It’s a weird one to talk about dimensions with but it is roughly 14 x 11.5 x 15.6 inches. Couple that with the handy handle and you have one hell of a machine with the benefit of portability.
The big benefit to this case when building a gaming PC is that it will fit even the larger cards. Now I know I never looked at any mini ITX boards, but I can confirm that it will fit a micro ATX motherboard as well. The 380T is unique on this list due to it being a mini ITX case. Few companies can match their build quality. They tend to be a little more expensive than their competitors, and for good reason. Corsair is one of the most popular manufacturers, the only reason they haven’t shown up on this list until now is their price.
The H440 is my case and the 380T is the case I used for my second build and let me tell you, they are both fantastic. Now we come to the two cases I am most familiar with. It can fit up to eight hard drives and three disk trays. Its dimensions are 19.51 x 7.68 x 17.32 inches and has two USB ports, one 3.0 and one 2.0, in the front. You can get it for as little as $43.99 and it also comes in white, which I prefer. It is well designed case, with a simple look and excellent air-flow. It is the first case that I’m looking at that has those lovely cable management spaces in the back allowing you to easily make a clean and aesthetically pleasing case. The NZXT Source 210 is the budget option for NZXT but that didn’t stop them from packing in the features, which means something different in British English. As with all of the smaller boards you’ll need to be careful about the size of the GPU you’re putting in it. Its dimensions are 13.85 x 7.08 x 17.32 inches.
The little case is packed full of drive bays, five for hard drives and two for disk drives, and has a pair of USB 2.0 ports at the front. It even comes with a little 400w power supply, you’ll likely have to change it depending on your GPU but it’s a nice touch and great value for money. The Cooler Master is a wonderful little case, compact, but roomy and has excellent build quality. Their cases are a merging of form and function in a way as yet unmatched by any other case manufacturer, though I may be a little biased here due to owning one of them. Both of these companies make fine products, but the edge goes to NZXT. Moving on to the medium quality cases, the Cooler Master Elite 342 Micro ATX and the NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX. Cable management will be even more of a bother in this case though. Overall I think it looks nicer than the Raidmax and the small size will be a boon when transporting the thing. It has three USB ports, one 3.0 and two 2.0. This case has space for only one hard drive, so it’ll have to be a biggin, but supports up to two solid state drives to compensate. It most cases you can remove the larger drive bays, the ones for disk drives, to make up the extra room. The downside to the smaller size is the danger of buying a GPU that is too large for the case.
Its dimensions are 14 x 13.2 x 6.8 inches. It too has a base price of $19.99, but some places will charge a premium for shipping. I really love these small form factor cases, easier to move around and they don’t take up too much space. The DIYPC MA01-G MicroATX is, oddly enough, a micro ATX case, as such it will fit only those kinds of board. You won’t find the clever cable sorting features that are on the more expensive cases, so unless you’re very meticulous the inside of the case will look like a perfectly boiled pot of spaghetti, but it will get the job done. Overall the build quality is okay, not the highest quality plastics used but for $19.99 that’s to be expected. If you need a Blu-Ray or DVD drive it has three external bays that’ll fit it, which is a rare enough feature these days. It is also pretty limited on HDD space, with only three internal bays. Its dimensions are 19.3 x 7.9 x 17.7 inches, on the front you have only two USB ports, one 2.0 and one 3.0. The Raidmax is mid-tower case, so it’ll fit both micro ATX and full ATX motherboards. The Raidmax ATX-249B ATX and the DIYPC MA01-G MicroATX. Cheapest PC Casesįirst up a look at our cheapest cases. The other four cases are a little more expensive, but I selected them based on a blend of their aesthetic design and function. Not the best to look at but they’ll get the job done at a very low price. These cases are functional, to put it nicely. The first two cases I’ll look at are from the bottom of the barrel, which is my go to phrase for cheapest. Since we looked at six motherboards, three ATX and three micro ATX, I’ll be tailoring the cases to that format. Now they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, organized by motherboard size. But we’re going to need something to put it all in. The GPU, the CPU, RAM, motherboard, hard drive and power supply.