This is part one in a short series of articles aimed at people wanting to turn out their first modified rig. Assuming you can come up some sort of theme, and you at least consider what I’ll be writing, you’ll have a good chance of coming out with a nice rig at the end of it. It probably won’t be anything exceptional, but it should be something you can look at & feel a certain amount of pride in, rather than hiding it away because it looks thrown together.

In future instalments I’ll be covering fitting case handles & fans, PSU sleeving, cable tidying in general, windows, painting (possibly), dis/assembly, and anything else that comes up as my current rig project proceeds.

In this piece I’ll be sharing my thoughts on what you should be thinking about when it comes to choosing your case. In no particular order:

Material?

Basically, you’ve got a choice of plexi, steel or aluminium. I’d avoid plexi – as everything is on display, you need perfect wiring (not to mention doing something about the grey optical & floppy drive cases), so it may be a bridge too far for a first mod.
If you’re not planning on doing any painting, then aluminium is fine (although you’ll want to consider the extra cost). If you do want to paint, then you’re looking at a chemical dip or an awful lot of sanding to remove the anodising. Again, it’s probably too much for a first mod.


Colour?

If you’re going to be painting, you’ll be doing yourself a favour if you get a case in a neutral colour … like beige. For example, if you wanted to paint a black case white, you’d either be looking at sanding it back to bare metal, or using a lot of primer.

If you won’t be doing any painting, obviously you’ll be choosing a case in a colour you like and/or will fit with your theme.
Most cases are available in black or silver, but there are choices out there in green, yellow, blue, and red. I’d stick to silver or black myself – optical & floppy drive drives & various components that use those apertures are widely available in black & silver, which will avoid the need for colour matching your drives (or stealthing them).


AT/ATX?

Forget about using an old AT box unless you’re very handy with an angle grinder and a MIG welder. Bear in mind that you’ll also need to procure an ATX case to chop bits out of anyway.


If it sounds like I’m trying to make things easy by dodging a lot of issues, you’d be right – a first mod will involve a lot more hassle & expense than you’d probably realise, so not being too ambitious to start with is a Good Thing as far as I’m concerned.


Size?

Unless you’ve got an awful lot of drives, an average “midi” tower case with three or four 5.25” drive bays will be fine. I’d lean towards a case with four 5.25” bays, as in my experience towers with only three bays can be a little cramped – especially if you’ve got hands like the Simpsons.


Fan provision?

The size and number of fans in case (or at least the number of spaces for fans) should also form part of your buying decision … cases with a 120mm intake fan on the front panel and another 120mm exhaust on the back will tend to be quieter than case with two 80mm fans each front and rear.

Cases with a single 80mm fans on either the intake or exhaust side are marginal when it comes to cooling modern components, though adding an extra side panel intake and/or top blowhole is easy enough.

A case with 60mm fans should be avoided – unless your _very_ sure that there’s space to put something bigger in there.


Window?

A window is almost as much a part of the modern PC as a power button, so you might think you’d be saving yourself time & effort by buying a case that had already been windowed by the manufacturer.

Well, you would – but I’d recommend getting a case without a window, as most of the premodded windows are ugly – rectangular, held on with rivets & expose too much of the unpainted interior (especially the drive cages).


PSU Included?

Buying a case with a PSU included may seem like a good money saving idea, but in reality such PSUs tend to be so cheap and underpowered it’s actually a recipe for inexplicable faults.

The PSUs that are included with some Antec and Chieftec cases are an exception to this (in my experience), but they do tend to be plainer and less powerful than I’d choose for myself.

When it comes to buying a PSU, there’s not much of price premium for higher rated units, so a 500W model from a respected manufacturer will be your best option. If it’s rather plain, you can improve it enormously be sleeving it – which if done carefully can leave the warranty intact.


Door?

A door on the front of the case can hide a multitude of mismatched drives, at least until you open it.


Price?

Prices range from £/$20 up into the 100’s; generally speaking, the more you spend on a case, the better the quality will be. If you want a top of the range Lian Li (and it fits with your chosen theme), then go for it – but remember that £/$100 saved on the case is £/$100 more to spend on prettifying bits, and there’s often more satisfaction to be had in modding a cheap, plain case than one that looked great to start with.


Plain Jane / Premod ?

In my opinion, the plainer the case is, the better. A case with "striking" looks and/or features (aka a “premod”) is ok if you don’t want to think about a theme or do any external modifications yourself, but your rig will always look the same as everyone else’s who bought the same case.



Bearing in mind all those considerations, I’ll be using a black Coolermaster Centurion 2 case:
* It’s steel, which will make painting the interior (next spring) much more straightforward;
* It’s black, which will make colour matching the drives & other bay devices a matter of picking suitably coloured units off the shelf;
* It’s an ATX standard case, so no cutting & shutting here;
* It’s a 4-bay midi tower, which is a good compromise between space & compactness;
* Only having provision for a single 80mm fans on both the intake or exhaust side is a compromise, but I’ll be adding an extra side panel intake and a top blowhole;
* It doesn’t have a window, so I can cut one in exactly the shape/place I want it;
* It doesn’t come with a PSU, so I won’t be left with a paperweight;
* It doesn’t have a door, but as I’ll be taking the easy route as far as colour matching goes, it’s just not an issue;
* It’s available for under £40, so there’s plenty left in the hypothetical budget;
* Not counting the meshed air intake on the front, it’s about as plain a case as is currently available.

Darn good advice, Jonny English! All to often as of late, more and more new members are starting to ask, "What kind of case should I get". This solves their problem, especially about the advice on the "psu included with case" issue.

Just to add, if I might. Another reason to stay away from plexi (and acrylic, for that matter) is that once they get scratched (and they scratch easily), it's a definate eye sore.

+Rep to you, dude.

Rob

And upon further review of your post, Jonny.. I've now just scrapped my current project. (Thankfully, however, it was only in the brainstorm part)....

....now I gotta find a new "canvas" per-se, and find a way to ditch my ol' skyhawk. (Cause I wanna do painting - its aluminum, and it has a 60mm rear fan mount that requires metalwork to fix... oh well.)

Nice guide there Jonny! I'm sure this will help a lot of people with there decisions

One thing you didn't cover was a slide out Motherboard tray, wich is handy if you are into frequent hardware fiddling, as well as modding.

Unfortunately, not many "Budget" cases include them...