As my fairly trusty Antec VSK-3000B case wasn't in stock, I tried this one. Aesthetically I think it's a better choice and while I don't care an awful lot about aesthetics, a big obvious power button is definitely an advantage, particularly when I'm building PCs for my more technophobic customers.
I have two criticisms of this case:
1 - When screwing in the motherboard placers, it seemed to me that 75% of them weren't drilled straight, so screwing by hand got stuck halfway most of the time and I had to tighten each one using long-nose pliers, a screw and screwdriver before installing the board. This could have been just an issue with the case I received, but it wasn't a promising sign. They were mostly straight enough after this, but one or two of the screws weren't overly happy about the suboptimal angles going on.
2 - Out of curiosity, immediately before writing this review I googled for reviews of this case, and I have to say it was an *interesting choice* of "PC Perspective" to review an mATX case with an ITX board. Had they used a full-sized mATX board, they would have noticed the issue I found which was that there's so little clearance to install the board that the manufacturer cut a portion of the 5.25" bay bracket to make it possible to install such a board (e.g. ASUS PRIME B550M-A WIFI II), and even with that cut-out, the sound of getting the board as it screeches along the edge of that bracket in is not pleasant. Nor can I even fit a fingernail between the edge of the board and said bracket.
Other than that, it was OK. Choices of cases with at least one 5.25" bay and don't cost silly amounts are getting increasingly slim.
Based on my experience with this case and Fractal Design's Focus G, I get the impression that Fractal Design are not at the top of the game by a long shot. Even no-name "the front looks like a Nokia dumbphone" cases didn't have issues like the sort I've experienced, you just had to make sure not to cut yourself!
I have two criticisms of this case:
1 - When screwing in the motherboard placers, it seemed to me that 75% of them weren't drilled straight, so screwing by hand got stuck halfway most of the time and I had to tighten each one using long-nose pliers, a screw and screwdriver before installing the board. This could have been just an issue with the case I received, but it wasn't a promising sign. They were mostly straight enough after this, but one or two of the screws weren't overly happy about the suboptimal angles going on.
2 - Out of curiosity, immediately before writing this review I googled for reviews of this case, and I have to say it was an *interesting choice* of "PC Perspective" to review an mATX case with an ITX board. Had they used a full-sized mATX board, they would have noticed the issue I found which was that there's so little clearance to install the board that the manufacturer cut a portion of the 5.25" bay bracket to make it possible to install such a board (e.g. ASUS PRIME B550M-A WIFI II), and even with that cut-out, the sound of getting the board as it screeches along the edge of that bracket in is not pleasant. Nor can I even fit a fingernail between the edge of the board and said bracket.
Other than that, it was OK. Choices of cases with at least one 5.25" bay and don't cost silly amounts are getting increasingly slim.
Based on my experience with this case and Fractal Design's Focus G, I get the impression that Fractal Design are not at the top of the game by a long shot. Even no-name "the front looks like a Nokia dumbphone" cases didn't have issues like the sort I've experienced, you just had to make sure not to cut yourself!
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