5 awesome LAN cases

If you’re still a gamer who regularly attends LANs, you’ll know just how much of a mission it is to pack up and lug your entire PC around to a friend’s house or public venue, particularly if you have a full tower chassis complete with dual graphics cards, water cooling and enough hard drives to make a data centre blush.

The best way around this is of course a gaming laptop. Fold it up and you’re on your way. But for those who aren’t willing to shell out well over R12,000 for a gaming laptop, a LAN-dedicated PC is the next best option.

With this in mind, here are 5 awesome cases to take to LANs:

Lian Li PC-TU200 mini-ITX chassis

“Hey man, we make small cases right? Let’s make one that fits small components and put a handle on top!” – While the design process was probably a bit more in depth than this, the Lian Li PC-TU200 isn’t much more than a silver PC case with a handle on it. However, since that’s completely perfect for a LAN PC, Lian Li deserves some praise.

The case sports the following features:

Mini-ITX motherboard support
Four 3.5-inch hard drive bays (one of which can be used for two 2.5-inch SSDs)
One 140mm front system fan
Aluminum body panels
Support for 300mm long graphics cards
Support for 140mm power supplies

Weighing in a 3.15kg empty, the case is as close as you’ll get to an “ultra-portable” LAN PC case.

Lian Li PC-TU200

Chenbro Hornet

If you were a gamer in the early- and mid-2000s, you’ll probably recognise the Chenbro name. The company was known for their “Gaming Bomb” chassis, however the Hornet was also quite a popular choice for gamers. Even smaller than the above Lian Li, the gaming bomb supported impressive hardware, including a full sized mATX motherboard.

There was a downside to the Hornet however, it makes use of an SFX/miniATX power supply. SFX power supplies couldn’t match their full sized ATX brethren in terms of power, were quite pricey for the higher-end models, and were rather rare.

Case features include:

mATX motherboard support
Support for three 3.5 inch hard drive
Four expansion ports
One 60mm fan for ventilation

Chenbro Hornet

Thermaltake Lanbox

Thermaltake have also waded into the LAN PC case scene with one of their less gaudy products, the Lanbox.

Not nearly as small as the above two cases, the Lanbox compromised small size for extended hardware support, making it popular among those who would rather not go hunting for an SFX power supply or ITX motherboard.

Standout features included:

mATX motherboard support
Four expansion slots
Two 5.25 inch drive bays
Support for one 90mm fan as well as three 60mm fans
Could fit a full size standard ATX power supply
Weighed 7.5kg empty

Thermaltake Lanbox

Coolermaster Storm scout

The Storm Scout by Coolermaster is one of the most popular cases among gamers in general, in part because of it’s small size relative to other mid-tower chassis’ and carry handles on top of the case.

The case can support full-sized components, including ATX motherboards and a multitude of hard drive bays. It also has space for dual graphics card setups from AMD or Nvidia, for those who want a bit more grunt in their LAN rig.

Noteworthy features include:

ATX motherboard support
Five 3.5 inch drive bays
Support for two 140mm fans and three 120mm fans
Weighs 8.7kgs empty

Coolermaster Storm scout

NZXT Vulcan

The Vulcan from NZXT is quite a looker, and was clearly designed with LANners in mind. Apart from the fold-up case handle, it features a non-slip finish and large mesh holes for good airflow in crowded LANs.

Noteworthy features include: