When we first encountered Thermaltake’s Level 10 case, which has been codesigned with BMW Group DesignworksUSA, at CES earlier this year, we found ourselves asking: “Does anyone really need a $700 case?” Now that one has finally arrived in Ziff Davis Labs, and the price has edged upwards to $799.99 (list) we have our answer: Probably not, but who cares?

That’s the thing you have to always keep in mind about the Level 10: From its design to its pricing, it defies all conventional logic, but that doesn’t make you want it any less. (In that way, if few others, we’d swear it was an Apple product.) So clever, so intense, and so innovative is everything about how it looks and works that during the time we spent with it, we had to keep reminding ourselves it was “just” a case, and ultimately only as good as the computer it houses. Working on it feels like working on a classic car: more a labor of love than a chore.

Still, on its own, and empty, it looked pretty amazing. But was its beauty only skin-deep, or was there real substance to be found beneath the flash? That—along with whether it’s worth the price—is what we wanted to find out. Read on to see what we discovered, and learn why even among enthusiast cases the Level 10 stands alone.