Most modern PC cases suck

[libadwaita (she/her)]

There's been a trend of stripping out functionality for making the cases look prettier that we've been seeing over the past decade. RGB vomit everywhere, stripping out drive bays, fans behind glass (making them useless) and more.

Some of these cases aren't that bad, some are focused on airflow and do a decent job at that. But for every one of those cases there's several more that are designed to look good more than being functional.

Also, talking about aesthetics most modern cases just seem to be a variation on the same thing. Big windowed side panel, glass (or hopefully mesh) in the front showcasing 2/3 RGB fans and such. There is little uniqueness anymore. The 2000s and early 2010s certainly had cases with much more uniqueness and personality.

I think one of the biggest losses is the disappearance of external 5.25 inch and 3.5 inch drive bays. While external 5.25 inch bays were mostly used for optical drives, they had many more uses than just that. Card readers and more front panel I/O could be added by using a 5.25 inch drive bay.

For example, a 2014-era case with multiple 5.25 inch drive bays might not have the most modern of frontal I/O, but it can be added with a 5.25 inch drive bay. I could have a case from 2014 (or earlier) with USB C if I really wanted to even if it didn't come with it. If some new port comes into popularity by 2034, you won't have access to it on a case from 2024 on the front panel but may have access to it on a case from 2014 via a 5.25 inch drive.

I certainly won't be buying a "modern" style case for as long as I can avoid to. Luckily, there are some older cases still in production that offer these features. Right now, I use a Deepcool Tesseract SW (which does have external 5.25 inch drive bays) but if I had to buy a new case still in production it would be a Phanteks Enthoo Pro.

[_I_]

Originally posted by gwwak:

A lot of modern cases are forging functionality by getting rid of drive bays. So you can't really repurpose a case to be a NAS once the system becomes too old for gaming. Tool less designs are also a curse, as replacement brackets tend to be expensive or difficult to obtain once the case has been out for years.

The Meshify 2 cases are still functional, but extra HDD trays are overpriced.

thats where a 3d printer comes in handy

[Illusion of Progress]

I personally agree; cases had more personality and there was more choice in the 2000s and early 2010s. I never cared much for all the "out there" case styles back then either though. So I sort of see RGB as just another thing like them. The difference is, the current case market is a lot more limited than it's ever been, and part of that is because it's warped around the trend of RGB. I'm going to keep my Fractal Arc Midi for the foreseeable future at this rate.

But the market tends to adapt to sales. People were buying cases with these new things and not cases with the older things, so more of the current thing was made and less of the older style were made.

The big reason some of those things went away, namely the 5.25" and 3.5" bays, was because most consumers stopped using them, so they stopped ensuring their cases could accommodate them.

Optical media has fallen far out of favor. That's predominantly what 5.25" bays were used for.

The need for a ton of storage space in a desktop PC has fallen because media isn't just local anymore; it's all streamed and on-demand on the internet, so most consumers have low storage needs and SSD sizes/internet speeds have mostly reached the point of being enough for most people. The M2 form factor certainly furthered that reduction in space needing to be dedicated to storage. The ones who have high desktop PC storage needs are the minority, and even that is split between those dedicating a NAS to it (where you still have limited case selection) and not needing your primary desktop case to accommodate them, and the rest are stuck dealing with it.

It's bad for those of us that doesn't apply to. I'm trying to bring my HDD count down, but SSDs aren't getting anywhere near large/cheap enough so they're probably not going to be eliminated for me in the foreseeable future.

[A&A]

Nowdays is the average gaming PC case vs the average office PC case.

