C
ase design is getting
smarter and with hard
drives and optical disc
drives being ditched, the
latest models are smaller
and more affordable than ever.
We’ve grabbed seven of the most
popular cases you can buy for under
£100 to test. From the hefty, sound
deadened might of the Fractal Design
Define R4 to the sub-£30 BitFenix
Nova, there’s a case here to suit most
kinds of gamer.
Each case was assessed for build
quality and design then loaded up
with a powerful gaming system –Q&A
How much should I spend?
A quality, modestly sized
case can be had for between
£50-£100. Large, premium
cases can hit £200 or more,
while small, low quality ones
are under £30.How big do I need?
Most modern gaming PCs
only need one hard drive and
an SSD. As such, even smallcases can still pack in all the
features and cooling you
need. Only water cooling
needs larger cases.What layout?
Modern cases tend to have
no optical drive bays and just
a couple of hard drive bays
at the bottom, next to the
PSU, leaving plenty of room
at the front for cooling. Older
cases, meanwhile, have drive
bays at the front, limiting
cooling options.Dictionary
Radiator – removes the
unwanted heat from a
water-cooling system.2.5in, 3.5in, 5.25in – the
size of SSDs, hard drives and
optical drives respectively.Form factor – all the cases
here are ATX form factor so
fit full size motherboards,
but will also fit smaller sizes.Intel Core i5-6600K, Nvidia GTX 1070 – and
tested for ease of build, upgrade options and
cooling performance.
It’s a testament to how efficient modern
CPUs and GPUs are that none of our cases
really struggled, but if you’re still rocking
something like an AMD Radeon R9 290 then
you’ll need a case with plenty of ventilation.Group Test
BUDGET CASES