Chassis Buying Guide

[STRMfrmXMN]

I'm surprised that something like this doesn't exist so I guess it's about time one is written up.

 

There many factors to consider when buying a chassis or "case" for your PCs components. Let's list them out.

• Price
• Compatible motherboard form factors
• Size of the case
• Storage potential with or without 5.25 inch drive bay compatibility
• Color/Aesthetics (subjective)
• Airflow
• Noise suppression
• I/O
• Cable management
• Features
• Watercooling compatibility and/or support for large air coolers

There's a subjective amount more but these are the ones I see people asking about the most so I'll explain them in detail.

 

Price

 

This should be pretty self-explanatory. You can only buy what you have money available for. Here's a list of some cases that fit various price brackets. These prices are listed in USD.

 

 

NZXT Source 210 (both black and white are available colors). This chassis supports ATX, Micro-ATX (mATX when shortened), and Mini-ITX motherboard form factors.

Enermax Ostrog (many colors available but not all under $40). This chassis supports ATX, mATX, and Mini-ITX motherboard form factors.

Fractal Design Core 1100 - a small mATX case with attractive looks and decent features for the price. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

Cooler Master Elite 110 - Mini-ITX cube case with an interesting layout and solid features and construction. Supports Mini-ITX form factors.

 

These cases come with good features for the money with plain design and mostly plastic construction.

For you Canadians we really have no good options for this price point but here are some cases for low amounts of money.

Fractal Design Core 1000 - very small mATX case with great aesthetics and very basic features. Compatible with mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

Silverstone PS08B - again, a basic, mATX case.

Thermaltake H22 Versa - basic ATX mid-tower

 

 

 

Corsair 100R - Smaller ATX with some solid features for the price. For a bit more money you can get a version with noise-dampening foam. Supports ATX, mATX, and Mini-ITX form factors.

Deepcool TESSERACT - Very solid ATX case with lots of features and a decent build quality. Comes in a variety of colors. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

Cooler Master N400 - Solid ATX case with decent features and aethetics. Supports ATX, mATX, and Mini-ITX form factors.

Cooler Master N200 - Smaller brother of the N400. Not the best cable management seeing as it is smaller but has support for lots of hardware. - Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Cooler Master Elite 130 - Mini-ITX case similar to the Elite 110 but with a 5.25 inch drive bay at the front. Solid construction and small form factor makes this a great option. Supports Mini-ITX.

Fractal Design Core 2500- Very solid ATX case with good construction and features as well as cable management. Plain design that doesn't stand out. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

Fractal Design Core 2300 - Great ATX case with support for good hardware at a superb price. One of the best values for cases in this list.

Fractal Design Core 1300 - Great mATX case with support for great hardware and decent cable management with typical Fractal build quality and plain design. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards. Has a bottom-mounted power supply rather than a top-mounted one in the lesser Core series.

Corsair Spec-02 - Solid ATX case with an appealing, colorful aesthetic with decent cable management options. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

 

For our maple syrup-ed brethren up above:

Cooler Master Elite 110 - Mini-ITX cube case with an interesting layout and solid features and construction. Supports Mini-ITX form factors.

Azza Sirius - ATX case with lots of features but not the best build quality and a varied taste for many. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Fractal Core 1100 - a small mATX case with attractive looks and decent features for the price. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

Deepcool TESSERACT - Very solid ATX case with lots of features and a decent build quality. Comes in a variety of colors. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

 

 

 

Silverstone RVZ01B - Mini-ITX case with a good internal layout and good aesthetics and build quality. Supports Mini-ITX.

Cooler Master Silencio 352 - It's an N200 with noise dampening foam. This means that cable management is slightly worse and so is airflow in the name of silence. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Corsair 200R - solid ATX case with a simple design and decent cable management and airflow. One of the most popular cases out there. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

NZXT S340 - Windowed ATX case with plenty of features, cable management, decent airflow and an attractive price tag to boot. One of the biggest bargains out there and comes in 4 colors with a Razer edition on the way. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

BitFenix Shinobi - ATX case with decent airflow and simple aesthetics. Comes with a side-panel window option. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Bitfenix Prodigy M - unique micro-ATX case with a weird internal layout but very portable and attractive design and plenty of color options as well as windowed options. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Fractal Design Define R4 - One of the most popular cases to date. Comes with amazing features, especially considering the price point. It's quiet, has great cable management and watercooling options, supports extended ATX motherboards - seriously an amazing deal at the price tag it comes with, seeing as it is a last-generation case replaced by the Define R5. Supports EATX, ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factor motherboards.

