ASUS Launches Slick A31 PC Cases With Hidden Connector Support And Great Pricing
Jokes aside, the A31 really is a crazy nice case for eighty bucks. It's a full ATX design with seven expansion slots, it has wrap-around tempered glass, support for "Back to Front" (BTF) connectors mounted on the back of some motherboards, and a heavily airflow-optimized design to compensate for the front and side glass panels. It can mount radiators up to 360mm in length and supports graphics cards as long as 38cm.
Despite all of that, the A31 is relatively svelte at 20 inches deep and just nine inches wide. It comes with removable dust filters, and ASUS claims the 8° angle at the bottom improves cooling performance, not just looks. For front panel I/O, you get one USB-A 5 GBps header and one USB-C 20 Gbps header, as well as the usual audio jacks. There are two drive bays that can accept 2.5" or 3.5" disks, which isn't many, but most builds are all M.2 these days anyway.
The A31 comes in both black and white variants, and if you don't intend to use a radiator, or if you're just really lazy about mounting fans in your PC, there's a "Plus" version of each that come with four pre-installed ARGB fans. The price difference is about $35, which is honestly what you'd pay at retail for four ARGB fans anyway, so it's not a bad deal at all.
ASUS emphasizes the amount of space behind the motherboard tray for cable management: 34mm. That's a fair amount of room to route your unsightly power and SATA cables, if need be. Of course, if we were doing a new build in such a beautiful box, we'd stick to a BTF motherboard. If you're keen on ASUS' glass case, you can pick them up right now at Amazon:
- ASUS A31 Black ATX Mid-Tower PC Case: $79.99 at Amazon
- ASUS A31 White ATX Mid-Tower PC Case: $81.99 at Amazon
- ASUS A31 Plus Black ARGB Mid-Tower Chassis: $113.53 at Amazon
- ASUS A31 Plus White ARGB Mid-Tower Chassis: $113.42 at Amazon
