The Best Computer Cases 2020

[10thDmenxn]

C'mon guys, no category for quietest case?? That's the biggest metric a lot of us use when buying a case.

That's the last thing I would ever consider when buying a case. Besides, most people buy custom fans, and that's where the noise comes from. No, COOLING and buildability are the biggest concerns...

 

[10thDmenxn]

None of this makes any sense at all. Air coolers are QUIETER, not louder, than most AIO coolers that are even moderately capable. And CPU air coolers don't introduce anymore dust into the case than you'd have with an AIO. Intake fans introduce dust, and it doesn't really matter if they are strictly intake fans, or intake fans mounted on a radiator, they still pull air into the case and air has dust in it.

Has nothing to do with whether the CPU is air or water cooled.

Just nonsense really.

I don't know what universe you live in, but in this one air coolers are NOT quieter than AIO's. LOL! That's hilarious. I've built tons of systems, and would love to have you name one Air Cooler that is more quiet than any of the AIO's I've built with... Too funny.

 

[10thDmenxn]

Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer PC cases with the external drives bays for installing optical drives. Some of these chasses look cool; however, I can't get past the windowed side panels. They appear fragile as if staring at them for too long will break them.

That's not old fashioned, that medieval!!!! That's pre-pyramid's kind of thinking... Lol! Bays???? Optical drives???? Lol. For what??? I can't think of a single reason to have an external bay or an optical drive. NONE! Thus I haven't had either in forever... Seriously man, all joking aside, update your thinking. You are living in prehistoric mindsets of computing. It's in your best interests to do some research. Cheers!

 

[Squid Surprise]

That's not old fashioned, that medieval!!!! That's pre-pyramid's kind of thinking... Lol! Bays???? Optical drives???? Lol. For what??? I can't think of a single reason to have an external bay or an optical drive. NONE! Thus I haven't had either in forever... Seriously man, all joking aside, update your thinking. You are living in prehistoric mindsets of computing. It's in your best interests to do some research. Cheers!

Still lots of people who like being able to have an optical drive... I have lots of movies on blu-ray and dvd I watch on PC ... not everything is streaming.. yet...

 

[toooooot]

That's the last thing I would ever consider when buying a case. Besides, most people buy custom fans, and that's where the noise comes from. No, COOLING and buildability are the biggest concerns...

Stock fans are in most cases are the cheapest, and loudest in my experience. It is a good thing if the case has fan controller, but otherwise they are the thing you hear in the case beside gpu and cpu fan.

 

[m3tavision]

Still lots of people who like being able to have an optical drive... I have lots of movies on blu-ray and dvd I watch on PC ... not everything is streaming.. yet...

People who use optical drive a lot, have them on their desk as an external... not built into their PC chassis, and have to lean under the desk to change media, etc..

 

[mailpup]

People who use optical drive a lot, have them on their desk as an external... not built into their PC chassis, and have to lean under the desk to change media, etc..

I must be an exception then. My PC is on my desk with two internal optical drives.

 

[Squid Surprise]

People who use optical drive a lot, have them on their desk as an external... not built into their PC chassis, and have to lean under the desk to change media, etc..

Some people do... lots don’t... I prefer to have as many things built into my desktop as possible... there are already so many things that have to be external, I hate to add optical drive to that...

 

[m3tavision]

Some people do... lots don’t... I prefer to have as many things built into my desktop as possible... there are already so many things that have to be external, I hate to add optical drive to that...

But it can be used for any computer, even a laptop, etc... it doesn't take up any space. internal drives are old news.

 

[Squid Surprise]

But it can be used for any computer, even a laptop, etc... it doesn't take up any space. internal drives are old news.

But it DOES take up space... got to put it somewhere... an internal one takes up no space (other than the drive bay) so it’s really convenient.

Again, they may be old news - but they’re still news... and lots of people still want and use them.

 

[Southern Belle]

I am genuinely curious, am I the only one that finds computer cases almost universally unattractive? Like I'd say the Define 7 is okay without a windowed panel, but I would definitely try to hide the rest behind something. The only cases I find appealing are the Louqe Ghost SK1 (which is very impractical) and the In Win Tou 2.0 (which costs thousands and was a limited run). Overall I think a computer can easily look good, but you need something like pretty RGB or liquid cooling to balance out the negative of the case.

lol I think it happens to be or rather how long you've been building pc's and the budget some are forced to work with, lol like me, you should if you have the time to search pc cases you'd be amazed what they've come up with over the years. Me I love Thermaltake and the one I want is ..approx $299 or up, fully modular but as is now I'm still trying to piece together my new AMD system grrrrr. Have a G1, tc & bs {besafe}

 

[amghwk]

I don't know what universe you live in, but in this one air coolers are NOT quieter than AIO's. LOL! That's hilarious. I've built tons of systems, and would love to have you name one Air Cooler that is more quiet than any of the AIO's I've built with... Too funny.

