Want a $50k Mac Pro Cheese Grater? Get a $60 PC Cheese Grater!
by Dr. Ian Cutress on January 14, 2020 4:00 PM ESTOne of the more bemusing aspects of 2019 was the launch of the new Mac Pro. Powered by Intel’s Xeon W CPUs, it offered a range of options such that the most buoyant of budgets could splash out on a fully equipped $50k+ system from the fruit company. The chassis was a doozy: nicknamed the cheese grater, because it had a holey and angled design such that you could grate cheese on it. Some reviewers even did that in there reviews – no joke. The only problem with this case is that it is only available for Macs. Phanteks' gaming brand, Metallicgear, has the solution if you want it for PC, and it’s much cheaper.
This cheese grater is called the Metallicgear Neo Pro, and currently in the last stage of design before retailing later this year in March/April. The concept from Phanteks has, for lack of a better phrase, turned into a cheap knockoff, intentionally. Apple’s case is machined aluminum for that premium feel – this Neo Pro is by contrast a plastic design, hence its ability to be only $60.
The circular vents are different to the Apple design, and the feel of the material is definitely different. Not only this, but Phanteks is thinking on making a set of wheels for it – a steal at $395 (they’re not actually making wheels, that’s a joke). However at a distance, you would be none the wiser, for at least the first few seconds.
The chassis design fits an ATX motherboard, and the idea is to ship the black model first with two black fans. The side panel is tempered glass, and the power supply bay is covered compared to the rest of the design. The front IO panel is on the top of the case, with two USB ports and audio outputs. More details to come when Phanteks is ready to ship.
Part of me wants this case, just to build a more powerful system in it than the top-end Mac Pro. Either that, or fill it with more than $50k of hardware, just to see if it is possible.
Images provided by Phanteks - ours weren't that great.
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baka_toroi - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
Those cases make me feel sooooo uneasy. What's going on lately with Apple and its trypophobic releases?808Hilo - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
I thought no you are on to something.Awful - Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - link
@ian If you want to build a Mac Pro cheese grater to beat the real one - check out the Dune Pro case. Linus tech tips and a couple of others have reviewed them - surprisingly good thermals, accoustics, build quality, and way closer to the real thing. Even has the cnc milled aluminium front panel.Koenig168 - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
This is in really bad taste. What next, people building Hackintoshes for a fraction what the fruit charges for the real thing?? Preposterous! :)TEAMSWITCHER - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
Hackintosh's are not Macs. Never have been, never will be.Kevin G - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link
Oh, they certainly have been back when Apple permitted Mac clones and then getting OS X running on them... but that has been awhile.deil - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
linus did. 32 core ryzen 2 TB of ram, 3 titans and 1500 or 2000W PSU, water cooled with custom loop.Jimbo Jones - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
Do you have a link / source for that? I was under the impression TR only supported 1TB of RAM.AsParallel - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link
My money, shut up and take it.rr6013 - Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - link
A circa 1994 Intel server case I bought from Apple had the exact same cheese board grater. Albeit, double doors wide and big as a file cabinet under desk.Apple copied that ventilated design enlarging the size of its openings then adding a chromium upgrade to the case finish...welcome to 2019 from 1994 techies