Chassis Couture: The 10 Snazziest New PC Case Designs From CES 2024

LAS VEGAS—Does your PC need a fashion makeover? Well, the summertime Computex Taipei trade show is the closest thing that the PC community has for a Paris-style runway for geeky DIY gear. But, some years, Las Vegas’ CES runs a reasonable second place in the race for peak RGB and the wildest hardware. And in 2024, new cases made a bright CES showing: We scoured the halls and suites and uncovered almost a dozen striking and fresh desktop-chassis designs to share.

Check out our two overall favorites from the show (In Win’s POC One, and Thermaltake’s The Tower 300) in our roundup of the best desktops and PC components. But those two were far from the only good ones in Vegas: Here’s 10 more designs that made us do double-takes.

(Credit: John Burek)

Cooler Master Qube 500 Flatpack Wood Edition

We reviewed the first version of the Qube 500 Flatpack last year and gave it major props in the form of an Editors’ Choice award. This PC comes unassembled and pops together in a short session of screwdriver work and snapping panels on. It makes for a fun project if you’re building a PC with your children, and anyone can swap out the panels for differently colored ones if they want some variety in their computing life. This version shown at CES replaces the pastel colors and more conventional options with prominent-grain panels made of recycled wood. No two will be alike, so not only will this case have some personality and natural warmth, you can say–in truth!–that your build is like no other.

CES 2024: Wood, Glass, and Liquid Cooling: Cooler Master’s PC DIY Gear

Cooler Master NR200P Vision

This compact breadbox-style case is an evolution of the existing NR200P model. Cooler Master will be offering this case in two plainer varieties, dubbed “V2”; this Vision model is the one to drool over, though. This Mini-ITX case is wrapped in curved glass, and behind the front panel is a recessed LCD display. Yes, it’s a glare magnet, but on it, you can display items like your playlists, the time, or crucial system stats. (Look at it as a lower-key version of an LCD-equipped case like the Hyte Y70 Touch.) The chassis also supports vertical GPU mounting and can take liquid coolers up to 280mm.

CES 2024: Wood, Glass, and Liquid Cooling: Cooler Master’s PC DIY Gear

Cooler Master TD500 Max

This tower PC case comes with a pre-installed liquid cooling system and power supply. That’s unusual by itself, and to be sure, rare among the PC DIY set. But the idea here is to position this case as super-easy to build into. To that end, it’s possible you may not need to even remove the right side of the case at all. The motherboard mounting tray has some unique built-in connectors that accept the power-supply inputs. Install your motherboard, mount the integrated cooler on top, and connect up your motherboard/power and front-panel cables. You shouldn’t have to flip back and forth between the main interior cavity and the narrow space behind the main board, which should give PC DIY first timers a lot less to worry about.

(Credit: In Win)

In Win F5

The F5 is the spiritual successor to the long-popular In Win 303, with some enthusiast-requested refinements. The top panel is now removable, and you can rearrange the decorative rectangles on the front to mix up the look. This is a dual-chamber design with the power supply behind the motherboard tray at the right. You’ll note in our picture the ability to mount a liquid cooler’s radiator vertically at the case top, fully exposing its fans to view, with airflow running crosswise out the right side of the case. Expect the F5 to cost $149 for the version shown here, or $169 in white with wood accents.

(Credit: In Win )

In Win Mod Free Mini

This case, a prototype at Computex 2023, is now getting real. The Mod Free concept (which In Win also offers in a much larger non-Mini form) is an assortment of modules that you can screw together to build a PC, much like building blocks, to accommodate your exact hardware. In this example using one of the latest AMD APUs, In Win created a light-duty gaming PC that won’t need a discrete graphics card. However, if you’d like to upgrade to a discrete card later on, you can bolt on another Mod Free Mini module alongside to house it. In essence, the case can grow with you. In Win will offer versions with mesh or acrylic panels, along with the striking wooden-slat design shown. This so-called “Timber” model will run you around $219. Wood I? Yes, I wood!

(Credit: John Burek)

ADATA XPG Invader X Pro

The midtower Invader X Pro is all about extreme internal visibility, with no structure in the way. The top and left side are a single piece of curved tempered glass, and the front panel is glass sheet, as well. The chassis has 11 fan mounts, with three pre-installed fans lining the right side of the motherboard tray and spinning in reverse. That spin trait means that these fans work as intakes, rather than as the exhausts as you’d expect, without requiring you to flip the fans around and muddle up the aesthetic. Down near the bottom of the case is a built-in LCD panel that lets you display short video clips or GIFs…just because. (You program the screen via XPG’s own software utility.)

(Credit: John Burek)

Thermaltake CTE E600 MX

This aquarium or terrarium style is common nowadays in PC cases, pioneered some years back by Lian Li and its O11 series. But Thermaltake spins a few special threads of its own. The CTE Form Factor (“Centralized Thermal Efficiency”) is the company’s name and design for rotated motherboard designs, in which the system ports emerge from the top of the case rather than the back.

The CTE E600 is available in the company’s new signature color, Hydrangea Blue, launched for the company’s 25th anniversary. (Black and white are also on the menu.) Thermaltake will issue a limited edition version of this case that has specific 25th anniversary branding just for 2024. It comes with dual front panels, so you can opt for a “pure glass” look, or you can replace the front face with mesh for better airflow. The case also features a redesigned vertical graphics-card mount (riser cable included), which elevates the card off the bottom of the case, giving you the clearance to install another brace of fans or a radiator down there. Expect it imminently at $179.99.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

MSI Pano M100 PZ

This MicroATX chassis is MSI’s inaugural effort in its Project Zero initiative, which aims to  banish all of the cabling from view inside your desktop. It doesn’t tear it all out, of course; instead, the cabling disappears behind the motherboard tray. To that end, the Pano M100 case works specifically with one of two MSI MicroATX “back-connect” motherboards, which have rear-facing power and header connectors. At the moment, those are a B650 and a B760 series board, giving you one Project Zero option each for AMD and Intel. The look is indeed clean and striking, and the effort involved is far less than routing and hiding cables around the interior in the traditional way. MSI will also offer an ATX version of the case this year, along with at least one ATX back-connect motherboard option. This could be the start of something…clean. (See our test build with Project Zero.)

(Credit: John Burek)

Corsair 2500X

Another entrant into the reverse-connection-motherboard sweepstakes, the 2500X accepts both MSI Project Zero and Asus’ Back to the Future (BTF) back-connector motherboards. This is a MicroATX chassis with a dual-chamber design. You get the option for swappable panels, and Corsair will offer it in a version with wood accents (a choice of walnut or teak finishes). Expect it at the end of February; pricing to come.

(Credit: Be Quiet)

Be Quiet Dark Base 901 Pro White

You’d think that a case with the name “Dark Base” by default would be black, and you’d be right; we reviewed the black Dark Base in late 2023 and found it an excellent option for hushed-up cooling and support for gigantic (420mm) radiators. The case was also a standout for the sheer number of ways you could configure and reconfigure it in terms of motherboard orientation, and more. The CES takeaway from Be Quiet? Now, the 901 Pro will be available in white. That wouldn’t be big news except for the sheer size of this imposing chassis, making it one of the better-looking premium white cases on the market. Look for it in March.