What's next? We're going to knock out a couple more ITX cases before we publish a full methodology standalone piece -- we want to see how the thermals & acoustics trend with different parts to figure out the final test direction. Watch our Fractal Terra review for some more ITX testing context! kzread.info/dash/bejne/on-dqM1wpKW6fMo.html And support us on Patreon if you like this direction & our inclusion of community input! www.patreon.com/gamersnexus

@andrewleno591

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the review, this topic is really interesting. I'm currently looking for a smaller case. Planning to have a small render PC with 16C Zen 7000 or future 8000 series. Something which will have very good performance in Corona and still affordable for regular mortal humans and it must be a small factor. In parallel I'm interested in gaming laptop, with two M2 slots, fully on AMD because of their drivers... they are really user-friendly and modern. I know what I'm saying, I have Asus Zephyrus G14 gen 1 with 1660ti max-q, Nvidia drivers are just from stone age... also having 6900 xt in the current full tower PC.

@TripleKhaos

7 ай бұрын

review of lian li q58?

@v1nnyc

7 ай бұрын

SSUPD Meshroom S or Corsair 2000D, if they ever get released how about the Cooler master NCORE 100 or Streacom FF1

@r.andy27

7 ай бұрын

Velka 7 rev 3.0 please

@dennisjohnsen7908

7 ай бұрын

DAN Cases C4-SFX. IT has a unique approach to SFX with the reversed mobo layout for gpu to have intake from the top. Could be interesting to see how it pairs up with this unique layout with various fan layout to prove their statements for the optimal airflow layout in a gaming SFX.

A few tips: 1. If you want to air cool, it's totally doable. The Thermalright AXP90-X53 is made specifically for this case. It works great with a couple Noctua case fans up top. 2. Try routing the CPU power cable behind the motherboard and the 24 pin power cable behind the PSU. I have a Corsair SF750 and the included cables are the perfect length. Cable management is beautiful. Just make sure the GPU is mounted on the outside slot as in this video. I did get a 150 mm VGA cable from CableMod which also fit my RTX 4070 FE perfectly, but that's not necessary. 3. If you're air cooling with top mounted case fans, use a wooden chopstick to flip the PSU switch without taking the fan mount off. 4. For AM5 users, do NOT get the Gigabyte B650i Aorus Ultra if you want to air cool. The daughterboard is completely inaccessible so you have to connect the case fans via molex, and one of the board heatsinks makes most CPU coolers (including the AXP-X53) unusable. The ASUS ROG Strix B650Ei works great though.

@roethle

7 ай бұрын

Great tips, I am working through part select for this case right now.

@Jake_Create

7 ай бұрын

I'm running both this case and the B650i Aorus Ultra, and even though the daughterboard is obstructed the only things that are inaccessible are the Sata headers in my experience (Which aren't really important given the case and that you can fit 3 M.2's onto this board. I'm also running an EK Nucleus 240mm cooler and that isn't obstructed by any parts of the board. (As a note, I'm running 6 fans off the motherboard, replaced PSU fan, Noctua 92mm slim over the M.2, 2 NFF 12's in the top, and 2 slim arctic 140's as a GPU cooler mod and it all works flawlessly off the motherboard!)

@IRefuseToUseThisStupidFeature

7 ай бұрын

But I want to know how it compares to the other cases of similar size. Not knowing how it compares to the terra makes it just as much of a shot in the dark as buying either without either review.

@dickinathaniel2250

7 ай бұрын

I'm using an ID Cooling IS55 in this case, motherboard ASRock B660M ITX, plus 2 Noctua fans S12 Redux on top, love it 👌

@johnsimons7846

4 ай бұрын

​@@dickinathaniel2250the ID cooling IS55 fits? I was looking at that cooler but thought it wouldn't fit due to being 57mm? Also seen another guy struggle to get the side case on

Love to see Gamers Nexus review SFFPC cases and mention about all the positives and negatives that go along with them. It is great that you are continuing to make tweaks based on feedback from the community and even greater when you stand by your previous methods while defending those decisions. Very much looking forward to more SFF case reviews!

