Whats the differnece between a Full-Tower and a Mid-Tower?

Full tower has more space in it for parts. Mid tower has less space for parts. Also full tower has more HDD spaces and cd/dvd drive spaces available. Overall full tower is bigger and has more space than the mid tower.
 
quintin3 said:
would the mid tower limit the types of cards i can put in it?
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No. The main difference between full towers and mid towers are the number of brackets for 3.5" and 5.25" drives. Full towers are considerably larger than your average case, which is why they're mostly just used for servers.
 
PohTayToez said:
No. The main difference between full towers and mid towers are the number of brackets for 3.5" and 5.25" drives. Full towers are considerably larger than your average case, which is why they're mostly just used for servers.
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Well I wouldn't say that, they are larger overall. The tend to be significantly taller then mid-size cases, but they are also a bit deeper/wider. There are a few video cards that won't fit into mid-size ATX cases due to the hard drive mounting locations and such.

And they aren't mainly used for servers, lots of enthusiasts who use liquid cooling choose full towers because they can fit the radiator, pump, reservoir, etc. inside.
 
pardon my lack of knowledge, but what is a server? are you refering to a server as in a game server or something different entirely?
 
MacBook said:
Well I wouldn't say that, they are larger overall. The tend to be significantly taller then mid-size cases, but they are also a bit deeper/wider. There are a few video cards that won't fit into mid-size ATX cases due to the hard drive mounting locations and such.

And they aren't mainly used for servers, lots of enthusiasts who use liquid cooling choose full towers because they can fit the radiator, pump, reservoir, etc. inside.
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If mounting locations interfere with a graphics card, then that's flawed case design. There aren't any gaming video cards that only fit in full tower cases.

And are you trying to say that you think that water cooling enthusiasts use more full tower cases than enterprise server manufacturers? I wasn't saying that full tower cases aren't ever used for personal computers, I was just saying that most of them aren't.
 
PohTayToez said:
If mounting locations interfere with a graphics card, then that's flawed case design. There aren't any gaming video cards that only fit in full tower cases.

And are you trying to say that you think that water cooling enthusiasts use more full tower cases than enterprise server manufacturers? I wasn't saying that full tower cases aren't ever used for personal computers, I was just saying that most of them aren't.
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There are quite a few high end video cards that don't fit into certain cases due to the case design, where the case was out before those video cards were released.

And no, I wasn't saying that more enthusiasts use full towers then enterprises, I was saying that full towers aren't mainly for servers.
 
MacBook said:
There are quite a few high end video cards that don't fit into certain cases due to the case design, where the case was out before those video cards were released.
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Just because a specific card doesn't fit into a specific mid-tower case, that doesn't mean that specific card wasn't meant for mid-tower cases. It means that specific mid-tower case wasn't meant to support card of that size. If you disagree, please just find me an example of a commercial card that is meant only for full-tower cases.

MacBook said:
And no, I wasn't saying that more enthusiasts use full towers then enterprises, I was saying that full towers aren't mainly for servers.
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Well then I think you're confused as the what "Mainly" means. Mainly... as in mostly, as in more.
 
PohTayToez said:
Just because a specific card doesn't fit into a specific mid-tower case, that doesn't mean that specific card wasn't meant for mid-tower cases. It means that specific mid-tower case wasn't meant to support card of that size. If you disagree, please just find me an example of a commercial card that is meant only for full-tower cases.



Well then I think you're confused as the what "Mainly" means. Mainly... as in mostly, as in more.
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I never said video cards weren't made for mid-size cases, I simply said that some cards have an easier fit in full tower cases.

I would bet that server's aren't covering over 50% of the full tower case market, most servers are designed to be rack mounted. So yes, my statement is still correct.
 
PohTayToez said:
I'm seeing a tiny contradiction in those two statements.
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I should have said that there are a few video cards that won't fit into certain mid-atx cases. It's rare, but it's something to note if you plan on purchasing a video card that is excessively long.
 
^lol yah if you have like a 4870x2 or 295gtx in there lol, and chances are if you have such a high-end graphics card you have a big case to accomidate for thhe card size.
 
Nobody's mentioned the motherboard standards yet. Full towers usually support E-ATX mobos like this:
Asus_P6TSE_Core_i7_Intel_X58_DDR3_CrossFireX_A_GbE_ATX_Motherboard.jpg


Odd ones like SSI CEB aren't uncommon either:
ASUS-P6T7-WS-SuperComputer-with-7-slot-pci-e.jpg
 
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mx344 said:
^lol yah if you have like a 4870x2 or 295gtx in there lol, and chances are if you have such a high-end graphics card you have a big case to accomidate for thhe card size.
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Exactly. There have been numerous posts here regarding case/video cart fitment. Usually it happens when a user has multiple hard drives, and since they stick out past the 3.5" enclosure, the video cards are rubbing up against the SATA cables and/or the hard drive itself.
 
^ It also happens on a lot of smaller cases with hard drive racks that aren't turned sideways. There just isn't enough room, even with no hard drives.
 
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