Which motherboards and coolers fit in my case?

When building a PC you will often run into different terms when shopping for parts, such as "ATX Motherboard", "ITX Motherboard" and so forth. This is because PC components come in a variety of sizes, and you need to make sure everything fits together when buying all of your parts.

With the CORSAIR PC builder you can skip all of the manual steps of trying to figure out if your brand new case supports the motherboard and graphics card that you've picked. In this article we will guide you through how it works, ensuring that you never buy all the components for a new build only to find out that your graphics card is just a bit too long to fit into your case, or that the cooler you've picked is just too big.

Start by heading to the CORSAIR PC Builder.

The PC builder will guide you through various steps of picking compatible components. At first you might wonder why the PC builder needs to know what All-In-One CPU cooler you have in mind, when you just want to check if your motherboard or graphics card fits into your case.

The reason for this is because things can get complicated quickly, so you need to plan ahead. Say, for example, that you pick a CORSAIR 4000D case, and a very large graphics card. If you only check the specifications for the case and the graphics card, you will likely find that it will easily fit into your case. The curveball comes if you then buy a 360mm All-In-One CPU cooler only to discover that the only option is to mount it in the front of the case, and your graphics card now collides with it.

The PC Builder checks such things for you, and makes sure that such oversights never happen.

The first thing you will be asked is what graphics card you plan on using. Current generation graphics cards can be huge, some even take up to four slots, so it's crucial to know the dimensions of this component when you are building your own PC. You can use the search bar to find a specific graphics card, or simply filter by manufacturer.

After you have picked your graphics card, you'll be asked to select your CPU. This will dictate what motherboards and memory will be compatible with your choice. AMD and Intel use different motherboards, plus different chipset generations (Z590, Z690, Z790 for example) support different CPUs.

Once you've defined your CPU, PC builder can now suggest compatible motherboards. There is a large selection of motherboards available for each generation, so we recommend checking out reviews from reputable sites and tech youtubers to see which motherboards fit your requirements best. Depending on your needs, you can end up spending anywhere from a hundred dollars or less all the way up to thousands.

The PC builder is incredibly smart at telling you exactly what will fit in your case of choice, but it cannot pick the CPU, Graphics card, and motherboard for you. CORSAIR doesn't manufacture those parts and they vary from generation to generation, so some research will be required here.

With all your base components now selected the PC builder can provide you with a list of compatible cases for the boards you have chosen. For example, have you chosen a large extended-ATX motherboard? If so, it isn't likely to be supported by smaller cases such as the 4000D and 220T. In order to solve this, you can either pick a larger case (one of the recommended cases) or pick a standard ATX motherboard instead.

The choice of case will also have impact on which cooling solutions you can use. At the time of writing this article the CORSAIR 7000D and 1000D are the only cases that support 420mm AIO coolers, while the 5000D is limited to 360mm AIO coolers (which for most users will also be more than sufficient.)

With these base components chosen, you know have the initial blueprint for your new PC, and can start customizing which case, accessories, coolers etc. you want to have. The PC builder will only suggest parts that are compatible with your selections, but you can at any time go back and select other base components.