As a system integrator that solely focuses on SFF builds, I love your SFF reviews for being able to both see my own research confirmed, and still learn new things about the cases that are helpful for me to take back to the workbench and tweak configurable options on my website. As a small business still growing the company, I don't have the means to always put this level of reasearch into each and every case, so it helps me out a lot.

I must say, the EK basic 240mm cooler just makes the cable management and the tube routing just chef’s kiss in this case. Stylish and looks super snazzy, can keep most of the cable management in the floor of the case and pulled up where you need it. GREAT REVIEW, can’t wait for more ITX content!!!❤

@richsnapp6149

7 ай бұрын

i have this case with the EK basic 240 and i agree with you, it's like it was built for this case. unfortunately the last i checked EK doesn't sell it anymore!

@2Catheads

7 ай бұрын

@@richsnapp6149 a few months back they still had the RGB 240mm, but they did discontinue the basic! A shame, the all black pump block with the EK logo looked super clean with the black aluminum panels.

Yay just built one of these for my son. Wasn't an easy build, but it's great looking and worth the sweat, tears and cussing.

@GamersNexus

7 ай бұрын

Nice! What components did you end up using?

@adrianfitzpatrick4638

7 ай бұрын

240mm aio, obviously, i5-12400f, Rx 6700 xt, 2tb pcie4 m2 nvme/ 32mb ddr4 3200..... Not the highest end build , but a step up from his i5-7500/gtx1060 he's been using ((with no issues really,) since 2017.

@adrianfitzpatrick4638

7 ай бұрын

And no RGB nonsense.

@jwillsher80

7 ай бұрын

@@adrianfitzpatrick4638 Which AIO? Honestly, one of the most difficult things to do from a part picking perspective, is finding a compatible AIO for that case. From a testing perspective that must be a pain in the ass to find one universally compatible.

@svn5994

7 ай бұрын

It's really not hard to build in these cases.

I think with ITX builds when it comes to cable management, many builders will opt for custom length cables to fit the case runs with little slack left over. Reducing the need for cable management.

@iqcool

7 ай бұрын

I just upgraded my rig with this exact case a month ago, and I have since decided to invest in 2 short 8-pin PCIe power cables from Cable Mod to cleanup some of the excess cable clutter.

@jimiscott

7 ай бұрын

Yes - It helps, but you if you send a bit of time routing the cables properly instead of GN's bowl of spaghetti you end up with a very clean solution (which my Dan A4 H2O is).

@captainminxley

7 ай бұрын

Agreed. I have this case too, with a modular SFX PSU, an RX7900 XTX, and two additional 40mm fans, and my cabling is a heck of a lot neater than GN's. Having said that, Steve did not state the obvious in that you can't see the cabling with the panels on!

@chadhowell1328

7 ай бұрын

@@jimiscottexactly what I was thinking. This case can be really clean with just a little time routing cables along edges etc

@Spentalei

7 ай бұрын

As a long time SFF builder... No. Whatever Steve is doing is the norm lol. That's just a downside to SFF.

Just put one together myself. Pain in the butt, but great performance for its size. Edit: I jammed in a BeQuiet Pureloop 240 (the one with the pump in the tubes). For anyone wondering, it works, but you need to be ready to make concessions elsehwere.

@GamersNexus

7 ай бұрын

That's part of the fun of ITX, but also it has to be a pain in the butt in ways that make sense! The A4-H2O seems to accomplish that, at least.

@willu805

7 ай бұрын

Considering using this aio for an upcoming build but im concerned about the pump blocking the ram slots, what compromises did you have to make?

@cnogo33

7 ай бұрын

@@willu805 I've had an A4-H2O for a few years now. The Fractal Lumen V2 or Fractal Celsius s24+ are both great choices for an AIO in this case. Neither block ram slots on most itx boards. However, one thing to note is you should go for low profile ram kits as it can make routing the AIO tubing much easier since the tubes usually need to run kind of over the top portion of the ram. Other recommendations are the Corsair SF750 for the power supply, probably the best SFX power supply out there and can handle pretty much whatever you can fit in this case. Also, going for only M.2 ssds rather than using the 2.5" on the bottom tray frees up cable management room and ordering some custom length psu cables tidies up cable management a lot. You can get some pretty nice clean builds in this case just by swapping the psu cables for shorter custom length cables.

