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Fancy Gaming Cases - Good or Bad?

In most cases Gamers are pretty specific about the computer equipment they are playing on. Being specific can be a very good thing especially when it's referring to the power of the machine you are using. PC Gaming has been around for a while now but one thing's for sure. PC Gamers like their power. Experience tells me when a gamer is considering a build on a Gaming machine they have two factors that decide what they are putting in that machine. Those two factors are typically money and power! The money is pretty self explanatory but it is the largest factor of consideration in most cases. If the part is within the budget of building that machine and meets the demand sought after it will be in that machine. For that part to even be in the consideration however the part has to be higher quality/power than the rest of the components that also fit within the budget demands. Surprisingly to me, today one of those components that is up for serious consideration is the case. The PC case surrounds all of the inner components of the computer. It has more to do than just holding those components however. It does help with certain factors such as protecting those inner components through various methods to include very importantly the system cooling. A good case is an essential part of the cooling system that helps protect the PC. It also helps with preventing some of the dust accumulation that can sneak its way into a PC. That dust can cause all sorts of problems. The most talked about of course is again cooling issues. If however a system is properly cooled it can also help the system performance as well. Many cases also add a bit of flashiness to the PC as well. While in the past that flashiness mostly consisted of lights being configured around the case giving “cool” effects today some of the higher costing cases also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to add even more aesthetics to the PC. All of this flashiness comes at a financial cost of course but does it also come at a cost in performance?

Choosing the Right Gaming PC Components

I was looking at one of the cases recently that was presented at an Expo that looked absolutely amazing. This particular case made the PC look more like a Robot from the future than a PC which looked absolutely amazing. One of the nice things I liked about it was more from a Technician standpoint as with a push of a button the entire case opened up and revealed every internal component. I can say that as much as I love to work on computers I have a lot of experience with struggling to open certain cases. On other occasions I have worked on workstations that are so small that no matter what you do to open the work station up you're still working in a small confined space barely big enough for one hand let alone if you're in need of working with both of your hands. Having a case that is designed for those moments of a PC’s life where its being serviced is a refreshing aspect. Push a button and everything moves into a position for easier access. What could possibly go wrong.

Well there is actually something of a mathematical factor that goes into a case related to how much power that system has versus how much air movement is needed in the system. The higher the power the system has the more cooling the system needs. Whether that is solely through air movement or using another means of cooling all together it's still a huge factor. When you're talking about a workstation you're typically talking about a system that has little to no power within it which is fine because that plays directly into the true intent of that system. Workstations are typically only for employees to use at their desk, on the assembly line, or otherwise. These systems simply don't need a lot of power because they are very specific on what they are doing and typically the applications/programs they are running have low power demands or are utilizing power from servers and so on. That is the complete opposite of gaming machines however. Gamers push their systems hard with high end graphics being run over very fast network and processing functions. Processors are at times being pushed with some gamers even using over-clocking techniques to get even more power out of their processor than the processors manufacturer actually advertised the processor being capable of putting out. Unlike the corporate workstation, if a Gamer chooses a small case for that system air flow is going to be hampered which can put strain in the form of heat onto precious components such as the Graphics Card, Processor, and more.

Spend on Performance - Not Cosmetics

Therein lies my negative note on some of these fancy gaming PC cases hitting the market. In one example a case is an artistic marvel that is a cool looking robotic looking case. In another example the case is a perfect cube designed to look like it is straight out of Science Fiction. In the end however when the system cases are all closed up and running there is not a lot of space inside to encourage good efficient air flow. In one case some of the fans are actually partially blocked by other portions of the case which drops an already small fan down to about fifty percent air flow capacity. This is very troubling for a system intended for high end work loads such as gaming applications. Now admittedly the system was running a liquid cooling system but liquid cooling still requires fans to cool the radiators that the liquid cooling system requires. This is just like your Vehicle or home Air Conditioning system. As you're driving down the road you have to keep your vehicle's components cooled. Ultimately that is through liquid cooling which runs through various hoses around the vehicle. That liquid gets very hot as it “grabs” that heat from the engine and takes it to the radiator. The Radiator cools that coolant through air cooling from the air hitting the radiator as the vehicle drives down the road and through the use of a large fan. As the coolant is cooled by that radiator it eventually leaves the radiator hopefully cooler in temperature and goes back to the vehicle engine to continue cooling the engine. That is a simple breakdown of that activity and there is much more going on in that process than that but it is still the basic method of what is going on both in your vehicle and inside the liquid cooled PC. All that being said, if the fan in your vehicle had a large piece of debris or a lot of debris blocking the air from cooling the radiator your vehicle would likely begin to overheat. The same goes for that PC. With about fifty percent of the air being blocked by the case itself the cooling system is only working at fifty percent capacity at least from that fan. Under low operations of the system that may be enough but under heavy gaming applications that is going to cause the temperature to increase as system tasks continue to mount. Eventually the system performance is going to diminish and before too long the system will fail. That failure may be permanent for whichever component has finally died. Keep in mind as well that the longer a system runs hot will see its life expectancy also diminish.

What does this mean? Well just like when us Gamers are typically meticulously choosing our components for our latest gaming machine build we have to make sure we are equally meticulous as we examine that high dollar case. We need to make sure that air flow isn't being diminished by that highly expensive and fancy robotic case. Check out the cooling specs and look how the fans are directionally. Are the fans aimed in an odd direction that is blocked by solid portions of the case or other components. Sure it looks cool but let's face the facts. When I am playing a video game I am not even looking at the case of my system. My eyes are locked front and center of the gaming experience. So while a cool looking case is nice it's probably not going to win any points if it's not helping your gaming experience but is instead hurting that gaming experience. I guess the point is, don't spend a high amount of money on cosmetics and focus more heavily on things that are going to improve your gaming experience. Also remember, in most cases no one you're playing with ever sees what the machine you're playing on looks like but they can tell when your gaming performance has been hurt so buy something that improves performance and if it looks good then it gets extra points as well but shouldn't be your primary focus.

Walter Kiser - 10/25/2024

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