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Despite being treated as the stepchild of the PC case family, some of the best micro ATX cases on sale right now are also some of the more flexible models. There are so many of the mATX PC cases that support multiple motherboard form factors from ITX and ATX sizes. Which makes it a very widely compatible form factor, apart from being a budget-friendly one too! Alas, it doesn’t get as much appreciation from the manufacturers, resulting in limited quality products.
Therefore, we have tried and tested a variety of computer cases aimed at improving your PC gaming cool. The computer towers that we have listed here are all evaluated equally on performance metrics and then subdivided among price ranges so as to make selection easy for you.
Listing The Best Micro ATX Cases To Build Your Own Gaming PC
Among the different PC case form factors, the Micro ATX motherboards are supported by full towers, mid towers, mini-towers and also some modular tower cases. And the capacity of your gaming PC in terms of drive bays, I/O slots, expansion choices, cooling solutions and GPU lengths all depend on the tower size. This means the motherboard form factor doesn’t directly limit your choices. But the tower case’s form factor that you choose will.
In fact, the micro ATX form factor is largely chosen when a DIY-er is on a budget and mini ITX cases are listed expensive. Even mini ITX motherboards cost higher than micro ATX ones, so it is an inherently cost-saver approach. Do keep in mind, however, that they are shorter than the ATX case standard albeit having the same width. Therefore, a micro ATX case is better suited for single GPU rigs.
Best High End MATX Computer Case
Corsair Crystal 280X Micro ATX Case
When it comes to casings, nobody does it better than Corsair, the new Crystal 280X RGB Micro-ATX Case is a very beautiful chassis which makes your life so much easier. With no tool installation, this gaming casing has two separate chambers for impeccable cable management and enhanced cooling solution.
Corsair defines the look of a gaming PC with its Corsair Crystal 280X RGB Micro-ATX Case, the beautiful 3 sections tempered glass along with dual chambers for ease of access and cooling, this case is for those who want to display their RGB to the max.
So Corsair is not a new name in the gaming industry, from cooling solutions to gaming hardware, their Crystal 280X RGB focuses on both aspects. The casing’s main highlight is the dual-chamber build for a cleaner and efficient look. It also allows for the casing to have better cooling for the components, with its left side to get maximum unobstructed airflow through the front fans. It also allows you to display your RGB lit components properly.
For the ease of installation, there is a removable door behind the case which has two removable trays for hot-swapping your HDD drives. When you open the non-tempered glass cover on the side, you can see a space for installing a full-size ATX PSU, along with extra 2 trays on the top-left for installing more memory drives. Since this section is completely cut off from the tempered glass-sided chamber, you can put your wires here without managing them if you wanted to and your rig would still look and feel clean. However, we are not suggesting you do that, cable management provides cooling efficiency. If you mount a fan in that chamber, the wires might not give a breathing space to the components nearby.
You can also mount a 240 to 280 mm radiator on the front, bottom or top to keep the CPU and GPU temperatures down. Or you can just mount 2, 120 mm fans in the front and 2 on the top for great airflow. The top, the bottom, and the front have removable air filtration pads, meaning your rig can remain dust-free and you can clean the filter if it gets too dirty. Speaking of the sections, the tempered glass on the top is removable through thumb screws, the same is the case for the tempered glass casing on the left, but the front panel cannot be removed.
The right side cover is a plain metal cover with a ventilated mesh panel on the bottom section on which a single 120 mm fan can be attached for cooling the PSU and hard drives. On the left side where the GPU and CPU you can attach a total of 6, 120 mm RGB fans. The casing has a Corsair RGB controller on the other side with the hard drives on which you can attach these 6 fans.
This casing is superbly made, even with its small build you can attach up to 2 graphics cards and still get enough breathing room for them. You can install a 300 mm graphics card with ease inside the case without clearance issues. If you get the RGB liquid cooler from Corsair, along with Vengeance RGB Pro RAM, you can get the best RGB experience from this case. This case is designed with gaming and gamers in mind.
Best Overall Micro ATX Case
Thermaltake Level 20 VT
It is true that there are comparatively fewer choices in the micro ATX form factor, but this computer case from Thermaltake is certainly at par with the quality standards. Its that type of a PC case that can turn any gaming setup into a notorious looking den!
