If you need to buy a new case, check out some of our favorite picks for the best airflow at various case sizes.
If you’re building a PC from scratch, one of the most important things to consider is how your case is going to impact how hot your hardware gets. With how powerful most modern hardware is, the internals of a PC can get very hot, and one of the only ways you can deal with that heat is to pump as much air through your case. Even CPU and GPU radiators work on a similar principle, relying on good airflow over the cooling fins to keep temperatures down as the hardware does its best to turn your PC parts into molten metal.
Of course, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different kinds of case designs coming from manufacturers, and it can be a bit hard to pick something that fits well for your needs. That’s why we’ve looked between all the best options and picked the best PC cases for airflow in various sizes, from full-tower ATX cases, to tiny Mini-ITX cases as well.
NZXT H7 FlowBest overall PC case for airflow
One of the biggest problems when it comes to airflow is getting cables in the way of it, which is why good cable management is important. The NZXT H7 Flow is designed around this concept, with a lot of channels and spaces for you to run cables and tie them to places so you aren’t blocking the flow of fans from every side. NZXT has also made the top panel open so that you can also take advantage of having airflow going in or out an additional opening, as well as just having extra space for radiators.
Speaking of which, the NZXT can handle quite a lot of them. The front and the top of the case can accept up to 360mm radiators, which is more than you probably need, so if you want to go for more fans, the front panel can also fit three 140mm fans if you want to go that route. You also get two NZXT F Series fans that come with the case, so you can save a bit on that, although if you’re looking to increase your performance, you’ll likely be getting some third-party ones.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that this is a very minimal design, which means you don’t get a lot of stuff for the I/O panel, just two USB-A and one USB-C port, and that’s it. Now, that’s necessarily a dealbreaker, but it is something to consider if you need to plug in a lot of stuff in the front of the PC.
Cooler Master MasterBox NR600Best budget PC case for airflow
While it’s not always easy to find a budget-friendly case that also has good airflow, the Cooler Master MasterBox NR600 does a relatively good job of it. It doesn’t have a good cable management system, which is certainly a shame, but it does have a top and front opening, which gives you a lot more airflow. That said, these are mesh openings, and there has been some anecdotal evidence that mesh screens disrupt airflow to some extent, although they do also help decrease the amount of dust that is sucked up into the computer, so it’s very much a matter of compromise.
Either way, you have a lot of airflow openings to work with, and in terms of radiators, you can fit two of them: up to 280mm in the front panel, up to 240mm on the top panel, and a 120mm one in the back which is often used for the CPU but will be a tight fit. You can also fit two 140mm fans or three 120mm fans in the front panel and either two 140mm or two 120mm fans on the top panel. So, theoretically, you could have up to six fans if you include the 120mm fan in the back panel.
As for what hardware it can fit inside, well, it can do both a Micro-ATX and ATX motherboard, a PSU with a maximum length of 180mm, and a GPU with a maximum length of 410mm.
