IT Professionals

If I Designed A PC Case

Posted by on Jun 27, 2007 | 8 Comments

In the past, I have been asked what two basic features I would be looking for in a PC case. After some careful thought, and a semi-recent episode of DL.TV, I came up with the following case. The first and perhaps most important feature I love about this case, is the fact that it catches the dust before it ever has an opportunity to enter the case itself.

Besides that, it is designed to provide a quiet experience for the end user, while still keeping everything cool enough for even the most heaving gaming or video editing. As always, I would yank whatever puny power supply it comes with so that you can then install a “better” one, preferably a unit which offers a pull cord and makes the lights dim with each boot of the computer.

So now we have today’s question – which PC case are you in love with and why? Hit the comments, tell me about it.

[tags]PC cases, power supplies[/tags]

  • marc klink

    ThermalTake Eureka. Closet thing to perfection this side of $400. Lots of room with even full size motherboards, 120 mm fans front and back, large side vents for even more airflow, room for lots of drives of both form factors, and aluminum construction which is light and dissipates heat very well, so those many drives don’t get cooked. Not wild ro stupid looking, it could fit in most anywhere, and has the wife’s seal of approval [very important]. As for large PSUs, it is deep enough to take even the biggest PC Power & Cooling models. Thatsa nice!

  • Jim

    I have used the Coolmaster case for one build. I pretty much agree with the review. The one thing I really dislike about the case is that the Power button and front usb ports are at the bottom of the case, and a case this size almost always sets on the floor. That big power button has been bumped several times.

    My main gripe with pretty much every computer case I have seen is no easy to clean air filter system. I don’t know why someone can’t design a case with a big foam filter on the front of the case that all the intake air goes through. It will be obvious when it gets dirty and a quick swipe with a vacuum will clean it right up.

    My current favorite case for “business computer” builds is a tool free case from InWin.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108037

    It also comes in a mid tower config. The included Sparkle PS is very nice. It has a 120mm fan and a very open design. I have built at least 20 of these and the PS has never failed. The included case fan is a little noisy so I usually replace that.

    I also don’t like the little plastic tabs Inwin uses to secure the panel sides but that is a fairly small gripe. It has front usb ports that are up off the floor, a nice pretty blue power button, and is very easy to work on

    .

  • http://flyinghamster.com/ Noggie

    Matt, the Antec server series has been trouble free so far. It has good access and a nice finish. There are fewer scratches and cuts when working with the case. One of the best features for me was that it is relatively quiet. I will have to check Marc’s suggestion ( previous comment ) and see what a spouse approved case is like.

  • http://www.caseclosed.co.uk/review_lianli_pca10.htm Todd Zilinsky

    This is the Ultimate case. I am currently building an Intel E6000 with Asus p5n32-e sli MB in this case.

  • Todd Zilinsky

    http://www.caseclosed.co.uk/review_lianli_pca10.htm

    Sorry, this is the link to the ultimate case. Lian Li PC A10

  • Dave Nickason

    NZXT Adamas. It’s a little pricey (watch newegg for a rebate), but it looks great, cools well, and the four fans are quiet. It’s a little cramped while building the PC, but that’s only an hour or two, and then you’re left with a nice sized mid-tower that doesn’t hog up your whole desk.

  • Dave S.

    http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/xasercase/xaser3/v1000a.htm Mine
    http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/xasercase/Damier/v5000plus.htm Wife’s

    Fans, Fans, Fans – Not to mention pretty much tool-less install! Mine has an AMD 64×2 4800+ and even when installing Gentoo from scratch (both cores maxed out) I can barely hear the fans! In contrast, I have an older Intel P4 3.0 in a good mid-tower case (can’t remember the brand – Ultra maybe? Just a simple beige color from before the current color/lite/clear panels craze) that has only three fans and sounds like a jet engine idling!

    The wife’s case is in a desk with a tower holder (in place of the the normal drawers) and because she does a lot of video processing I have the five fans maxed out – so it is a little loud, but never overheats!

    Both cases have the dust screens on the intake fans. We have cats so there is an abundance of cat hair and litter dust that gets sucked up by her machine. NO hair and very little dust get inside the case.

    Seriously, I learned my lesson years ago with cheap cases! Flimsy rails that weren’t filed smooth and just tore your hands up when you were installing the power supply. Flimsy rails that you screwed the drives directly to – you needed three hands for that job. Two to get the drive mount holes aligned to the rail mount holes and the third to turn the screwdriver! Sometimes you needed a fourth! Just when you thought you had that little @#!&% screw started in the drive, it went one way and the screwdriver went the other – and you didn’t dare let go of the drive ‘cuz you only had managed to get one screw in it! Motherboard holes that were stripped or didn’t line up with the holes in the motherboard! Sometimes, you get what you paid for!

  • John

    Graphite Power Macintosh G4 case. The motherboard is in the fold down door on the right side, really easy to access. Plenty of space for hard drives, and it accepts regular PC PSUs (with a tiny bit of rewiring so it’s compatible with the G4 motherboard). It looks damned nice, and has a door over the CD bay with a button. And it looks awesome too. My only complaint is that there’s only one 5.25″ bay. Not a big deal if you get a firewire enclosure though.

    And you can’t beat the big graphite Apple logo on the sides. :D