Corsair 230T - ATX case with colorful aesthetics and mostly plastic construction. Comes with many great features and strays away from the traditional "black box with hardware in it" aesthetic.

Fractal Core 3500 - Hard to justify buying when the Define R4 and Define S exist at the same price point, though it is a great ATX case with pretty solid support for watercooling. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Fractal Design Define S - A Define R5 without the 5.25 inch bay and some design choices with watercooling in mind. Great case with noise-dampening foam and support for great hardware as well as great cable management. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Corsair 250D - Mini-ITX case with support for some AIO water coolers like the H80i from Corsair. Attractive Obsidian aesthetics in a smaller form factor.

Zalman Z11 Plus - Not the best but has an aesthetic that will appeal to some and has some decent cable management options and airflow. Supports ATX, mATX and mini ITX form factors.

 

For the Canadians:

Corsair 200R - solid ATX case with a simple design and decent cable management and airflow. One of the most popular cases out there. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

NZXT S340 - Windowed ATX case with plenty of features, cable management, decent airflow and an attractive price tag to boot. One of the biggest bargains out there and comes in 4 colors with a Razer edition on the way. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Corsair Spec-01 - decent ATX case with a plastic construction and very red, attractive design. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Corsair Spec-02 - slight improvement over the Spec-01 with similar aesthetics. Supports ATX, mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Cooler Master Elite 130 - Mini-ITX case similar to the Elite 110 but with a 5.25 inch drive bay at the front. Solid construction and small form factor makes this a great option. Supports Mini-ITX.

BitFenix Prodigy M - unique micro-ATX case with a weird internal layout but very portable and attractive design and plenty of color options as well as windowed options. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Fractal Design 2300 - Great ATX case with support for good hardware at a superb price. One of the best values for cases in this list.

Cooler Master Silencio 352 - It's an N200 with noise dampening foam. This means that cable management is slightly worse and so is airflow in the name of silence. Supports mATX and Mini-ITX form factors.

Cooler Master N400 - Solid ATX case with decent features and aethetics. Supports ATX, mATX, and Mini-ITX form factors.

Fractal Design Core 1500 - Very, very good mATX case for the price. Comes with good features and support for watercooling if you're daring.

 

 

Oh dear god there's too freaking many. Here's a Google Drive list of many of your options.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hd64d14NdMMSvzypF0dcLury4O7z753HemOn0tspOTA/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

Motherboard form factors

 

There are a few different motherboard form factors. Make sure that, if buying a motherboard it suits the design of the case that you're buying. Same goes if you're buying a case to fit a motherboard. It must support it.  Here's the different form factors.

• ATX
• EATX
• Micro ATX (mATX)
• Mini-ITX
• Thin Mini-ITX
• XL ATX
• SSI (supports multiple CPUs)

Size of the case

 

Are you putting this PC on a desk? On the floor? In a cramped storage cubby? Make sure you're buying a case that will fit there. mATX and Mini-ITX are for the more cramped spaces or for HTPC builds but you may be able to fit an ATX or EATX system on your desk if you have one large enough. For those putting your PC on the floor an ATX case of a Mid-Tower size or larger is recommended. The manufacturer of the case you're interested in will likely post the dimensions of their cases on their website.

 

Storage potential

 

Loading this up with hard drives, SSDs and optical drives? Check that your case supports all your storage needs. Many cases are starting to ditch optical drive supports so if you need one you may need to look out for 5.25" drive bay support or perhaps look into a USB alternative.

 

Aesthetics

 

Aesthetics are very subjective. Choosing a case based on aesthetics is often the reason many people will buy their case. Do not sacrifice features and build quality for aesthetics. Although aesthetics are very important as you're likely going to be looking at your PC a fair bit you should not buy a $30 Diablotek case because of the way it looks.

 

Airflow

 

Obviously your PC needs to breath, Although most cases have access to fresh air for the power supply, many sacrifice airflow in the name of aesthetics and silence. If you have hot and heavy hardware then getting a case with uninterrupted airflow would be a good idea. If you don't care as much about airflow you can find many cases with silence in mind to keep it quiet or perhaps one with a very nice aesthetic and not such great airflow.

