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| Make sure you buy a case which will fit into the space you intend to place it.
This is where you decide between a desktop or a tower case. Allow room for
expandability; spare drive bays, ample room to work inside. Make sure it has a
power supply. Is the case clean? Pay attention to the form factor: AT or ATX.
Almost all newer motherboards are using the ATX form factor, so if you have an
old case lying around, chances are a new board won't fit in it. If you do a lot
of upgrading, you should get a case that is designed with this in mind, such as
easily removed motherboard mounting plates, drive racks, etc. Things like the
turbo switch and keylock are ancient technology, so pay no mind to having them.
Try to have the buttons such as power and reset recessed, so that if you keep
the case under the desk you won't accidentally kick the thing and reset it.
Also, check the sturdiness of the case. Some cheaper cases are actually quite
flimsy inside. Pay attention to how the case comes apart. Depending on the
design, the screwless type is very user friendly. It's easier to work with a
case that does not come apart in many pieces. |
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If you will be running
a high-end processor in the case, pay attention to the cooling aspects of the
box. It’s nice when cases come with case fans included, but if they do not,
you should make sure the case is designed to allow them. You should have an
unobstructed air hole in the front of the case for a front-mounted case fan,
with some method of air flow from the rear of the case as well. Many power
supplies also aid in cooling by having bottom-mounted fans that suck air from
the inside of the case and blow it out the back through the power unit. And,
along this line, pay attention to the wattage rating of the power supply
included with the case. If you will be running either a large amount of hardware
or fairly high-end hardware in this case, get a good strong power supply. I, not
too long ago, upgraded my own PC and shortly thereafter had this mysterious odor
of burning plastic in the office. Using the good old’ sniffer, I found that it
was the power supply burning up. Right about the time I tracked it down, the
whole PC went poof! Gone and could not turn it on again. I took out the
250W power supply and installed a solid 400W power supply and the PC has been
running strong ever since. The PC ran great fairly loaded with a Pentium 3 450
MHz, but putting a new board and an AMD 1.3 GHz Thunderbird in there drove it
batty. So, keep this in mind. |
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As far as brands go,
there are many good manufacturers out there. I use Enlight. They make very
sturdy cases that are easy to work with. Many other brands can be just as good.
We've even seen some I-MAC looking cases that are semi-translucent. If you want
a futuristic look, these may interest you. All aluminum cases are now started to
catch on. If you don't mind spending a little more, you may want to take a look
at the quality cases made by Lian-Li. If you’re into modified cases, you can
get them pre-modified with viewing holes and everything. Or, if you’re so
inclined, you can grab a nice case and do your own mods to it. For some reason,
though, I’ve never been keen on tearing huge holes into my PCs, but maybe
it’s just me.
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