If you’re building a budget PC and you need an affordable case to put it inside, in this guide, we’ve rated and reviewed seven of the best budget PC cases under $50 to help you find the right case for your build.
If you’re looking to build a new gaming PC, but you’re working with a tight budget, the first component that you’ll want to scale back on is your case. While computer cases do play important roles in the cooling process, they won’t have as significant of an impact on your system’s performance as your other components will.
And, for the most part, you can get adequate cooling and airflow out of a cheaper case. So, while certain cases might lure you in with their aesthetics, the reality is that you’re going to be able to build a more powerful system if you minimize the amount you spend on your case and allocate the savings to more important components (like your processor, graphics card, and RAM).
Fortunately, though, spending less on your case doesn’t mean you can’t get a nice-looking chassis that has decent airflow. In fact, there are quite a few different cheap PC cases that will give you enough room to house just about any single GPU setup and there are plenty of nice-looking options as well. And, in this guide, we’re going to take a look at seven of the best budget PC cases under $50.
Table of Contents
1. Quick-Look: Top Budget PC Cases
3. Airflow Pick: Fractal Design Focus
4. Tempered Glass: Raidmax ZETA
Quick Look at the Best Budget PC Cases
We’ve provided a quick look table below that highlights our top picks for the best budget PC cases across a few different categories. We’ve made our picks for the best overall case under $50, the best value option, the best budget case with a tempered glass side panel, and the best mini-ITX option.
|
|
NAME | SPECS | RATING | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
VALUE
|
 |
Cougar MX330-G |
|
/10 | |
|
AIRFLOW
|
 |
Fractal Design Focus |
|
/10 | |
|
GLASS
|
 |
Raidmax ZETA |
|
/10 | |
|
MINI-ITX
|
 |
Thermaltake Core V1 |
|
/10 |
*to read our overviews on each of the four cases listed above, simply click on the “Read Review” link to jump to our rundown on that specific case. You can also keep scrolling further down this post to find out three Honorable Mention picks.
Best Budget Case:
Cougar MX330-G
While we do like the Raidmax Zeta listed below, the Cougar MX330-G is an option that offers pretty much all the same features, but for nearly ~$10 cheaper. The MX330-G comes with a tempered glass side panel, a grilled front panel (to help with airflow), and a full length PSU shroud.
And, it gives you all that for just slightly over $40.
That’s a steal of a deal. And, if you didn’t think you’d be able to build a budget system that performs well and looks good, this case might just change your mind.
Its only downsides are that it isn’t quite as roomy as the Fractal Design Focus or Raidmax Zeta and it isn’t a Prime-eligible item on Amazon and, thus, doesn’t arrive as quickly. However, the 12.8-inches GPU clearance is enough to house even an RTX 2080 Ti. So, despite its smaller size, the Cougar MX330-G isn’t that limited in what can be put in it.
The bottom line, though, is that if you’re looking for a nice-looking case that you can build an affordable gaming PC in, the Cougar MX330-G will give you plenty of room, good airflow, and nice aesthetics, all for right at ~$40.
Affordable High Airflow:
Fractal Design Focus
Fractal Design’s Focus mid tower case is our pick for the best airflow option among cases under $50. The Focus comes in five different color schemes and will give budget builders a solid case that looks nice and will provide adequate airflow for their components.
The Focus can support graphics cards up to 15″ long and CPU coolers as tall as 6.5″. With 15″ of clearance for the graphics card, that means the Focus can house pretty much any graphics card currently available.
It can also support radiators in three different locations across the case (front, top, and rear) with the ability to hold a radiator as long as 280mm (on the top of the case). So, if you want to put an AIO cooler in this case, you definitely won’t be lacking for options that will fit inside of it.
As it is a mid tower case it can hold standard ATX motherboards, and it also supports micro-ATX motherboards, too.
Ultimately, for just under $50, the Fractal Design Focus comes with the room, clearance, and airflow necessary to house a high-end gaming computer. So, if you are looking for a budget-friendly case that you can use to build a solid system with, or a case that you can grow into in the future, the Focus is a solid option that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Budget Tempered Glass:
Raidmax ZETA
Most budget PC cases don’t get a lot of love, but Raidmax’s ZETA is probably an even lesser known option. However, it is one of the best budget PC cases under $50 out there. Its biggest feature is probably its tempered glass side panel as you typically won’t find tempered glass on a case in this price range.
It also has a grilled front panel to help with airflow and a full length PSU shroud to help hide the excess cables that will be left over if you choose a non-modular power supply.
For clearance, the Raidmax ZETA can hold graphics cards as long as 15.4″ and CPU coolers as tall as 6.5″. It can also hold radiators as long as 360mm (on the top of the case), so you can fit just about any AIO cooler currently available in this case, too.
