I am planning on buying a new case since my current one is old and I saw this top ten list that has some good Corsair cases, I am just curious what people here use to give me an idea on what to get
Which case should I buy?
- Thread starter Junkrat
- Start date
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thehutti
Distinguished
- May 12, 2014
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Maybe you should be a bit more precise. What size of case? What hardware are you trying to fit into the case? Should it be a normal tower or a flat desktop one? Should it have a Glas-window or do you prefer a completely closed one? What pricerange?
synphul
Champion
- Mar 11, 2011
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If you have a tape measure or yard stick it may help give you a visual reference. More crucial if you're planning to put the case in some sort of cabinet or shelf, otherwise if putting it on the desk you might have more room. Full towers can be pretty big vs mid towers. For instance the obsidian 750D is an inch taller than mine, I'm using the phanteks enthoo pro. I think phanteks finally decided to call the enthoo pro a tower case, it was slightly shorter than a full tower but taller than a mid tower.
To try and give a comparison I'm using an atx motherboard. In my old mid tower case (antec sonata ii) the motherboard barely fit between the back io panel and the drive cages. All but shoe horned in there. In the enthoo pro the same atx board has a good 3 to 3.5 inches between the front edge of the mobo and the drive cage. If you're running a micro atx motherboard it will look a little funny in a larger case.
Cases are similar for the most part, the newer cases tend to have standard features like ample room behind the motherboard for routing cables and wires, multiple grommets for passing the cables through to the components, removable drive cages so you only have to use what you need. Mounts for larger fans, more fan mounting options than older cases used to have. Instead of a single exhaust fan and intake fan you might find room for 2-3 120mm or 140mm fans up front, top exhaust, bottom fans, larger rear exhaust fan options. Some of the bigger cases are more geared toward water cooling so you can fit a 240 or 360mm radiator up top, in front etc.
The type of available jacks or front panel options are something to consider, do you care if it has just one usb port, 2, more? Does the case have only the older usb1.1/2.0 or does it also have usb3.0 headers? Audio, microphone? Do you have a need for external 5.25" bays for a dvd or bluray drive? Are the usb ports facing straight up on top of the case, straight out the front or from the side of the front panel and does it matter to you? Ie, if the case has to fit in a cubby where the top is partially blocked then you may prefer usb ports front facing. If the case is down at your feet then it might be more convenient to have usb ports facing up off the top of the case for ease of access.
The rest of it is up to you as far as looks. Whether you like the look of a solid case (no windows), a windowed case, clear window, smoke tinted window etc. Case width may come into play if you plan to use an air cooler, wider cases are more accommodating to a wider range of air coolers. Some cases are too narrow and limit your choice if the air cooler is too tall.
For me I like the smoked window of the enthoo pro, I liked the included psu cover since my psu isn't modular (helps hide the ugly unused wires and led controller, makes the interior look nicer), I liked the variety of fan mounting options and it's roomy enough to work inside easily. That and the case is capable of being unscrewed and taken apart almost entirely for a variety of configurations. It's large though and it's 5 inches taller than my monitor, some may not like the looks of it but I'm the one who looks at it.
To try and give a comparison I'm using an atx motherboard. In my old mid tower case (antec sonata ii) the motherboard barely fit between the back io panel and the drive cages. All but shoe horned in there. In the enthoo pro the same atx board has a good 3 to 3.5 inches between the front edge of the mobo and the drive cage. If you're running a micro atx motherboard it will look a little funny in a larger case.
Cases are similar for the most part, the newer cases tend to have standard features like ample room behind the motherboard for routing cables and wires, multiple grommets for passing the cables through to the components, removable drive cages so you only have to use what you need. Mounts for larger fans, more fan mounting options than older cases used to have. Instead of a single exhaust fan and intake fan you might find room for 2-3 120mm or 140mm fans up front, top exhaust, bottom fans, larger rear exhaust fan options. Some of the bigger cases are more geared toward water cooling so you can fit a 240 or 360mm radiator up top, in front etc.
The type of available jacks or front panel options are something to consider, do you care if it has just one usb port, 2, more? Does the case have only the older usb1.1/2.0 or does it also have usb3.0 headers? Audio, microphone? Do you have a need for external 5.25" bays for a dvd or bluray drive? Are the usb ports facing straight up on top of the case, straight out the front or from the side of the front panel and does it matter to you? Ie, if the case has to fit in a cubby where the top is partially blocked then you may prefer usb ports front facing. If the case is down at your feet then it might be more convenient to have usb ports facing up off the top of the case for ease of access.
The rest of it is up to you as far as looks. Whether you like the look of a solid case (no windows), a windowed case, clear window, smoke tinted window etc. Case width may come into play if you plan to use an air cooler, wider cases are more accommodating to a wider range of air coolers. Some cases are too narrow and limit your choice if the air cooler is too tall.
For me I like the smoked window of the enthoo pro, I liked the included psu cover since my psu isn't modular (helps hide the ugly unused wires and led controller, makes the interior look nicer), I liked the variety of fan mounting options and it's roomy enough to work inside easily. That and the case is capable of being unscrewed and taken apart almost entirely for a variety of configurations. It's large though and it's 5 inches taller than my monitor, some may not like the looks of it but I'm the one who looks at it.
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