There are. You just don't know them.

Even the AIOs tend to have the irritating pump noise, if you're not lucky.

Changed from Corsair AIO to.... 'be quiet!' Dark Rock Pro 3 and love the silence.

 

[amghwk]

Not sure what's the stupidity craze of "RGB" in the casings (or any other hardware/components for that matter). I guess fad is always more prominent than commonsense.

Never knew NOT having RGB lighting is a minus point.

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

The 9900K is still the best CPU for gaming on the market (till the 10900K comes out).

Next-gen consoles will feature 8 cores/16 threads at sub 4ghz clock speeds, so the 9900K is going to easily keep up for the next 5 years at a minimum.

When your 5 years turns into 6 months and history overtakes your lack of foresight. LOL.

 

[Squid Surprise]

When your 5 years turns into 6 months and history overtakes your lack of foresight. LOL.

The 9900 is still a beast of a gaming PC and will easily handle games for years to come... pretty sure his foresight is superior to your normal sight!

 

[arrowflash]

Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer PC cases with the external drives bays for installing optical drives. Some of these chasses look cool; however, I can't get past the windowed side panels. They appear fragile as if staring at them for too long will break them.

6 months late reply, but still wanted to say I agree. I prefer more utilitarian cases that still have most features of the cases shown in this article.

One thing that really bothers me with windowed side panels is that you can't mount a 120mm exhaust fan on the side anymore, something I've done in all my builds so far and in my experience helps a lot with airflow. Until years ago before the windowed trend most enthusiast cases came with side panel grilles to mount fans.

For me the CoolerMaster HAF912 is one of the best cases ever made, with only downside being that it might be cramped for some builds and won't fit some lengthier video cards. Too bad it's not part of the CoolerMaster lineup anymore and I didn't find a proper replacement (if I had the money I'd have purchased 2 more at the time to keep as spares). Build quality isn't the best (a few plastic parts already broken in mine, and the integrated USB ports died after only 6 months of use), but damn if it isn't a superbly designed case for people who value function over form and eyecandy.

In this article, the Phantek models appear the most interesting and well designed to me, but still leave to be desired in some details. Is it my impression or a lot of these newer cases don't support front fans nor have 5.25-inch front bays anymore? If this form over function trend continues, looks like in the future some of us will have to order custom designed cases...

 

[arrowflash]

That's not old fashioned, that medieval!!!! That's pre-pyramid's kind of thinking... Lol! Bays???? Optical drives???? Lol. For what??? I can't think of a single reason to have an external bay or an optical drive. NONE! Thus I haven't had either in forever... Seriously man, all joking aside, update your thinking. You are living in prehistoric mindsets of computing. It's in your best interests to do some research. Cheers!

It's not only optical drives. LTO tape backup drives (still widely used) also use 5.25 inch bays.

Aditionally, on my case which has 5.25 bays, one of them is occupied by a "multimedia dashboard" front panel I purchased which has 4 USB 2.0, 4 USB 3.0, 1 e-SATA port, 1 standard SATA port + SATA power connector, card reader slots for all memory card standards ever created by man, and audio and mic jacks. Extremely practical to have all these connectors on the front of the case.

You are being very shortsighted and ignorant of things if you think 5.25 bays only matter for optical drives. You speak like a consumer and not a true tech enthusiast.

 

[Krackan]

I have the Phantom P600S and needless to say it's been a rollercoaster. When the case came one of the front panel clips was broken, paint was chipped off the right side panel, and there were clear fingerprint smudges inside the case. Phanteks was nice and quick with their support and replaced the missing clip, however...
After I put everything inside of it, the paint both inside and outside of the case was discoloring where my hands had touched the metal. I've built computers for nearly 20 years and I've never experienced this. Phanteks stated the case I received had a "bad paint job" and they sent all new top and front panels which definitely had a different texture and haven't done the same thing...yet.
Overall I would say it's one of the best cases I've built in, but there's definitely some quality control issues that will have me thinking twice about recommending their cases or choosing another one for a build. Their support was top notch but the fact that I had to contact them twice for defects is a bit worrying for a $150+ case.....

