The best PC case I ever owned was a...

[matt167]

Oddly enough, the case I actually miss using was just a cheap old beige case of unknown manufacture. Built my first system in it. I still have it although it's pretty beat up now I just have not been able to throw it away

 

[[Spectre]]

+1

I'll be re-using my 540 for my Ryzen build once the new 3000 series is released.

I also have fond memories of my old Monarch Hornet Pro SFF case.

View attachment 132632

That Hornet brings back memories. Had one years and years ago.

 

[Krenum]

Lian Li P65, you know back when computer cases had craftsmanship rather than hulking piles of plastic.

 

[BrainEater]

Yep.
I built 5 rigs on the pc-65 platform.Awesome cases.

I'm curious if anyone here has done a windy.Those were my fantasy cases waaaay back .. (and still are)....
My brewmaster is Japanese and goes home every summer.....I've been asking him to go through 'for sale' ads....heheh

 

[Aluminum]

I love my caselabs bullets (great workmanship, but they had zero long term business sense) but considering bang/buck/feature ratios I would have to say the thermaltake Core V1 at nice dinner prices (~$40) is my all around favorite case to build in.
CM HAF XB are pretty good too...apparently I really like flat motherboard layouts.

Some lian lis I had back in the day were good towers to have, but they didn't keep up with things in the last decade or so, I don't really care for their stuff anymore.

 

[NoOther]

My favorite case was a mountain mods UFO Duality.

 

[Aireoth]

The phanteks ethano evolve, still using it.

 

[Vin Dog]

Corsair 760T. Just massive but I wish it had tempered glass sides.

 

[FLECOM]

I miss my unknown giant black tower... had so many builds in it... no idea what ever happened to it

 

[hititnquitit]

that looks like a chen ming built super tower! it could have been rebadged under a million different manufacturers. i had one re badged as a koolance. mine had a cheesy 1/4in tubing/aluminum rad loop built into it with a koolance rad top. it was a beauty. 80mm fan mounts all up and down the front and back with a couple 92mm fan mounts thrown in. those were the best cooling cases available back in its hey day. i sold mine to a youngin looking to start up his first loop in it.
as for my favorite case all time? hmm id have to say either my stacker stc-01 or my current thermaltake x71 tempered glass edition. its a coin toss between them.

 

[burritoincognito]

My favorite that I built for myself was either the CoolerMaster ATC-111BXJ, followed closedly by the CoolerMaster Praetorian. If I could have mixed it, with the front USB of the Praetorian with the black anodized w/ door of the 111BXJ, I'd have been ecstatic.

But, those are builds from 15 years ago.

Recently, the one I've been most happy with is the Fractal Design Mini C. I can set it up for no visible drives, PSU, easy to hide everything and a shit load of cooling. If I were to build a tower, that's probably what I'd build in (unless I went ITX, which I probably would)

 

[Spun Ducky]

I miss my unknown giant black tower... had so many builds in it... no idea what ever happened to it

View attachment 134742

Pretty sure that is an Inwin Q500. I had one for a long time.

 

[kuyaglen]

Lian-LI V1100

 

[FLECOM]

Pretty sure that is an Inwin Q500. I had one for a long time.

no definately not, similar though... I had an InWin Q500 also, probably my second favorite case... had a saved search on ebay for years and no love

although did find my 3rd favorite on ebay which was the Rocketfish branded lian-li case... built a 2006 "dream rig" dual 8800GTX SLI, QX6700 OCd like crazy on water etc

 

[Vengance_01]

Like my current case LIAN LI Lancool PC-K58W. Have had it for 5-6 years at least. Does the job. Won't switch cases as my computer sits inside my desk with a door so no need for fancy cases etc... just a waste of money. Ignore sig as that is wayyyy outdated LOL..

 

[SticKx911]

If we’re going pure nostalgia, emachines micro atx tower. I modded and water cooled so many of those for friends and family in high school/college. They were pretty simple matx towers with enough space to play with.

As for best, it’d be a tie between my switch 810 for size and my yellow/black s340 as black/yellow is my thing and I didn’t have to paint anything to get my color scheme.

