click
on the notification bell to see more videos
like this.
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Assembling the Creative Personality bench
case requires serious IKEA furniture building
skills.
The bagged parts are in Chinese, the exploded
diagram looks like a bad photocopy, and assembly
requires using the included Allen wrench.
It took a lot of experimentation to figure
out how all the pieces go together.
I rebuilt the bench case six times in eight
months before I got it into its final form.
If you’re interested in seeing how to assemble
a similar bench case, check out Tek Everything’s
video.
The link to that video can be found in the
description below.
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I assembled the Creative Personality bench
case with two additional but entirely optional
tools.
A 2” machinist steel square to keep the
frame squared while putting it together.
The motherboard could flex and break a trace
inside the PCB if the frame was out of alignment.
Broken traces make for a broken motherboard.
The second tool was a 30-piece Allen wrench
set.
I recently misplaced the included Allen wrench
before I found it again.
Without the Allen wrench, you can’t modify
the bench case.
It’s good to have a spare Allen wrench on
hand.
A special modification I made was adding a
self-stick heavy duty ½” wide felt strip
to the bottom and back.
The felt strip serves as footers for when
the bench case is standing up or lying down.
Without the felt strip, the frame would clatter
on the tabletop.
I used 50” of a 60” roll on five of the
nine bars in the frame.
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Here are the hardware specs for my test system:
AMD Athlon 3000G with built-in video that
I picked up for $50 USD last year.
If you haven’t seen my Black Friday/Cyber
Monday haul video, the link can be found in
the description below.
G.Skill Ripjaws V 8GB (2 x 4GB) 2666MHz DDR4
memory kit that recently came out of my editing
system.
Since I had red memory modules, I got the
red version of the Creative Personality.
I paid $70 USD for the Asrock B450 Pro4 ATX
motherboard back in January.
An old Adata 120GB SATA-3 SSD for the operating
system.
The power supply is a five-year-old Corsair
CX500 500-watt that just came out of my Linux
system.
The newest addition to the test bench is the
Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler.
You may be curious as to why I have a massive
250W TDP air cooler on a tiny 35W TDP processor.
Subscribe to my channel and have the notification
bell turn on.
I’ll have a video about the Be Quiet air
cooler coming out soon.
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The Electric Magic Creative Personality DIY
bench case is a good value at $56.
If you don’t mind assembling a 3D puzzle
without any instructions and rebuilding it
a half-dozen times.
A very compact bench case if you can’t afford
to spend four times as much on the larger
Praxis Wetbench bench case.
Thanks for watching!
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