An often neglected component while building a PC is the cabinet, which incidentally is one component that's going to stay with you for the longest duration. CPUs and graphics cards will come and go but your enclosure will ideally remain the same. So it's important to pay attention when looking for one and not skimp on it.
Buying the right cabinet will ensure all your shiny new components will be able to breath easily thereby extending their lifespan and also avoiding any long term faults that may creep in due to inefficient cooling or ventilation. Not only this, choosing the right cabinet ensures future upgradability, so when the time comes to add some more hard drives, a bigger cooler, faster graphics card or maybe some extra cooling fans, you're ready for it.
To make your buying decision easier, we have segregated them into different price brackets and suggested some of the best cabinets in that category. We hope this gives you a better idea of what's currently available in the market.
Buying the right cabinet will ensure all your shiny new components will be able to breath easily thereby extending their lifespan and also avoiding any long term faults that may creep in due to inefficient cooling or ventilation. Not only this, choosing the right cabinet ensures future upgradability, so when the time comes to add some more hard drives, a bigger cooler, faster graphics card or maybe some extra cooling fans, you're ready for it.
To make your buying decision easier, we have segregated them into different price brackets and suggested some of the best cabinets in that category. We hope this gives you a better idea of what's currently available in the market.
In our multi part series, we'll first have a look at some kick-ass gaming cabinets or enthusiast level cabinets. So how would a chassis qualify as a gaming/enthusiast grade? Well, before picking the best ones we had to set some ground rules, so here are some of the basic requirements that ideally must be present for a cabinet to qualify.
- Good ventilation (provision to add at least four fans)
- Four HDD bays is a must (more the merrier)
- Should be able to accommodate at least two graphics cards
- Lots of cable management options
- PSU should ideally be bottom mounted
- Finally, it should be a head turner (Duh!)
Now, let's take a look at various gaming cabinets available in different price ranges.
Under 5K
CoolerMaster CM690 (With side Window) - Rs. 4,600
The CM690 still remains one of the best v.f.m cabinets till today and will appeal to gamers and enthusiast alike. Some of the highlight features include support for up to seven 120mm fans (two are bundled), removable HDD racks, holes for cable management, and a lot more. A few hundred bucks more and you get a side window, which if you ask me is totally worth it.
Thermaltake V9 - Rs. 5,200
For a little over 5K Thermaltake has a very good offering in the form of the V9. Just like the CM690, you'll find many similar features like a full mesh design, dust filters for the intake fans, tool less design and a generous side window. But for the extra money you put in, you also get a large 230mm top exhaust fan as well as a Red LED front intake and one in the rear. There are also some strategically placed holes for better ventilation of the HDD and the graphics card, which we feel are a nice touch.
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