@BonkedByAScout

7 ай бұрын

I have the same pump on mine, I was really concerned I wasn't going to be able to get it in right with an SFX-L PSU but after quite a bit of finagling I got it in there.

This has got to be one of my favorite cases. I am personally running my set up with an rx6800 and 5800x3d, plus custom cables, and I’m getting amazing temps / noise. The fact that you can stick a 4090 and a higher end cpu with minimal compromise is wild. No need for a giant 40L case when the A4 H2O can handle high end components with ease, and save space!

@mddunlap03

7 ай бұрын

I don't know I think it's going to get a bit warm with over 3x the heat inside

@Digi20

7 ай бұрын

@@mddunlap03the GPU wont care much as it draws outside air, in fact this setup is better than in many big tower cases for GPU temps - CPU temp however will definitely rise as you are dumping all the GPU heated air out through the radiator.

@aaronzahorski9809

7 ай бұрын

I have the same RX 6800 and 5800X3D combo but I used the Fractal Ridge since it’s for a living room gaming console using ChimeraOS. This combo works great and once I undervolted the 5800X3D temps are great with a Thermalright AXP120-X67.

@maximus3294

7 ай бұрын

​@@mddunlap03look at the sffpc subreddit and you'll see plenty of users with such systems 😉

@michaellvoltare

7 ай бұрын

I'm surprised you can fit that, what 4090 are you rocking? I have a Gigabyte 3090 OC and it barely fits.

I'm really glad you're reviewing mini ITX cases these days. There aren't that many reviewers out there who do so (Hardware Canucks and Optimum Tech are the most notable other channels who review them), so, despite ITX being a smaller niche, it's great for the people who want to get into SFF builds and allows would be SFF customers to discover the good/bad options on the market. Great job!

Ended up building in this case last year, and I'm glad you guys finally have done a comprehensive review of it. Was a little tough, but worth it for my use case!

I love the professionalism and eloquence in your reviews, but also importantly the light hearted humor as well.

Very happy to see another ITX review, small PCs are awesome. I particularly like the editing to show footprint on the desk, very well done and a good idea to show a rough expectation of what it'll be like. The only other ITX case I'm really interested in now is the Meshlicious/Meshroom, and you've got one of those, so...

I have had mine for almost a year now. I have a 13600k paired with a 4080 and it was a little bit of a challenge, but that is the fun with SFF builds. My thermals are great and the whole system is quiet. The other cool thing you can do is make custom fronts to the case that are easy to remove and install via magnets.

Absolutely in love with this case and that's what motivated me to build a new rig after a decade of sticking to my laptop.

This was my personal build’s case before I switched to the SSUPD Meshlicious. I went with a Corsair SFX PSU and the cables it comes with are braided an shorter, which made it great for this case, and unlike the OG Dan A4 which I built in, you don’t really need custom length cables

I love the return to case reviews, you helped me a lot to pick the best possible case (Fractal Torrent, obviously)

awesome to see a build and review on this one. i moved into this from an NR200 and was very happy with both the aesthetic and performance. cable management is truly rough but i already had some custom cables so they do help a bit.

Thanks for releasing another video for my case! I think you’ve inspired me to take it apart and rebuild it to its fullest potential

Have this case and love it! Glad you reviewed it and brought some attention to it. Thanks

The DAN A4-H20 had me interested in comparison to my current NCASE M1 v6.1 due to being a slightly smaller footprint (12L vs 12.7L) but being able to fit larger GPUs. I'm really interested in seeing the NCASE M1 EVO once people are actually able to test it to see how it compares to other popular ITX cases out there like the Meshroom or Meshilicious. Great work with the ITX reviews especially with the SFX vs SFX-L considerations.

@EverythingisFire

7 ай бұрын

I miss my little M1 (V3? I think). I upsized to the NR200 but want to shrink back down again. Maybe to this!

Love mini itx form factor, wish there were more options but things are improving Can't wait for more reviews

Even without your amazing thermals/tests, these videos are just great to see your expertise in understanding which case for which use case/customers/comparisons. :)

Loving these ITX case reviews! My partner and I have to fly around and stay in different locations a bit but if possible I'd love to take an ITX rather than a laptop. These sorts of reviews really help with decision making!

