Christmas hardware wishlist – Cases

Its day two of our 12 days of Christmas hardware (a.k.a. what we’d like to see under the tree this festive season) and moving on from motherboards to something even larger, the PC case.

Big or small, the case is what defines your PC to the outside world and should be a representation of the components inside. Here are the top picks for Santa’s shopping list this season:

Thermaltake Level 10 GT snow edition

Thermaltake’s level 10 chassis wasn’t quite groundbreaking, but it was enough to send shockwaves of awe through the gaming world. It was big, bold and beautiful, and had a price tag that would make Gabe Newell shudder (just kidding, the man has enough cash to buy at least two).

Fast forward a few years and Thermaltake have released a snow edition, with white on black styling and colour-shift fans that provide multiple fan colour highlights. Colourshift is interesting, not because it looks great but because it proves Thermaltake can take an in-your-face, gaudy-in-the-right-way chassis and make it gaudy in the Thermaltake way (so just gaudy) quicker than you can say $300 (about R2,650) price tag.

As for specifications, the Level 10 GT Snow edition ships with 3 x 200mm fans and a single 1 x 140mm fan, with space for a 120mm bottom mounted fan if you are so inclined. It also has space for extra long 36cm graphics cards, easy swap hard drive bays and a built-in fan controller; neat.

Just look at it…

Cooler Master HAF XB

The HAF XB might not be a large case, but it is two cases in one, which means more bang for your buck right? What may appear as an unassuming HAF series LAN box is actually a test bench for hardware enthusiasts. Some pulling, sliding and clipping, and the airflow-optimised chassis turns into an open-plan test bench with direct access to all of your hardware – perfect for hardware reviewers, over-clockers, and general enthusiasts.

The case isn’t that small either. Three full-length graphics cards fit in with ease, as do full tower CPU coolers, water cooling radiators (1 x 240mm and 1 x 120mm), and full sized ATX PSUs that are shorter than 180mm.

LANners, airflow enthusiasts, sub-zero overclockers – the HAF XB would like to have a word with you…

Think of the possibilities

Silverstone Sugo SG09

Earlier we claimed more is more, but Silverstone will be damned if they don’t make us a liar with the Sugo SG09 chassis. The case only has a 23 litre capacity and measures in at 220 mm (W) x 295 mm (H) x 354 mm (D). It’s tiny, but that doesn’t stop it from being able to house 33.8cm-long graphics cards, full-tower CPU coolers, and 1,000w Silverstone Strider plus PSUs.

Storage hasn’t been neglected either, with space for 2 x 3.5-inch hard drives, 4 x 2.5-inch hard drives, and one slim profile optical drive. There are also enough fan slots to support 2 x 120mm fans, 3 x 80mm fans, and a top mounted 180mm air penetrator fan.

It can house all of that and is small enough to fit under a dwarf’s arm; definite Christmas wish-list material.

Small case, big attitude

Booby prize – 90’s beige tower case

One of the defining pillars of geek culture in the 90s was the beige computer case. We’re not sure why the colour was chosen, perhaps dull grey was considered too funky. Either way, if the recipient of your gift hasn’t experienced the 90s in all their glory, an old, dirty, rusty, cramped, heavy beige PC case is the way to go. Bonus points if you throw in matching Backstreet Boys/Spice girls CD’s.