I’ve never really been able to afford anything more expensive so I’m sure there are way better out there

 

[Spun Ducky]

no definately not, similar though... I had an InWin Q500 also, probably my second favorite case... had a saved search on ebay for years and no love

although did find my 3rd favorite on ebay which was the Rocketfish branded lian-li case... built a 2006 "dream rig" dual 8800GTX SLI, QX6700 OCd like crazy on water etc

When I moved this last year I had to get rid of the case but I wish I had put it up for free on here just pay shipping come to think of it. It was a very unique design with the pull out mobo tray and the mid tower psu slot.

 

[ir0nw0lf]

* Corsair Carbide Air 540
* Phanteks ENTHOO Pro M

Love love love (did I mention love?) that Air 540 Black case. That dual chamber design gives me e-chubs every time I think about it.

 

[Dan_D]

My current Thermaltake Core WP100 is the best case I've ever owned hands down.

 

[isp]

The Coolermaster ATC-110-SX1 looked the best in my eyes. Had the window side panel for it too.

Shout out to Lian Li PC65 and 75 as well.

Ugliest case was my Vapochill, but it was actually a great cooling product. Surprisingly never had condensation issues with it like the prometeia

 

[Krenum]

The Coolermaster ATC-110-SX1 looked the best in my eyes. Had the window side panel for it too.
View attachment 135728

Legendary Case. I have a Praetorian. Back when they put craftsmanship into them.

 

[entropism]

Favorite for nostalgia and the fact that it was built like a tank? The Fong Kai FK330

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article127-page1.html

Lately I'd say the NZXT S340 elite is doing fine by me, but I might go with a Fractal Meshify to downsize a bit. I really wish I went MicroATX or Mini ITX with my last build, and I'm debating replacing my MB just to make things smaller.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Having made Eleventy-Billion PCs for myself and friends, personally - I love the corsair air 540. That's IF you have the room, it's a bit of a footprint beast.

But the ability to work in it is great, the cooling is basically within spitting distance of an open-air test rig. I added a 120mm forced air induction to the 1080ti from its front panel (blower FE model). Plenty of room to do ANYTHING you want in there.

 

[leezard]

Antec/chieftec dragon (cant remember which one) was my first "enthusiast" case, prior to that I had cut up and painted a lot of beige boxes. I was still using it in 2006


finally threw it out about 2 years ago as it was taking up space in the garage. My fav case is probably the Corsair Crystal 460X that I reviewed for [H]. still using it to this day.

 

[Private_Ops]

I have 3 Lian Li cases, two Lancool K7s and a newer A04.

The K7s are by far my favorite, steel frame, aluminum panels. And with the right PSU (currently a seasonic "OEM" gold 550w) and cables they're pretty easy to get setup and looking decent.

While the A04 is nice, the room behind the motherboard tray is attrocious. They really could've widened it by a couple milimeters.

 

[kaigame]

Bought mine 10 years ago and haven’t needed to consider a new case ever since. It’s been through numerous upgrades internally and serves as my main rig. It’ll probably easily go another 10.

View attachment 132806

Linus sold me on it. Best case purchase I've ever made.

I Loved my 800D, bought mine in 2009 i think. great case, with a similar radiator setup, but recently picked up a 900D on the cheap(£100), so couldn't resist, got 2 480mm rads internal and my PC has never looked so neat and tidy.

Not sure what to do with the old 800D now

 

[M76]

I've had so many cases I can't really pick one that was the best. I liked all of them for different reasons.

My first case was a huge tower case, (Made by Codegen, Chinese low end case manufacturer from way back the 90s) that came with it's own wheels,



There were two, well maybe three reasons I liked this case:

1. The wheels, it is a huge convenience to be able to move the case without having to lift it or tear up the carpet.
2. The motherboard tray was removable (it slided right out the back after removnig a few screws) It is a huge pro, that you could assemble your system without the case getting in the way.
   
3. Plenty of space for HW and cooling.

The next was a Chieftec Bravo BA-01B-B-SL, same size as the codegen but higher quality, and better looking.



It didn't came with wheels from the factory, but the wheels of the codegen fit it perfectly. There were actually pre-drilled holes on the bottom where you could attach the furniture wheels.

Then we're going into more eccentric land. The Thermaltake Bach VB8000BNS



Probably the most impractical case I ever had. I mean it's just huge, expensive, and heavy. And has almost zero expansion space, and very limited cooling options. (2x60mm fans at the back) And the weirdest part is that they made a slit door for the optical drive, but there is no way to press the eject button without opening the entire front of the case.

