Tempered glass sidepanel, are they OK? Ive heard some horror stories online of them sporadically shattering :(

[jumbojosh]

Hello,

I think, after many many hours of research, ive found which case im going to go with.  It has cool RGB lighting in front with the features i want, mainly at least 3 HDD slots in the case.

Along with decent dust filtration and decent cable management.

https://www.newegg.com/black-thermaltake-commander-c-33-argb-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811133400?&quicklink=true&fbclid=IwAR0b_BXJ31oGKmoBHLlUeR9C1HDTGG6wAtCa24m44VeJzR8vEZY7nJGysbI

 

Im gonna put in a Ryzen 5600 and a ASUS Republic of Gamers Strix X570-E Gaming AM4 ATX Motherboard (if i can get my hands on one).

 

However i have read several reports of people's glass randomly shattering just from handing it (not even dropping it).  Am i being paranoid to worry about this happening to me?  Im not so worried about the mess, or even having to get a replacement(sounds like it is covered under warranty), but im afraid of fragments making their way into my fans or components and jamming them up or something.  However, i love the look they provide inside the case and are in general more scratch resistant than acrylic.  Should i avoid tempered glass or am i over-worrying?

 

 

 

[Skiiwee29]

I have 3 machines with tempered side panels with zero issues. Never had one breaking on me. If it breaks, its usually from mishandling. Just treat them with care, and they will respond. 

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, jumbojosh said:

im afraid of fragments making their way into my fans or components and jamming them up

That's not really possible

[jumbojosh]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

That's not really possible

So its more of the mess and heartbreak than any danger to the rest of my PC?  I was thinking that too kinda, as the board would be mounted vertical.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, jumbojosh said:

So its more of the mess and heartbreak than any danger to the rest of my PC?  I was thinking that too kinda, as the board would be mounted vertical.

Yeah the glass shards are heavy and fall straight down, since it's not being shattered by an impact you won't see that glass "dust" you get from things like car windshield impacts

[GuiltySpark_]

Cases with tempered glass is so commonplace these days, your concerns are just not something people worry about. Yes, things can break.. anything can break. 
 

It's just not a huge widespread issue and its not affecting people's buying habits. 

[TazerXI]

I have had a thermaltake h200 tg snow since christmas, and it has done fine. The glass is quite thick, and doesn't seem to smash unless it was hit with considerabl force, such as dropping ti from waist height. Delivery might be an issue, but they are cool, and if you put RGB inside your computer, it is the only wat of it showing without taking the side panel off really. I think the biggest issue is where to put it, I had a small dialemma about where to put mine, so the glass faces towards me (i was due for a bedroom re-arrange so that solved it).

I think they are good, and allow you to show off the hardware, and iirc it was packaged good, so just be carefull and you'r good

[FRD]

Tempered glass is basically a hardened glass, much stronger and denser that normal glass that we see on windows. They can shatter, but either someone has to manhandle it or you would really have a fabric defect. Even if it breaks, your components are fine. Actually this can happen to every tempered glass product. A good example is Ikea's Detolf display case, they can shatter from the force that's on them after it has been assembled, but the chances are slim. If we are talking about tempered glass protectors for phones, chances are pretty much none.

[jumbojosh]

Just now, rickeo said:

Cases with tempered glass is so commonplace these days, your concerns are just not something people worry about. Yes, things can break.. anything can break. 
 

It's just not a huge widespread issue and its not affecting people's buying habits. 

Yeah that's true, people wouldn't be buying it if it happened to too many buyers.  Must be a rare thing, or defective glass.

One thing about this case is it is a good quality brand, Thermaltake, who hopefully uses a good quality glass.

[Moonzy]

13 minutes ago, jumbojosh said:

However i have read several reports of people's glass randomly shattering just from handing it (not even dropping it).

having worked with glass machinery for a while, i can tell you that tempered glass do indeed shatter by itself without any provocation

as it's actually an unstable piece of glass. most of the tempered glass (that will shatter) will shatter not long after exiting the machine, but some of them will shatter few years later

is it common? not very. does it occur? yes it does.

 

13 minutes ago, jumbojosh said:

but im afraid of fragments making their way into my fans or components and jamming them up or something.

shards may find its way into your components, but they're non conductive so the most damage they'll do is probably jam up your fan bearings at worst, but i doubt they shatter into pieces small enough to enter that tight spacing (most of the glass shards of TG i've seen are pretty chunky)

 

i personally would prefer TG over acrylic, which can be scratched by breathing on it

[AndreiArgeanu]

Just now, jumbojosh said:

Yeah that's true, people wouldn't be buying it if it happened to too many buyers.  Must be a rare thing, or defective glass.

One thing about this case is it is a good quality brand, Thermaltake, who hopefully uses a good quality glass.

Brand and quality don't really play much of a part in the likelihood of temperate glass breaking, as long as you handle it with care and don't over-tighten screws that keep the glass in it's place you're going to be fine, I have a 20$ PC case with temperate glass from a random chines brand that I've been using for a little over a year and the glass never broke.

[jumbojosh]

 

 

This video gave me confidence too!  It can be pretty F***ing tough looks like lol

[SupaKomputa]

Tempered glass are strong, but it can break, a pointy stuff can break it like screw driver head or the edge of your table.

To clean it just use a vacuum cleaner.

[ki8aras]

i had a class side panel from a corsair case shatter during the night at some point, but i posted it on this forum and a corsair rep guided me through the replacement process

(spontaneous shatters happen very rarely though)