 The MBX Mark II is a PC case that by all accounts has no right to exist. It was seven years in the making, weighs a shocking 100 pounds fully loaded, and everything about it was purpose-built from the 8mm thick aluminum motherboard tray to the 274 screws required for its assembly. It's the brainchild of Charles Harwood, the creator of Murderbox and fellow BC boy, and integrates more PC industry firsts than I can keep track of, including diffused basement lighting, integrated comprehensive cable management, frameless cooling fans, and an utterly unique visual design that doesn't scream performance so much as it whispers it. It's built to be the case that you use for the next ten years, and it's manufactured to the highest standard, but it comes with a price tag that reflects its pedigree. Let's get up close and personal with it. Roseville's closed-loop CPU coolers feature a performance copper base, PWM fan speed control, and more for an affordable price. Check them out today at the link below. It was ten years ago, but I remember the day I met this guy like it was yesterday. He drove two hours to pick up some ten dollar water cooling fittings from me because a customer commissioned one of his already famous Murderbox gaming machines, and no other fitting was good enough for him. It was this rejection of good enough that drove Charles to do things the rest of us thought were crazy. I still remember him explaining to me that wires shouldn't be hidden, they should just be beautiful when he unveiled the first individually sleeved power supply. No one is going to spend that kind of time and money on a power supply, I said, but I think we all know how that played out. Every one of his creations was like that. A work of art, utterly unique and always pushing the limits, whether it was tubing layouts, lighting, or design, with zero compromises on build quality. Unfortunately, Charles had a problem, building a single Murderbox, an 8,000 to 18,000 dollar machine, often including in-person delivery, is a two to four week endeavor, and that's assuming that nothing goes wrong with sourcing and building whatever cutting edge new design or material he's working on. He'd never get the parts production economical like that, the business model had to shift. That's where Murder Mod came in. Charles partnered with Niels, a pioneer in the sleeving space, to create a lineup of aftermarket faceplates, midplates, mounts, and other accessories that would allow TJ07 owners to upgrade their existing systems to something worthy of the million dollar PC galleries. And these two business models complemented each other well, on paper. The higher margins and sales volumes of accessories would help to absorb the cost of prototyping and development, while the boutique system business would give Murder Mod a high profile avenue for showing off its latest creations. Except for another small problem. Accessories are only high volume if they're compatible with more than a single high-end case from niche manufacturer Silverstone, and they're only high margin if you have the upfront funding and the know-how to navigate the quagmire of overseas mass production. So he forged a relationship with Silverstone with the plan of bringing a tweaked and pre-modded TJ07 to market and then iterating from there. Another great in theory idea that turned into an endless cycle of prototyping and refinement until finally, four years later, thanks to a cash bailout from a community member named Richard, it was ready to ship to the early backers. Every component of the Mark II has a story. Literally every one. But I won't bore you guys talking about the 50,000 unit minimum order quantity on each individual variation of the custom-made hex screws. Let's start with the luminous panel. Ten years ago, PC lighting was done with cheesy plastic cathode tubes with cheap inverters that usually burned out, quite literally burned out, in a year or two. There had to be a better way. And the inspiration came from runway fashion shows. Now, building a panel that looks like this is easy, if you have a bunch of space behind it for light distribution and diffusion. But Charles had to do it without taking up any of the space for radiators on the bottom or for the system itself on top. So he ended up with LEDs on one side firing into what he calls the core, a proprietary material that he modified and etched with a grid to project the light upward. The remaining three edges were lined with reflective material to bounce back and recycle the light that would normally pass right through and be wasted. A final piece of semi-translucent material was added on top to diffuse the light, giving the finished luminance panel a glow strong enough to be seen in daylight, but subtle enough to game next to at night and at a thickness of just 15 millimeters. The blood drips in the front have an equally fascinating backstory. The first iteration was a murder mod faceplate, a very rudimentary solution to the TJ07's dated even then septuple 5 and a quarter inch bay design. Optical drives were already on their way out. It was water cut and used an LED strip mounted inside a Hammond project box reflecting off a piece of white acrylic. Simple. But in the Mark II, the entire basement where the TJ07 mounts storage drives by default is taken up by up to 6x120 millimeters worth of radiators and the power supply. And the front is a modular space that can be adapted for 3 and a half inch storage, water cooling controllers, pumps, 2 and a half inch storage, a slim optical drive, you pretty much name it. So there's potentially a lot of stuff that has to go in there. He needed something more compact, so Charles created a lighting solution using only a single LED firing upward through an acrylic block with silver mylar edges, like the luminance panel, but this time using a piece of adhesive vinyl at the back that's printed with a gradient graphic on it to control light reflection toward the front and a strip of a photographic material called Dura-Trans to diffuse the light coming out. This combination ensures that the drips fade to black effect will be perfect and seamless even in complete darkness, a characteristic that not only looks sick, but also helps hide the optional stealth slot load optical drive. Bet you didn't see that one coming. The top grill was also designed as a TJ07 mod that you could just drop into the existing flange and was inspired by ceiling fans. Why do we need frames in a position where we don't need to create static pressure? To build this, Charles bought almost literally every cooling fan on the market to find the ideal one. He needed a clean aesthetic, the right hub size, easily removable fan blades in case painting was required to match the look of a particular build, and quiet operation out of the box without fan control because there would be no room for PWM wires in the tiny 2x4mm wire management channel. Every unit was shipped to Callan in Australia where he painstakingly hand assembled them. This process involves removing the fan frames, removing the existing wiring from the fan hub, soldering the new leads specially designed for the top mount, epoxying in the hubs, running the wiring around the internally machined frame, and terminating to a single sleeved three pin connector that will work with basically any motherboard. One of a kind looks and drop in compatibility like this are really really tough things to combine, which I guess brings us finally to my ulterior motive for making this video. So this video isn't sponsored, I mean after all the money he's lost on this Charles couldn't afford our rates and I wouldn't ask him anyway, but there is something in it for me. I want to see what he'll create next, so I offered to do a profile of the Mark II and its history in hopes that they'll all sell so he can repay his investors and work on something new. There are 142 Mark II cases left in the world, you'll find the where to buy link in the video description. The config that we showed would run a whopping $2000 US dollars. But for this video, Charles and Mod1 created a more basic limited time promotional bundle including everything that you need to get started. The case, its 150 page user manual, and a quad radiator mount, as well as the optional luminance panel for $1299. It's still eye-wateringly expensive, but there will never be another production run of the Mark II. It was a financial disaster for everyone involved. So if you want to own a piece of PC history, the case equivalent of something like a DeLorean, something only a fanatical person would build, well, you know where to get it. Blue Apron delivers all the farm fresh ingredients that you need right to your doorstep in exactly the right proportions for delicious home cooked meals. No trips to the grocery store, no waste from unused ingredients. Their recipes are chef inspired and they offer two types of plans, the two person plan and the family plan. And there are now eight recipes to choose from each week instead of six. Blue Apron recipes are delivered in a refrigerated box so the ingredients will stay fresh even if you're not at home when your package arrives and Blue Apron ships to most of the United States. There's no commitment, you can skip or cancel the service at any time and prices start as low as $9 per serving. The first 50 people to sign up at our link below are going to get 50 bucks off their first two weeks of Blue Apron. So go check it out now. So thanks for watching guys, if you just liked this video you can hit that button but if you liked it let us know in the comments, hit that like button, maybe get subscribed and while you're at it check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description. While you're down there we'll have a list of everyone who contributed parts for Charles to do the showcase build including Silverstone, EK, Mod 1, Gigabyte, Nvidia and Aqua Computer as well as a link to our merch store which has cool shirts like this one.