What variants of system unit cases exist. Types of computer cases
Oddly enough, often before buying a new computer, people do not always think about the size and type of future PC (form factor). Most often, this falls on the shoulders of sellers who are not always interested in the needs of the CLIENT, simply put - whichever case they got - they put it in it... However, often this parameter is important, both for the user and for the computer itself. How important is it? Many important parameters depend on the form factor of the PC (and on the correctness of its choice, of course...): ease of use, noise level, case temperature, and from this follows: the “health” of the components inside (primarily hard drives - which store your information - and this, as you know, is the highest value), ease of use, etc., etc. ... So, how to choose the right size system unit future PC?
To begin with, I propose to consider them in more detail one by one:
At the beginning, it must be said that the size of a PC depends not only on the size of the case itself. The size of the case must also correspond to the dimensions of the components - the motherboard in the first place, the video card, the power supply and other devices. For example, you cannot place an ATX motherboard in a miniTower case, or a video card like GeForce 9800GTX in the same case - it simply won’t fit. And even if it does fit, it will get so hot that the small space will not allow heat to be effectively removed, and overheating will threaten all devices...
So, let's look at the form factors of the cases - their size can be said to be directly proportional to the capabilities of the future PC, because it determines the size of components that can “fit” into it. And modern components are often large (for example, powerful video cards). Therefore, in a sense, we can give the following advice: the more powerful the PC is planned, the larger the case...
Full Tower: Dimensions of this case: width 15-20cm, height 50-60cm. Such a case has from 4 to 9 bays for 5.25-inch devices (example: DVD-ROM drive), has from 6 to 12 bays for 3.5-inch devices (example: HDD), has the ability to install seven expansion cards (for example, TV tuner, sound card). This case can also accommodate a full-size ATX motherboard (we'll talk about their sizes later). To put it simply, cases of this type are the largest, and their capacity for various hardware is enormous. But here, of course, everything depends on the motherboard - how many hard drives, expansion cards it allows to connect (which then find a place in the spaciousness of the case), etc. Application: Mainly for powerful computers, focused exclusively on high performance, because Such system units contain many fast components, which, as you know, emit a lot of heat, and in such a large case cooling is not difficult.
Mid Tower: Perhaps the most common size among households desktop computers. Its dimensions: width 15-20cm, height 43-45cm. These cases can accommodate a full-size ATX motherboard, a full-size power supply, multiple hard drives, and quite a few hard drives. Application: One might say - universal. Dimensions are acceptable for both high-performance PCs and average PCs home computer. The space inside the case allows air to circulate inside, usually without hindering the cooling of the case and devices. I recommend it for PC building - if your PC size requirements are normal, and if you don't need a computer “on the shelf”.
Mini Tower: Mainly distributed in the sector office computers. Due to their small size (width 15-20cm, height 33-35cm) they allow you to install little: (1-2 optical drive, 1-2 hard drives and approximately 4 expansion slots) and devices of average or lower performance. Firstly, due to size, and secondly, due to heating. There is not enough space in such a case - and therefore the requirements for the temperature of devices are higher, so as not to create unpleasant fan noise and overheating of devices. But in such a case you can fit components that are quite enough for office work with text, presentations and spreadsheets.
Mini PC (Small Form Factor): Given their dimensions (width 20 cm, height 18-23 cm), they can accommodate a maximum of 2 expansion slots, a few hard drives and include a compact power supply. This assumes that the user will mainly use components built into the motherboard (which, by the way, is also small) such as built-in video and sound. In appearance, these cases resemble household appliances. Their use - as office PCs or as a basis home theater. There is no question about cooling here, because... There are very few devices and, by their intended purpose, they generate little heat.
There are also form factors Micro PC(which have even smaller dimensions compared to Mini-PCs, but due to their size they have even greater limitations) and desktop (horizontal cases located on the table), but they are less common and you are unlikely to have to deal with them.
So, we looked at the form factors of the cases. I hope you choose something suitable for yourself. If not, you can seek individual advice.
In the following articles from the series of form factors, we will generally consider the form factors of the components of the system unit and other devices.
