I'd just get a clean and simple case. No view inside. :) Maybe wait for the 8th gen.. that is almost out. :)

You are building a ryzen system? Yeah.. for price perf it is "fine." But the Vega (unless crypto mining) isn't worth it. That is 1070 perf.

review by digital foundry: (ie, get a 1080ti :) )

My next build i want to try a micro case, right now i'm rocking a full tower with a side view and it is freaking huge. Performance > design for me, so i would probably spend most my money on processor and gpu.

A functional black box.

You've set your poll without the option to pick all that apply.

Personally I would go as minimalistic as possible. Something along the lines of an Apple product or the Xbox One S.

Black monolith.

Minimalist as possible. I like black boxes with a simple on/off button, some USBs on front/top and a headphone/microphone jack on front/top with my USBs. I also like my machines to be as quiet as possible.

I don't want it to be ugly but as uncomplicated as possible is best. Black is a good color.

If I'm allowed to cannibalize parts (like video card) from my current PC then I'd spend most of this free money on a fancy new monitor.

I wouldn't go for any LED's or case windows or anything like that. If I had the option and resources I would like to get a desktop case (that is a horizontal case rather than a vertical tower, and preferably in a somewhat small form factor) with wood paneling however. Nothing too crazy like what you'll find in computer builder forums where they build the entire case out of wood, just a black metal case with wood panel sides, somewhat like an Atari 2600, and I'd be happy.

My second choice would be building the entire computer into a keyboard case like an Amiga, and I guess the majority of the money would be spent on finding specialized low profile GPU's and such that would fit in such a case without making it too bulky.

For $2500, I would build a black monolith and put some mean fucking hardware inside. Any leftover cash would go towards a monitor, desk, or sound system.

I've been considering a mini-itx build using my older amd fx8350 and ddr3 to put under the tv but it seems like a waste of time and money. thought it would be fun to do a small, compact gaming build, though! So probably something along those lines but the best balance between size and power for the price.

I'd pocket $1500 of those dollars and spend the other thousand on solid parts that wouldn't break easily.

The rate at which graphics realistically are improving has slowed so dramatically in the last five or so years, I can get by quite easily with yesterday's parts for another four or five most likely. I don't see it ramping up quickly anytime soon.

Someone please build a brutalist PC just so I can see how that turns out. I'm thinking the case would just be a block of concrete.

• Spare design
• No lights
• Industrial aesthetic
• Unicorn butt sparkle peripherals
• Good cooling?
• A theme in mind, but not carefully designed
• You can't see inside and the case is under the table

At that price, I'd definitely have a 4K gaming machine that can also handle recording and maybe streaming with OBS without a hitch. But, my current PC is lit with an NZXT HUE+, a Strix 1060, and I plan on buying a Corsair Strafe or K70 later down the line, so I gotta have some RGB flashiness with lighting schemes that match my desktop wallpapers. A black box tucked in a corner somewhere is too boring. Also, I need a case the supports optical internal disc drives and internal SD card readers. Frankly, haven't seen a case that check all the boxes other than my current Rosewill Blackhawk.

So, long story short: I need a mix of performance and style.

Function over form, also monitor or not? If you are really going for top of the line performance item that $2500 doesn't go very far. Cooling and acoustics might be the secondary target.

I don't care what my PC looks like, I care how the games I play run on it. So I'd put that money into performance

I just want a solid black monolith. No RGB lights, no stickers or anything.

I have a very quiet case with no lights and no visible fans that I'll continue to use for my next PC. I want a quiet PC that I can forget is there. It's all about the parts inside. My PC does sit about 2 feet away from my face though and at eye level.

Linus Tech tips, did and extremely catastrophic build with this same paint I bought for my case. I will not be using my paint as [cough] extensively as they did.

My hope is to spray the inside and outside of my case with this extremely flat, extremely mat paint. I want it to not have any light reflections from the case itself reflecting back other lights. It my thought that with the inside of the case not reflecting as much light, the lights will look a bit more stark.

