Big cases are great, but not everyone has the space or the inclination to deal with a full tower chassis. Mid-tower cases offer a great middle ground of form and function, without dominating your desk. Our favorite is the NZXT H710i, a modern iteration on NZXT’s classic formula, with attractive lighting, great cooling, and a well-thought-out design that incorporates cable management and temperature tracking.
But if that’s not to your taste, there are a number of other options we recommend, from ones that can fit an eATX motherboard inside, to cases designed with super-high airflow in-mind.
For a look at a wider range of cases in different sizes, check out our guide to the best PC cases.
The best mid-tower PC cases at a glance
- The best overall mid-tower PC case: NZXT H710i
- The best eATX mid-tower PC case: Dark Base 700
- The best mid-tower PC case for airflow: Cooler Master Mastercase H500P Mesh
- The best budget mid-tower PC case: Aerocool Cylon RGB
- The best quiet mid-tower PC case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 3
The best overall mid-tower PC case: NZXT H710i
NZXT’s H-line of cases have been firm favorites of ours for years now with at least one member of our team using them for their personal gaming rig at any one time. The NZXT H710i enjoys all the benefits of NZXT’s refinements over the years, and it does so at a price that’s far from excessive. It’s beautiful to look at, has great cooling right out of the box (with plenty of options for expansion), and enjoys modern connectivity with USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 in the front panel.
The H710i is available in pure black or with white and red accents, supporting motherboards of all sizes. From Mini-ITX all the way up to EATX, the H710i has space for watercooling radiators in both the roof and front-panel mountings — and even supports vertical graphics card mounting.
Unlike some cases, which ship out with only a single fan, the NZXT H710i comes with four fitted right out of the box, providing excellent air cooling to all of your internal components. They, and the two RGB LED strips that the case comes with, are all connected to NZXT’s Smart Device V2, which can be managed using the handy CAM software. It gives you fan speed control based on manual or automated triggers, and full control over the lighting, so you can make your PC internals look exactly how you like.
The best eATX mid-tower PC case: Dark Base 700
As much as our top choice does support eATX motherboards, there are designs better suited to such expansive boards. Dark Base 700 is such a case. It stretches the boundaries of what we would consider a mid-tower, but it’s still not quite as big as a full towers and has plenty of space for even the largest of motherboards, making installation and modification easy.
The side panel is entirely made up of tempered glass, so you have a great look at the interior of the system at all times. There you’ll find segregated sections for better control of thermals, and room for multiple drives, and cooling systems. There is space for as many as seven cooling fans, for maximum airflow, and there are three separate areas that can support up to 360mm radiators. There’s even a clever rail feature for quicker installation that lets you fit the radiator and fans into it before slotting the rails in.
Front I/O ports include USB-C 3.1 Gen 2, and USB-A, as well as headphone jacks. The Dark Base 700 also has a built in fan controller too, for easy cooling adjustment on the fly.
The best mid-tower PC case for airflow: Cooler Master Mastercase H500P Mesh
Most high-end desktop cases make sure that the internal components get plenty of air, but none do it in quite the same fashion as Cooler Master’s Mastercase H500P Mesh. It features two 200mm RGB fans in the front, both protected by a filtered mesh panel to ward off dust. That will guarantee an enormous body of air is constantly moving through your case. That should keep your components cool. More than that, the positive pressure it instills in your case should keep your internals cleaner too.
Other great features include a large, tempered glass side panel that’s secured with just a single thumbscrew, support for vertical graphics cards, and dual 360mm radiator mounting support at the front and top.
The Cooler Master Mastercase is not a cheap case, by any means, but you get a hell of a lot for your money, and it’s designed to be easy to customize and take apart, making this a great chassis for system builders, overclockers, and fans of enhanced cooling.
The best budget mid-tower PC case: AeroCool Cylon RGB
Budget cases don’t have to be terrible. In fact, some are excellent and offer even more value for money than their more expensive counterparts. Take AeroCool’s Cylon RGB chassis, for example. It’s an excellent mid tower case with an acrylic side window, RGB lighting in the front panel, support for liquid cooling, and has a good selection of I/O ports. It doesn’t have USB-C, but there are plenty of USB-A ports and a headphone and mic jack for good measure.
It has a segregated PSU mount for enhanced thermal control, supports all motherboard sizes up to ATX, and has space for some of the largest graphics cards in the world, despite its relatively compact size.
For around $50, there are few cases that can match this one at this size. The AeroCool Cylon RGB is a real diamond in the rough.
The best quiet mid-tower PC case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 3
While Nanoxia might not be as much a household name as some of the other company’s on this list, it still produces excellent cases. They’re geared towards one thing in particular. Silence. Not gently humming, not a comfortable wooshing — but absolute silence. The Nanoxia Deep Silence 3 is its best mid tower solution to that problem, and it’s a decent all round case, that would be perfect for audio producers, or anyone who wants zero distraction from their PC components and cooling.
The interior of the Deep Silence 3 looks a little dated, catering as it does to so many 5.25-inch drive bays, and lacking internal watercooling mounts, but what it lacks in modern convenience, it makes up for in quality of materials. The Nanoxia Deep Silence 3 has thick case panels and sound deadening material that makes sure that even with high-end components and powerful cooling systems, you shouldn’t hear anything once you’ve secured all the panels.
There’s also plenty of space for customization, with heaps of removable drive bays letting you fill this workhorse chassis with everything you need for a high-power, but quiet, system.
