What are cases?

Computer Cases, or Chassis, hold your computer components together. That includes the Motherboard, Cooling Fans, Power Supply Units, CD-ROM Drives, Hard Disks, and components installed on the Motherboard. Cases protect all system components by grounding them and by preventing unnecessary contact with sensitive components. They will also keep hanging wires and electrical components out of sight and packaged together is a "box" that you or your friends will take fancy of (that is, if you choose the correct case).

What determines the case size?

Cases come in varied sizes. They are often manufactured as smallest as possible to prevent taking up too much space. Most important of all, you should choose a case that your motherboard can fit in. There are different motherboard sizes/ form factors:

ATX - 12" x 9.6"


An ATX Motherboard


Micro-ATX - 9.6" x 9.6"


A Micro-ATX Motherboard

These are the most common form factors found in present motherboard manufacturers. Other form factors like Mini-AT, FlexATX, NLX, LPX, and Extended ATX (Server boards)are available.

You should inevitably select and purchase your preferred motherboard before getting your system case / chassis. Some case manufacturers allow universal sizes, supporting both ATX and Micro-ATX. Of course, it would be a wastage of space if you use these types of case with Micro-ATX motherboards.

Some people do worry about Power Supply Units (PSU). Most cases also support all sizes of PSUs or sometimes, come with a PSU. Buying a case with a pre-installed PSU would be recommended to save the trouble of selecting or buying. Of course, that would be more expensive.



Case With Installed PSU



Case without Installed PSU

Other factors worth considering

Other factors will come into play while selecting cases. After choosing a case that is compatible with your motherboard, it will be time to consider the capacity of the installed bays. They hold your CD-ROM drives and Hard Disk Drives. If you need to install many Hard Disks, you should select a case with ample amount of bays installed.

The next important thing is the cooling fan installed in the case. All computers need a cooling fan at the back of the case to bring all the accumulated heat in the case out. That will prevent system overheating. If the case does not come with a cooling fan, it would be necessary to get one. Also, some people might want to choose a case that has mounting brackets for cooling fans located at the hard disk area or the front to keep those components cool.


Case With Fan





Case Without Fan



The last thing is the decoration of the case. Some cases come with special illuminations using LEDs giving it a fanciful look. They generally cost much more.



An XG Box Ninja 2 Case with lumination Lights


That sums up a general case-seeking information. Good luck!