Lab

PC Cases

PCs are often described in terms of their components: processor, RAM, graphics card and so on. However, the case that houses these expensive parts is often ignored. This is a serious oversight, as the case is as important to your PC's stability and performance as its motherboard or processor.

A well-designed PC case should be able to deal with the heat generated by your components, keeping them nice and cool so that your PC runs more reliably. It should make minimal noise in the process, so you don't have to put up with whining fans every time you turn on your PC. It should also be easy to work on. This is especially important if you regularly open your case to upgrade or replace parts.

This month we've gathered 18 PC cases that cost from £24 to £260 including VAT. We've concentrated on tower cases, but we've included a few Home Theater, or HTPC, cases for those who want to build a Media Center PC. Whether you're building a new PC or giving your current one a new look, you'll find a case that suits your needs here.

You can buy a PC case for less than £30 including VAT, but it's well worth spending a little more. A good case should be well ventilated, easy to work on and fairly quiet. However, few cases manage all three at once, so you should think about which of these aspects are most important to you.

Fanning the flames

A PC is essentially a metal box containing a lot of very hot components. If the heat isn't dealt with properly, your PC will slow down and become unstable.

Most PC cases have two fans to provide airflow. An intake fan placed low on the front of the case sucks air in and over the hard disks, while an exhaust fan mounted high on the rear of the case expels hot air that rises from your motherboard and components.

Two such fans should provide sufficient cooling for all but the most powerful PCs. However, this depends on the design of the case and the speed of the fans. Fans come in many different sizes. The larger the fan, the slower is has to spin to move the same amount of air. This means that larger fans tend to be quieter than smaller fans, while still providing the same level of cooling. Most fans come with motherboard fan header plugs, so your PC can control their speed based on the temperature inside the case. Others come with only Molex plugs and so run constantly at a set speed.

Feel the noise

The case fans contribute only part of the noise that the finished PC will make. Most modern PCs have a number of other fans to keep components such as the processor, graphics card and power supply unit (PSU) cool. Some of these fans have automatic speed controls, while others will run at full speed all the time.

Some of the cases here, such as Cooler Master's CM 690, are designed entirely with airflow in mind. They have lots of fan mountings and grilles, which is great for letting hot air out, but it can also let noise escape. Others, such as Quiet PC's Acousticase 360, have noise-dampening materials inside to absorb noise, although this limits their ability to dissipate heat. We found that Antec's P182 provided a good balance these two goals.

Drive-in

Hard disks also make noise when in use. For this reason many cases have rubber grommets on their hard disk bays to help stop the drive's vibrations being transmitted to the case. We mention in the individual reviews when a case has this feature.

All the cases in the group except mCubed's HFX have at least four internal 3in drive bays for hard disks. In addition they all have at least one external 3in bay for a memory card reader or floppy drive, plus at least two external 5in bays for optical drives. Only a couple of cases have built-in flaps to cover your optical drives. For the rest, you'll need to buy optical drives that match the case's colour scheme if you want everything to look smart.

Front-end

If your current PC case is a drab old thing that hides under your desk, it may be time for a makeover. Many of the cases here will make you proud of your PC, even if the same old components are behind the side panel. There are a few things you should think about before you choose your case, however.

It's worth considering the number and placement of ports on your chosen case, especially if you use specific ones every day. Most cases have two USB ports, headphone and microphone sockets and a FireWire or eSATA port on the front.

Some of the cases have a front door, and while these help to make your PC look smart, you'll need to open it every time you want to access the optical drives and in some cases even the power button.

Down tools

Each case on test can take an ATX motherboard. However, if you plan to use an unusually large graphics card or a big processor cooler, you're better off with a roomier case such as Enermax's Uber Chakra or Akasa's Eclipse-62 V2.

Most of the cases here have some tool-free features, such as clips that hold the expansion cards or thumbscrews for the side panel. Many also have tool-free drive bays with plastic rails that clip to the side of your drives. We mention these in the reviews where applicable.

Each case in the group had sufficient space for our fairly large test PSU, which is 175mm long. There's no standard length for PSUs, so be warned that Antec's P182, Nexus's Caterpillar, Xilence's X2 and Thermaltake's Soprano DX won't take any PSU longer than this.

HTPC

All three of the HTPCs reviewed here can take standard ATX components, so you don't have to worry about buying specially sized motherboards or half-height expansion cards. This is convenient but it does make them fairly large. Despite being the same width as hi-fi components, they are around 70mm deeper, so check that they fit in your rack or TV stand before you buy. They also come with Vacuum Fluorescent Displays, or VFDs, which can display information about the video or audio files you're currently playing.