The perfect PC chassis is a bit of a misnomer. Enough of cases over the years have been highly regarded as existence smashing, trend-setting or iconic – the Lian Li PC-60, the Chieftec Dragon full-tower, the Cooler Main Cosmos and the NZXT Guardian immediately come to mind – simply to identify any i chassis as being the best would exist misleading.

Tastes and budgets vary equally much as the hardware within. Simply put, one size does not fit all. The best you can realistically hope for is to narrow downwards your search based on a list of criteria ordered from almost to to the lowest degree important and attempt to tick equally many boxes every bit possible forth the way (that'south what we do to put together our All-time Cases feature). This article aims to help you lot construct that list and steer your search in the right direction.

Earlier doing that, information technology might not exist a bad thought to survey what's around yous. If you're like almost enthusiasts, you lot've probably already got a spare instance or two lying around. Making a project of modernizing an old server or building the ultimate sleeper with contemporary internals harkens back to the earlier days of case modding and tin can exist both fun and rewarding. Putting a little elbow grease into a retired chassis can also free upwardly greenbacks to upgrade other components. You may be surprised what a pigsty saw and a Dremel can do.

Refurbs aren't for anybody, nonetheless. Convinced that just a new case will suffice, it's time to go down to business.

Everyone goes about instance shopping a bit differently. I personally adopt to evaluate my needs and wants beyond five key categories – cooling adequacy, noise, features, aesthetics and toll – and effort to make a sensible conclusion from there. Permit'southward take a closer await at each.

Cooling Adequacy

A chassis is but equally adept equally its ability to go along your hardware from getting likewise hot. Fortunately, most cases on the market today do a satisfactory task of dissipating heat cheers to strategically placed intake and exhaust ports. Even nonetheless, there are some things to proceed in mind when evaluating this category.

If you lot will exist running loftier-end hardware, plan on overclocking or just want your system to be as cool as (reasonably) possible, you may desire to wait for a solution with as few obstructions as possible. Solid front panels, large drive racks and stamped fan grills can seriously impede airflow. Avoiding cases with these restrictive elements is a good identify to showtime if yous don't want to get your hands dingy with modding.

Besides worth mentioning is that while a example may take many fan mounting locations, they often don't ship fully populated. Pay attention to the specifications to see how many fans y'all'll be getting with your buy then yous'll know if you need to supply boosted fans to make full out the empty spots.

Some hardware to get you started:

  • Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Ten
  • Corsair Obsidian 500D
  • Noctua NH-D15
  • Cooler Master MasterCase H500M
  • Cougar Panzer Max

Noise

Few things can disrupt the tranquility of a jaunt with your favorite game or a web-surfing session like the unrelenting symphony of rowdy case fans. Such is peculiarly true if you plan to primarily apply your system for productivity purposes in a placidity surroundings. In the olden days of 80mm screamers, it wasn't uncommon to perform 7-volt wiring mods to tone things down a bit. These days, fan controllers and PWM headers are used to achieve similar results.

Nosotros've also seen case makers move to 120mm and larger fan ports. Larger fans don't have to spin as fast to motion the aforementioned amount of air, thus making them quieter. Some premium fans take it a step farther with special bearings, tranquillity blade designs and rubber grommets to reduce vibration transferred to your case – all in the name of reducing noise. Pay attending to dBA (decibels) and CFM (cubic feet per minute) ratings when looking at fans; ideally, you lot want these as depression and as high as possible, respectively.

Acoustic padding for case panels can also be used although these oft elevate temperatures as they insulate oestrus. Some even get then far as to build fully passive machines simply this is more of an extreme pick for those that absolutely despise noise.

A happy medium that many opt for is watercooling the CPU and / or GPU. If you lot're interested in going this road, be sure to look for a case that'll adapt the radiator you aim to use.

Some hardware to go yous started:

  • Fractal Blueprint Define R6 Black
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence iii
  • NZXT's Kraken X62
  • Libation Principal Silencio 352 Mini Tower
  • Fractal Design Node 202

Features

Finding a PC case with all of the features you lot want is only half the battle every bit y'all first need to place what your must-take features are. This category will vary wildly from user to user but here are some mutual characteristics to consider.

You can narrow down your search profoundly past excluding cases that don't meet your required motherboard form factor. If you lot're going with something mutual like ATX, mini ATX or micro ATX, your options are pretty broad open. Opt for something larger like an Eastward-ATX board, however, and your choices will be far more express.

Are yous working in a confined space? If so, things like overall size may exist a business concern. And if you transport your system frequently, you may also want to look at a example'southward weight and its chief building material (aluminum is much lighter than steel, for case).

How about storage capacity? If you've got a lot of drives, you'll need something with plenty of internal storage bays. And have yous considered other, more trivial features, similar removable dust filters, tool-less installation, front-mounted I/O ports or cable management features? Practice you want a case with room to grow?

Some hardware to get you started:

  • Be Quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 2
  • Corsair Crystal 460X
  • Corsair Obsidian 1000D
  • Cooler Master Creation C700M
  • Thermaltake Tower 900 Vertical Tower

Aesthetics

Aesthetics – and how much they matter to yous – remind me a lot of the graphic symbol cosmos process in gaming. If yous're the type to spend hours tweaking every single option and frequently purchase cosmetic upgrades, the look of your new PC example will probably matter more to you lot than someone that runs with a default character and jumps right into the action.

RGB lighting is all the rage these days, and for good reason. The flexibility afforded by such systems is unparalleled – worlds across what used to exist available.

When I first got into computing, beige boxes were the but pick to choose from. Custom lighting meant swapping out the power and hard bulldoze condition indicators for blue LEDs and wiring up an automotive neon calorie-free to your ability supply. LED-infused fans wouldn't come up until years later. If you wanted additional cooling, you had to cut your own fan ports. Want a side console with a window? Reach for the Dremel. Desire a splash of color? Hopefully you're good with paint.

Does brand loyalty or proper name recognition matter to you? If and so, it's something to think about at this phase. Do y'all want your case to exist a conversation piece or cook into your surroundings?

Some hardware to get you started:

  • InWin 805
  • ThermalTake View 71 TG
  • Streacom DA2 Chassis
  • Thermaltake Core P90 Tempered Glass
  • Fractal Design Meshify-C
  • NZXT H700i
  • Thermaltake Cadre V21 mATX Cube

Cost and Conclusion

The amount of money you have to spend on a new case will largely dictate what the rest of your list looks like. More often than not, information technology's the category by which all others are governed by. Your budget isn't necessarily the virtually important matter to consider only yous'll save yourself a lot of time when armed with this knowledge from the spring.

And call up, money isn't everything. There are some excellent options out there for not a whole lot of cheese (and some of the more expensive cases really aren't all that good).

In that location'due south arguably never been a better time to shop for a PC case for the simple fact that the choice is across compare. From features and aesthetics to size and toll indicate, there'due south truly something out at that place for anybody.

Some hardware to become you started:

  • Corsair Carbide 275R
  • NZXT H500i
  • Phanteks Enthoo Pro
  • Cooler Primary Hyper 212 Evo
  • Thermaltake V200 RGB

If yous don't already accept a general thought of what you want, do some window shopping or depict inspiration from others. We host a tight selection of great PC cases in our All-time Cases 2022 feature and on reddit the battlestations sub is a great place to start for inspiration, too. Happy hunting!

Image credit: PC parts masthead, water cooling acrylic tube system, cables on case, water cooling #2, piggy banking company hammer.