System unit case is the main element computer system, on which all his devices are mounted.
Housings can have different shapes - vertical and horizontal.
Vertical– a tower is usually located next to the monitor or placed under the table down. Just don't kick him, because... The internal components of the computer are very sensitive to shock. Vertical towers are divided into the following formats: mini-tower, midi-tower, big-tower.
Mini-tower— the body is quite low in height. At first, during the era of the dominance of the Baby AT format, it was the most widespread, but today it is much less common, because with placement of full-size motherboards ATX problems may arise, leaving only small-sized boards in micro-ATX and flex-ATX formats. Such cases are most often used in computers of the simplest configurations and are used as office machines or network terminals.
Midi-tower– the most common case format today is midi (middle)-tower ATX. It provides the use large number drives and almost all types of motherboards with acceptable overall dimensions. This type The case is suitable for almost all home and office machines and is used everywhere.
Big-tower– are the largest enclosures and provide the placement of system boards of any size and most large quantity 5.25″ format devices, most often 4 - 6. In addition, they are most often equipped with high-power power supplies. The main areas of application for such cases are workstations, small servers and computers for advanced users.
The horizontal form is called “desktop”. Usually located under the monitor. This design looks very elegant. However, assembling and repairing a desktop-based computer is difficult and inconvenient. In addition, the volume of the horizontal case is much smaller, and the power supplies are characterized by low power. Here we can conclude that the time of desktop-type cases is inexorably passing, giving way to a new generation of towers.
There are two buttons on the front panel of the case, several LED indicators and built-in speaker.
Buttons: one “Power” button is used to turn the power on/off, the second “Reset” button is necessary to restart the computer if it freezes.
As for the LED indicators, one of them serves to display the status of the computer, on or off, and the second is usually tied to the hard drive and lights up when the computer is writing to or reading from the hard drive.
Now let's look at the internal structure of the case. The internal case of a computer can be divided into three zones: space for the power supply, space for the motherboard and a basket for disk drives.
Speaking about the internal structure of the case, it should be said that they are divided cases by form factor: ATX and BTX.
Let's first understand AT, ATX, micro ATX. ATX is the most modern case and most current motherboards are designed specifically for it. ATX is characterized by easier access to the internal devices of the computer (even without using a screwdriver). It also has improved ventilation inside the case, the ability to install more full-size expansion cards and expanded capabilities on energy management. Micro ATX is a compact option well suited for compact basic personal computers with minimum quantity expansion boards ( minimum sizes And affordable price). Advantages provided by ATX - software shutdown, activation by signals of various internal devices etc.
The BTX (Balanced Technology Extended) form factor was developed by Intel in 2003. The new standard provides more efficient cooling, a significant reduction in the noise of cooling systems, as well as a more convenient location internal components for assembly. Compared to ATX form factor, then here it was changed general scheme arrangement of devices inside the case. For example, the form factor involves the use of a single fan, which is located on the power supply and is capable of single-handedly providing the necessary air flow to cool the system components from the front of the case to the rear.
Compared to the ATX form factor, the motherboard in the BTX form factor is upside down, resulting in the graphics card coolers being exposed to the airflow. The BTX form factor is in turn divided into three groups: standard BTX, micro-BTX and pico-BTX. These groups differ in their size and number of slots for expansion cards.
Location motherboard . The classic version of installing a motherboard in an ATX case involves placing the power supply in its upper part, thereby the air flow from the power supply cooler is directed to the processor and RAM modules, which ensures their additional cooling. At first, in accordance with the ATX specification, the power supply fan was required to pump air into the case, but the internal elements of the power supply themselves become quite hot during operation, as a result of which the processor is already blown with a stream of hot air, thereby not contributing to its effective cooling. IN Lately The fans of the power supply again began to work to suck air outward, which, in the presence of an additional blower fan in the front part of the case, provides a through air flow that covers almost all more or less heated elements of the computer.
