What should I look for in a Computer or Gamer Case?
When you have decided to build a PC from scratch yourself then you have to decide on the components you require and also the case you want to house them in. The choice of processor and motherboard will have an impact on which computer enclosure you can choose from.
A computer case is known by a number of other names including enclosure, tower and system cabinet to name a few, and are often constructed of steel, aluminium or plastic. The components you choose to house in the computer case will determine its size or form factor, which is largely governed by the motherboard itself. The question whether to have a desktop PC or a Tower PC will be determined by personal choice, with available space also being a major factor.
The majority of Desktop PCs these days incorporate an ATX form factor motherboard, although there are other smaller form factor motherboards available. These desktop models are designed to have the computer monitor sitting on top of the computer case itself. The downside is that this type of PC can have quite a large footprint, particularly the standard desktop models. A microATX motherboard can be housed in smaller enclosure and therefore reduce the desktop footprint.
Tower Computer Cases have become very popular and come in 3 main sizes which are full size tower, mid-tower and mini-tower. The height ranges of tower cases are as follows:
Full Size Tower 22-26 inches
Mid-Tower 16-18 inches
Mini-Tower 14-16 inches
The full size model is designed to sit on the floor and will have the largest capacity for external drive bays, with 6 to 8 being the norm and 10 not uncommon. In contrast, a mini-tower model may only have 2 externally accessible drive bays. The choice really does depend on what you want from your computer.
Trends for storage of data are changing, and the days of storing everything on internally located hard disk drives is coming to an end, although still common. External storage devices connected via USB cables and network storage solutions are becoming more commonplace and it is always useful to back data up by one of these methods. For this reason, it is important to ensure that your computer case has enough externally accessible USB slots either on the back or front to accommodate the number of USB storage devices and peripherals that you intend to use.
The computer case will have a number of drive bays, an area for locating the power supply unit, slot for the motherboard and expansion slots. Choosing the correct motherboard is important because that will determine the number of Input/Output ports such as USB and Audio that will be available to the user. Drive bays will come in two main sizes of 3.5 and 5.25 inches, with the smaller bays used mainly to accommodate hard drives and floppy drives while the larger bays are to house optical drives such as CD and DVD.
The computer enclosure will normally have at a minimum, an on off switch or button, reset button and a number of LEDs for indicating power on and network operation. Cooling vents are normally located close to the mounting brackets or screw holes used to attach cooling fans.
Gamer cases typically have more capacity than those designed for normal PC use, due to additional graphics cards and specialised cards required by dedicated gamers. The most common computer case used by gamers is the ATX mid-tower model, although for higher capacity then a full tower model may be appropriate. Often an important consideration for gamer cases is in the cooling capacity, seeing as the case is often packed with components which will generate a lot of heat. Most gamer cases will have at least one high quality fan and the capacity to add more cooling fans if necessary. Some gamer cases come with side panels made of Perspex so that the internal components can be seen from the outside, this is usually just to make the case look cool, and additional LED lighting can make the case even more striking.
This article on computer and gamer cases was written by David Christie, MD at NSTUK Ltd, Website http://www.ipexpress.co.uk .