Light the fires: TOP 5 computer cases with RGB lighting

Aerocool Cyclone is a damn stylish, high—quality, roomy and affordable computer case that has not been out of the top sales for several years in a row. It is made in the Midi Tower form factor, its interior space is divided by an L-shaped lid. The design of the case allows you to install an ATX motherboard, a graphics card up to 371 mm long and 7 coolers for cooling system components. All this fully allows you to record it in the category of gaming. And the possibility of installing water cooling hints at this.

In terms of design, Cylon is the complete opposite of gaming electronics. Nothing glows like a Christmas tree, does not stick out in different directions and does not shimmer in the sun with dozens of rainbow colours. The front part of the case is divided by a neat strip, in which a small RGB LED strip is mounted. It passes obliquely through the entire front panel, like a lightning bolt fired by Zeus. It looks both neat and stylish. Definitely, this is one of the most beautiful buildings in the category up to $100. Especially if you prefer a snow-white colour option.

The only drawback of the front acrylic insert can be called its unhealthy love of dust. Fortunately, a pair of dust filters under the power supply and on the top of the case can be easily removed and easily cleaned. As for the backlight, it can work in 13 modes and remembers the last one when you turn on the computer.

Sometimes it seems that the guys from Aerocool do not sleep, do not eat and do not watch Netflix series. All they do is develop new cases, release them to the market, and immediately start developing again. At least, no case manufacturer has saturated the market with so many high-quality and at the same time affordable models.

Aerocool Ore Saturn is a universal Midi Tower case with good basic equipment, interesting design and sensible ergonomics. On the front wall there are three 120-mm turntables at once, which blow out excess hot air through the mesh front panel. That is, at first the owner of Aerocool Ore may not think about ventilation at all. And when the time comes, it will be possible to add 3 more turntables with a diameter of 120 mm to the case, and 2 of them will hide in the lower part of the case and will serve to blow out a massive graphics card. The only disadvantage of the design is that there was not enough space in the case for the fan in the upper part. Well, the latches for attaching the transparent side panel came out unsuccessfully.

Front-mounted coolers have static RGB backlight. With active cooling, when the coolers are spinning at full power, the turntables look like rings of fire. That's it, backlight synchronization is not supported. Such a design is now in fashion. All power, volume and connection controls are traditionally placed on the front panel. There you can also find a built-in card reader, which is rarely found in inexpensive gaming cases.

The line of N5 cases from Zalman includes quite advanced ATX models, mainly designed for the assembly of high-performance gaming PCs that require powerful cooling. So on the front panel of the case, three stock turntables with a diameter of 120 mm are already pre-installed, another one is hidden at the back. The total number of coolers can reach up to 8 pcs. According to the current fashion, the 3 front coolers are in the most prominent place under the transparent panel and when the backlight is turned on, they create the illusion of large luminous rings.

Since the case belongs to the average price category, in order to save money, the manufacturer used 3-mm acrylic instead of the usual glass for the side view window. Otherwise, the build quality and thoughtfulness of the Zalman N5 MF internal device deserve a solid five. The black-painted metal looks expensive and strong, nothing plays and does not hang out, the ventilation channels in front and on top are equipped with removable dust nets. It is convenient that the speed controls of the impellers were taken out to the main control panel, and did not hide it in a hard-to-reach place behind the case.

Other advantages of the model include a well-thought-out layout, which loosens your hands at the beginning of the assembly process. A motherboard of any popular format (ATX, microATX, Mini-ITX) is placed on the pallet, the power supply is hidden in the lower compartment, 6 internal compartments are allocated for drives, and cables can be hidden inside the case using a hidden broach system. Only the narrowed openings of some cables can bring minor inconveniences. It will take a little tinkering to properly "pack" the power cables for the same processor.

Deepcool Matrexx 70 is a stylish, massive and far from the cheapest computer case with address illumination, which is positioned by the manufacturer as "a new concept specially designed to enjoy self―assembly." The Deepcool Matrexx 70 layout pays tribute to modern fashion, when 5.25 compartments are sent to scrap, and 3.5-format trays are hidden under the power supply casing to free up more space inside. Thanks to this approach, inside Matrexx, the user can install a full-format E-ATX motherboard and a massive graphics card up to 380 mm long.

For comparison, most cases of this class are limited to standard ATX motherboards and video cards up to 360 mm long. What is even more convenient, the video adapter can be placed both horizontally and vertically. Also, a processor cooler up to 170 mm high and a power supply up to 200 mm in size can be installed in the case. However, in the latter case, it will be difficult to lay wires. As for the pleasure of self-assembly, it seems that we are talking about knurled screws and additional racks for mounting.

Four regular fans of different types are pre-installed inside the case, which is not very convenient. The three main turntables are placed on the front panel and are equipped with address illumination, which creates the illusion of three glowing circles during operation. Additional illumination is hidden on one of the sides under the power supply. We have already seen this approach to illumination a thousand times, so the guys from Deepcool went to the trick by using additional glass inserts inside the case, which mirror the internal glow in an interesting way. Especially for the harsh Scandinavian gamers, Deepcool has released a classic black version of Matrexx 70 without backlight and at a more affordable price. Still, by the standards of Deepcool, this version turned out to be somewhat more expensive than expected.

Computer platforms from the German company Be quiet are popular and high—quality solutions on the basis of which you can build a good performant PC. Specifically, this modification is distinguished by a solid interior space, thanks to which it will be possible to install processor cooling up to 190 mm high and a graphics subsystem up to 369 mm long inside the Midi Tower case. And 258 mm is allocated for the power supply.

If the case seems familiar to you, then it is. This is a modified version of the most popular Pure Base 500 model, to which an observation window was screwed, and the plain glossy facade was replaced with a mesh panel with a neat LED strip in the centre. In the advertising booklets, the manufacturer does not focus on RGB illumination, but on a monophonic warm lamp light, which gives this case a thoroughbred vintage look. Associations are not suggested with other PC cases, but rather with vintage receivers and amplifiers.

The main advantage of the case is its noiselessness. No wonder these guys called themselves Be quiet. Thanks to the use of noise-absorbing coating, vibration-absorbing gaskets and branded Pure Wings 2 coolers on screw bearings, Pure Base 500DX provides an impressive level of acoustic comfort. The insides of the PC can be heard only if a whole pack of coolers is running inside at maximum rpm. Thanks to the perforated front panel, hot air freely exits the case, and the graphics card with the processor does not heat up as much as in a conventional Pure Base 500.