The Positives & Negatives Of PC Case Size

Some (like Adam) prefer small PC cases, and some (like @Nextlander's Brad Shoemaker) prefer big cases. In this video the duo talks about the positives and negatives of each, and why someone might pick one over the other.

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[Aki_Lesbrinco]

The perfect size case to me is the NR200. It's small but not tiny, runs cooler than most itx cases and fits regular sized GPUs and air coolers comfortably.

[chrisbillingham]

I built my first mitx build with the NR200 from my 5000D and I honestly don’t want to go back. I have never used my expansion slots and I love the idea of huge power in a small box. It was a great experience.

[alias]

I love big cases... old school, 200mm fans.. that's my thing.. 🤩

[ChrisLT]

Seeing young Bradley out in the world is kinda nice.

[ArvidFalk]

I built in a Fractal Terra recently, my last m-itx PC was probably 10 years ago in a much larger case.
I found planning and researching what components to use that would fit a lot of fun.

[Canopus_Cat]

I love my Corsair Spec-01 mid-tower, it's really hard to find current cases that can fit a 240mm aio /and/ 5-1/4" bays in the top at the same time.

I just picked up a Corsair 900D because i wanted a massive, huge, gigantic nonsense of a PC/"workstation ". It's a beautiful case too. The two bottom fan rows are what really sold me on it.

[rdj]

Depends on use case. I love my old school big lian-li pc-v2120 with wheels, but my pc-tu200 is an incredible mini itx machine as well

[JoeMaranophotography]

Love my NR200P Max. No drawbacks here!

[Kneedragon]

Personally, I'm going to split the group. I want a middle size one. Roughly 430 X 430 X 230 ~ 250. I want a mid-tower case, which is a bit thicker than 'mid-tower', because I want to use a Noctua NH-D15, and I don't want to have to leave one side off or some damn thing... I want good air-flow (obviously!) but I also want effective filtration. I may be interested in an open style case, like a test-stand, but I have a dog and several grandchildren, and nor do I want glass sides and disco-lights. I saw those in 1978, thanks, I don't want a mirror-ball in my computer.
Summary ~ Mid tower, but a little bit wider / thicker to allow a big air cooler. Sides that have louvres, like the bonnet of a Model A Ford, that'd be nice, but I don't need sheets of glass. In fact, I'd be a lot happier if I could get it without any glass. If it carries the air of a solid steel filing cabinet from the 1940s, that would be superb.
I want it firmly and securely based on the ground, hard to knock over or upset. I want it stable, not to be knocked over by sweeping near it or being a stumble-bum with my feet.

[Zefram]

i have a fractal design 7XL too.. i love it. it is filled to the gills.

[SaG]

I'd love to have a mini or micro ATX PC, but:
1. I fear there'd be much cursing and anger while building in one of those small cases.
2. I'd be restricted in my choice of components
3. I'm not sure about airflow and, more importantly, keeping the case clean once in operation.
Having upgraded a couple of months ago from a midi tower to a slightly larger midi-tower, I already much preferred building and cable-managing in the larger case. Plus it's even easier in the new one to remove dust every 10 days or so. Also, also: I've done a few other upgrades on this system after I moved it to the new case (new CPU, different RAM, new AiO) - all of which went pretty smoothly thanks to the roomy interior of the case.

The PC does sit on my desk, but, with this large-ish case, only because my desk is both pretty wide *and* deep. Still: A small form-factor build would be nice to reduce the "clutter" on a larger desk and possibly the only option on smaller desks.
I used to have my PCs on the floor and the dust build-up seems to be much worse down there plus with all the RGB-crap in my current PC, putting it on the floor would make all the shiny bling pointless.

[steven.events]

I was waiting for, almost willing, that soda can to be knocked over towards that laptop. You win this round.

[russbetts]

Hi Adam. I bought my first PC case in 2002, when I built my first decent PC. I bought it from a Computer Fair - do you remember those things? - in the UK. It has Four 5.25 inch Optical Drive Bays and Two 3.5 inch Floppy Drive bays on the front. Inside there is space for Four 3.5 inch HDDs. The front panelmanoeuvre, when I need to unplug cables and LAN and there's space around the case, to allow for Air Flow. I looked at other cases

[Braffy]

Biggest minus for SFF is parts compatibility. Watching for part sizes, making sure everything will fit together. And even beyond that, you can go for a cooler that is the right height to fit your case and have it interferre with components on the motherboard. I still love the sff form factor. I love the satisfaction of seeing everything fit just right and using all of the space I have available.

[LatitudeSky]

I will never give up my full tower NZXT Phantom case. Room for five 5.25 external drives, 7 internal 3.5, 7 fans, and it's built from actual steel. Sure it weighs a lot empty more fully built, but I am not trying to carry it around and I don’t need it to fit inside a shoebox.

[lrojas]

Obviously, it depends on what you plan to do with the PC. I am not an avid gamer, so SFF was right for me. The Lian Li A4-H2O was a bit difficult to build in but it's now a nifty little PC.

[Kiyometa]

I have my computer in a Corsair 2000D. Small footprint which is great. I had my existing GPU (7900 XTX) and didn't want to replace it, thought I had enough clearance but it didn't quite fit. Fortunately was able to take out the cases included fan controller and RGB controller to fix the issue.

I can definitely recommend that case though, have a Noctua U12A in there with my huge GPU, but has a very small footprint on my desk.

I have flip flopped several times over the years between big and small, but as someone who lives a bit space constrained I think i've settled on small. With USB tech reaching the point it has, most of the things I would want to expand can be done with a USB device like a DAS or something like that.

[techiegk]

I have always wanted to build a livingroom mitx for gaming, but with steam remote play I just use my Steam Deck and such with my med-large case

[mqcapps]

I love my fractal design XL It has room for all the stuff (even 8 drives and 9 fans), an easy to work with without a lot of gadgets and gimmicks. It's the old design and even had an SSD sled. The big disadvantage is it’s heavy and when I want to work on it I needed a forklift and a crane to move it; I had to wait until they came home from school before I could do anything.

[nickellizard]

I'm running a Lian Li PC-A75 case and it sits on my desk. Its a great place to place post-it notes for stuff I need to remember