PC cases - expensive vs inexpensive

[Motherf♥♥♥er Big Scorpio]

Hi.

My pc-CASE is falling apart and sometime later i will probably buy a new PC case. Right now I'm looking at the DeepCool Tesseract SW Red. I have assembled some new machines using this case and i thought i'd get myself this case too since its looking cool, comes with 2 coolers and is inexpensive.
But here comes my question: If a case like this costs 37 euros and the market has cases, which are much more expensive like even over 100 euros, what may be reasons to pick expensive pc cases over the inexpensive ones? Pc-cases don't make computers run faster.

[Jinn-Gon Qui]

A quality Case is to have room enough room for HDDs and SSDs, at least two Case fans; intake and exhaust - and also knowing they're of quality, and most importantly the cable management is good.

[Big Boom Boom]

Expensive case = better material.

Expensive cases, depend on the size, can be a lot more roomy, has better cable management, more fan/radiator mountable position etc.

Most of $40 cases are made of plastic. Pfft.

[76561198034396398]

something like the HAF series full tower,i wouldn't touch those cheap plastic cases,while cases make no performance impact the cooling does active and passive cooling,plus hot swap for drives etc

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Brand often matters by cases, I often see those companies responsible for those godawful power supplies making tons of PC cases - like Diablotek or Apevia. Just my guess that turd stays a turd even if is painted to gold. Most likely bad airflow, tons of plastic, no USB 3.0.

In your case, well, a Deepcool cannot be that bad, but I personally would look somewhere in the 50+ USD area. NZXT, Corsair, Silverstone or Zalman.
Chose according how much drives you need, size of your GPU, how many USB, what front panels you need. Some modern cases dont have even a 5,25 bay for drives anymore.

[Jinn-Gon Qui]

Astraea Kisaragi, don't forget Huntkey.

[Big Boom Boom]

Coolermaster make solid cases.

[tacoshy]

Originally posted by Big Boom Boom:

Coolermaster make solid cases.

not just solid, modular ones. Where you can take components out of the case or add like you want and buy the cheapest one and using upgrade kits with components to get the high end version of it (MasterCase & HAF).

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Coolermaster is fine, but I would skip their budget Elite line, luckily not many of them arround anymore.
I also wanted a CM HAF as my new case, unfortunately my table didnt allowed its width. so I went for a Antec GX.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Nothing wrong with some cheaper cases when you are on a budget and could spend this money on better graphics card, CPU or SSD, especially when you dont plan to use AIO watercooler or something like this.
If you want to build more expensive overclocking rig then sure more expensive case with proper radiator mounts and more cooling options comes in handy.

[tacoshy]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Nothing wrong with some cheaper cases when you are on a budget and could spend this money on better graphics card, CPU or SSD, especially when you dont plan to use AIO watercooler or something like this.
If you want to build more expensive overclocking rig then sure more expensive case with proper radiator mounts and more cooling options comes in handy.

hmmm as I had to build 2 PC's for me at the same time I had to go budget on one. For the budget variant I tooked a Sharkoon REX3 Value which is by its basic a good case. Has decent cablemanagment possible. Comes with a fan front and rear. 4x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0.

But even with changing the 2 120mm fans it had a terrible airflow as everything like SSD's and HDD's where infront of the front case fan. It was so small that my GPU wouldnt had fit if it was 3mm longer. I couldnt mount the good coolers like Noctua NH-D15, barely had enough space for a CM Hyper 212 Evo and forget about AIO with missing radiator space. After I did the upgrade to my CM MasterCase Pro 5 my CPU tempratures in idle state already dropped by 10°C...

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by tacoshy:

But even with changing the 2 120mm fans it had a terrible airflow as everything like SSD's and HDD's where infront of the front case fan. It was so small that my GPU wouldnt had fit if it was 3mm longer. I couldnt mount the good coolers like Noctua NH-D15, barely had enough space for a CM Hyper 212 Evo and forget about AIO with missing radiator space. After I did the upgrade to my CM MasterCase Pro 5 my CPU tempratures in idle state already dropped by 10°C...

Yeah you would not mount some monster Noctua into budget case and budget build, cheap CM Hyper 212 EVO or just stock cooler of CPU would be fine.
With cheaper case I would avoid the ones that have closed top, there are still plenty of ones that have few fan slots on top where you cant really mount AIO watercooler but have no problem slapping few $4 fans there for cooling.
Budget build is mostly for CPU you cant overclock anyway.

[76561198034396398]

id still go expensive ( not 5000$ expensive),my old Antec DF85 has lasted 8 years,my brothers dunno what it is,is currently held together by Superglue and overheats all the time (Australian climate)

Of course being realistic the OP might need something now rather than wait,i which case he might have a look on some of the hardware sites like Anandtech

[Lord Flashheart]

Its a good idea to get a decent case.
Used to have an antec 300. ok but limiting.
Upgraded to a corsair carbide 400R. Much easier to cleanand upgrade parts. Great airflow to keep compnents cool (and long lasting)
It the only component you will keep for a LONG time. It is worth getting a decent one.

Also its good to have room for big graphics cards and liquid CPU coolers.
You may not use or need it but its best to keep the options open.

[Motherf♥♥♥er Big Scorpio]

Thanks for the responses ya'll.

My temps are very adequate even on hot summers on my current case. The new case (DeepCool Tesseract) would be a straight upgrade since it has 2 fans on front and back and offers a storage room for SSDs and HDDs just behind where the lower front panel is.

I can do cable management since this case also comes with free cable ties. The airflow will be very good.

So in a way I'm saying, that cheap cases could do nearly the same job as the expensive cases from what you guys have provided unless we are talking about solid materials.

Thanks again. If I missed anything, let me know.

[tacoshy]

Originally posted by 💊💉⠀+⠀👩👙⠀= 😍❤:

Thanks for the responses ya'll.

My temps are very adequate even on hot summers on my current case. The new case (DeepCool Tesseract) would be a straight upgrade since it has 2 fans on front and back and offers a storage room for SSDs and HDDs just behind where the lower front panel is.

I can do cable management since this case also comes with free cable ties. The airflow will be very good.

So in a way I'm saying, that cheap cases could do nearly the same job as the expensive cases from what you guys have provided unless we are talking about solid materials.

Thanks again. If I missed anything, let me know.

coming with cable ties is a not a quality sing as you can get those 10 they are providing for less then 0.10$...

Cablemanagment requires leads to tie the cables onto or in the best case to lead the cables to the other side of the backplate.

The Tessarct isnt a bad case it actually is good for its price. But still doesnt come close to a good case not just because of material.
Same as the Sharkoon I mentioned above it has only really tine space for the GPU. It also has all the drive cages and so on in front of the front case fan preventing a best airflow.
Cable managment is possible but not its best with it and with not cover to cover up all the lead holes not as good looking (personal perference).
I also personally couldnt use it as it cant mount EATX (mine is about 1cm wider then normal ATX).
Most important downside: It doesnt has any dust filters. Not even for the PSu which is kinda important to most ppl and the PSU is mostly a nice vakuum cleaner without dust filter.


Like I said its not a bad case it is fine for its price but unlike you think it wont come close to good cases which start at 60$.
It doesnt has to be an expensive case but in my Artworks you'll see picture of a Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 and see what good airflow and cablemanagment means. Not starting to go on materials and modularity...
Like I said My tempratures with thatc ase compared to a budget case is huge. With the better cooler I dropped from 45°C idle and 87°C load down to 24°C idle and below 60°C load even OC'ed to 5.0GHz at 1.35v.