Up For Debate - Preferred PC Gaming Rig Size

Written by Jon Sutton on Sat, Jan 17, 2015 2:00 PM

We’ve come a long way since the ENIAC PC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania. The world’s first digital computer, the ENIAC, took three years to build, occupied 1,800 square feet, weighed 50 tons, and used 18,000 vacuum tubes. With a clock speed of 100 kHz and just 200 bytes of memory, the ENIAC is now out-powered hundreds of thousands of times over by the mobile phone in your pocket.

Because of this power available in such small sizes we’ve got choice when it comes to our gaming PCs, more choice now than ever before. Up until around a decade ago practically all desktop PC gaming was synonymous with the classic ‘tower’ build, but now we’ve got a gaming market littered with microATX builds, Small Form Factor, Mini Towers, Cube Cases, Mid-Towers, and of course gaming laptops.

All the sizes have got their own particular uses, whether it be to house ginormous cooling systems or to sit comfortably in front of your TV. The demand for choice is the reason we’re seeing the influx of tiny Steam Machines, and gaming laptops are proving to be an increasingly emergent market. In fact laptops are a world unto their own, ranging from super-slim 11-inch devices up to monstrous 22” beasts.

One dominant reason why PC gaming remains so popular is choice. Choice in every respect of your gaming builds, in regards to power, price, size, and more. So what’s your preferred gaming PC build size and why?

What is your preferred gaming PC size?

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09:55 Jan-20-2015

I have the one in the image (to the extreme right).It's a BTX i think.not sure if its considered a Mid,Full or a mini.

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06:41 Jan-20-2015

I think that the mid tower is just perfect size. It equalizes space and portability. Probably because I am gaming in my little house on my desktop and when I take off the CPU and install it on the TV for 1080p viewing... :D

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13:12 Jan-19-2015

Cube case (Mini-ITX) :P

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11:09 Jan-19-2015

Cooler Master Storm Trooper is the best case I've owned so far :)

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08:47 Jan-20-2015

nice name! =D
cooler master storm trooper
do you have a link?

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09:19 Jan-20-2015

Yes buddy, here it is :)

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09:23 Jan-20-2015

soo sexehh xD
btw I'm thinking about Thermaltake Core V71 for planned X99 build :3

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09:08 Jan-19-2015

My preferred is a tower no bigger than standard ATX. However, I did an ITX gaming Build for my older brother which was a fun project. I particularly really like the idea of a small but powerful enough rig that won't occupy a huge chunk of space on your desk or floor.

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09:06 Jan-19-2015

for me, full tower is better for air flow!

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18:42 Jan-18-2015

Bigger the Better, I live my NZXT H440

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14:33 Jan-18-2015

I have a Cooler Master HAF 912 and it fits my MSI R9 270X perfectly (which is about a 10 inch GPU) with room to crossfire if I wanted to. Mid-Towers are good all-around IMO.

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11:43 Jan-18-2015

I have the Corsair Obsidian 750D and baby it looks fantastic!

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11:20 Jan-18-2015

Am I the only one around here with a console sized PC? (2.5L case) As a student living away from my family, it's the only way I can comfortably bring it with me.. No 1080@60 for me but I'm fine with 720@30, I find it perfectly playable xD

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10:58 Jan-18-2015

got a Thermaltake Dokker mid tower case here, cheap and effective :)


http://s29.postimg.org/f59b92es7/dokker.png

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09:56 Jan-18-2015

i have a mini tower right now buy my next pc is going to be a silent (maybe all passible cooled?) mini itx

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09:29 Jan-18-2015

Having a full tower case sitting in front of me gives a feeling of greatness indeed. Of course full towers are not about looks only. For me, my CM Trooper will endure any upgrades whether liquid cooling or a new mobo housing SLI configuration.

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06:25 Jan-18-2015

Did anyone doubt about the winner? Mid tower for me too.

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06:18 Jan-18-2015

Corsair Carbide spec 03 Red

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06:12 Jan-18-2015

Mini Itx and cube case is my favorites. :D

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06:09 Jan-18-2015

This is my first self-built PC, and when choosing the case I wanted 3 things; quiet cooling, good looks, and room for expansion. As such I came upon the Thermaltake Chaser MK-1.


Comes with 2 huge color-shift 200mm fans, with room for a 200mm door fan, 2x 140mm fans (one for rear, one up top) and a 120mm fan for the bottom. Since I'm somewhat OCD about things being as uniform as possible my bottom fan is actually a 140mm BitFenix fan that has both 140 and 120mm bolt holes.

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06:13 Jan-18-2015

It also comes with convenient USB3.0 on top, as well as a hot-mount HDD slot, allowing me to backup my OS drive and remove the backup drive so it's secluded from viruses or other failures.


As for looks, it's quite impressive, and the color-shift fans add a nice touch without being too flashy. Lastly, it has built-in theft deterrent in that it weighs 26 pounds right out of the box. Go ahead, just try to outrun me with this beast in your arms! :P

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05:24 Jan-18-2015

as big and as badass as possible. either i go big or small. no medium size for me:)

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07:54 Jan-18-2015

thats what she said :P lol

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04:09 Jan-18-2015

Fractal Design Core 2500 here and love it!

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03:53 Jan-18-2015

Well, i like maxed out graphics and performances i believe that Full towers are the most appropriate for that.

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Can They Run... |

| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i9-9900K 8-Core 3.6GHz GeForce GTX 1060 Gigabyte Mini ITX OC 6GB 32GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz Radeon RX 5700 PowerColor Red Dragon 8GB 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 4k
Core i9-9900K 8-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Asus ROG Strix OC 11GB 32GB
| 30FPS, Ultra, 1440p
Ryzen 5 2600X 6-Core 3.6GHz GeForce GTX 1080 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core 3.7GHz Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB 32GB
| 30FPS, Low, 720p
Core i3-2367M 1.4GHz Intel HD Graphics 3000 Desktop 4GB
| High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 2600 GeForce GTX 1070 Ti MSI Gaming 8GB 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
Core i7-7700K 4-Core 4.2GHz Intel HD Graphics 630 Mobile 24GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 30FPS, Low, 1080p
Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition 16GB
100% Yes [2 votes]
| 30FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3200G GeForce GTX 1050 Ti MSI Gaming X 4GB 8GB
50% Yes [2 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 2600 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gigabyte Gaming OC 6GB 16GB
100% Yes [2 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Asus Phoenix 6GB 16GB
100% Yes [4 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Core i7-10750H 6-Core 2.60GHz GeForce RTX 2060 6GB 16GB
100% Yes [2 votes]
| 30FPS, Low, 720p
Pentium Gold G5500 2-Core 3.8GHz Radeon RX 550 2GB 8GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ASUS ROG STRIX 11GB 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]