For all their advantages, cases with top-mounted power supplies also have one drawback - large dimensions, especially in height. In order to reduce them, in some models of midi-tower cases the power supply was rotated 90° and positioned parallel to the motherboard. This solution, with a slight increase in the width of the system unit, made it possible to sharply reduce its height and, while maintaining the possibility of installing 3 large external devices, characteristic of midi-type cases, to approach mini sizes. Sometimes such cases are called midi-mini tower. In this case, the power supply fan is located directly above the processor and the process of removing hot air from the processor cooling system is easier. But even here there is a drawback. It lies in the low height of free space above system board, what is he doing impossible installation standard size Slot1/Socket370 adapter.
The second disadvantage of this solution is the deterioration of the overall air circulation in the case, because The power supply cooler operates in a confined space, fenced off at the front by a basket with drives and cables for them, and at the bottom by a video card board. Moreover, the reduction in housing dimensions has led to the fact that most midi-mini housings allow installation without special problems ATX motherboards measuring 305 x 210-220 mm, and full-size ATX motherboards (dimensions 305 x 244 mm) often do not allow the installation of 5-inch CD-ROM drives. True, most modern motherboards fit into these restrictions, but nevertheless, owners of such cases need to be careful when buying a new motherboard.
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V online store Flash ComputersPersonal computers in their traditional sense have long been predicted to become obsolete and soon to be retired. For the role " new shift"over the years, laptops, tablets with smartphones, and game consoles. But, as practice has shown, all these devices certainly find their consumers - and at times even significantly influence the PC market. But they are unable to force users to completely abandon the “traditional” platform.
Why? Reason #1 is definitely the versatility of the PC. Mobility of tablets and smartphones, gaming capabilities and console services are certainly great qualities. But how will they help you if you urgently need to finish a work project or rewrite a paragraph in a term paper?
Reason #2 is the outstanding PC customization options. Laptops, tablets and other similar devices in most cases are “things in themselves.” You can change some minor details, but overall you will have to put up with both the price of the device and the functionality it offers for the money.
The PC, in turn, can be assembled from any compatible components. If you want to save money, please, there is budget hardware available to almost anyone. You need a balanced system for a certain budget - and there is plenty to choose from. Do you need some special functionality? And it can be solved!
In fact, PCs today are so affordable that you don’t even need to understand hardware to purchase them (although this leads to very disastrous consequences for the computer, its owner, and the community as a whole) - in any self-respecting stores, except Ready-to-use system units are also sold as separate components.
We'll talk about them today.
What you need to know when choosing
Do you really need a ready-made system unit?
The key advantage of ready-made system units is, in fact, their readiness. You don't need to compare component models, search for them in stock, or order them for delivery to one store. This saves your effort and time, but otherwise ready-made systems are always a compromise.
Almost certainly, for the same budget, a self-assembled PC will be faster and more functional, not to mention such parameters as acoustic comfort, possibilities (and cost!) of further upgrades and, finally, appearance housings.
Recommendation #1: Before you run to the store for a ready-made system unit, go to the page dedicated to the selection of components and PC configuration. It's completely free and doesn't require any special effort. But as a result, you will know what you can buy for the same money, and how much faster and better it will be.
Remember that the service of assembling a PC from components is available in almost every store in the DNS network. This service is paid, but its cost is far from astronomical, and you don’t need to deal with the assembly yourself or look for a “knowledgeable” friend. Which, you see, is also convenient and also saves time.
However, if you still prefer finished assembly...
System unit type and size
Yes, in this case you should start not with choosing specific components, but with identifying the goals and objectives facing your future computer.
In addition to system units in their most traditional form, the DNS offers the following PC formats:
When choosing a processor manufacturer, everything is quite simple: here either Intel, or AMD. The only ones that stand apart are thin clients and other embedded systems where you can find products VIA, Allwinner and other companies whose names are not so well known.
But with the choice of a specific model or at least a line, everything is somewhat more complicated: there are a huge pile of offers, it is not always clear how one processor model differs from another, and even the disclosures are overflowing.
The advice here is the same as in the case of a separate product. All you should be interested in is the performance of the processor that falls within your budget. It doesn't matter who wins there price segments higher or lower - you will have to get along with specific model CPU!