For AIO recommendations, I used an H100X with Noctua fans, routing the hoses from the left up , around the block and to the right through the top gap at the PSU bracket. It's a very clean run like this, however I'd recommend either securing the hoses in a way where they won't interfere with the fans, mounting the fans between the radiator and the bracket, or using some fan grills to prevent the fans scratching against the hoses or other cables.

I’ve got this case and I love it. It’s my second ITX case after one from Sliger. The DAN was half the price, has a smaller footprint, and easier to build in. Definitely a home run in my book. I’ve got a 4090 FE, 5800x3D with the EK 240 water block and squeezed in some Phanteks T30s. It stays nice and cool, and while a bit loud a max load, I’m usually gaming with headphones, so I don’t mind it.

You guys work hard. My hat goes off to the entire team. Seriously awesome stuff.

Thank you for validating a choice I made 15 months ago :) Really this case is amazing and performs well. (12700k/3070ti). I bought angled adapters for the GPU power cables to help with clearance on the bottom, but otherwise it was surprisingly easy to build in for a case this size.

I put a 7800x3d and 4090 in this case, it's pretty janky to build but the thermal performance is pretty great for such a small case. I think it's a great case.

@MrTekniqs

7 ай бұрын

What cooler did you use?

@vincenttam8642

7 ай бұрын

@@MrTekniqsFor the CPU AXP90-X47 copper, for the 4090 it came with AIO (MSI Suprim Liquid X)

@magenof1440

7 ай бұрын

@@vincenttam8642does such a tiny cpu cooler prevent the 7800x3d from thermal throttling?

@vincenttam8642

7 ай бұрын

@@magenof1440 yup never had any thermal throttling with the 7800x3D. Max temp under 10 mins Cinebench R23 stress test were 81C and for gaming CPU around 60~65C, GPU 55~60C. Perfectly acceptable temp. But I did -25 Curve Optimizer under PBO2 for the 7800X3D

Absolute gem, please do more reviews of this type (SFF). Especially interesting to see the difference between AIO and air coolers in these type of cases

I built in the H20 with the same AIO and this model has 400mm tubing and Dan recommends routing the tubing below the PSU rather than above. I would also recommend getting yourself a Corsair SF750 just for the better cables if no other reason. It's fairly easy to hide away the fan cables which would have made your build much cleaner.

I’ve built 3 PCs using this case and it was such a pleasure to plan out the build. With m-ITX cases you really have to build in a particular order to get better cable management and also get it to fit properly sometimes. It’s sleek has great thermals. It can even fit a Strix 3080 Ti.

@EverythingisFire

7 ай бұрын

I'm heavily considering this. I've built in an Ncase M1 (My first build ever) & the NR200. I really like this sammich type layout vs conventional.

love these ITX case reviews! A review of the Formd t1 would be amazing!

I own both this case and AIO. routing the tubes underneath the psu helps reducing clutter a lot. Also there are good options for air cooling too, like the thermalright x53

Ive built in two of these. My current build is a 13700k w/ an evga 3080 ftw3. I even managed to fit some t30 fans in it as well. Ive built in the Dan a4 sfx, sentry 2.0, NR200p, Ncase m1, as well as other lesser known itx cases and i have to say this is my favorite so far. For aio cooling this is one of the best cases that balances overall size and component compatibility with performance. To Steve's point, this would be a little more difficult to build in for someone just beginning to build in ITX cases because of the cable management, but if youre willing to be patient id reccomend giving it a try. Custom cables make it incredibly easy and tidy if youre willing to spend the extra cash.

I always wanted a A4, but never was in a position to build a really modern pc. I finally had the opportunity and went with the A4-H2O, 13600k and Powercolor Red Dragon 6800 XT. It was not particularly PLEASANT to put together. It also took quite a bit of undervolting to get things quiet and cool. But I'm so pleased with the result. I love my computer.

Excellent video. Amazing job Steve and team.

Awesome, I was hoping you would make a video on this case. Thanks!

Fantastic review. Really useful as I work out options for future builds. I have a suggestion for a future video. I’d love to see a video where you work through the process of building a PC to fit a specific small space. Something like an ikea cube bookshelf. It would help put the ITX PC builds in context.

