Gadgetory

so gasps so the other day I was cleaning my room when I came across the very chassis I built my first-ever gaming PC with the Corsair graphite series 600 T for a moment I froze as a wave of nostalgia washed over me and that's when I realized my tried-and-true mid-tower was now over five years old but functionally speaking had enough time even past to make this case much different than present-day offerings and would it show any signs of age if I were to try building with it today my first impression was no but as I let the thought simmer I began to recall countless design changes we've seen take hold in the last half decade making it clear to me that this was a topic worthy of further exploration so today I have narrowed down four major updates but the average tower chassis has undergone in the last five years unsurprisingly the first area of transformation is rooted in aesthetics since 2011 the external appearance of popular cases has become increasingly minimalistic with straighter lines and sharper edges nearly bringing us full circle to a time when more people would build bootable cardboard boxes we've also seen a shift from cases being slathered with honeycomb mesh to solid paneling with side ventilation that creates an overall cleaner design while improving acoustics now one of the things that 600 T had going for it back then was that it featured one of the bigger side panel windows you could find that wasn't hideously shaped like some skewed bust of Gumby funny how awkward and small this window looks now with the explosion of LEDs infiltrating every internal component imaginable the demand for larger side panel windows to gawk at them through has skyrocketed and now we have cases that are basically just metal frames surrounded by glass speaking of which acrylic and plexi still dominate side panel windows by a stretch but the scratch resistance and sex appeal of tempered glass is rising it to popularity with every passing quarter the last major cosmetic transformation we're seeing more and more of is of course built-in RGB lighting it's still not on every flagship chassis out there but make no mistake this is only the beginning just as this guy now I wanted to save our next category for last but the impact it has on the chassis market is so huge it really sets the stage for the other areas will be discussing after so with that said what exactly would a modern-day mid tower be without copious amounts water cooling support yes the onset of a wide range of pollen one liquid coolers and the ever-present custom water cooling community have forced case manufacturers to rethink everything they know about case design to put things in perspective imagine how the community of today would react after learning that the radiator support of a new high-end mid tower was limited to a single 240 red triggered indeed these days it's not uncommon to find a multitude of radiator mounts inside a case often via those glorious mounting strips which facilitate optimal positioning and clearance compatibility when you consider all the built-in mounts for custom water cooling pumps and reservoirs it's hard to imagine the archaic world in which custom loop enthusiasts once lived a few shifting trends have also helped popularize the front mounted radiator the decreasing need for five and a quarter inch base remember those the increase in hard drive capacity and widespread SSD adoption the last two of which have allowed vendors to significantly downsize or find alternatives to the once adored hard drive cage without much scrutiny but segues nicely to the next big Reformation in case design which is drive configuration well you can still find modern cases with extensive drive cage solutions small bays housing two or three drives for the entire system have become just as prevalent I think fewer hard drives makes them easier to mount out of sight and that's exactly what vendors have done by placing them under the basement cover or opposite the motherboard this rings half true for SSDs as they to get mounts behind the motherboard tray in some cases but since society has deemed them more attractive than hard drives case makers have found ways to display them proudly with the rest of the cool-kid components hello so rounding out our list I can't think of a new design move in the last five years that's had a bigger effect on a cases internal form and function than the power supply shroud it may not seem like much but once manufacturers started covering up their power supplies everything changed apart from giving drives a new home as I just mentioned the shroud solved many frustrating issues such as hiding the heinous sticker on your 80 plus ugly unit assuming you never removed it and helping you forget that the premium sleeved cables going into your motherboard are just extensions harboring the ketchup and mustard filth that lies beneath then there's cable management quite frankly being able to blindly stuff 90% of my cables under the shroud made me a lazier cable manager when building in a case that has one but when I can put in half the effort in time and get twice the results I don't really care regardless of how you might feel about it compartmentalizing the basement offers a low-cost solution to a number of issues that have plagued pc builders for years we've seen plenty of fads come and go in the PC market but I would bet good money that the power supply shroud is here to stay I'm just amazed how long it took to catch on before we close out the video some honorable mentions that I couldn't find a place for on this list include the USB 3.0 front panel connector that replaced that god-awful pass-through built-in pwm fan hubs and one of my personal favorites captive thumb screws oh yeah if you guys would like to add anything let me know in the comments what changes you've seen in cases over the years and while you're down there do toss me a look on the video if you enjoyed it also check out my store this is your last chance to get that holiday discount so you can get cool stuff and use the money you save on more computer parts at least that's what I do as always thank you guys for watching subscribe and all that good jazz and a Happy Holidays happy holidays don't see for Christmas have a good one I'll see y'all in the next video that was the worst ending ever