Event Coverage

HardwareZone's 10th Anniversary Special

A Decade of PC Cases

A Decade of PC Cases

1998 was a magical year for casings. It was when people woke up from their dreary beige casings and embarked on a new adventure of beautiful casings thanks to an awakening by Apple's iMac. The Bondi Blue iMac showed non-IT savvy users that they weren't just limited to the beige casings imposed on them by manufacturers, they could doll up their systems if they were willing to spend just a little bit more.

Those in the know were already busy spray painting, cutting up their cases, using acrylic panels, or even finding ways to fit their computers into different shapes and sizes. These case modders, as they came to be known, made waves on the Internet as they wowed their viewers with their amazing designs and talent. There were even contests and exhibitions for custom cases where case modders would come to show off their entries.

While case modders continued to practice their crafts, an industry sprang up around the custom casing scene, with manufacturers themselves designing cases that looked good for those interested in better looking cases while not having the time to custom mod one.

Casings were generally made from SECC (Steel, Electrogalvanized, Cold-rolled, Coil) steel that till today, remains a constant staple for even modern cases. Other materials like aluminum, soon made their way onto cases, spurred on by casing manufacturers like Cooler Master and Lian Li, who continue to use only aluminum for most of their products.
 

 The Cooler Master ATC-200-MX, the first aluminum casing ever made way back in 2000.

Aluminum does have a drawback however, it is much more expensive compared to the cheaper SECC steel and tends to cost a premium. This has resulted in aluminum being targeted at users who don't mind splurging more for a more ideal looking rig, though hybrids featuring an aluminum exterior and a steel interior are available in the current market and offer a perfect balance of design versus cost.

Of course, consumers aren't just spending all that cash for just the metal alone; cases serve to protect the valuable innards of the computer system. With the evolution of motherboard sizes and other components of a computing system, cases too have evolved accordingly to house the smaller form-factor innards of certain configurations. From large tower casings to the smaller form factor of home theater PCs (HTPC), these cases continue to evolve to suit the needs of the computing ecosystem.

 Not all casings are made equal, as this Antec Fusion Media Center Case shows. Designed for HTPC use, Antec's little baby will fit right at home next to the entertainment deck.

While the last ten years hasn't really been an extreme evolution for cases, it's good to see how most modern cases (especially the larger ones) plan for most eventualities like water cooling and are designed around the idea of providing a smooth airflow for the heat requirements of today's components such multi-GPU configurations.

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