If you look at the case, you will see tempered glass all over the body – four in total. Essentially, this means you get to show off everything from every side – an RGB enthusiast’s dream. There is enough space inside for you to fill it up with all your required hardware components and still add a few more, including as many RGB strips as you want.
What makes this a special case among our list is that it is highly modular. Those among you who have experience building their own PC before will know, being modular means you can rearrange how hardware is setup inside the tower case. Thermaltake Level 20 VT lets you dismantle the innards and then choose another hardware layout configuration.
The panels on the PC case are symmetrical on top, sides, and bottom, so you will have a variety of choices for the layouts. Do keep in mind, however, modular PC cases aren’t for the novice. You will need some level of experience successfully tailoring the case unless you want this to be your trial run into the DIY modular PC world.
As it is a cube-shaped design, the footprint is larger than your usual micro ATX PC cases. However, that also means you have greater space. Which in terms of mounting capacity translates into as many as nine fans! Not only that, there is enough space for up to four radiators, no limits on PSU sizes, and a good 13.8-inch graphics card support.
In line with the NZXT H400i, this one also doesn’t sport a 5.25-inch drive bay although it has a greater number of drive bays than the NZXT case. In total, you get three 3.5 and 2.5-inch bays each. The maximum size of CPU cooler and PSU is 185mm and 200mm respectively, which is fairly large.
There is a company that was named after the topic of noise produced by computer cases. So naturally, being quiet is a major aspect of your PC. Despite being larger than its peers, the Thermaltake Level 20 VT is impressively quiet. Its largest fan on the front doesn’t produce much noise and the glass helps dampening the noise further.
We’dc conclude to say that whether you make full use of its high modularity or just use it the same as other non-modular PC cases, there is a great range of storage options coming to you at a quality of build that is higher than the price tier.
Best Budget Micro ATX Case
Fractal Design Meshify C Mini
If you want an affordable gaming rig, the Design Meshify C Mini by Fractal is your solution to budgeted gaming. With great spacing for airflow, the Meshify C, as its name suggests, has a mesh front for maximum air passage, allowing you to be able to game even without a lot of cooling components installed.
The Fractal Design Meshify C Mini is a beautiful gaming chassis that is not only is affordable but smart as well. It has all the qualities of a gaming chassis, a tempered glass for showing off your gaming hardware, air filters for dust filtration and the front mesh with a diamond pattern to not only cool your hardware but look good while doing it.
It is hard to argue that gaming is expensive in these days, consoles have such a high price tag, but you can always slowly invest in a PC and get the experience while you continue building it. The Fractal Design Meshify C Mini is a chassis aimed at budget gamers who want the gaming experience yet cannot afford a lot of cooling solutions. It is because the Meshify C Mini has a great airflow capability that can allow it to cool down your hardware with just the stock fans alone.
The front panel is made of metal mesh, for maximum air passage, so even the one stock fan that comes included with the chassis can cool down your PC significantly. It also has a stock fan on the back, which acts as an exhaust. If you want you can add more fans to the top, the bottom and the front to create a super ventilated PC configuration. This way your CPU and GPU temps remain cool even if you are playing a game on high graphics settings.
The front, the bottom, and the top have dust filters on them, the top has a magnetic dust filter, without a cover, which makes it easy to remove, but this also means that if you attach two fans on the top, there is nothing to mask their noise. The same can be said about the front, the mesh design of the Fractal Design Meshify C Mini is for optimum cooling and unobstructed air passage. So this chassis was made for people who prefer performance over noise, as you know that a cool GPU and CPU can hit higher FPS without stutters from heating up.
The inside of the case is rather simple but has a very convenient design. It has a lot of space for cable management in the back, along with a PSU shroud to cover the PSU along with keeping the wires out of visibility for a cleaner setup. You can attach up to 6 fans in the Meshify C Mini, with 2 in front, two on top and two on the bottom.
With a price tag just below $90, we do not think you can find a better budget gaming casing, it saves you the cost on cooling solutions to invest in raw gaming power of a graphics card and better CPU.
Build Your Own PC
Apart from micro ATX cases, we have covered other form factors too including mid-tower cases. Building your own PC is all what a PC hardware enthusiast thinks of. But the whole shindig isn’t a walk in the park. Among the never ending list of PC components, you need nothing but expert opinion to pick what suits you best, be it case cooling fans, PSUs, graphics cards, wireless keyboards, gaming monitors, motherboards, AIO water coolers, headsets and even computer desks.