My current case and I love it. The best layout for a SFF case imo. I currently have a 5900x and a MSI Ventus 4080 stuffed in mine and the temps remain very low and I was able to hide all my small wires, it looks very clean.

I picked up an H2O when they first came out and it was an absolute nightmare trying to find a cooler that would fit the Z690 boards at the time, all of them had massive blocky heat sinks that had most everyone trying to find a compatible cooler for. I contacted a few AIO suppliers for accurate pump block sizes for measurements but only two ever got back to me, those being Fractal and Phantex. I ended up going with the Lumen S24 as well, but opted for some slim Noctua fans to help with my cable routing since it was all so tight on the Asus Z690i with a EVGA 3080 FTW. A massive gripe I had with the Dan case was changing from a PCI gen 3 to gen 4 raiser. The hole spacing and thread pitch they use for the gen 3 riser is different from the gen 4 cable, so I ended up having to use calipers to measure the standoff side and thread pitch (which was the standard motherboard size) and order them off Amazon in a 50 pack. The S24 since had a recall and the new version I have preforms a lot better and the tubes are also less rigid helping with fitment. Last thing to touch on, there are MAJOR issues with the Z690 itx boards from all manufactures with Gigabyte even issuing a recall for their boards. I went through 3 replacement Asus Z690 I boards along with replacing all components after the second board, new 12700k, 970 evo ssds, Corsair ddr5 ram, raiser cable, power supply and GPU in my attempts to troubleshoot the constant crashes without a blue screen. After changing to an MSI Z790 board I haven't encountered a single issue with the PC and it's been very smooth sailing. Anyway! Thank you so much for reviewing these cases, it's awesome to see the ITX form factor getting some love and I hope companies take notes!

Jonsbo D31 and/or TK-1. These cases are very intriging. Thank you and keep up the good work :)

Love that case, looks great. Thanks for the testing GN

I did my first build with this case Pretty happy with the results.

I have this case and I love it. It was a *pain* to build in, but well worth it. I had to reverse engineer the Corsair h100i pump so that I didn't have to deal with the huge fan/rgb controller, and I got a custom PSU->GPU power cable to free up internal space and airflow. It fits a 7950x and 4080, and performs amazingly.

as someone still using their dan a4 case, custom cable length is very important to any sff build where you care about cable clutter. Keep up the good work, I'm hoping yall find me my next itx case for me, so i don't have to do any work to figure it out. Most interested in the sub 10L cases though, these bois look chunky to me..

For ITX case reviews one of the biggest frustrations I have is a lack of size comparison/perspective. While I appreciate that the dimensions are as simple as looking at the numbers, I would love it to see a side by side visual comparison with other ITX cases you are reviewing, but also place a common object beside the case for sample perspective. I think a can of pop is a common and standard size object, as well as an average ATX case (so long as it is always the same one). The other element in size comparison is travel for a full setup. I am currently looking at replacing my MSI Trident X 9th - a 10l PC case. I relocate for work every 6 months and I am sure I am not the only one who wants to have the portable system that is not limited to a laptop that can be set up and taken down for rapid transitions.

With this move towards itx reviews, I am hoping that the GN team will start testing some more low profile CPU coolers such as the thermalright solutions available. Noctua is great but more options is more better.

@aaronzahorski9809

7 ай бұрын

Agreed, and a great case to review them in would be the Fractal Ridge, just did a build in one and used a Thermalright AXP120-X67. It’s working great, tried an ID-COOLING IS-55 first but had clearance issues with the power plug.

I spent a lot of time researching ITX cases for my build earlier this year, and the H2O came very close to winning. Ended up going with the Iqunix ZX-1 though. Would love to see a review of that too if you decide to get more cases. Personally I'm really happy with it

Love this case! Running a 7950x and 3090 both in a liquid cooler in series. 240x120 rad with integrated pump+ 120x120 rad in series. Though needing to top up coolant almost once ever month

I struggled with 6800xt fitment into my similar SFF case, but from 2021. It was designed in the pascal/polaris Era, and supports only 2 slot Cards. I greatly appreciate the larger space for the Graphics Card in this case, but Terra looks much more interesting on the outside. Keep em coming, I'm looking forward to more SFF case reviews.

absolutely love the itx case reviews. seems like the market is shifting towards sff builds as the quality/design of the cases are improving faster and faster

I love this case, I built two. Although it cannot accommodate larger graphics cards with more than 322mm in length, I can still fit a 4090 Founder's Edition in it. Great thermals and awesome compatibility with a bunch of ITX parts. You'll definitely need to do research on the parts you're putting together before buying it.

