Best Small Form Factor PC Cases
2013-4-24
If you're building an HTPC, a small workstation, or you just don't want your rig to take up tons of space under or on top of your desk, you need a smaller PC case. Something that fits the important stuff, but doesn't waste a lot of space on expansion bays or components you may not need. This week we're going to take a look at five of the best for the job. Earlier in the week, we asked you which small form-factor PC cases you thought were the best for space-saving PCs, hackintoshes, and HTPCs. We rounded up your nominations, and now we're back to highlight the top five. The polls are closed and the votes are counted! To see which of the top five you voted as the winner, head over to our Hive Five Followup post! There you can see the results and discuss the winner!
The Elite 120
The Elite 120 Advanced by Cooler Master is a Micro ATX Cases that's the perfect form factor for an HTPC or any other space-saving PC. If you want to, there's room in there for higher-end components like full size ATX power supplies, aftermarket cooling, and (somewhat) larger video cards, but it doesn't sacrifice a small footprint to give it all to you. You get surprising airflow in a small form factor (9.4" W x 8.2" H x 15.8" D), with vents on the top and side, large fans on the front, side, and on the hard drive cage. Four drive bays are ready for your hard drives and optical drive, two expansion ports in the back for peripheral cards, and you get USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports on the front to connect your devices, along with frontside audio. The Elite 120 Advanced will set you back $50 at Newegg or at Amazon.
Silverstone FT03/FT03-Mini
The Silverstone FT03 is already a small case (9.2" W x 19.2" H x 11.2" D), but for super-small builds, its also-nominated smaller sibling the FT03 Mini, is even smaller Mid Tower Case(7.4" W x 15.6" H x 9.3" D). The former is a Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX chassis, and the latter supports Mini-ITX and DTX builds. The FT03 sports four internal bays for drives, four expansion slots, top and bottom exhaust fans for airflow, no cables at all on four sides, but a tucked away front side panel with USB 3.0 and audio ports. It supports standard ATX power supplies, has plenty of room to work inside, and even supports (some) large video cards. The FT03 Mini on the other hand cuts back a bit: three internal bays, one bottom fan, and two expansion slots, but can still support a long graphics card and has those front-side ports. You'll need an SFX power supply for it though (The FT03 standard model will accept a regular PSU). The FT03 will set you back $160 at Newegg and at Amazon, while the FT03 MIni is $130 at Amazon.
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