Building a PC is easy! You just throw in a bunch of components and a case and bam! Except, until you realize all your hard work goes for naught since they don’t fit inside the case. Sound familiar? Well grasshopper, don’t worry, we’ll tell you all about PC cases and what to watch out for.
PC cases can put your components in place. The cooling fans, the PSUs, the long video cards, and all the peripherals. They have drive bays too, so if you’re planning to say goodbye to that floppy disk for good, and install a futuristic Blu-ray, those will come in handy.
What makes PC cases important is that they contribute to holding the structure in place. Like a building, if the foundation isn’t strong, no matter the materials, the entire thing will collapse. See how important they are? Here’s what you need to know about PC cases.
Factors when choosing a PC case
For starters, getting the right PC case can depend on several factors. The first is you decide the dimensions – big, medium or small.
Second, you base your decision upon the number of components and drive bays you need. You also decide the dimensions of the drive bays. Here is where you consider how much space your water-cooling tubes, PSUs, and other core components need. You sort out the internal layout for your video cards and processors too at this stage.
Third, now for the good part, pick your PC case. Generally, PC cases come in three types:
Mini-Towers
If you’re planning to carry around your PC from place to place and you want a convenient but portable setup, then grabbing a mini-tower PC case is the way to go. These are compact and small in size, and inexpensive. The design is basic and they don’t have any fancy designing on them. It’s more about function over aesthetics here.
Mid-Towers
These are good if you are the average gamer and the all-round PC user. Mid-towers are your industry standard PC cases and they are large. They pack a lot of power too. The designing is better in these cases but they may still be quite utilitarian. Functionality, again, is the core emphasis of these cases.
These can fit in ATX-sized motherboards. Most users chose this since it has ample space for everything you need. This includes motherboards, CPUs, GPUs, Hard Drives, SSDs, Optical Drives – you name it.
Full-Towers
The future of computer cases, full towers can fit in anything and everything. They can hold mini ATX to extended ATX motherboards, and dual power supplies. They have optimized cable routing hardware, and ample room for custom loop liquid cooling systems. These can also fit in radiators and are very large in size.