Why I liked it:

1. The finish, and the look
2. I could mod a digital alarm clock behind the front panel window.

Next up, the Aerocool M40



I freaking loved this case, I had the all black version, about the only case I very much regret selling.

1. It's a double decker man!
2. Integrated fan controller with temp readout
3. Tiny footprint, still respectable amount of HW fits in it including a full size PSU

Up next the lowest quality case I ever owned: The Point of View M2 Station!



Another desktop type case It's much smaller than the TT Bach, and it still fits a full ATX MB and a regular ATX PSU!!!! And much larger and more fans than the Bach. I'm honestly amazed how well laid out this case was, to fit everything into such a small space, too bad about the crap materials, I might be using it still if it was better looking.

Now we're actually getting close to present time, I sold this case a few days ago: The Sharkoon Rebel 12 Value



I know, the logo is upside down, my bad. This is an in between case, not quite full tower, but larger than regular tower cases. It's obvious why I liked it:

1. Tons of expansion slots, and mind you most of those were actually used by me back in the day. (Bought it new 10 years ago)
2. Huge 200mm fan on the side panel, very low RPM zero noise, large amount of air moved still.

If you squint you can actually see a 3.5 floppy drive at the top Too bad it's only for show as they stopped fitting MBs with Floppy controllers years ago

Then we get to a case that I actually disliked the Silverstone Raven RV03, so that has no place here.

Next up Coolermaster HAF 935



By far the largest case I ever owned, I wished this had wheels, but it wouldn't even fit under a desk if it had wheels. Liked because lots of space, I could actually make it so the water cooling rads were in the smaller detachable compartment completely isolated from the rest of the system.

Then the Fractal Design Node 304 definitely deserves to be in a hall of fame.



This is a mini ITX case that housed 9x3.5 Spinners for me, and a MB with a Raid card, need I say more? And ofc a regular ATX PSU

And finally my current main PC case: The Silverstone Fortress FT05



This is just a brilliant case, it's small, but still fits everything I needed to fit. It's unassuming looking, plain, not overdesigned. Very efficient cooling solution. This is what I wanted the RV03 to be. I'll probably use this case for a while now.

I know I was supposed to select one case, but I liked all of these it would've been unfair to choose just one. Thanks for indulging me.

 

[Zaroff]

my favorite case,which i've had for 6+ years now, is the Cooler master HAF 932. i don't have a nice pic of my actual case, mainly because its a mess right now but here is a reference pic.
my next case, i'm looking at the thermaltake wp100 or the thermaltake the tower 900 for a custom water cooling loop build.

 

[Zepher]

The YY-0221 case is probably my favorite. I've always loved the cube style cases and wanted this one when I first saw it back in the early 2000's, but it was just so pricey.
When I sold my 1986 Trans Am project car in 2003 I decided to spend the $250 for the case and got it.


I used the case for many builds over the years until I got a Corsair H60 cooler in 2010 or so, and went with a Coolermaster HAF-932 case since there was no provision for mounting the radiator to the yy-0221.

I ended up trading the case to a friend for a set of 17" Chevy Avalanche wheels in 2012. In 2016 when I was at another friends house looking to buy a Xeon workstation, he pointed out my old case to me that he had gotten from my other friend.
I mentioned that I wouldn't mind having that case back and a few weeks later he came by and gave it back to me.

A few weeks ago I decided to put together my Matrox editing system and slapped some of old parts into it and loaded Windows XP Pro since that is the highest OS the Matrox hardware supports.

 

[superray]

The best one I had was a ABS brand full aluminum case manufactured by Lian Li. Had to part with it because of moving.
Hard to move on to any steel case since that.

 

[adaminside]

Corsair Air 540. Best case I have ever used. Period.

 

[The Mad Atheist]

Mid-tower Super Flower SF-201 all black from Directron.com $150(pricey)
Bought it early 2000s, fully removal-able MOBO tray, removal-able 5 bay HDD cage, 6x 80mm, front fan filter, lite all Al-Mg alloy body.
All case fans were mounted with reusable plastic rivets, and all fans had grills even on the inside.
Bought a 2nd one to rivet them together via the side panels and replaced the feet to casters to hold a gutted UPS and custom watercooling, later swapped out the custom WC with a early gen AIO that was designed to mount in 2 large bays (forget the name).
When I upgraded from Athlon XP single core based to the AMD 2x CPU I went back to a single case and bought a side window for it. It last held my 8GB, Q6600, EVGA 9800GT 512MB system.

