5 Ridiculous PC Cases You'll Want (But Definitely Don't Need)

For about as long as personal home computers have existed, they've generally stuck to a uniform shape: simple and rectangular. A rectangular PC case fits neatly on or next to a desk, and it's easy to pick up and move elsewhere should the need arise. Of course, part of the reason for that long-standing uniformity is that nearly all consumer-grade PCs were prefabs. In the modern age of homemade rigs, things have gotten a bit more ... abstract.

The obvious suspect when it comes to outrageous PC cases is RGB lighting, and indeed, plenty of builds can get a bit carried away with that. Some cases, however, take things a step further, overhauling the classic rectangular shape into something stranger and more avant-garde. While these cases may make for an interesting talking point, they're not really the best option if you are looking to make a sensible PC for yourself.

What do you think about when you think of super-advanced technology? Giant robots, right? Certainly, there is no shortage of homemade PC cases inspired by the mecha greats like "Mobile Suit Gundam" or "Neon Genesis Evangelion," but this particular case evokes the giant robot aesthetic without cribbing a particular robot's design. If you showed up to a LAN party with this thing, don't be surprised if your friends start calling you a tryhard.

The Antec Torque features a "high-octane" design with a forward-tilting profile. Don't ask us how, but apparently, this is supposed to make it better suited for performance-heavy builds. And speaking of heavy, this thing is covered in 14 aluminum panels, as well as two 4mm tempered glass panels on the sides, creating an image not dissimilar to Ripley's Power Loader in "Alien." If nothing else, it'd probably stay pretty steady in an earthquake thanks to its sheer weight and size.

Another hallmark of futuristic tech is minimalism, the kind of aesthetic you get from most Apple products, for instance. Of course, Apple products don't make for great gaming PCs, so how can we still attain the curvy, minimalist aesthetic? Well, have you considered a PC suspended a few inches off the ground with as few walls as possible? No? Well, worry not, because KEDIERS did it for you. You're welcome.

The KEDIERS C580 case uses a bizarre sideways sandwich design to suspend your PC parts in mid-air. All of the critical guts like the processor and GPU go in the middle and back of the sandwich, while the sides feature radiator fans protected by tempered glass windows. If, perhaps, you were looking to create a build with the express purpose of showing off its internals, this case might be somewhat helpful, but in practice, that kind of open profile means your parts will be constantly beset by dust and crud.

Remember how, in "Futurama," the futuristic version of Madison Square Garden was "Madison Cube Garden?" Good for a throwaway joke, but obviously, a cube propped up on a single one of its eight points wouldn't make for a very good staging ground compared to something flat. Well, apparently someone at AZZA didn't think of that, because they wanted a Madison Cube Garden to call their very own.

The AZZA Regis 902 is a near-perfect cube-shaped PC case, propped up on one of its corners by a small stand on the bottom. The front features an RGB infinity light, using mirrors to create the illusion of an endless illuminated abyss, while the sides feature glass panels to show what's actually inside the case. If it was placed on its side, it'd be a perfectly normal case, if not a somewhat flashy one, but the insistence on propping it up as it is just makes us quizzically tilt our heads at a similar angle.

There are certainly a lot of geometric shapes one could conceivably base a computer case on, but the reason that it's usually a rectangle is that a rectangle both sits flat and offers plenty of surface area for ventilation. If, however, you had the weirdly specific inclination to make your PC look even more monolithic than a rectangle would, then the other obvious shape to turn to would be the ancient pyramid.

The AZZA Pyramid is exactly what it sounds like. It's a pyramid-shaped PC tower. Rather than mounting parts on the inner wall like a rectangular case would, the Pyramid has them stacked up in a big-to-small ascension, plus a ventilator fan near the top. The base is wide enough to accommodate just about all of your usual parts, though whether your desk is wide enough to accommodate it is perhaps another discussion. If nothing else, this case is probably helpful for users who have problems with their cats napping on top of their PCs.

Certain hardcore PC gamers like to affectionately refer to their PCs as their "battle stations," though that's more of a nod to the spaceship bridge crews you'd see in shows like "Star Trek." Perhaps you would like that moniker to be a bit more literal, however. In this case, the only real course of action is to transform your PC into a tiny tank. Of course, the answer was staring us in the face all along.

The EEKBNEJQ Tank is a PC case shaped like a tank, gun turret included. Don't worry, the turret doesn't actually shoot anything. Rather, the main focus of this case is cooling and ventilation. The "treads" on the sides of the tank are actually fans and paired with additional fans on the top, it boasts a "three-dimensional air supply," according to its store page. There's even a digital thermostat on the front to track the internal temperature minute-to-minute. It's kind of ironic, as real tanks are well-known for being absolutely sweltering on the inside.