 

[Krackan]

Those massive CPU fans look terrible.

I built a system for my younger cousin with an Asus Hero motherboard, 9900K, EVGA 240 mm AIO and EVGA 850G3 PSU in a Phantek. Dumped his big ugly fan for the AIO.


The CPU fans take up way too much space compared to a liquid cooler, run louder and get dustier.

He’s overclocked his CPU to 5GHz and is much happier now.

I'm going to have to disagree with you just based on the fact that I've seen AIOs fail out and fry CPUs before. I'd rather have a Noctua D15 running at 25% fan speed that I have to clean out every few months than worrying about whether or not my AIO will randomly stop working.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I'm going to have to disagree with you just based on the fact that I've seen AIOs fail out and fry CPUs before. I'd rather have a Noctua D15 running at 25% fan speed that I have to clean out every few months than worrying about whether or not my AIO will randomly stop working.

Any device, be it CPU cooler, case fan, or AIO, always has a slight chance of failing... If you've got a beefy CPU, I'd invest in an AIO to keep it cool - or perhaps even a custom loop... but that obviously depends on the rest of the build.

 

[Krackan]

Any device, be it CPU cooler, case fan, or AIO, always has a slight chance of failing... If you've got a beefy CPU, I'd invest in an AIO to keep it cool - or perhaps even a custom loop... but that obviously depends on the rest of the build.

If your fans die on an air cooler you still have passive cooling from the heatsink itself...not so much with an AIO. An AIO is not a bad thing by any means but it's certainly not better than a quality air cooler, and you have just as much to clean with the fans and a radiator. A custom loop shouldn't really be warranted unless you're doing some extreme overclocking.

 

[amghwk]

Some air-coolers even rival AIO. Not that I don't like AIOs - I've built systems with both the Corsair and CoolerMaster AIOs, but they both developed the annoying pump motor noise within a few weeks. The clicking sounds became too annoying. I may be unlucky, but one after another pump problems in succession made me look for an alternative temporarily. But the alternative was so good that I stuck with it until now. (As mentioned in my previous post above, I went back to air cooling with my current be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 and very happy with it's performance - both in terms of extreme silence and powerful cooling.)

The ability to self maintain an air cooler is a big plus. There are only two components that need and can be maintained regularly - 1. cleaning the fans and blowing through the fins of the body and 2. cleaning the contact surface and reapplying fresh thermal paste on it. This also gives a good reason to clean everything else inside when opening the CPU casing, while in the process.

On the other hand, the only plus point I can appreciate about AIOs is that they look nice when they sit on the CPU. Very neat and tidy. Maybe I'll look into newer AIOs later for my next Zen 3 build.

 

[Dynamho]

What about the electrical performance of the case?

Ground Bonding is broken with all that paint on the chassis.

I guess I'm stuck with my Antec Sonata till they get it right!

 

[HofyPC]

It would be nice if they also had a category for Small Form Factor cases not just itx.

 

[DonquixoteIII]

Opinions are like a**holes. Everyone has one, and it is only good for sh*tting Just because someone has an opinion different than yours, does not make it right or wrong. So keep it polite, and remember that a**holes are mainly about s*it.

That said, I prefer a dual chamber case arranged like the Lian-Li 011D. And if I am going to go through all the trouble to water cool my PC, then I want some windows to showcase my work. I strongly considered the Corsair Carbide Air 540, and hope I don't regret my decision. Both are good, side-by-side chamber style cases. Both are built with water cooling in mind, as well as having the ability to hide the majority of the wiring.

While I like a bit of 'bling', my fans are all going to be non-rgb My water cooling tubes and plates will also be non-rgb, just UV lit. I can't imagine anything that could look worse than an RGB fan not moving...

I did consider some pretty far out there wall mounted open designs, but the thought of having to take them apart every few months to get the dust bunnies out just made me give up on the whole open thing. I need a fully filtered sit-on-the-desk type of case

I also considered a test bench type of mounting platform, fairly easy to maintain, de-dust, etc., but it just takes up too much desk space. So, in the end I made a criteria list, and the Lian-Li won out by a whisker.

So, my suggestion? Know yourself and your own needs well, make a list of points to cover, and then go shopping. What a**holes may say does not really matter, and the old engineering concept that the form comes after the function still applies.