I have been running this case for a year and I am still watching this.

@joemarais7683

7 ай бұрын

No shame in reaffirming your buying choice by watching favorable content about it. Especially with this case.

One of my favs will always be the Thermaltake core v1

A very nice review! Thanks Steve.

Thanks for the amazing content over the years. You always reminded me of the metal-head guy who you'd hang out with and play some cracking games with :-) Always great seeing your Intelligence and professionalism upsurp stereotype carriers out there. Its a lonely life being a gamer where I am located. Thanks for everything. 👋

Built 2, one for myself and one for the neice. Would definitely recommend a ek dark aio an Lian unity 120mm fans to reduce the cable clutter. Custom power cables may help as well. But it runs like a champ.. if you have animals or high dust in the location cleaning the rad on a regular basis is a must

Wow, I followed this case in 2017 and waited... and waited... and waited... and then got the Fractal Terra case. This case was what a lot of us wanted on SFX forums

Awesome! Love the ITX case testing, maybe the Meshroom D and or the Shift X?

I've had this case for a longer while on my secondary PC build. Switched from a larger ITX (non-SFF) case and the experience assembling it was quite straightforward following the order in the user manual. Making it look good inside and managing the cables is another thing. Depending on the AIO the tube routing will be either be easy or a nightmare. Mine fits only in one orientation on the CPU and the tubes would initially touch the fan blades. Had to carefully bend and guide them for a better fit. Adding good ol' fan grilles might help a lot. The case also messes with your brain: even when fully assembled it doesn't heavy but oh boy does it surprise you when lifting it up, this thing is dense!

This was a great review. Looking forward to more of these. Would love to see you review the JONSBO N1 Mini-ITX NAS Chassis. I think it would be a great off site server.

Great video! I'm fascinated by these new ITX cases. I've never built a computer but when i do, it's probably going to be an ITX. (Maybe :D) Please keep up the reviews of these style cases. Thank you

Nice I actually just built a system with this case. With some care, I was able to get pretty much all of the excess cable mess consolidated underneath the PSU behind mounting bracket and ran the cables along the right side and then top of the motherboard, which the watercooling hoses also ran along, so it came out pretty clean. It's definitely possible if you've got time to sink into organization

have been using this case for about a year and love it. Pretty easy to build, good cooling. The only gripe i have is that the gpu which actually needs fresh air might end up facing the wall. And one usb-a is wasted (only one is wired to the front panel).

Great video as always, would love to see NR200P, Meshilicious/meshroom or Fractal Ridge next.

Built this with a 7950x, an nVidia A5000, ROG STRIX X670E-I MB, Corsair SF750 and the NZXT Kraken Z53. The cable management was a bit of a pain, but with a couple of custom cables and some clever routing the build is very clean. Tips as follows - I have routed the power cable and the 8 pin ATX in between the radiator/fans, I have routed block pump cables for the Kraken to the top of the case and under the motherboard, the 24pin ATX cable has been combed up and then immediately routed down between the motherboard and power supply cage (it's tight but works). As Steve mentioned there is a lot of space at the bottom of the power supply (use it). There is also a bit of space at the front of the case.

I have two of these, I have a 4090 and 7800x3d, custom cables. love it

The Phanteks Evolv Shift 2 I think looks pretty cool, and it's a tall, but minimally small desk footprint. The Lian Li Q58 also supports full atx power supplies, and has a great size as well

Love this review, thank you. I have this case too and really enjoyed how easy it was to build in as opposed to many other itx cases. Using a kraken x42, a 120mm fan next to it, 3700x, a750, 32gb ddr3200. It's on the hot side as it's inside a HTPC furniture, but I am gonna install some fans in the cabinet around it as it has a mesh front. Ideally I would do some dust filtered cutouts,but wife won't allow me to cut into her 2000usd furniture 😂

hell yea, been waiting for this one. I love this case.

