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.

[Electric Cupcake]

I don't mind RGB, but I am annoyed by 5.25 bays disappearing, and as I've said before, hotswap caddies for easily swapping hard drives are a great feature.

We need something like the IcyDock NVME enclosures to become more common now.

[90054321564584560]

i fear glass. but honestly i like the idea of dual chamber that put the psu placement behind but holy hell most of those cases are heavy and big for no reason

[Mr. Marvell]

Fully agree, while I like the idea of a sleek and minimalistic look such as what most modern cases are going for - once it starts sacrificing function it gets a bit more disadvantageous, particularly for those who still like to use older technology like DVD ROMs and the likes.
But it's not absolute of course, and it's still very much possible to get a unique and unconventional case nowadays, and if you really can't - then external components are an option, although it looks messier.

And hey, add some personality to it yourself if you really want to! A pro of having such a plain and simple modern case is the fact that it's really a blank canvas. Although I can't name anything specific to customize, feel free to experiment.

[Corona Scurrae]

Yes and unfortunately there is no silver lining at the horizon. We have to hope like with everything else that one day some manufacturer decides to do it.

[Quint]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ᛗᚱᛗᚨᚱᚠᛖᛚᛚ:

Fully agree, while I like the idea of a sleek and minimalistic look such as what most modern cases are going for

I feel like the moment RGB gets in the mix, minimalism goes away. Looks way too complicated to the point of not being minimalistic in my opinion.

[Mr. Marvell]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Quint:

Początkowo opublikowane przez ᛗᚱᛗᚨᚱᚠᛖᛚᛚ:

Fully agree, while I like the idea of a sleek and minimalistic look such as what most modern cases are going for

I feel like the moment RGB gets in the mix, minimalism goes away. Looks way too complicated to the point of not being minimalistic in my opinion.

Point taken. My bad, when I said that I was only thinking about the case itself and it's exterior look, but yeah, I agree RGB can get a bit overkill.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Plenty of terrible case designs back then as well.

[CygGame]

I purchased two of the below cases for some specific uses. Build quality on the shell is OK, the bays are pretty low quality. Among some other issues, but the price is right if you need a lot of bays.

https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Versa-Computer-Chassis-CA-1B2-00M1NN-00/dp/B00J0NZ3Q4/ref=sr_1_5?crid=17WZTI33W5AEY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.I5w8z0m4ddpJI1qwEjsoEVGZiBIAOaqGoo7hgz8m2ZrSIb7nTnY4EVvs1TCDIQi7KclJHfPvT0yq99qkD0wwqpxfxeqhFpQwfI6PB7z16SLTCETQDs8rwMMGcKw_FsTso7uQdI-_JD-BlpFdINxLoZvQCM7FTU1u5UXc16x-SFNhGRMrx7qWf77ZYBirOj41T81TuQ-yQuaR_cYIntKv9Dqa0MoMSb-CdPfZzpSGjm0.OSZ9CVWL3zNGjeWIMyxzv11sjIbrDSEbdmUuQGyw3Ok&dib_tag=se&keywords=thermal+take+case&qid=1733840137&sprefix=thermal+take+case%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-5

[wesnef]

Can't stand all the glass.

I'm going to keep reusing the Coolermaster HAF 912 I got in 2011 for my first build, until it falls apart.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Rumpelcrutchskin:

Plenty of terrible case designs back then as well.

But yeah, the HAF912 *does* suffer from a bit of 'Xtreme kool case'. Big chunky details. :D

[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......

[Carlsberg]

Everything for the pc has gone crazy, Tool free, Glass windows, Rgb lighting on the M/board, ram, Gpu, Fans and whatever elses they can fit it to with led Case Corner Strips, Lights them up like bloody xmas trees and for what?

I want my machine to run, and it does that very well. No bells, whistles or fancy lights, no glass windows that i am never going to look at, it just runs flawlessly.

The trouble is (imo), that no-one seems to put any effort into case choice, its a very important part of your build but its not treated that way. It looks great, yes, I want that one. Is it the right one? who cares, it looks fab.

But seriously, does anyone really see it?

[wesnef]

I do have like 2-3 lights in mine, but only because the LED fans were cheaper than the plain ones at the time. (just LED, none of that custom-RGB junk)

[Wampum Biskit]

Początkowo opublikowane przez 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.

[Mr White]

Agree I miss the days of Having DVD Drive bays. Yes everything is digital but if you like to run older games of Movies. Say you buy from second shop. Modern cases lack the ability to have a DVD Drive.

[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.