Cases come in several sizes, but the three
main ones are mini tower, midi tower and full tower. Mini towers are normally
too small to house the number of components a gaming PC requires, and are
instead aimed at media serves and light-use machines. Not only are they
cramped, but they’re also often hard to cool as a result of their size.
Cases
come in several sizes, but the three main ones are mini tower, midi tower and
full tower.
The larger and less crowded midi towers are
the most common class of case, and unless you know otherwise, that’s what you
should aim to buy. The largest class of case, the full tower, is also popular
with gamers, but only if there’s a good reason to own one – and if you don’t
have a specific reason in mind, there’s no point shelling out extra.
If you’re building a gaming system, you’ll
want a case with plenty of exhaust fans. No amount of spot-cooling heatsinks
and component fans will help keep your system temperature low if your case is
being slowly transformed into an oven because of the hot air inside. Remember,
the cooler the components, the better they run, so don’t think that the
temperature of your case doesn’t affect the speed of your games.
Case fans also come in various sizes, and
the goal is to have them remove as much air as possible. Note that bigger fans
tend to spin slower and create less noise, so if your case comes with a 200mm
fan or bigger, that would be a smart choice. That said, 140mm and 120mm fans
are far more common. An average modern gaming PC usually has a least three such
sized exhaust fans to cover most of the case and create a strong internal air
flow, but more isn’t unreasonable.
As well as the fans, you should take a look
at any other air-flow features a case includes. These are normally vents and
air channels that let air in. in general, the more vents you have, the cooler
your system will be, but check whether they can be easily filtered: more holes
means more ways for dust to get in, which will clog fans and stick to
components, resulting in hotter components and reduced efficiency. Filters
wills top this (but remember to clean them!)
If you’re feeling really technical, try to
visualize how air will flow around the case. If there are intake vents, where
will the air coming through them be directed? Ideally, you want your CPU, RAM
and graphics card to be the targets of cool, which are best positioned above
the CPU or graphics card to suck out heat directly.
Some cases are even chambered to help
isolate the main heat-generating components from one another. It might make the
inside of your case a little fiddlier to organize, but it does give you
substantially tighter control over the temperature of your components. Don’t
expect to see this feature in anything other than the most expensive cases,
though, as it requires extra materials and engineering, which raises the overall
cost.
If you’re buying a case to house a
water-cooling system (or just want to keep your options open) you’ll probably
need to look at cases with a bit more space, which can mean buying a full
tower. Any gaming case at the high end of the market should come with the
necessary mounts and holes to fir a water-cooling system, which is obviously
far easier than trying to retrofit one into an existing case.
Finally, be aware that the material a case
is made of can also have an effect on cooling and performance. Steel is a
common material, but Aluminium alloys are lighter and will cost you a little
more for the convenience. A popular alternative material for case shell is
acrylic plastic, which can be easily moulded to create ducts and stylistic
flourishes, but beware that non-metallic cases have worse electromagnetic
shielding and they conduct heat less well, so you trade off appearance for
performance.
Is now the right time to buy?
The massive range of manufactures and
constant need for cases means there’s never a particularly good or bad time to
buy a case. If you need one, you should be able to find one that meets your
needs at the price you want. If you can’t, it’s unlikely that waiting around
will cause such a device to spring into existence.
If
you’re overclocking your system and expect it to be much hotter running, that’s
a good time to buy a new case.
The only question you need to answer,
really, is ‘Why now?’ If you’re overclocking your system and expect it to be
much hotter running, that’s a good time to buy a new case. If you’re running
out of space for extra drives or components and need something with a greater
capacity, that’s a good time to buy a case. Even if you’re just planning to
show off your PC and want it to look good, that’s a good time to buy a new
case. But waiting around for the peaks or troughs in terms of case demand is a
waste of time: the bargains aren’t just around the corner.
What are the technical constraints?
The technical constraints on cases are
understandably minor, but you should be aware that some do exist. For example,
the most important question to answer is whether your computer will actually
fit in your case once you’ve assembled it. If you have a third-party CPU
cooler, you don’t want the nasty surprise of discovering too late that the
PSU’s positioning means they both want to occupy the same space. If you have
three hard drives, you don’t want to discover that you’ve bought a case with
only two hard drive bays. And so on.
Again, it’s a question of size and specs.
Check how many drive bays your case has, and whether the PSU mount places it in
an inconvenient position. Ask whether it can fir all of the expansion cards you
own, or even plan to own. Cases tend to be long term investments, so if your PC
fills it from day one, there’s a chance you’ve chosen one too small for your
buying habits.
And speaking of PSUs, it’s worth checking
whether one is actually included in the cost of the case. Some manufacturers
will include a token PSU, but these are often low-powered and inadequate for
gaming machines. A gaming PC normally requires a PSU rated at 500W or higher.
If it’s any worse than that, you’ll probably have to get a better one, so
factor that into the cost (and indeed, see if you can refuse it in return for a
discount).
Lastly, if you’re wondering about the
various types of motherboard sizes cases support – ATX, micro-ATX and extended
ATX – don’t get too concerned with them. Unless you have a very unusual
motherboard, you’ll have an ATX board, and it’ll comfortably fit in any midi or
full tower.
What’s the alternative?
The alternatives to a gaming case depend on
what you were hoping to get out of it in the first place
If, for example, you just wanted a case of
any kind, the best alternative to a gaming case is simply the bog-standard
sub-$80.9 case most people’s PCs are confined to. They won’t look as exciting,
they won’t perform as well, but they’ll save you money and do the same basic
job of allowing you to run a PC that isn’t just a heap of electronics on the
floor. In most situations, that’ll be enough.
And
if you were hoping to improve the way your PC runs by reducing the temperature
with a case, we can recommend investing in better cooling options as an
alternative
Of course, if you care more about
appearance than performance or price, you could instead plump for a custom-made
PC case along the lines of those offered at XCase. They range from the generic
to the somewhat outrageous (one case on the website currently involves a Batman
mask, while another gives you the option of ‘skull or alien’ decoration) and
there’s no doubt that they’ll give your PC a distinctive look, even if they
don’t do quite as much for the performance.
And if you were hoping to improve the way
your PC runs by reducing the temperature with a case, we can recommend
investing in better cooling options as an alternative. Easy ways to cool a PC
involve buying a better CPU heatsink, putting additional exhaust fans I your
existing setup, or placing spot-fans on RAM or graphics card components. If
you’re feeling handy with a drill, you could even do a little customization of
your own!