Ive been using this as my personal rig for a while. 5800x 240 ekwb aio 4080 fe 850r Silverstone psu 8tb of cruical drives and its been fantastic. The push pins are great when they work the preformance is great the side panels dont make it any louder

I built a budget/low power machine in one of these a few weeks back. I had helped a friend diagnose a faulty motherboard and had ordered cpu/ram/mobo for that. I was left with a Ryzen 5500 and 16gb DDR4 and decided I’d use them instead of adding them to the hoard. In my case (no pun intended) I ended up running with the stock stealth cooler with a bit of foam to seal the intake against the side panel. I also slapped in a couple of spare 120mm hyte fans I had laying around in the top. It runs relatively cool and maintains boost clocks consistently while gaming and benchmarking, but that’s down to the 5500 being what it is not the prowess of the case for air cooling 😂 I only really had an SFX-L power supply option available in my budget and time frame when I was ordering parts for the build. I would 100% recommend going with the SFX over SFX-L. The extra space to stash cables would have been a huge help. I also had to double-sided tape my SATA SSD to the back of the power supply because I couldn’t mount it to the bottom panel with the SFX-L. I did also find that if I had it in that position, the SATA connector seemed to interfere with the spine of the case?? However that could be down to the combination of parts and cables I had laying around. For graphics I took a punt on the arc A750. Impressive benchmark results and no thermal issues in the case. I’m now living the arc life of watching for game and driver updates to improve performance on titles I like to play.

Tightest build of my life. Took way longer than anything else even though components that were going in were just a few. But I'm glad I did it. It's been performing great for me. Above expectations since there's little room room for air. I might regret writing this before watching the entire video...😅

I've got one of these. Got decent cable management over the MB by cramming excess cable lengths wherever they'd go under the PSU or in the GPU compartment. I got an RX 7900XT in there, so it came down to pushing the cables on one side until the PSU fit, then pushing back from the other side until the GPU fit, and repeating until eventually the mess was sufficiently hidden. I call it the "guests are coming in an hour, toss everything in the bedroom" strategy. The Corsair 240mm AIO has a much less bulky CPU block so the tubes were able to go around into one of the suggested configurations with only a little bit of trial and error. One thing that I wish I'd understood better is that just because it's physically small doesn't mean it doesn't take up space. A giant GPU in a Mini-ITX case generates the same amount of heat as it does in an ATX, so the thermal footprint is gonna be the same. Yeah, you don't have metal physically preventing you from putting it in a nook, but you'd better maintain at least a foot of clearance over the top because hot death is gonna be pouring out of that radiator. Lastly, the aluminum cover is a static hazard. Do not try to ground yourself to it when you're plugging in headphones or something, because it's not grounded. Instead what happens is the charge arcs to your video card which throws it into an error state and you have to reinstall the drivers to make it feel alright. All that aside, I really like the case. It's really pretty, fits components that have no business being in an SFF case, and even with all those caveats is still easier to work with than most SFF cases. The components I've chosen can chew through most graphics-intensive games, and doing that in a case this size feels like I'm cheating nature somehow.

ITX builds require a thoughtful selection of components, it's a part of the fun/challenge.

Thanks for this. Since discovering ITX it is all that matters :) Elite of the elite as we call it here in France.

This review stopped me from ordering freezer 2 for this case, thank you.

Oh definitely please do the Meshroom S...I recently built my new main system in it with a full custom loop, it's amazing

12:23 There are two screws holding the PCI extension to the case. It's been a common problem that it shorts out something, sometimes when the desk gets jarred or the case jarred, causing a lockup/reboot. I finally, after many months of dealing with these reboots, googled it, and found it was common. Removed the screws, and it's never happened again.

This is great as I've been looking for a possible replacement for my Cooler Master NR200P case with the AIO

I don't have this case but i have used custom made cables from Cablemod to make cables shorter and easier to fit in a small case like this one. Makes it much more better.

Sweet I've been waiting for this.