 

Noise Suppression 

 

Many cases come with noise-dampening foam on the side panels and front of the case to keep the system quiet, even under heavy load. Airflow is often sacrificed in the name of silence. Obviously the fewer options for air going in and out this means that less noise also escapes. Fractal's Define series is a very common example of a case with noise suppression in mind, however the Define R5 is a case that does quite well with airflow as opposed to the NZXT H440 which, in the name of both aesthetics and silence, sacrifices airflow.

 

I/O

 

Need 4 USB devices plugged into the front of your case at all times? Might be a good idea to look for a case with at least 4 front USB ports! Some cases come exclusively USB 3.0 nowadays, many with USB 2.0 as well and, as we see a shift in Universal Serial Bus technology, USB type C and USB 3.1.

 

Cable management

 

When building a PC you need some sort of place to stash your cables so that air can move through your case. If you have a case with a side-panel window then you most definitely want cable management options with lots of rubber grommets, cable tie locations and a solid internal layout to hide your cables away. Smaller cases almost always sacrifice cable management options to keep the form factor small. Larger cases are recommended for first-time builders as it's easier to maneuver about your case and tuck away cables.

 

Features

 

Looking for a cube case? Want a case with cool watercooling options? Maybe you want a front panel door that moves in both directions because you're ambidextrous. Look for a case with such features. For the aforementioned things I just listed: Corsair's Air 240/Air 540 as well as Cooler Master's Elite 110 are great cube options, Fractal's Define S and Phanteks' Enthoo Pro/Primo have great radiator and reservoir mounting locations. If you use both of your hands when eating spaghetti then the Fractal Design Define R5's front door can open from both the left and right sides.

 

Watercooling and large air cooler compatibility

 

Looking to build a watercooled system? More than likely enough you are going to want an ATX or EATX case to fit all of that tubing. If you're feeling daring then here's a Bitfenix Prodigy M with a full watercooled system inside. As for air cooler compatibility: many air coolers are quite tall. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, a very popular air cooling unit, is 160mm tall. many smaller cases do not support this cooler. Check with the manufacturer's specs page to find the maximum supported air cooler height.

 

 

I really hope this helps somebody out there who is looking for a case. Many thanks to PCPartPicker for providing many links I could use, thanks to my stepdad who made me some ramen while I was typing this up and many thanks to PainkillerAlready and Tek Syndicate for providing me with comedic relief while writing this guide.

 

some tags for friends: @don_svetlio, @Aniallation, @Sam Z Man, @TheSLSAMG, @Aniallation @themaniac. Probably more that I'm forgetting.

 

This guide is subject to change. I wrote this in about 2 hours and it's now 10:41 PM so I apologize for any mistakes made.

[thekeemo]

Take a look at the V21. very cool case. built in one a few weeks ago.

EXTREMELY modular

(side can be top bottom can be side, can stack etc etc.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Take a look at the V21. very cool case. built in one a few weeks ago.

Will take a look but eww Thermaltake

[thekeemo]

Will take a look but eww Thermaltake

Best quality I have seen out of them. Even more so than the V71 (which I have also built in)

WHY CANT I ESCAPE MY HATED COMPANIES

GO AWAY GIGABYTE AND THERMALTAKE

WHY DO I KEEP USING YOU BOTH

[Syntaxvgm]

Best quality I have seen out of them. Even more so than the V71 (which I have also built in)

WHY CANT I ESCAPE MY HATED COMPANIES

GO AWAY GIGABYTE AND THERMALTAKE

WHY DO I KEEP USING YOU BOTH

I hate thermaltake too but yea I'm probably getting one of their 'core' case lab rip offs. 

[thekeemo]

I hate thermaltake too but yea I'm probably getting one of their 'core' case lab rip offs. 

Make sure to get an aftermarket fan their stock ones push as much air as a disk drive opening

[arvark]

Take a look at Zalman Z11 and Z11 Plus, I have it and I love it, cheap-ish (50€), good airflow, good look.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Take a look at Zalman Z11 and Z11 Plus, I have it and I love it, cheap-ish (50€), good airflow, good look.

Will do though what is the difference between the standard version and the Plus?

