Origin Genesis PC Chassis Review – Part 1

Part 1 – Conclusion

In our circles, the Origin PC Genesis PC case was one of the most talked about things at CES 2013. The Genesis case is a head turner and makes a lot of people do a double take. And it is not because of the hardware on the inside. Don’t get me wrong, Origin sells top notch hardware. It’s the exterior, or rather the frame that houses the hardware.

One of the things that I like most about the Genesis chassis has nothing to do with hardware that you can get your hands on. It’s the development story that is behind the scenes. This was a top secret project that was kept from everyone at Origin except a handful of people. There was no electronic correspondence regarding this case, if you wanted to talk about it, you had a face-to-face conversation (or so we have been told.)

OK, back to the case. Starting from the inside, the construction materials of the Genesis case are atypical. Very rarely do you see thick steel inside; most of the time it is stamped sheet metal. The Genesis internals remind me more of a server chassis than a consumer grade PC case. However, it is not so heavy that it takes two men and a mule to lift. Origin has done a lot on the inside to keep the strength, but reduce weight such as, putting bends in the steel to increase rigidity yet use thinner steel to achieve the same result.

The variable mounting system is easy to show off with an empty case. Fill it with hardware and it is going to be a little bit of a different story. Especially if the consumer chooses to water cool or use hard-line tubing. Hence the reason Origin strongly suggests you call their support staff.

This case can be challenging for those who are “technically uninitiated” or are used to a “typical consumer” case. There are not any rivets in the case. Everything is held together by screws. There’s like 100 billion of them; OK not that many, but there are a lot. From a modding standpoint this makes the Genesis a dream to tear down. If things happen to get a little loose, you don’t have to worry about having to drill out a rivet and replace it. All that needs to happen is grab a screwdriver and tighten it down.  There are a lot of individual parts to this case and a lot of screws that secure them.

Externally, the Genesis is a great looking case. The panel seams line up nicely and remind me of a fully restored car where the judges get out a ruler and measure the gap. The locking mechanism Origin uses to keep the doors on allow users very easy access to the internals of their PC and is just as easily secured using Kensington locks to keep others out. This case truly does have a hand built feel and with a lot of things that are hand build there are minor imperfections here and there.

We were told the Genesis and the Millennium cases were not designed to be sold to the general public and as such, they do not come with much in the way of a user manual or accessories. Which honestly, is fine by me. I really do not need extra accessories or gimmicks that I will not use and are going to take up space in a box somewhere.

At CES I was elated to see a manufacture bring a case like the Genesis to market, even if it is intended for sale with their systems. To me, it shows that manufactures are watching the forums, looking at the featured case mods, and listening to the modders (not just from our site, but others as well) and finding creative ways to change or modify their products to be more modding friendly or have the look of a modded case. Not everyone has the time, skills, or desire to mod their own case. Origin offers the modded look and feel, for a price, of course.

Alas, we come to the end of Part 1 of the Origin Genesis review. In the next couple of weeks I will be doing an actual system build and testing the case for fitment and cooling.