Here, unfortunately, there is only one piece of advice: read authoritative resources (preferably foreign ones!), study comparative tests, analyze the information received and make a reasoned choice. Believe the cries of fanatics from one side or another - in the end you will buy something that does not correspond to the money spent at all.
The number of cores can serve as a definite marker (but far from accurate!) of processor performance:
However, the opposite is also true. If you are confident that you will use only and exclusively content located in the global or local network, or on your home file storage - you can look at system units with less space. and a gigabyte is enough for your eyes operating system and the necessary set of software... although, however, in this case it is better to use an SSD.
If you are not so radical, there are options with hard drives volume in , or 3 terabytes.
Recommendation #6: There is never enough space on your hard drive. Even if it seems to you that the current volume is enough, very soon you will be surprised that the “huge” space is already completely filled with photos from your vacation, your favorite music and films, and you have significantly more games installed than you planned (and you can’t delete old ones). rises).
Here the rule “more is better” works fully, without reservations. However, this does not mean that you need to buy only system units with maximum volume hard drives! Like RAM, the disk is easy to install yourself, so no one forbids you to increase the amount of file storage later.
SSD capacity
A solid-state drive (SSD) is an optional, but very useful device that can significantly speed up the loading and operation of the operating system and other programs installed on it. In fact, today the probability of encountering a user PC in which the system is installed on a good old mechanical disk tends to minimum values. And not only in the top segment - both budget builds and very old systems are equipped with solid-state drives, with the exception of those that do not support SATA interface at least the second revision.
Actually, no one will forbid you to add an SSD to a ready-made assembly that didn’t have one in the first place. However, the DNS assortment also includes options for system units with pre-installed SSDs.
They differ, like hard drives, primarily in volume. However, there is some specificity here. So, SSD capacity from 8 to 64 gigabytes- this is nothing more than a high-speed swap file. The fact is that such a volume will be immediately filled by the OS Windows family after installing and downloading it latest updates. If you are going to use any lightweight Linux distribution- perhaps this volume is enough for you, but even in this case you should not experiment.
The reasonable minimum for today is SSD capacity V 120-128 GB. This is enough for both the operating system and the set of programs required for operation. SSD with a capacity of 240 or more gigabytes will be required if, in addition to the OS, a certain specialized software, which runs faster on a solid-state drive.
Recommendation #7: SSD is not an essential item; a system unit can be purchased without him, subsequently installing it yourself. But operating a PC with solid state drive much more comfortable, and in every sense: the system works faster, programs launch almost instantly, and the user’s ears are not bothered by the noise from the disk mechanics (due to the absence of such mechanics). If you have the opportunity to purchase a ready-made system unit with an SSD, choose this option.
Optical drive and accessories
Relatively recently, it was difficult to even think about purchasing a PC without a CD/DVD drive: the only way the acquisition of software and games was, in fact, the purchase of them at physical media, and recordable/rewritable discs were the most common means of transferring information from user to user, and storing this information too.
But progress spares no one. The sale of discs was killed by digital distribution services, it turned out to be more convenient to transfer information using high-speed, large-capacity flash drives, and the increase in the capacity of hard drives put an end to home collections of CDs and DVDs with neat (or not so neat) inscriptions with a special marker. The final nail in the coffin of old ways of exchanging information came with the spread of broadband Internet access.
Do you need a DVD drive today? Honestly - decide for yourself. For a large proportion of users - absolutely not needed, fortunately even Windows distribution You can absolutely legally download from the official website and create a bootable flash drive using a proprietary utility that does not require user participation.
On the other hand, if in your region the tariffs of Internet providers contain a bunch of asterisks after the description of the conditions, or you have a disc edition of a game that today cannot be purchased officially or “buy when it gets dark” - disk drive it won't be superfluous.
And in this article we will discuss, how to choose a computer case. Why is it needed and is it needed at all? What are there PC case types, and how they differ. Let me immediately draw your attention to a small map of this series of articles, in case you missed the introductory part and want to read it.
- How to choose a computer case- types of PC cases (you are here)
What is a personal computer case and how to choose it?