Overall, for just under $50 you get a nice-looking case that has a tempered glass side panel, a full length PSU shroud, and enough clearance to house a high-end gaming system.
Budget Mini-ITX Case:
Thermaltake Core V1
Another Thermaltake case that comes in under $50 and is worth mentioning is the Core V1. The Core V1 is a mini-ITX case and it was also one of our choices for the best cube-style cases as well.
Despite its compact size, it can still hold graphics cards that are up to 11.2″ long and CPU coolers that are up to 5.5″ tall. So, while you can’t fit a longer graphics card in this case, or a taller heatsink, there are plenty of low-profile graphics cards and low-profile coolers that will work with it. In fact, you can fit a mini RTX 2070 inside of the Core V1, which means you won’t be limited in the kind of gaming-specific system you can build in this case.
Again, the case is a mini-ITX form-factor so you will only be able to fit a mini-ITX motherboard inside of it.
In the end, if you don’t have a huge budget, but you still want to build a small form-factor gaming PC, the Thermaltake Core V1 will allow you to do so without having to spend a ton of money on your case.
Honorable Mention #1:
Aerocool Cylon
Much like the Raidmax ZETA, the Aerocool Cylon is a bit of a lesser known option. Both Aerocool and Raidmax are established PC hardware brands, but they don’t have quite as much name recognition as the more well-known brands (Cooler Master, Thermaltake, NZXT, Corsair, etc.) However, like the Raidmax ZETA, the Cylon is another solid option in the under $50 price range. It comes with a full-length PSU shroud, an acrylic side panel, and an RGB strip on the front panel of the case that stretches from the bottom of the panel to the top of the panel.
It can also hold graphics cards up to 14.6″ in length and CPU coolers up to 6.1″ in height. And, it can house radiators as long as 240mm on the front of the case.
The case has a really nice-looking design, but the one downside is the lack of ventilation on the front panel. It does come with the option to install two 120mm fans on the PSU shroud to help remove heat from your graphics card, though, but the solid front panel won’t allow for as much air intake as you might want.
Still, though, this might be the best looking case under $50 when all things are considered. And, it is the only option on this list to come preinstalled with RGB lighting. So, if you prefer aesthetics over airflow, this wouldn’t be a bad option.
Honorable Mention #2:
Thermaltake Versa H15
Thermaltake’s Versa H-Series is a solid lineup of budget-friendly cases. We’ve provided a picture of the Thermaltake Versa H15 above, but the Thermaltake Versa H17 is a good option as well.
The H15 is a micro-ATX case that offers GPU clearance up to 12.4-inches long and CPU cooler clearance up to 6.1-inches tall. The H15 also comes with a grilled front panel to help increase airflow coming into the case.
One of the downfalls of the H15, though, is its price. At ~$45, it is more expensive than the Cougar MX330-G and only a few bucks cheaper than the Fractal Design Focus and the Raidmax Zeta, despite those cases offering more interior room and better features.
However, the H15 used to be available for just over $30. And, if it were to return to that pricetag, in our opinions, it would offer a ton of more value.
For now, though, there’s no reason to choose the H15 over an option like the MX330-G.
Honorable Mention #3:
Masterbox Lite 3.1
We did a review on the Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 3.1 a couple of years back and we were impressed by it. Despite its smaller form-factor (it’s a micro-ATX case), it can still hold video cards up to 15.0″ long and CPU coolers up to 6.2″ tall
It also comes with a fully transparent acrylic side panel, too. Its front panel isn’t fully ventilated, but there are grills on the top and bottom of the front panel to allow some air in. The case also comes with three different options for the front-panel trim pieces (red, white, and blue) and you can 3D print additional trim pieces in any color you want.
The biggest downside of the MasterBox Lite 3.1, though, is the fact that for what you get, there are competitors that will offer a similar case for a lower price (the Thermaltake Versa H15, for instance).
Will A Budget PC Case Work for Your Build?
While you might be tempted to spend more on your case, if you’re trying to build a budget gaming PC, you might be sacrificing overall system performance for a nicer-looking case. However, any of the budget-friendly PC cases listed above will help you get a solid overall case that will still keep you under budget. So, if you need a cheap PC case for your upcoming build, one of the options above should work for you.
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kitekrazy says
Pretty odd you mention graphic cards and coolers in inches while most specs by the manufacturers are in mm.
Peedee says
It would be nice if you mentioned the availability of external ays for DVD or bluray drives.
Caedon Blough says
Hello I am considering getting into pc gaming and I have chosen to create a custom build that I will add to after a while what do you think is a good sturdy case that will last me 5-6 years?