this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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Stupid question...maybe: Is there ANY benefits to the case choice? They go from 50 bucks all the way to 500. I honestly couldn't care less for design, LED lighting, open casing...If anything, I'd prefer it to be kinda quiet, and that's about it.
Airflow (mesh) > Glass
Easy cable management > Lights
There are some excellent, inexpensive cases out there.
Don't buy the cheapest, but don't buy the most expensive, look for a case that's the right size, and easy to open, has a few fans, not too many but not too few. Cheaper cases have really thin metal that bends and cuts you.
Front panel matters, how the drives mount matters (less so now that we're all m.2), honestly spend $70 on a decent but small case, you'll be fine.
Won't a small case make airflows/fitting more complicated? And pricing... I was considering to stick to full ATX size, as that's already what I have. But then again, I'm not sure what to pay attention to.
It can complicate things, but there are small cases out there with larger/more powerful components in mind. There are good designs and bad, same with any size, just have to keep your component choices in mind. I'm a big fan of ITX builds with high end hardware. At some point it becomes sort of a puzzle, balancing your components for size, heat output, and air movement. Not worth the hassle for some but I find it fun.
If you're fine with atx go atx, smaller is harder for airflow, but not always if we'll designed.
Size matters less nowadays again with m.2, the old optical and hard drives really made most of the constraints, now it's all about your gpu and then your cpu cooling.
I have the Fractal Design Define (https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/) and it has been great. I got it with the solid side panel instead of glass. It's also very quiet. I had the full size, but switched to the compact version so I could use an under desk mount.
I got the cheapest case and cheapest motherboard twice when building a PC. Never had any issues.