The Aerocool Zauron is the most impressive budget case I have tested. Not only because it delivers what PC gamers on a tight budget need, especially a simple, clean chassis, but because it does so on a shoestring budget The Zauron is the cheapest case of them all.

Let's start by explaining why this case is a prime candidate for building your next budget PC. First, the layout of this case is perfect for a case of this price and size, with ample ventilation and mounts for optimal fan layout; the PSU is neatly tucked under the shroud and can be mounted to benefit from underside ventilation for clean air intake. There is also room for multiple fans or radiators on the front, top, and back of the case.

Up to three 120mm fans can be installed on the front of this case, with room for two on the top and one on the rear. A water-cooling radiator can also be installed in any of these locations.

Only one fan is included, a single Molex fan with a fixed speed, which is a bit of an indictment of the Zauron. It is pre-installed in the front at the lowest possible position, which greatly helps the thermal performance of the graphics card. As a result, both the CPU and GPU stay within a healthy average temperature, which is surprisingly good for an inexpensive case right out of the box.

A rear fan or another front fan would make a big difference here. However, the large ventilation openings at the top of the case seem to help vent the hot air out of the case rather than trapping it inside.

A major component of any impressive PC case is airflow, but you would be surprised how many case designs do not do this well at all. Ideally, a handful of high-flow intake fans at the front of the case would draw in cool air, place it over the PC's components, and exhaust it. However, inexpensive cases do not always have the ideal number of fans for this optimal setup, so it is especially important to find one that is smartly designed to operate with limited cooling capacity.

To test the thermal characteristics of these six inexpensive cases, we built a PC into each case. We then ran several benchmarks to put routine stress on the CPU and GPU, and the average results are summarized in this graph.

The sides of the case have real tempered glass side panels, again surprising to see on such an inexpensive case.

There are a few things I liked about the other cases, but not here. Perhaps it is worth the sacrifice of its cheap price: the Zauron does not have a removable PCIe slot cover, which must be bent down and removed anytime you want to install a GPU or add-in card into the machine. There is also a notch on the front panel where a USB port should be, but no such port is installed. Instead there is a small piece of plastic. There are two USB 3.0 ports that could be used instead, but it is odd that there is space for a 2.0 port but it is not installed.

However, the Zauron package is impressive in its overall flexibility and value. This is an inexpensive case that looks decent and can easily be upgraded if the builder wants to spend more money later. However, if most other cases of this price are also like this one, there is no disputing the small amount of money required for this case.

Our group test: cheap PC cases are a great way to cut costs on your next PC build, but many of the brands we're used to seeing in the Top Case Roundup aren't cheap enough for what we're looking for. So we asked our friends at Overclockers UK (opens in new tab) if they could loan us their cheapest cases.