Buying Guide: PC Cabinet

PC Cabinets can appear to be the simplest of PC components to buy while building a new rig. Everyone ends up collecting what’s left in the wallet and buying what looks the prettiest on the outside. There are cabinets priced from anywhere between Rs. 800 to Rs. 25,000, in India.

Some over-the-top designs

There’s more than just external design and elegance to look out for. Spend roughly 10 per cent of your PC budget on your cabinet but remember to choose wisely. In this feature, we look at what features to look for while making that choice.

Type of chassis

There are different types of cabinets of different sizes and formats. Most users will opt for a mid-tower cabinet. There are also full towers which are larger versions and like the mid-towers, can house a micro-ATX or ATX form factor boards. If you want to build a low-power ultra compact HTPC, then you’re bound to purchase a mini-ITX board.

Compact chassis designed specifically for HTPCs

There are cabinets that are designed specifically for those. Full ATX cabinets are larger and are great for workstations or serious enthusiasts who are bound to plug in multiple drives, large cooling solutions and add-on cards to the system. Be sure about the type of system you’re building before buying the cabinet. 

Build quality

The first characteristic of a good cabinet is its sturdiness. The last thing you want is a cabinet that isn’t stable. Look for cabinets that have use high gauge metal. The sheets of metal used on the cabinet should be thick.

Full tower heavy-duty cabinets

Poor quality cabinets tend to vibrate when fans, drives and other moving components start running. The end result is a very noisy cabinet. When you’re spending a large sum of money on a new computer, it’s only right to spend a little more than the leftovers on a cabinet.