I use one for almost a year, with a 5950x, 6900XT with a EK 240 AIO. Nice temperatures and with a small footprint, looks really nice on the desk. However, building in it is tough, custom length cables are a good option to reduce the clutter, and cleaning is tricky.

For the fan cables, I found that on the front and the back of the water block I can stick extra cable lengths in there, so you can actually make the MB side look cleaner without using custom cables. However, CLC problem also hurts me as I am using a fitting long boi (sorry), the water tube either hits the case or it hits the cooling fans.

Built my A4 H2O back in May. 7800x3d + 4090fe, PSU flipped. I left the bottom access panel off completely to allow for more "cable junk". Temps are pretty much a non-issue, -30 curve optimizer, 0.975v max in MSI AB to mitigate GPU voltage spikes. This saves a bit of power all around.

I have a 7950X3D & 4090 FE in mine. Cable management wasn't the easiest thing ever, but it wasn't that bad. Temps are surprisingly good.

I like mine and I really like the anodized alum panels. They do have a premium look and feel over painted steel panels on most other cases.

8:00 I agree the number is useless. I think what people actually want is a phonearena style overlay of the footprints some well-known or comparable cases. This gives a good impression without requiring us to open inkscape and draw the dimensions ourself. You can find similar graphs quite often in SFF forums to quickly compare different footprint shapes and sizes.

What a coincidence my H2O is getting delivered today and this video popped out.

I'm glad you're reviewing mini ITX cases these days. Can you test the TermalTake tower 200. I use the Sharkoon shark zone C10, whit the Intel i5 6500, Noctua NH-L9x65U and Powercolor AMD RX 6700XT as daily driver. And My Game PC is the TermalTake tower 200 with the AMD 7700X, NZXT kraken x63 and Asus Nvidia RTX 4070.

Had the case and cable management was a nightmare. Really loved the small size. Review the Jonsbo VR3 and the meshroom s if you guys have the chance. Keep up the great work you guys and stay safe.

@svn5994

7 ай бұрын

A. Use a good PSU with good cables (SF750) B. It actually requires you to use your brain C. Buy custom cables from an independent maker rather than CableMod

Overlay of desk space between sf case is a nice addition imo..

great to see itx review!

This case is my favorite case by far. I use an AIO pump, a 240mm with some hose barbs, and a water cooled GPU. The hose routing is actually very clean when you add in the GPU.

Just built mine a few months ago as well. Went with this case specifically to accommodate a bigger gpu. aio cooled 11700k on a z590i aorus ultra and Sapphire pulse 7900xtx in it

It's nice to see external access on PC cases. It is a must for small form factor cases. There's nothing worse than trying to get things to fit in small case without this access.

I built my first PC in this case a few months ago. I built mine to a $1,000 budget, and chose to forgo the AIO in the interest of allocating more budget to the GPU. To anyone thinking of doing an air cooled build in this case, it does work nicely, and you can put two 120 mm case fans in an exhaust configuration where the AIO would go to aid airflow. Again, in the interest of budget, I'm using the stock Intel RM1 CPU cooler on my i5 12400, which is admittedly quite noisy under load. My GPU is an overclocked and undervolted ASRock Challenger Pro 6750 XT (2735 MHz, 1125 mV, +15% Power Limit). Both the CPU and GPU are running a custom exponential fan curve. My temperatures are as follows: CPU (Idle): 41 C @ 33% PWM CPU (Gaming): 75 C @ 100% PWM GPU Hotspot (Idle): 47 C @ 0% PWM GPU Hotspot (Gaming): 90 C @ 65% PWM GPU Edge (Idle): 43 C @ 0% PWM GPU Edge (Gaming): 68 C @ 65% PWM Ambient (Idle): 41 C Ambient (Gaming): 53 C

@IRefuseToUseThisStupidFeature

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing the details, it's not as controlled as GN but at least I have more idea than with the liquid cooler.

Great review and glad this case is getting a little love and exposure. But I personally think cable management could be attempted better. I’ve been running this case for a year and a half and currently just rebuilt in it with a 7800x3d and 4090 and have never had a nest like that in this case.

Just here to say thank you very much for your honesty and detail in your content. You showed class during LTT scandal and always liked how you test cpu air coolers with crazy detail and even measuring vrm temps. Keep up the good work 👏