 

[geok1ng]

Aerocool Strike X ST. EVGA SR2 feels tiny inside it. One of the few consumer cases capable ot hosting quad opterons.

 

[CAD4466HK]

my favorite case,which i've had for 6+ years now, is the Cooler master HAF 932. i don't have a nice pic of my actual case, mainly because its a mess right now but here is a reference pic.
my next case, i'm looking at the thermaltake wp100 or the thermaltake the tower 900 for a custom water cooling loop build.
View attachment 137444

I have this case now and love it, probably move my new guts into it.

Mid-tower Super Flower SF-201 all black from Directron.com $150(pricey)
Bought it early 2000s, fully removal-able MOBO tray, removal-able 5 bay HDD cage, 6x 80mm, front fan filter, lite all Al-Mg alloy body.
All case fans were mounted with reusable plastic rivets, and all fans had grills even on the inside.
Bought a 2nd one to rivet them together via the side panels and replaced the feet to casters to hold a gutted UPS and custom watercooling, later swapped out the custom WC with a early gen AIO that was designed to mount in 2 large bays (forget the name).
When I upgraded from Athlon XP single core based to the AMD 2x CPU I went back to a single case and bought a side window for it. It last held my 8GB, Q6600, EVGA 9800GT 512MB system.
View attachment 137696
View attachment 137710

Awesome case. Had one with my 2500+ Barton and FX5700U, than 3.0C & 3.2E and 6800GT, turned it into my media server w/ 10 spinners after I upgraded to a P180.

I would of kept the P180 for my main if the tabs for the sides didn't keep breaking off and it became a hotbox when I tried to run SLI in it. My son has inherited it now after I modd'ed the shit out of it.

 

[PolygonGTC]

I loved the ThermalTake Core V1. It was a good looking case, with great ability for cable management. One of my favorite ITX cases.

 

[Addicted To Asian Food]

Meshify C for me. It's probably one of the most popular cases around right now but I really like it. I went through a couple of cases that were either good looking or had good airflow but was never able to find one that had both. I live in California so it gets really hot during the summer. I really liked how cases like the NZXT s340 or Corsair 400R looked but temps were still an issue because of the front panels. They didn't make temps horrible but they made my fans have to work harder. Meshify C solved all this while still making everything look clean. The one thing I really don't like about it is the AIO compatibility with or without a long GPU.

 

[jevans64]

Coolermaster ATC-201.
First aluminium case in 2001 with metallic brown painted sides/top and car quality paint/lacquer.
It cost £270 which was ridiculous at that time.
Its sad the internal size is a bit small for todays PCs, gfx cards are a bit long and the cooling isnt up to the job.
It looks great and I still use it for my spare PC.

I haven't powered it up in about 4 years, but I still have my ATC-201. I did a few mods to it, like adding a 2nd 80mm fan in back and the window. Old pic but it now has a GTX 580 in it. Thinking about throwing the GTX 970 in it and upgrading to the latest Ubuntu distro. I no longer build behemoths like this. Strictly water-cooled mITX now based on the Silverstone SG-05 case.

 

[Niner21]

My Antec DF-85 case was by far my favorite. Until I recently upgraded to the Corsair 780T.

 

[kirbyrj]

Lian Li PC60.

By todays standards the interior sucks balls, but after the first time I saw one in person, I had to have one.

 

[demondrops]

Love my "inverted/oldschool" corsair 600c. Had alot of crap over the years, cabinets were really not where i ever put my money and they were so generic that i cant really remember but i did this time Looks great and ofc. corsair quality, will last me a long time. But it's not for alot of hard drives, but that is just fine and it's a pain to manage stuff in it for it is not alot of space up there, but when it's done it looks clean and not overdone. Most things easy acces for dust filters and things fly right of. Trying to avoid cabinets with fans ontop of it, as i had accident with tea pouring down and ruining my pc some years ago. That cm storm scout..