How to pick the right PC case for your build

There is one thing you can count on in the world of new PC hardware releases and that's the chance of a new case release being right around the corner, it seems like new models pop up every week at times with already a set of endless choices and manufacturers are always striving to innovate, compete and ultimately gain a share of that valuable market. Currently the point of interest in case design seems to be the inclusion of real wood like that of the Fractal Design North (image below) and the new Antec Flux pro which in our opinion can look incredible, especially paired with a clean minimalist setup and of course the right components from an aesthetic standpoint like the ProArt line from Asus or TaiChi models from AsRock.

Fractal Design North (White)

Most modern cases now allow you to see right into them with a clear view thanks to tempered glass panels or the now rarely used acrylic but there are still cases that hide the view of internal components if you prefer a stealth look and generally, a perforated side panel over a solid sheet of glass will be better for airflow which we mentioned the performance benefits of in our last blog post "Cold weather, natures free PC performance boost". However, if you like to see your components there are cases out there like the Lian-Li O11 Vision which supports a glass panel on the front, side and top of the case giving you currently, the best view a case can offer. We also had the pleasure of doing a build in one of these cases with the new TL LCD fans also from Lian-Li paired with an Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 AIO in a push-pull configuration (image below) and it turned out fantastic with another very happy customer.

Lian-Li O11 Vision build

So to get to the title of the post and how to pick the right PC case for your build with an aesthetic you desire then the start of the process would begin with the consideration of what hardware you are intending to use and what form factor you are happy with. There are many labels for the different sized cases and intended uses but for the most part the main thing is the motherboard form factor support with largest to smallest (physical size of the motherboard) looking like this E-ATX (Extended ATX), ATX, mATX (Micro-ATX) and then mITX (Mini-ITX). Beyond the support of motherboard form factor there are other elements to be cautious of to list below...

1. GPU length - Physical length of the graphics card, support can change depending on case and the cooling setup.

2. PSU length - Physical length of the of the power supply unit, PSU's are also given size labels such as SFX and SFX-L. Some units also differ from the conventional design by shifting the location of connections so be careful with your case choice when using one of these newer designs like the Corsair Shift series.

3. Tower height - Physical height of a CPU air cooling tower, all cases have different dimensions so not all cases can support all air coolers available and this is why you will see many variations to also support the much smaller cases like mini-ITX systems to eliminate the issue of never being able to put your side panel on.

4. Radiator support - If you decide to go for an AIO or custom water-cooling then you will need somewhere to mount a radiator of the size you desire or to better put it, one adequate enough to cool your hardware selection. Generally the sizes you will see for radiators are 120mm, 240mm, 280mm, 360mm and 420mm to select the most common.

When deciding on what to pick for your next build or even your first we can imagine some of the options will be overwhelming especially with the mixture of dimensional restrictions mentioned above so if you are not aware and in the know there is a pretty handy website called PC Part Picker https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ which host a catalogue of most of the hardware options available with prices/vendors as well as a section that presents any possible conflicts with your choices. Just take it with a grain of salt and double check those measurements on the manufacturers website for whatever part is in question. Good luck and happy building!

Written by Rossi @ Elemental Systems

Elemental Systems

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