All about your Computer Case

Our guide will help you demystify your computer.

The Computer Case is probably one of the first things you should think about when building a new PC, they also can be relatively cheap. Apart from the physical size or shape of the case there are two types of case available, the older AT case and the newer ATX case. As the case comes with a power supply (PSU) its important to know what type you want and this depends on the motherboard you are buying.

Generally all new motherboards will be ATX, while some socket 7 seven boards could support both types of PSU, generally everything before this type of board will be AT. So if you have a 486 or an early Pentium chances are its an AT case. The Easiest way to spot an ATX power supply is the power plug for the motherboard will have two rows of pins, 20 pins in all.

Other parts of the case include a Full-Height Drive Bay to hold the computers CD-ROM, DVD, and CDRW drives, a Half-Height Drive Bay to hold the computers Floppy Drive, Hard Drive or zip drive. A new case will contain a speaker and various screws, feet and plastic stand offs to stop the motherboard from shorting out on the chassis.

There are a few variations of the ATX motherboard now days like micro ATX or Mini ATX which have fewer expansion slot to enable them to fit inside a smaller case. Boards like the new mini-ITX range are so small they can even go down in sizes that are smaller than your CD rom drive. These small footprint boards have really taken off with the home theatre PC enthusiasts some people have even jammed these boards into their car dashboard to enable them to play mp3s on the go.

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