[_I_]

oems are pretty much the office pc case

any aftermarket case is for custom builds, since the oem mobos are pretty much tied to their case, psu, mobo and almost no ability to upgrade them

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by A&A:

Nowdays is the average gaming PC case vs the average office PC case.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2524094/silverstone-new-retro-pc-case-is-beige-with-faux-floppy-drives.html

[_I_]

i remember when cases had the hidden odd (cd/dvd/bd) bay and button to push the drives button, and the tray would push open the bay, but some did not work correctly and got stuck on the drive trays or buttons didnt line up

this is a hp case with it, but similar idea
https://support.hp.com/wcc-assets/document/images/278/c01988381.jpg

[A&A]

Originally posted by _I_:

any aftermarket case is for custom builds, since the oem mobos are pretty much tied to their case, psu, mobo and almost no ability to upgrade them

There are aftermarket ones and it's not like there aren't new cases being produced, but there aren't that many.
Zalman T8 and some of the older ones have 5.25 inch bay.
Cougar MX330-G Pro has a such bay.
There are some Inter-tech cases that I think target the European market only. They have models that are interesting like the IT-5905 which comes with 3 5.25 inch drive bays and 4 by 3.5 inch

Asus K31AN case has a DVD bay that is hidden. Looks cool, the mechanism sounds cheap to me. It can be problematic if the bay is used every day to swap discs.

[Ice Robertson]

I was tempted to buy a pos computer that had a good case and pretty much throw out or sell all the bits inside.

There's like $100 computers from god knows when, The internal isn't useful but the case itself can look fine.

But luckily i could still buy the case I've been using for my last 4 or 5 builds.

Fractal define R5.

[smokerob79]

Originally posted by Wampum Biskit:

Originally posted by smokerob79:

I hate current cases....daily driver is in a coolermaster 912 and the gaming rig is in a 922......the 922 can NOT be matched today for temps.....the 933 is still one of the worlds best cases for temps....5.25 drive bays saved my 922 as the front panel is dead.....USB sockets will reset the computer every time something is plugged in and the power button died 2 years ago....dropping in a 5.25 panel with headphone jack, power button and new USB 3.0 ports saved the case....

my gaming rig is in a none AC controlled garage in Florida were it can hit 95F in the summer.....my CPU will still hit boost clocks all cores in 95F baseline temps.....WHY??? 3 200mm fans on the case no one does anymore....the new coolermaster cases are GARBAGE.....metal to thin and air flow a joke as they need glass on the side where a 200mm fan should be......

well i mean you can't cool below ambient temps (without additional help), so if the outside air is 95 degrees then your rig technically cools to 95 degrees at 100% efficiency , nothing is 100% efficient so chances are you won't be able to cool it down to ambient temps , it will always be a few degrees warmer.

yeah duh.....CPU stays under 72C under full load....with 95F as base temp.....think about that....

[Guydodge]

the ASUS TUF Gaming GT501 Mid-Tower is the best case i have ever owned released
in 2018 its built like a tank and has great air flow even though its not a full mesh front
there is a oversize hole on bottom of front cover tou can fit most of your hand in.
and its larger than a mid tower easily fits a 4090 and 140mm fans which is the size
of the rear exhaust fan.this is a case you buy for life i doubt i will ever buy another
case gave my wife the 9900k 3090 build in this case as well.worth every penny.
highly recommend to future proof case wise have no doubt will easily fit a 5090.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L6CHS16/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

that is a 4090

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250113480

[76561199793899658]

just looked.. indeed cases with optical bays are few now most old 2014 models.
(and the better models no longer sold)

if you want front usb 3.2 forget it. no case has that and optical bay.

best get an older case perhaps used?

[Mabi]

The problem is that miniaturization is increasing and sales of mini PCs with malware included are selling well.

Then there is also the powerful hardware but just make two observations on what the Steam population uses, in the sense that it doesn't seem to make sense to have powerful PCs if there are no decent titles.
And so there are few people who complain about PC cases, if you then get the ideas of making new mobos with special attacks hide everything the matter of what to do becomes complicated.

[Mabi]

Be the first to buy a 3D printer and make it custom-made

[BloodShed]

My pet peeve with newer cases is the lack of HDD activity led (though that's an easy fix) and few harddrive mount points (especially 3.5" drive's).

[skOsH♥]

I wish I could still have an optical drive in my PC but my case had to come with a front panel with no space for one. If I had an optical drive I would still be burning data to disks for backups. I guess I'll have to get an external one if I decide to get one

I don't mind the ones that prioritize airflow, that's essentially the one I have now does...it still included spaces for spinny hdd's but I pulled out about half of those bays to use for additional airflow and to route cables I needed to go vertically along the front of the case (which is most of them)