Horizontal vs Vertical Cases. What's Your Preference?

[VELKASE Michael]

This is a very general question.
Suppose you were given two functionally and visually identical PC cases. One is meant to be set up such that its longest side is laid horizontally, and the other case, vertically.

Which case orientation do you prefer? Would you prefer the vertical case because it takes up less desk space, or would you prefer the horizontal case for some other reason?

 

[miptzi]

Vertical for smaller footprint, always.

 

[Kooki]

I like vertical better.

It has overall smaller footprint and the ones I know of looks like a nice peace of furniture (debatable).

I was also going to comment on the easiness of reaching the computers "back" i/o, but it really depends on where you like your case to sit.

 

[confusis]

At a 45 degree angle

In reality, vertical.

 

[el01]

I would want flexibility for both: vertical for space saving and for carrying, horizontal for monitor stand and stability.

Or the case upside down

 

[VELKASE Michael]

That's an interesting point. Depending on the setup, it may be more difficult to reach around to the back of either a tall or long case.

 

[VELKASE Michael]

I would want flexibility for both: vertical for space saving and for carrying, horizontal for monitor stand and stability.

Or the case upside down

What a coincidence! I have a case that does all 3 of those things

 

[loader963]

Vertical 90% of the time. Only case situation I would want horizontal would be for my HT rack.

 

[neilhart]

I have a goodly size collection of project systems and they are all intended to be used vertically. However most of my projects also have feet attached to allow horizontal operation; this is usually for stability during maintenance and reconfiguration.

An example is my LOL seen here: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/my-lol-scratch-build.1981/

Neil

 

[DSmithBYU]

Horizontal.

My excuse: the S401 did not have enough bottom mounting screw holes for certain hard drives like the Hitachi He8. Positioning the case to stand could compromise my 8TB HDD and the 2/4 screws it held onto, so for now, my rig's set horizontally on top of a derelict Corsair Obsidian 250D.

 

[tinyitx]

Vertical.
Preferably tall and slender (something like Phanteks' Evolv Shift) with good airflow (no watercooling).

 

[ken]

Vertical for me. I like the small footprint.

 

[Phuncz]

Vertical. If I have a case horizontally, I'm probably working in it.

 

[TheHig]

I’m with Elon on this one.

“Boeing just took $20 billion and 10 years to improve the efficiency of their planes by 10 percent. That's pretty lame. I have a design in mind for a vertical liftoff supersonic jet that would be a really big improvement.”

Elon Musk

Horizontal= lame. Vertical = really big improvement.

 

[br3nd0]

Horizontal here....

 

[smitty2k1]

Depends on the aspect ratio. I find long skinny cases look better horizontal (and in my use case would serve as a HTPC in a media center) while more traditional computer shapes and cubes look better in a vertical setup (NCase M1 for example).

 

[TheHig]

Agree that proportions play a large part. I still run the S4M vertically next to my tv for Htpc/couch gaming out of preference. Looks really good on either orientation though.