The plan is to paint just the case, fan shrouds, and possibly some other no heat/eletronics sensitive parts. The idea is not to have zero color, but rather to make the parts that are colored/shiney or have more "pop".


The paint form CulturalHustle arrived today and was rather inexpensive even when shipped to the US. It took 12 days, but I have it. I just need away to spray it, I think the worst part of Linus's build was they were very sloppy with the paint. They trying to use brushes instead of spraying. I want a very even texture with as few bumps as possible.


My current system is neatly wired, with a narrow range of colors of mostly red & black. It has not overall theme or look, it was trying to evoke by I did name it Dr. S, Maturin - a literary allusion that is only interesting to me. It would be deemed, by anyone who saw it, as a 'very typical' computer built in 2014.

I keep my case closed (it is also under my desk built in a special part of the wall.) But the really dumb RGB stuff makes me smile when i open it. (yes, it is messy because normally it isn't seen)

If sparkle is your thing.. then go for it. :)

The cheapest case that fits all the parts I need, with only as much cable management as necessary to make sure the thing runs right and doesn't catch on fire. Aesthetics are overrated.

I've had this PC since 2009 and it's still fine for what I use it. I can't say for sure what I'd do. With that budget I'd have more options open to me, I've been pretty price conscious in the past. This poll is a bit too deep for me to even approach as someone who hasn't really stepped foot in the world of designer PCs. I went with hide it under a table.

I'd love if it could just shove my PC into a closet and never ever look at it again. Just pipe an HDMI cable around and call it a day. Unfortunately heat and dust minimize that possibility. I prefer a quiet machine over looks.

My friend, when he was building his house ten years ago, set his house up with a server closest. Most the rooms were wired with CAT5e, but I think only the master bedroom and office had more than one drop. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even use the network as designed, with a server; but it was a nice idea to put the wires in.

I really dislike today's "enthusiast" PC design aesthetics. I want a real sleeper case: the hottest PC in the beigest box. But no-one makes beige PC cases with modern enthusiast features like cable routing, or extra fan slots, etc.

I built my first computer this year. I was primarily motivated by parts. However, the case I went with was this big ass white case from NZXT. After that, I started searching for some parts that also happened to be white. Besides that, that's pretty much it.

I would buy one of those big cases from Calyos which are basically giant radiators which means no fans at all.

I really hate it when they put RGB lighting in every high end part.

As few lights as possible and as quiet as possible. I don't want to see or hear the bloody thing, I just want it to haul ass on some video games with a minimum of hassle.

I've got to get saving for my next machine. Mine is becoming a Frankendinosaur. I had to order a new PSU fan because my current one periodically makes horrible grinding sounds. This same machine has run Windows XP (briefly) 7, 8 and 10, had 2, 4, 8 and currently 16 gb of RAM running between 1066MHz and 1600MHz, has had two different CPUs, two different mainboards (that was fun, my windows installation somehow survived the change, it probably helps I kept the same socket/chipset) five different graphics cards and contains two HDDs ten and 8 years old, and two SSDs three and one year old. All in the same case. Oh, and I updated the PSU once when I got a video card the old one couldn't handle. I'm currently using every single plug on my PSU. Oh, and dual 1080p monitors. I'm amazed the thing hasn't caught fire. The CPU got up over 100°C once when my heatsink got clogged with dust. That was a few years ago. It's still trucking.

@monkeyking1969: yea, i've been wanting to do that, but it's just so low on my list of remodel things. I've upgraded my wifi to a mesh network instead. A lot cheaper and works just fine so far.

The best case ever: Corsair 550D. The black monolith. Power and drive activity lights only. Sound-dampening interior. Dust filters. Cable routing. Tool-free. The only part where looks matters.

Interior peripherals: Don't care as long as the cables don't restrict airflow.

Cooling: Aftermarket air.

Theme: no theme, don't care. No one sees the inside but me when it's time for a dusting. I just want the best parts to crush games.