[Curufinwe_wins]

Nice list here. Options with notes without trying to shoehorn people into specific choices (as I confess to be fond of doing with the Define S).

[arvark]

Will do though what is the difference between the standard version and the Plus?

The Plus has 2 more fans and USB 3.0.

[STRMfrmXMN]

The Plus has 2 more fans and USB 3.0.

Alrighty, it seems decent though it's nowhere near as good as the Define S or R4 which are less money.... at least in North America.

[CRA5HMAN]

I hate thermaltake too but yea I'm probably getting one of their 'core' case lab rip offs. 

AHHH Thermaltake, loved my Tsunami Dream!!

[arvark]

Alrighty, it seems decent though it's nowhere near as good as the Define S or R4 which are less money.... at least in North America.

Lol here they cost 100€, thank you change!

[arvark]

AHHH Thermaltake, loved my Tsunami Dream!!

Why do all old TT case look like the same? Soprano RS, Soprano DX, Tsunami Dream, very similar!

[Thorium19]

I would mention silverstone for their rotated motherboard cases for improved airflow, such as the RV05 and FT05, because they are the best airflow cases about. I'd also consider mentioning about GPU compatibility, as some cases may not be able to fit a massive long tri-x cooled fury.

[soaringchicken]

pumping out guides like the rounds in a minigun

[WereCat]

For around $40 - $50 Zalman R1 is a very good case. I think it has the most features for the price.

Especialy you get sound dampening foam like in Fractal Define R4PR5 and 3 fans included. Also fan controller, 3 fans included, side panel window, etc.. It just doesent have as much space for cable routing.

[TheSLSAMG]

Alrighty, it seems decent though it's nowhere near as good as the Define S or R4 which are less money.... at least in North America.

One thing to remember with the Z11 Plus' USB 3.0 ports is that they're fed by a USB passthrough.

[STRMfrmXMN]

I would mention silverstone for their rotated motherboard cases for improved airflow, such as the RV05 and FT05, because they are the best airflow cases about. I'd also consider mentioning about GPU compatibility, as some cases may not be able to fit a massive long tri-x cooled fury.

Will do. I'm on mobile now but when I get a desktop in front of me I'll look into it.

For around $40 - $50 Zalman R1 is a very good case. I think it has the most features for the price.

Especialy you get sound dampening foam like in Fractal Define R4PR5 and 3 fans included. Also fan controller, 3 fans included, side panel window, etc.. It just doesent have as much space for cable routing.

As mentioned above.

One thing to remember with the Z11 Plus' USB 3.0 ports is that they're fed by a USB passthrough.

So I assume that means it pumps out lower amperage?

[Clyne]

From this list i barely see any Carbide/Graphite/Obsidian cases.....

[STRMfrmXMN]

From this list i barely see any Carbide/Graphite/Obsidian cases.....

Check again, there are a few in there. A lot of high end Corsair cases cost a lot of money so they're in the "100+" category.

[Clyne]

Check again, there are a few in there. A lot of high end Corsair cases cost a lot of money so they're in the "100+" category.

I feel like your leaving out Obisdian cases and there's barely any Carbide cases in the lower price category. 

[TheSLSAMG]

Will do. I'm on mobile now but when I get a desktop in front of me I'll look into it. As mentioned above.

So I assume that means it pumps out lower amperage?

Not sure, but the passthrough means you have to run two thick USB 3.0 cables through the case, out the back and into two ports on your motherboard, making what is essentially an extension cable.

[STRMfrmXMN]

I feel like your leaving out Obisdian cases and there's barely any Carbide cases in the lower price category.

As I said, because Obsidian cases cost a lot of money they're in the 100+ list. I got both the 250D and 350D in these lists already so I really don't know why you're complaining about that...

As for the carbide I had the Air 240 in there somewhere and because it and the 540 were both over $100 they ended up in the Google Drive list. I've listed plenty of Corsair cases in the various price brackets already and chances are that if I didn't list it as a below $100 case then it either ended up on the expensive stuff category or falls in the "too many to even list" category.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Not sure, but the passthrough means you have to run two thick USB 3.0 cables through the case, out the back and into two ports on your motherboard, making what is essentially an extension cable.

Kinda sounds like a drag, especially considering the Define R4 costs less money...