No, not a tower, just a little lay down flat type (makes a great monitor stand). In general I would agree with you about getting a better case, but nothing in this computer is designed to be used anywhere except where it is, except the drives, and I'm not too sure about the floppy. Besides that, the amount that I'm willing to budget on this computer wouldn't permit it even were it possible.
I've been trying to determine exactly what the fans in this case are, and I guess the only way I'm going to do that is to open the case and see for myself, because I'm finding that IBM is not the world's greatest at giving clear, straight forward information. This is only my second IBM computer, and it will probably be my last.