Тұғырлы компьютер корпусы түрлері

Computer case that stands vertically upright

In personal computing, a tower unit, or simply a tower, is a form factor of desktop computer case whose height is much greater than its width, thus having the appearance of an upstanding tower block, as opposed to a traditional "pizza box" computer case whose width is greater than its height and appears lying flat. Compared to a pizza box case, the tower tends to be larger and offers more potential for internal volume for the same desk area occupied, and therefore allows more hardware installation and theoretically better airflow for cooling. Multiple size subclasses of the tower form factor have been established to differentiate their varying heights, including full tower, mid tower, midi tower and mini tower; these classifications are however nebulously defined and inconsistently applied by different manufacturers. Although the traditional layout for a tower system is to have the case placed on top of the desk alongside the monitor and other peripherals, a far more common configuration is to place the case on the floor below the desk or in an under desk compartment, in order to free up desktop space for other items. Computer systems housed in the horizontal "pizza box" form factor — once popularized by the IBM PC in the 1980s but fallen out of mass use since the late 1990s — have been given the term desktops to contrast them with the often underdesk situated towers.

Tower cases are often categorized as mini tower, midi tower, mid tower, or full tower. The terms are subjective and inconsistently defined by different manufacturers.

Full tower cases, typically or more in height, are designed for maximum scalability. Some full tower cases included locking side doors and other physical security features to prevent theft of the discs inside those bays. However, as modern computing technology has moved away from mechanical hard drives and optical drives toward solid state devices such as USB flash drives, solid state drives (SSDs), large capacity external storage, and cloud storage, such an abundance of internal and external drive bays is less common. More recent full tower cases instead only have one or two external drive bays, or none at all, with the internal bays moved elsewhere in the case to free up room and improve airflow. Since the 2010s, full tower cases are commonly used by enthusiasts as showpiece cases with custom water cooling, RGB LED lighting, and tempered glass or acrylics side panel. They may also hold two motherboards (as is the case with the Corsair 1000D) and dual power supplies (Corsair 900D).

Mid tower cases, usually between and in height, are the most common form factor of personal computer towers. Before the late 2010s, mid towers contained between three and four 5.25 inch drive bays and an equivalent number of 3.5 inch bays to house optical disc drives, floppy disk drives and hard disk drives, leaving just enough room for a standard ATX motherboard and power supply unit. Other times the term may be synonymous with mid tower.

Mini tower cases, between and in height, slot between the Mini ITX specification for small form factor PCs and the archetypal mid tower. Mini towers typically will only accommodate microATX motherboards and for this reason sell in fewer numbers in the consumer market than the other size classes of computer towers. Traditionally, mini towers had only one or two disk drive bays (either 5.25 inch or 3.5 inch).