Just a beast!
A little introduction to the essence of the matter, because if you want to know how to choose a computer case, you should know what it is in general outline. So what is it? Essentially, this is a box that contains all the necessary components for your computer. Well, the box and the box - you say - are of no use to it. But no. I note, of course, that there are fans of “bare metal” - this is when all the components are simply scattered on the table or on the floor. And everything works great for them, there is even a plus in this - the equipment is not subject to overheating. But it’s still much more pleasant to look at a neat and even stylish system unit than at a pile of iron. So let's choose this “box” for you.
Speaking about the types of PC cases, it is immediately worth noting that they come with built-in power supplies (PSUs) and without them. And the trend is that manufacturers are increasingly producing cases without power supplies. Why is this being done? And in order to be able to select a power supply individually for your system. Because it often happens that you like the case, but the power supply in it is rather weak. And it turns out that you paid for this part, and then you removed it and put it in a junk drawer, replacing the power supply with a more powerful one.
Computer cases also come in different form factors. Vertical ( tower) and horizontal ( desktop). Horizontal ones are more compact than vertical ones, but this is both a plus and a minus. Their small dimensions limit free space for components, both by quantity (RAM, hard disks), and in size (for example, video cards can be quite large). Also, the dimensions of the recumbent “boxes” complicate the process of removing hot air. Because there is not enough space, the components are crammed almost tightly together, and there is no room for air to circulate.
Vertical cases (tower) are more common these days and, in turn, are also divided into several subtypes:
- MiniTower(dimensions 178 × 432 × 432) - the smallest towers, and accordingly the least powerful. They used to be very common, but now they can only be used for office computers due to their low power.
- MidiTower(dimensions 183 × 432 × 490) – also called MiddlTower – These are the most commonly used types of PC cases in modern world. Their sizes are quite satisfactory for almost any average buyer. All the main hardware in them feels quite normal and does not conflict with each other due to lack of free space.
- BigTower(dimensions 190 × 482 × 820) – or FullTower– the largest type in the family of PC cases. It can satisfy the most sophisticated needs, up to installing several video cards and a large number of hard drives. It is also well ventilated. It is used either by gamers who stuff them with top-end and at the same time large-sized hardware, or are used as servers.
Beautiful PC cases
What else should be added on this topic? Probably, the only thing is that if you want to stand out, you can order a case of any size and from any material, be it transparent plexiglass, or a beautiful computer case made of mahogany. But of course it will cost you a lot of money.
When talking about cooling a PC case, they mean additional fans inside the system unit. They play a very important role in the life of computer components.
Sometimes there are cases without additional coolers. In this case, the entire load falls on the power supply fan. And the power supply itself often suffers. But in fact, this is not the worst option.
The worst thing is when you bet several fans on the body and they all work for blowing . In this case, a very low air density forms inside the system unit and the fans have to work even harder to resist the air that is trying to get inside from the outside. Never do this! It’s better not to install any fans at all than to put them all on exhaust.
Hot air rises. That's why:
- if you have one fan, then it's best to put it for front-bottom injection.
- If you have two fans, That put one on the front bottom blower, A the second one is blown out from behind under the power supply (if the power supply is on top). If the power supply is at the bottom, then the second fan is placed above it on the rear wall.
- If three fans or more, then continue the logic of air movement that I specified. And look at the picture!
That's the whole point of cooling PC cases. There is nothing complicated. Create a draft! And it is desirable that the amount of air blown in corresponds to the amount of air blown out. Believe me, you don’t need zones of high or low pressure inside the housing! 😉
Briefly about choosing a computer case
- Pay attention to the quantity seats for additional coolers. This will significantly extend the life of your components.
- Try to choose a medium or big size. They will give you more options in terms of upgrading your computer.
- Choose a beautiful case! Just why do you need a freak in the middle of the room?
- Take a “box” without a power supply and select a good power supply separately.
That's all. We will not linger long at this stage. There's not much to say here. I think now you understand how to choose a computer case. If I have not fully covered the topic, write about it in the comments.
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