Well it’s that time of year again. The days are shorter, darker, and for many of us the ground has already turned white…again. And so as the year comes to a close we start to take stock of what the previous year has brought us. We remember the good times that were had and maybe the bad. Perhaps it’s an attempt to add value to the time lost, to reassure ourselves that we did indeed use our time well.
Certainly one of the most interesting aspects of this time of year is the inevitable posting of lists! All the listing and ordering of events, items, and achievements must bring the writer a sense of closure and completeness, but really who cares we just love reading these lists!
Not wanting to leave you feeling short handed, ThinkComputers is excited to bring you our own twist on the yearly list. For some people who are putting together a system their PC case is not high on the priority list, but for serious system builders and enthusiasts a PC case is extremely important. Your PC case of course holds your hardware, but it is also something to show off that hardware.
We have reviewed quite a few different PC cases this year, I think out of all products we review cases the most. So we present to you 2014’s Best PC Cases as reviewed by ThinkComputers. All cases on this list have been reviewed by the ThinkComputers staff.
List list is a bit larger than previous lists, but we believe each case on this list deserves to be there. With that said let’s get started!
Full Tower – Thermaltake Urban T81 (Review) (Amazon)
As I actually said in the review of this case, the T81 sort of brought Thermaltake back to its roots as it is a case made for builders and enthusiasts. The thing that really stood out about this case was the side panel, which is actually a dual-swing door. It of course has a lock on it, which again brings back memories of so many cases. The T81 being a full tower means there is quite a lot of room inside, you can even fit extended ATX motherboards inside. As far as storage goes there are trays for eight hard drives. This case is also a watercooling dream as you can fit 360 mm radiators in both the front and top of the case, a 280 mm radiator in the bottom and even a 140 mm at the rear. This case was really a step in the right direction for Thermaltake this year and surprisingly this case is under $175!
Full Tower – Phanteks Enthoo Luxe (Review) (Amazon)
2014 saw so many great cases released. And with all those cases the big trend was actually quite the opposite with a major shift towards the smaller form factors. Of these I would have to say without a doubt that the Phanteks Luxe Full Tower is one of the best. Building on the colossal success of the Primo, Phanteks has used 2014 to release of swarm of case variations. Even amongst it’s siblings though I find that the Luxe stands out. Built with alot of the same great materials as the top of the line Primo, the Luxe practically reeks of build quality. Inside you will find support for up to six HDD, plus two SSD mounts as well as three 5.25” bays. There is full water cooling support with plenty of pass throughs and mounting locations, plus support for up to a 420mm radiator . The exterior is sleek and stylish with a gorgeous window and built in lighting that is color adjustable with a button press. Finish it off with dust filters on all intakes, and you have yourself one well rounded mod-friendly case.
Non-Traditional Form Factor – Corsair Carbide Air 540 (Review) (Amazon)
We saw a few companies come out with the “big cube” style cases over the past year, one of the them was Corsair. The Carbide Air 540 is very unique as it features a dual-chamber design that separates the motherboard and graphics card from the rest of the components. This not only gives you a lot of room to work with it helps with cooling too. On top of that there is a massive side panel window that shows off your installed hardware. Another thing that is great about this case is that it does in fact support large motherboard form factors like extended ATX. I think the next time I rebuild my main rig I will be using this case!
